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Thunderbird is a term used in cryptozoology to describe large, bird-like creatures, generally identified with the Thunderbird of Native American tradition. Similar cryptids reported in the Old World are often called Rocs. Thunderbirds are regarded by a small number of researchers as having lizard features like the extinct pterosaurs such as ''Pteranodon''. Reports of Thunderbird sightings go back centuries,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= The Giant Thunderbird Returns )〕 and the fossil record does show that giant birds (teratorns) with wingspans between were likely contemporary with early man. Today the creature is generally regarded as a myth. This article deals with modern sightings (the last 200 years) of such a creature, reported as real, as opposed to mythological accounts, though believers in the phenomenon often use the Native American legends in attempts to support their claims. ==Early reports== There is a story that in April 1890, two cowboys in Arizona killed a giant birdlike creature with an enormous wingspan. It was said to have had smooth skin, featherless wings like a bat and a face that resembled an alligator. This description has some similarity to that of a prehistoric pterodactyl—an animal whose existence was known at the time. They are supposed to have dragged the carcass back to town, where it was pinned with wings outstretched across the entire length of a barn. A picture of this event may have been published in the local newspaper, the ''Tombstone Epitaph''. Cryptozoology.com has an account of this story with the events taking place in the state of Texas. According to Mark Hall, the ''Epitaph'' did indeed print a story about the capture of a large, unusual winged creature on April 26, 1890. Beyond this single story, however, no one has made historic corroboration that this event ever occurred; it is usually considered an urban legend. Utterly fictional tall tales were not an uncommon feature in newspapers during this era. No one has ever produced a copy of the "Thunderbird" photograph, though numerous people, Ivan T. Sanderson being one of the better known, have made claims to its existence. Sanderson claimed to have once owned a copy of the photo, which vanished after he loaned it to an acquaintance in the 1960s. The television program ''Freaky Links'' staged a similar photo, giving new life to the "Thunderbird Photograph" legend.〔(【引用サイトリンク】publisher= The Cryptozoologist )〕 Jerome Clark speculates that the description of the basic image in question (men standing alongside a winged creature nailed to a barn), is evocative enough to implant a sort of false memory, leading some people to vaguely "remember" seeing the photo at some distant, imprecise time. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Thunderbird (cryptozoology)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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