NARRATOR: In myth and legend,
they've existed for centuries. History suggests a link
between these flying monsters and real creatures. This is a humerus of
argentavis compared with that of a living California condor. NARRATOR: But do giant
birds exist today? Some of these gigantic
winged creatures may have evolved or adapted
into our modern time. I've never seen a bird
that was quite this large. Just flew right
down and grabbed me. NARRATOR: Science explores the
possibility on a modern day quest to examine the evidence. I have no idea what
this bird actually is. [music playing] NARRATOR: Witnesses around the
world report seeing monsters. Are they real or imaginary? Science searches for
answers on "Monster Quest." Central Illinois. Prairies dotted with small towns
stretch off toward the horizon. It's a tranquil setting. And yet, in the 1970s,
hundreds of locals saw something ominous in
the broad skies above. They call them thunderbirds. In years to come, still
more of these giant birds are observed soaring over
Alaska, Illinois, and Texas. But what are they? 500 years before modern
day residents saw them, the ancient Indians
who lived here had identified the creature
in their legends and folklore. DUKE ADDICKS: There are two
types of thunderbird stories that I have identified,
the helpful thunderbird, and the dangerous thunderbird. NARRATOR: Western
Europeans stumbled across this more dangerous
version of the thunderbird in 1673, during their
first exploration of the middle Mississippi River. Near the Illinois
River, the expedition discovered 40 to
50 foot petroglyphs of a monstrous beast
gouged into the cliff wall. Jesuit priest Jacques
Marquette described what he saw in his journal. We saw two painted monsters,
which at first, made us afraid, and upon which the boldest
savages dare not long rest their eyes. These birds were just
absolutely jet black. Exceptionally
strong hind limbs. Very, very sharp talons. I say 8 feet
tall, more or less. About 1/3 the size
of a telephone pole. Their feathers would have
been more like 5 feet long. I've never seen a bird
that was like this large. It's just scary. That's a real scary thought
about seeing something else like that again. That's-- that's real scary. NARRATOR: Most
contemporary eyewitnesses describe a dark, feathered bird
with a hooked beak and a 15 to 25-foot wingspan. If accurate, these
descriptions indicate that whatever this creature is,
it is up to five times larger than the biggest indigenous
bird in Illinois. But there is conclusive
scientific evidence that a bird almost exactly
like the one witnesses describe once existed. We have parts of the skull,
we have parts of the legs, we have parts of the wing bones. It was so exceptional. NARRATOR: In 1980,
the partial skeleton of a teratorn, a
giant, ancient bird, was unearthed in La
Pampa, Argentina. Paleontologist Kenneth Campbell,
an expert on teratorns, flew to Argentina and
identified the fossil. He called it
Argentavis magnificens. In life, this bird would have
been approximately this tall when standing on the ground. So it could have looked me
right straight in the eye. NARRATOR: Argentavis was six
to eight million years old. It weighed
approximately 165 pounds and boasted a wingspan
of 20 to 26 feet. Their feathers would have
been more like 5 feet long. NARRATOR: Like the beaks
of eagles, condors, and other predatory birds,
the long beaks of argentavis and other teratorns are hooked. Most likely, these monsters
could swallow pray the size of a small rabbit whole. Birds that are
related to teratorns are the new world vultures,
such as the condor, the turkey vulture, the black vulture. We know this because the
bones are very similar to one another, although
they-- they have their own distinctive
trademarks. NARRATOR: And yet, teratorns
dwarf these birds in size. This is the humerus, which is
the bone, your upper arm bone. And this is a humerus of
argentavis compared with that of a living California condor. NARRATOR: Argentavis
wasn't the only wing giant. In 1972, the fossil of a
pterosaur or flying reptile was found in Texas. It was named Quetzalcoatlus
after the feathered serpent Aztec god. With a wingspan of 40 feet, it
was the largest flying reptile ever found. Experts say pterosaurs
went extinct more than 65 million years ago. The last teratorn died more
than eight million years ago. But did they? [growling, music playing] Danville, Illinois, 1972. 17-year-old John Walker is
hunting doves with a friend. It's a bright summer
day, about noon. Suddenly, Walker is
startled by a strange sound. It basically sounded as if
there was an animal caught in a trap. Do you hear that? Yeah. JOHN WALKER: And there was
absolutely no mistaking what we saw. It was just basically soaring. It wasn't flapping its wings. Come on! JOHN WALKER: If it was
some small eagle or a hawk, I mean, we would not have
been the least bit afraid. It was something
like we'd never seen. Come on, man. The shoulder going from here
down to where the tail feathers would normally be, I calculated
it between 5 and 6 feet. It's gone. No one's gonna
believe it anyway. NARRATOR: Walker made this
drawing of the creature he observed that day. The wing was very square, and
the outer feathers of the bird, at the very ends
of the feathers, were very scary
looking, as I recall. NARRATOR: Walker describes
a massive bird remarkably similar to the teratorn. It's not with beyond
the realm of possibility that some of these
gigantic winged creatures may have evolved or adapted
into our modern time. NARRATOR: Cryptozoologist
Ken Gerhard has researched the long
history of giant bird sightings from the past and present. Gerhard has found hundreds
of reports of these birds across the nation. Like Illinois and Alaska, Texas
experienced a rash of sightings of giant birds in the 1970s. The peak years seem to be 1976
and the latter part of 1975, where in a span of
about three weeks, dozens of people
here in the valley reported seeing this
gigantic winged creature. NARRATOR: Gerhard and
other cryptozoologists believe that the sheer
number of bird sightings indicate there is a modern
day species of giant bird out there. But the scientific
community is not so sure. What greater cap
could an ornithologist have in his career than to say
I discovered and described one of these creatures. It would be the holy grail. And yet, it isn't happening. NARRATOR: Dr. Pat Redig studies
birds of prey or raptors. This designation
includes today's eagles, condors, and vultures. But as much as he might like
to discover a living missing link between the extinct
teratorn and today's raptors, Redig is skeptical. I would need to see
either a live bird in hand, or the carcass of a dead bird. NARRATOR: So far, no
one has found either, despite hundreds of alleged
giant bird sightings. But in 1977, a man
who claimed to have seen one of these monsters
also captured it on film. Could this piece of
decades old silent film be the proof that
scientists like Redig need? [growling, music playing] Lake Shelbyville,
Illinois, 1977. Like others in town, John
Huffer has heard about sightings of the big birds. JOHN HUFFER: Back in
1977, there was many, many sightings of the giant
Cherokee thunderbirds flying around central Illinois. Every newspaper, every
television station was trying to get pictures
of these two giant birds. NARRATOR: Huffer is a stringer
for the local CBS affiliate, so he has a camera, and
because he is part Cherokee, he thinks he has a
better shot than most at tracking the animal. As we came up on a bay
close to the railroad bridge near point six on
Lake Shelbyville, I looked in the back of the bay,
and there was a big old dead snag of the tree, and there
was the two huge birds at 10 o'clock in the
morning roosted there. These birds was just
absolutely jet black. They had huge necks,
and their heads were like old cracked leather. They were clacking to each
other with their beaks as they were taking
off, and then they flew around in circle over
us as I was shooting footage. NARRATOR: After
the birds fly off, Huffer returns to
the TV station. They air his footage, and it
is instantly controversial. [music playing] Officials from the
Department of Conservation insist that the birds on film
are merely turkey vultures, but many believers dispute this,
contending that this bird is far bigger than any
known turkey vulture. Now, 30 years later,
these scientists will review the footage and
try to answer the question, is this bird the missing link to
the teratorn, or something else entirely? I'm intrigued, I
would have to say. I'm impressed. I can't explain-- I have no idea what
this bird actually is. [music playing] NARRATOR: In 1836, Illinois
writer John Russell published a story about
a horrifying, winged, flesh-eating creature that
terrorized for centuries the Illini tribe of
Native Americans. Russell said that
according to Illini legend, the monster was known as Piasa,
or the bird that eats men, and that its cave on
the Illinois River was littered with
piles of human bones. And ever since its
publication, giant birds have been reported soaring
in the skies above. This footage could
be proof of them. More than three decades
after it was filmed, three scientists have agreed
to analyze John Huffer's film of giant birds over
Lake Shelbyville. Could this image be a living
teratorn, an ancient giant bird with a wingspan up to 26 feet,
long thought to be extinct? [music playing] Dr. Mike Wallace at the
Zoological Society of San Diego has been studying endangered
California condors for over 29 years. You can see the
silver lining of on-- on their secondaries. The leading edge is
dark, as it should be. There's just no doubt
it's a turkey vulture. NARRATOR: Dr. David Hancock is
a historian an eagle biologist at the Hancock Wildlife
Research Center. There's a shot of a
turkey vulture soaring. Now, this is a different bird. This is another turkey
vulture by the looks of it, but a different bird,
totally different, because the wing molting
is in a different state. NARRATOR: But Dr. Patrick Redig,
the director of the Raptor Center at the University of
Minnesota, is less certain. PATRICK REDIG: It looks very
much larger than an eagle. It looks very much larger
than a turkey vulture or a black vulture. I would have to say
that it appears to me to be on the proportions of a-- of a condor. We have to acknowledge that a
very large, and exceptionally large undescribed bird
was captured on this film. [music playing] NARRATOR: Even among experts,
there is no consensus. Does the truth about
giant bird sightings lie somehow in how people
process what they see? [growling, music playing] October 16, 2002. The skies over
Manakotouk, Alaska. Southeastern Alaska has
been flooded with reports of creature sightings. The press has dubbed
them super-sized birds. That bird was at least about
1,200 feet up in the air, and those ravens looked so
tiny up there flying around it. The length of a, you
know, Super Cup small plane. NARRATOR: Commercial pilot John
Bouker has heard these reports and is skeptical. But when he looks out the window
of his Cessna 207 600 feet above the ground,
he sees something he's never seen before
flying alongside his plane. It caught my
attention, because it was quite a little bit bigger
than a regular eagle I've ever seen, and it wasn't
a bald eagle. I know that. And I noticed the bird was
bronze-colored in appearance, and he had a beak that
kind of had a curve to it. It was kind of a hook. NARRATOR: Bouker claims
the bird's wingspan was similar to a Cessna 207,
approximately 14 feet. One wing tip would be
out to the end of the wing, and the other wing tip would
be to the root of the wing. NARRATOR: Critics say
that what Bouker saw was most likely a Steller
sea eagle, which could have wing spans of up to 8 feet. Although indigenous to
Asia, stellar eagles have been spotted in Alaska. But according to Bouker-- It wasn't the Steller. I don't think it was a Steller. It was too big to be a Steller. NARRATOR: Flying at an
altitude of 600 feet, Bouker estimates the bird he
saw was 500 feet away. Just how accurate is an
eyewitness judgment of size at that height and distance? And the size of an
object does not only depend on the size of
the image on the retina, but it also depends on
the distance of the object from the observer, and the
context within which that object is viewed. NARRATOR: Huseyin Boyaci
researches prospective at the University of Minnesota. HUSEYIN BOYACI: So if you
perceive the object to be further away from
you, say, 100 meters, but actually, the object
is just 10 meters away, you're going to think that the
object is much bigger than it really is. NARRATOR: This means
that if Bouker was wrong about the distance,
if the bird he saw was not 500 feet
away, but 100, he is likely to have
overestimated its size. It also means that the
scientists who review the Lake Shelbyville footage could
not have given an accurate assessment of the bird size
without knowing how far away it was from the camera. This effect is exaggerated if
there are no visual markers to help reference the object. HUSEYIN BOYACI: In case
of objects in the sky, there are no reference frames. There are no other
objects around it against which you can try to
estimate the size or distance of the object. NARRATOR: So instead of
seeing a giant bird flying at a high altitude, eyewitnesses
could have seen a smaller bird flying much lower. This expert agrees. Without a reference, I don't
believe an individual can judge the size of a bird flying. NARRATOR: To test
this assertion, Boyaci will work with Cliff
Quinn, the American Kite Association's 2005
champion kite builder, for a simple experiment
on perspective. CLIFFORD QUINN: There were many
factors involved in the design of this particular kite. I wanted the frame to flex,
just as the condor's wings would flex. NARRATOR: The bird
kite will measure 24 feet wingtip to wingtip. According to Quinn, it is the
world's largest bird kite. CLIFFORD QUINN: When this
kite is flying up 500 feet in the air, it will-- it
will definitely look like a-- a giant condor. NARRATOR: But getting a kite
this size airborne presents several challenges. CLIFFORD QUINN: This is an
extremely long span of framing, and it had to be reinforced,
because when this bird is in flight, there is a
tremendous amount of wind pressure on the sail
area or the wing area. NARRATOR: Controlling
the massive kite could also be a problem. CLIFFORD QUINN: Beneath
the wings of this kite, I have included
what's called a keel. It's a place where I can
attach my flying line, and it also is part of
the steering system. NARRATOR: Quinn's kite and
the professional fliers who will be handling it will
soon be put to the test. OK, ready? OK, Carla, let go. OK. [music playing] The nose got bent back. NARRATOR: After several attempts
to get the enormous kite in the air, it is
finally flying, soaring 300 feet above a
small lake with nothing nearby as a solid
reference point. Passers by are stopped
and asked if they can judge the size of the
kite from wingtip to wingtip. 18 feet. That bird's at
least 100 feet wide. I thought for sure that it
was a very, very large eagle. I was guessing
between 30 and 35 feet. And I'm going 27 and
1/2 feet, which I'm pretty sure is the right guess. NARRATOR: After polling
more than a dozen people, Boyaci and Quinn have
proven one thing. On this day, nobody was
able to accurately judge the size of the kite. The demonstration shows that
people have trouble judging size from a distance
without points of reference. But what if eyewitnesses see a
giant bird and visual markers they can compare it against? [growling, music playing] 1995, Brownsville,
Texas, 4:30 AM. Guadaloupe Cantu was
delivering newspapers. Suddenly, his brother-in-law
tells him to stop. Stop! Look at that, over there. NARRATOR: Perched on a telephone
pole just off the road in front of their car sits a giant bird. I saw really like, a giant,
ancient vulture or eagle. Some predator bird. Mostly, it was black. It looked like-- like
he had stooped up shoulders, real high. I saw it turning this way,
and it had a curved beak. NARRATOR: Because the bird
is sitting on the pole, Guadaloupe believes he can
make an approximate estimate of the creature's size. GUADALOUPE CANTU: And this bird
stood up about 8 feet tall, more or less, about 1/3 third
the size of a-- of a telephone pole. It had an-- an
enormous wingspan, anywhere from 15 to 25 feet. You take like a, condor or the
eagles that you see in flight, this birds about five
times bigger than that. NARRATOR: Guadaloupe
Cantu identified a bird that most closely
resembles the extinct teratorn. And if Cantu's sighting
isn't easily explained away using perspective, the case of a
small boy in Lawndale, Illinois is even more perplexing. It had a 15-foot
wingspan on it. I mean, it was huge. Native American thunderbirds
are generally considered to be benevolent spirits. Images of them have
adorned everything from ceremonial
clothing to gravesites. DUKE ADDICKS: You have these
Indian mounds, effigy mounds around. A lot of them are in
the shape of falcons. And some people say those
Falcons represent those thunder beings. NARRATOR: But the oral
histories of some tribes, such as the Hitchiti
in modern day Georgia, and the Kwakiutl in
British Columbia, included menacing,
corporeal giant birds that snatched and ate humans. And native tribes
in South America also spoke of giant
flying man-eaters. In 1603 the Pima Indians
told Spanish explorers that they had killed
a giant flying monster by building a fire at
the mouth of its cave and asphyxiating it inside. [music playing] The bones of another
giant flying monster, similarly killed, was said to
have been found by General Don Hernando Cortez during
the pacification of Mexico and sent to Spain. Today, known birds of prey,
like eagles, turkey vultures, and condors, feed on the
flesh of small mammals. Many of us feel that it,
probably, thunderbird was-- was the golden eagle. It's a very, very
powerful animal, and has lots of other
legends around it. Possibly, the-- the California
condor was the thunderbird. Some of them are what we
call sit and wait hunters. They'll just assume a perch
on the high observatory and look for prey that
is found on the ground. Others will soar over long
distances looking for food, and can-- will take
prey in the air. NARRATOR: But if
eyewitnesses are correct, and there are giant birds living
and hunting today in America, what is their prey of choice? [growling, music playing] Lawndale, Illinois,
July 25, 1977. 1,000, 4 1,000, 5 1,000-- I was in my backyard
one day playing hide and seek with a couple
friends of mine, Willie and Travis. NARRATOR: Marlon
Lowe is 10 years old and weighs about 60 pounds. ACTOR AS MARLON LOWE: 1,000,
6 1,000, 7 1,000, 8 1,000, 9 1,000, 10. Ready or not, here I come. And I run around the house. NARRATOR: Suddenly, something
descends upon him from above. MARLON LOWE: Something
swooped down and grabbed me. I didn't-- I didn't hear
it, didn't smell it, didn't see nothing coming. So I looked up, and I
seen a big old bird. NARRATOR: According
to Lowe, the bird uses its long, curved talons to
grasp the sleeves of his tank top and lift him at least
a foot into the air. Marlon's mother, Ruth, sees
the attack from the house. Well, my mom, she took
off at me when she seen it. She took off running at me. NARRATOR: Marlon
struggles to free himself. Already, the bird
has carried him a distance of nearly 40 feet. And it dropped me,
and when it dropped me, I just took off running. ACTOR AS MARLON LOWE: Mom! Mom! Mom! NARRATOR: Marlon and
four other witnesses watch, stunned, as
the bird flies off. Oh my god. It picked me up. MARLON LOWE: And
then it flew over this street right here, tried
to land in the tree right here. It was too-- too much
weight, so it just took off flying on out of the
tree and headed for the creek. NARRATOR: Marlon Lowe's
mother files a report with the sheriff's deputy
and the county conservation officer. He tells her that her son
has been attacked by a turkey vulture. Not satisfied, Ruth Lowe
researches large birds at the public library, and
concludes that the perpetrator was similar to a
California condor. But it looked kind
of like a condor, because they had a white
ring and it was black. NARRATOR: Marlon
Lowe and his mother describe a cold black bird with
a white ring around its neck, a body as big as a man's, and
a wingspan of more than 15 feet in length. I'm quite skeptical
about that observation. NARRATOR: Dr. Mike Wallace at
the Zoological Society of San Diego has been studying
endangered California condors for over 29 years. MIKE WALLACE: Condors need the
mountains or steep canyons, deep canyons, like
in the Grand Canyon, in order to create vectors,
currents, what we call thermals for them to ride on
and to gain altitude. Out on the plains,
and way out in-- in the heartland of the US,
you're never gonna see a condo. NARRATOR: He is familiar
with the Lowe account. Well, it sounds like what he's
describing with a white ring around his neck would not
be the California condo, but an Andean condor. NARRATOR: The Andean
condor is the largest known flying creature alive today,
and the natives of South America have long told stories
of condors swooping down and snatching newborns. But while the visual
identification matches, Wallace says there's a major
problem with this theory. MIKE WALLACE: It would
be, I would have to say, impossible for an Andean
condor to lift something with its feet. Andeans, as well as
the California condor you see behind me, they
have feet much like a turkey that can't grasp or lift. NARRATOR: Patrick Redig
of the Raptor Center says that only a raptor
like a hawk or an eagle would attack with its feet. PATRICK REDIG: If we
say, for instance, look at the bald eagle, at the
golden eagle as typical birds here in North America,
but most notably is that they have extremely
strong feet that are tipped with very long, curved, powerful
talons for gripping prey. NARRATOR: X-ray analysis of the
talons of vultures and eagles reveals a huge difference in the
grasping ability of each bird. In the eagle, you can appreciate
the relative heft and size of these bones here, and compare
that to the very slender nature of the bones here on
the turkey vulture. The very large talent here,
the comparatively smaller claw on the end of the
turkey vulture's foot. [music playing] NARRATOR: While a raptor like
an eagle can lift its prey, that's not the same thing as
lifting a 10-year-old child. PATRICK REDIG: For an eagle
to be able to carry, say, an 8-pound cat, that
eagle would probably have to weigh on the order
of 16, 18, 20 pounds. And so it would take a very
large eagle, among the largest eagles that we know
exist in North America even to be able to carry a cat. NARRATOR: Another issue,
according to these experts, it is exceptionally rare for
raptors to attack humans. The only circumstance that I
can imagine an eagle actually attacking a human being
is that that eagle was raised by people,
what we call imprinted on the wrong species. It's so comfortable with humans,
that it can be very upset. NARRATOR: But this
scientist says there is one species of raptor
that has been known to attack primates. SCOTT MCGRAW: When
they make a kill, the kill usually takes
place very quickly. There's a very,
very vicious strike. That raptor comes down, hits
the animal very suddenly, very violently. NARRATOR: Scott McGraw
is Associate Professor of Anthropology and Primatology
at Ohio State University. In 1998, he traveled to
Africa to the Tai Rainforest of the Ivory Coast. Here, he studied more than 600
bones from modern day monkeys, collected from
underneath the nests of African crowned eagles. His conclusion, that these
eagles prey regularly on small primates. And if that's true, it's
reasonable to expect that early hominids were
also pursued by large raptors three to five million years ago. With its taste
for primate flesh, could the crowned eagle
have been the bird that attacked Marlon Lowe? Based upon what
I've heard, I know that they are capable of
killing at least small humans. NARRATOR: In recent
decades, North America has been captivated and baffled
by stories of giant bird sightings. But man's fascination
with these creatures, whether real or
mythic, is nothing new. [music playing] Since ancient times, authors
have written about giant birds, some of them man-eaters. Two stories in "Tales
from the Arabian Nights" relate Sinbad's
encounters with the Roc, a massive bird said to be
capable of carrying off elephants. [music playing] Hercules tangled with
and conquered man-eaters known as the Stymphalian birds. And Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's
fantasy adventure novel "The Lost World." Different cultures,
different areas. It suggests mankind has a
common fear of things that fly. But why? [music playing] Dr. Gregg Bambenek is a
psychiatrist and wildlife biologist. He believes that humans may be
hard-coded to fear large birds, because they once hunted
our pre-human ancestors. Part of it is-- is genetic
memory or the collective unconscious that those things
above us that have a large wingspan can just
come from anywhere. NARRATOR: But is there proof? One man's study in
Africa may yield it. In my mind, there's no problem
with some type of crowned hawk eagle-like bird preying upon
human ancestors three to five million years ago. NARRATOR: Scott McGraw sifted
through the bones of hundreds of monkeys found under the
nests of African crowned eagles. In 2006, he announced
his findings, that these eagles were
regularly killing monkeys as big as 20 pounds. From that finding, he theorizes. Large, airborne, carnivorous,
meat-eating birds had been a selective force in primate
evolution most likely for as long as there
had been primates. NARRATOR: As for the proof,
he and other scientists point to the skeleton of a
very young predecessor to Homo sapiens, discovered in a lime
quarry in Taung, South Africa, in 1924. SCOTT MCGRAW: Based upon what we
know the damage that they leave on the skulls of
their prey today, we can use that to interpret the
past, which is where this Taung child comes in. NARRATOR: Experts noted that
the Taung child, a three to four-year-old human ancestor
known as Australopithecus Africanus, had unique
markings in its skull. For decades, these holes
were interpreted as proof that the child was killed by a
leopard or saber-toothed cat. But in January of 2006,
paleoanthropologists announced that the tongue
child had been killed by a single blow, a
14-centimeter long talon that pierced the brain. The evidence, small
punctures and keyhole slots inside the eye sockets had been
created when the eagle used its beak to eat out the
child's eyes and brain. Modern African crowned eagles
are known to attack primates weighing as much as 24 pounds,
at least as much as the Taung child. And markings in the eye
sockets of the Taung child are identical to markings
Scott McGraw found in monkey skulls he examined. SCOTT MCGRAW: These
are photographs of the original Taung fossil. The outline here shows the-- the broken edge of the orbital
floor in the Taung fossil. And this is the broken edge of
the orbital floor in a monkey from the Tai Forest. We know this was killed
by a crowned eagle. Based upon the
similarity and damage we believe that the Taung
child was killed by a-- either a crowned eagle,
or something very similar. NARRATOR: But do crowned
eagles hunt modern man? SCOTT MCGRAW: There
are reports from-- from various
localities in Africa that crowned eagles
have preyed upon humans. There are reports
in East Africa. I think a seven-year-old child
was nearly killed in Zambia. There is a story that a-- a-- a juvenile human skull was found
in a nest of a crowned eagle in Zimbabwe. Many of these these
individuals were believed to have
weighed something around 15 or 20 pounds. [music playing] NARRATOR: A raptor attack is
a particularly gruesome way to meet one's end. SCOTT MCGRAW: A
raptor comes down, hits the animal very
suddenly, very violently. The chest cavity and
the abdominal cavity are opened up quickly, and
the organs are ripped out, and the eyes and face are--
are processed as well. [music playing] NARRATOR: Could it have been
an African crowned eagle that grabbed 10-year-old
Marlon Lowe in 1977? And if so, how did it get from
Africa to Danville, Illinois? ACTOR AS MARLON LOWE: Mom! Mom! NARRATOR: Some
Native Americans said it was a benevolent spirit. Others said it
terrorized a tribe, snatching villagers and
flying off with them. This man drew a
picture of what he saw. This man says it was as
big as a small plane. This man used a telephone
pole as a size reference. And this man, Marlon Lowe, says
that when he was 10 years old, a giant bird plucked
him from the ground and tried to fly off with him. It had a 15-foot
wingspan on it. I mean, it was huge. NARRATOR: But the
only bird of prey known to feed on human flesh
is the African crowned eagle. Could this raptor have attacked
Marlon Lowe in Illinois in 1977? I'm HDN meteorology
Dr. Joe Soebel. NARRATOR: Dr. Joe Soebel
is a forensic meteorologist who studies the impact
of weather systems. He says birds often follow the
rising currents of air just ahead of thunderstorms. JOE SOEBEL: Well,
thunderstorms, of course, are the result of rapidly
rising air currents. Birds will catch that
rising current of air and travel along with
the thunderstorm. NARRATOR: Soebel thinks the
Native American thunderbird legend may have come
from this behavior. JOE SOEBEL: Year after
year, and episode after episode, the birds would
be seen flying the updrafts in front of a
thunderstorm, and then following that would come
the thunder and the lightning and the wind and the rain. NARRATOR: Soebel
says storms have been known to alter the flight
paths of migratory birds. And although the crowned
eagle is not a migratory bird, theoretically, it is
possible for a bird to travel long distances if
caught up in a large storm. There may be another explanation
for the cluster of sightings in the 1970s, an ocean
atmospheric phenomenon. Interestingly enough, in the
late '70s, in fact, in 1977, '78, there was a strong El Nino. NARRATOR: And El Nino can
cause directional changes in prevailing trade winds,
along with their intensity. If they were to come
up from South America, through Central
America, could easily get diverted by this subtropical
jet stream perhaps a little farther east than
they normally would. NARRATOR: Even so, the
geographic obstacles presented by a transcontinental trip
make such a journey unlikely, even for a powerful
African crowned eagle. And according to Scott McGraw,
even if that bird did manage to find itself in Illinois,
it's extremely unlikely that Marlon Lowe was
snatched up by one. SCOTT MCGRAW: The eagle tends to
rip the-- the limbs off what's left of the monkey and sort of
cache pieces up in the trees and take pieces, drumsticks,
if you will, back to the nest sort of piecemeal. So this notion of
a large raptor sort of carrying an intact primate, a
heavy primate, back to the nest simply isn't true. NARRATOR: According to
experts, eagles can only carry about half their body weight. In order for a bird to pick
up and carry a 65 pound boy, it would certainly have
to be a very large bird. So we're talking
150, 160 pound bird. NARRATOR: According to Marlon
Lowe's description, that is what he saw, a massive
bird the size of a man, with at least a
15-foot wingspan. It looked like a condor,
but behaved like a raptor. But no living bird
has been identified that fits this description. [music playing] Is there a remote
corner of the world that could harbor a giant bird
with a 15 to 20-foot wingspan? And if a giant
species does exist, could it remain undetected? They depend upon
moving around. They depend upon being aerial. They would be seen and
having to expose themselves to being seen, otherwise, they
wouldn't be a bird of prey. They have to go out
and find things. NARRATOR: In fact,
previously unknown species are discovered all the time. In 2002, several
new primate species were discovered in
the Amazon rainforest. And in 2004, a new bird
species was discovered on one of the Philippine islands. Also, experts concede
that however unlikely, it is possible
that a single freak aberration of a known
species may exist somewhere. Every once in a while, there
will be some genetic problem, a mutation of some kind
that will trigger something that an individual
creature will get huge. I mean there are
several huge people, there are several huge steers. That happens on occasion. So gigantism among
individuals is rare, but it does, on
occasion, happen. NARRATOR: So what
happened to Marlon Lowe? The odds are against
the existence of a previously unknown species
or a single freak of nature. Instead, the most
likely explanation is that Lowe was knocked off his
feet by a known bird, probably a large raptor. 70 pounds is far past the
carrying capacity of any North American bird. That does not mean it couldn't
jump and move an object that was 40 or 50 pounds. Many a bird could move an
object that is 40 or 50 pounds. Doesn't mean it can
lift it, however. NARRATOR: Up close, a
raptor's 5 to 7-foot wingspan combined
with grabbing talons would have been powerful
and frightening. As he has for 30 years,
however, Marlon Lowe insists that he was picked up
and carried by a bird too big to be an eagle or
a turkey vulture. Well, I'm sorry to
say, it did happen to me. NARRATOR: History proves
that giant birds did live at one time. The sheer number of
contemporary sightings indicates that people have
seen, or believe they have seen, something ominous
in the skies above. I was just happy
to make it to the car safely without being attacked. I struck one for
the Cherokee people and I filmed a living legend. I remember
everything every day to the T. I remember
what happened to me. I had nightmares for
a long time there. There are possibly hundreds
of these thunderbird sightings on record in modern times. We cannot totally ignore the
possibility that they do exist. NARRATOR: But at
this time, science does not support the probability
that giant birds exist in the modern world. To find a new species in the
heartland of the United States is-- is pretty improbable. That would be very exciting,
to notice something that isn't in the-- in the guidebooks. NARRATOR: Until there
is hard evidence, native storyteller Duke
Addicks suggests this. So there's all kinds of stuff
we believe in that don't have any scientific proof behind it. Why not monsters? Why not thunderbirds? Why not the incredible? [bird calling, music playing]
