Thunderbird Sighting 5.17.13 in Derry Township, PA?

[Christopher O'Brien]

[I received this Stan Gordon email alert today and thought I'd pass it along.... intriguing —chris]

Article HERE:
May 17, 2013-Afternoon
Loyalhanna, Derry Township, Westmoreland, County, PA
On May 17, 2013, the witness decided to do some fishing at Loyalhanna Lake in Derry Township. It was between 4 and 5 PM that afternoon that the man had packed up and was riding his motorcycle down the country road heading toward New Derry. He estimates that he was moving down the road at a speed of about 40 mph.
He was about 3-4 miles from the lake when his attention was drawn to a huge bird that crossed his path from left to right about 50 feet ahead of him. The huge flying creature was only about 8-10 feet above the road. The man, who was only able to observe it for several seconds, described it as very dark brown or black in color. The neck was short, and he didn’t get a good look at its head, but the body itself was very large and he noticed a huge tail.
What did catch his eye were the wings, and he stated to me, “the wingspan was gigantic.” He saw the bird flap its monstrous wings twice as it moved steadily toward a thickly wooded area to his right. The witness, who only saw the huge bird from a side view, estimated that the wingspan was about twenty feet or more in length.
The witness could not hear any sound due to the noise of his motorcycle engine. The witness is quite familiar with the common large birds of Pennsylvania. He said that he has never seen anything like this and is quite amazed at what he saw. The man reached the location where the bird had flown into the heavily wooded area in a matter of seconds, but he could not see the large flying creature at that point.

 

[J.T.]

Pretty close to... not Point Pleasant, but Mt. Pleasant. Clearly a mothman sighting, not Thunderbird. Seriously though, love these reports. Isn't Ken Gerhardt coming up with a new book on winged beasties? Maybe a future Paracast show..

 

[Bob Watson]

very interesting! reports of large birds always fascinate me!

 

[Robman7789]

swamp gas...nothing more..move along..nothing to see here LOL

 

[Grifynne]

Thanks for sharing, Chris! I think sometimes people may be misjudging size because it's not always easy to identify something flying in the air, but this sounds like it was quite close - close enough for the observer to identify something that shouldn't be there.

 

[Robman7789]

Pennsylvania seems to be a hotbed of these reports. Isn't that where the supposed big bird video was taken (of 2)? if I remember correctly - there really wasn't any scale to correctly measure the creatures. They supposedly at 15 foot wingspans.

 

[Grifynne]

Pennsylvania seems to be a hotbed of these reports. Isn't that where the supposed big bird video was taken (of 2)? if I remember correctly - there really wasn't any scale to correctly measure the creatures. They supposedly at 15 foot wingspans.

Being a PA native, this interests me greatly. Do you know if the clip(s) are available online somewhere?

 

[Robman7789]

Once again - I will have to see. I'm sure it is. I also remember seeing it on a documentary. Showed 2 large feathered birds sitting at the top of a bare tree. One flew off. Was real short. I will look for it.

If you are interested in big birds - have you ever heard the Marlon Lowe story? in 1977 he was almost carried away by a supposed thunderbird. Here is a link to his story: [URL]http://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2012/06/lawndale-illinois-thunderbird-witness.html[/url]

 

[Grifynne]

Once again - I will have to see. I'm sure it is. I also remember seeing it on a documentary. Showed 2 large feathered birds sitting at the top of a bare tree. One flew off. Was real short. I will look for it.

If you are interested in big birds - have you ever heard the Marlon Lowe story? in 1977 he was almost carried away by a supposed thunderbird. Here is a link to his story: Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

Thanks for checking! Even if you remember some or all of the video's title, I can do a search. It's just so hard to find exactly what someone is talking about with so many videos floating out there. (and sorry, I promise I won't ask for another video link for at least another 15 minutes or so! ).

I don't believe I have heard that story, although I recall one really bizarre tale I heard about a kid allegedly being abducted into the air by some unseen force. If any part of that is to be believed, then I almost wonder if these huge birds are somehow jumping between dimensions or times. But I think I heard that one on a show that's not known for its logic or validity (depending on who's hosting).

And thanks for sharing the link to the story. It seems like the description is very similar in many cases (at least those that I have heard). I find it interesting that the St. Bernard didn't bark, which you would assume that it would if this was just another animal doing what it does. Lends credence to the supernatural quality of these birds.

I assume the boy wasn't harmed? I would think there might be a bruise or broken bone or something since he was lifted, dropped and blacked out (unless it was just from shock and fear). I didn't see that mentioned anywhere aside from the 30 minute black out. Really interesting stuff.

 

[starise]

Thanks for sharing this Chris. I am interested in these sightings not extremely far from where I live. The really big birds from the past supposedly flew best when jumping from great heights because of their mass compared to their lift. They were more like large gliders. The really large birds had a tough time making airspeed from a dead stop at ground level. Yet these "Thunderbirds" seem keen to do just that.
I wonder how big the fish he caught were

 

[ALPHA ROMEO UNIFORM]

It makes you think its more robotic than bilogical?

 

[mike]

WITH WINGS FLAPPING, MODEL PTERODACTYL TAKES TO AIR - NYTimes.com

The model has an 18-foot wingspan and is patterned after a fossil twice that size that was found at Big Bend National Park in Texas. It gets its lift and stability by flapping wings powered by electric motors and controlled by a computer. Its builders originally planned to go on to construct a full-size model, but whether they will is now uncertain.

 

[Han]

I think there is a small chance that this could be a "lost" California Condor.
I have read about one with a (verified) wingspan of ten feet, and that they can fly at speeds up to 55 mph.
If one had started its journey in the Grand Canyon* and flew at an average speed of 25 mph it would take it 80 hours to reach Westmoreland PA, (I am not sure if they fly at night, so it could take up to 160 hours [about a week] if they do not) .

*The California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is a North American species of bird in the New World vulture family Cathartidae and the largest North American land bird. Currently, this condor inhabits only the Grand Canyon area, Zion National Park, and western coastal mountains of California and northern Baja California.((source)) California Condor | Speed of Animals

 

[AwBurkey]

I live is south west PA though I have never seen one myself, I have been hearing stories of sightings from people in this area since I was a kid. And only A few weeks ago a close friend called me after seeing a giant bird in the woods near Belle Vernon PA. I am definately not a blind believer in things but hearing soo many people, some even being family whom i cant imagine making it up, I really think there is something to these sightings. Thanks for posting this Chris.

 

[starise]

Interesting Mike. I have read all kinds of different theories on how these things flew, but my perception was that getting aloft was not always an easy chore for a pterosaur

Here are a few views from others. The article you linked mentions them using some kind of launching mechanism presumably because they couldn't duplicate the bird running...still quite an achievement.

Pterosaur 'Runways' Enabled Huge Prehistoric Flying Animal To Get Airborne, Study Suggests (VIDEO)

Giant Pterosaurs Couldn't Fly, Study Suggests

I don't think they really know since they need to determine the weight to a pretty close proximity. I think they flew but how exactly is still a mystery to me.

The bird sighted in PA seems to have feathers so this probably excludes the pterosaur although many claim to have seen something like one.

 

[mike]

I must have missed the feathers bit, could you point me to where that is ?

 

[starise]

Hi Mike. I mainly base that assumption on the fact that A. It was described as a " Thunderbird" and B. The Thunderbirds as portrayed on Indian totem poles and as described by some observers tell of a winged bird with feathers.

This might not be correct but based on the Indian art I see a Thunderbird as a feathered creature. Some others have described something more like a dragon which more closely lines up with what I would envision a Pterosaur to look like.

Usually when someone claims to see the latter they include this in their description because it is so different from any other kind of flying bird they have seen. Instead of saying it was merely a very large bird they mention the long odd looking head and the lack of feathers. If the recent Derry PA. sighting was a pterosaur then the observer either didn't see these things or left them out which I find difficult to believe. If he was only 50ft away from it the shape of the pterosaur head would have been more apparent IMO. It would not have been difficult to make out that head. I could be wrong though. I wasn't there.

 

[mike]

I think we need to be cautious about adding elements to the narrative like "feathers" which are not in the original description

The critter is described as both bird and creature

On May 17, 2013, the witness decided to do some fishing at Loyalhanna Lake in Derry Township. It was between 4 and 5 PM that afternoon that the man had packed up and was riding his motorcycle down the country road heading toward New Derry. He estimates that he was moving down the road at a speed of about 40 mph.
He was about 3-4 miles from the lake when his attention was drawn to a huge bird that crossed his path from left to right about 50 feet ahead of him. The huge flying creature was only about 8-10 feet above the road. The man, who was only able to observe it for several seconds, described it as very dark brown or black in color. The neck was short, and he didn’t get a good look at its head, but the body itself was very large and he noticed a huge tail.
What did catch his eye were the wings, and he stated to me, “the wingspan was gigantic.” He saw the bird flap its monstrous wings twice as it moved steadily toward a thickly wooded area to his right. The witness, who only saw the huge bird from a side view, estimated that the wingspan was about twenty feet or more in length.
The witness could not hear any sound due to the noise of his motorcycle engine. The witness is quite familiar with the common large birds of Pennsylvania. He said that he has never seen anything like this and is quite amazed at what he saw. The man reached the location where the bird had flown into the heavily wooded area in a matter of seconds, but he could not see the large flying creature at that point.

To assume it must have been a thunderbird, and since totem poles depict thunderbirds as having feathers ergo it had to have had feathers is to distort the original testimony, once we start to add elements it becomes a game of chinese wispers

Chinese whispers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I dont know what it was, nor am i suggesting it must have been a model.
I posted my link because it IS possible to build a large flying model with flapping wings and as such should be part of the data for consideration

 

[starise]

I think the link you posted on the model was a great addition to the thread. The skeptic in me tends to still question this as a basis for how these things flew. Mainly because it is only built to half scale and needs help to go airborn. I wasn't ragging on the article. I think it's quite an achievement to do something like that.

Notice I use words like "seems" and "probably" neither of which is a bold assertion. My personal opinion based on the article and description is that it wasn't a pterosaur. I will add a few more ingredients to how I arrived at my opinion on this. Several past sightings in the North East US were sightings of large birds of the feathered variety. Does this mean this was? No ,but combined with the other evidence it tips the scale for me personally. My recollections of pterosaur like sightings seem to point to areas in the western US as predominant for that type of sighting.I have no idea why.I simply based my personal views on what I knew.

These kinds of articles bug me a little bit. We don't have a name but only references like "the man" and "the witness". In order to dig deeper we would need to find out who, exactly where and then look further. My guess is it would be pretty difficult to pin the sources down which really does a discredit to the article.

 

[Randall]

I don't know what it is about these giant bird sightings that I find so cool ... but they're absolutely one of my favorite cryptozoological topics. Here's another older link to the one spotted in Alaska:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A giant winged creature, like something out of Jurassic Park, has reportedly been sighted several times in Southwest Alaska in recent weeks. Villagers in Togiak and Manokotak say they have seen a huge bird that's much bigger than anything they have seen before. A pilot says he spotted the creature while flying passengers to Manokotak last week. He calculated that its wingspan matched the length of a wing on his Cessna 207. That's about 14 feet ... Giant Winged Creature Sighted Several Times In Alaska