Weird Club: The Thunderbird Re-Visited

[00:00:00] Hi there, and welcome to Out There: A Cryptid Podcast. I'm Josh. And today we have a special edition of Weird Club, celebrating the first ever episode of Out There. We've got your ghost host, TJ, coming on to discuss the legendary Thunderbird. We'll talk about all the sightings and what we think is really flying in the sky. Let's dive in. We'll get into the Thunderbird Weird Club right after this.

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[00:01:24] All right, guys. So this is the first weird club with just TJ and I. So your ghost host and your cryptid host, I guess. But isn't that crazy? This is the first time in two years now that we're doing this? Yeah, no. It's weird that me and Trevor went and did one before we ever did.

[00:01:47] Exactly. Exactly. And what a better what better episode to do it on than the original out there episode, the Thunderbird. You know, revisiting this one was honestly like the amount of of new sightings is actually kind of crazy. Yeah, that kind of shocked me. Yeah, I thought it was one of those that kind of fell off and. You know, we just hadn't heard about a while until. You found all those.

[00:02:17] Well, it's a whole website where like and like I didn't even I didn't even read half of them, but there's so many on there that are just like, you know, one off sightings or something. But it is definitely interesting. Do you do you have any experiences with a Thunderbird or a large bird that you? I do not. And if I did, I would probably never go outside again.

[00:02:41] Hundred percent. Hundred percent. And that's how I live my life, especially when it comes to Owlman over in Cornwall, England, because I'm not going there. But yeah, I don't know. What would you do if you went out and you saw a Thunderbird that was an owl? Probably lay down and just accept death, either from a heart attack or from it. But it would be death from one of the other or I just pee myself.

[00:03:09] I'm not really entirely sure, but I know it wouldn't be good for sure. But nonetheless, Thunderbird's still one of my favorite cryptids. I just I do find it very interesting, I think, because honestly, it's one of the most like plausible cryptids. Yeah, because it's not.

[00:03:34] This sounds like this sounds bad. It's not like crazy sightings, but I don't mean that like every other cryptid has crazy sightings, but I do mean that also there are some cryptids that we got it like. Whoa, like Fresno nightcrawlers. That would be insane. But this one just being like a giant bird is kind of like. OK, you've already like peaked, peaked my interest in the in the skeptics way.

[00:04:01] Yeah, I can see how plausible it could be from the start before you even like tell me all the evidence, like just the name of it and like the description. I'm like, oh, OK, I can believe that. Yeah, that's why I like it, because even like you said, the the sightings aren't crazy, but the descriptions of it, like it's not like Mothman where someone's seeing this humanoid black figure with red eyes or anything. It's just a massive bird. Yeah, it's completely possible.

[00:04:30] Yeah. And of course, because it does have so much Native American roots to it, I'm always more inclined to believe that something's happening. 100 percent. But at the same time, we do have to realize that a lot of Native American stories about like these creatures and stuff,

[00:04:53] like we mentioned in the episode, were not meant all the time to be taken so literally. You know, they're just just like any other sort of folklore. Or this story is used sometimes as a warning or just sometimes as an explanation for something. So, you know, we have the giant Thunderbird in the legends and they sit on top of the totem pole and everything.

[00:05:23] It's not necessarily I don't think that it's not it's not necessarily that this creature was, you know, riding on the wings of thunder and causing these thunderstorms. It might have been a way to explain thunderstorms in the same way that, you know, I don't know if you ever if your parents ever told you this growing up.

[00:05:45] But like, I remember hearing like when I was a kid and like afraid of thunderstorms that like, oh, it's just your grandparents in the sky bowling or like, you know, now I'm crazy. But I feel like there was like those explanations to sort of make you less scared of something or to explain it.

[00:06:06] Tied into the fact that like, of course, they were seeing every animal that you could possibly see because there wasn't deforestation or anything like that just yet. But at the same time, these are the people who were living on the land, seeing every kind of animal possible. So if they're saying, oh, no, that's not like a vulture. That's a Thunderbird. You're kind of like, OK, well, fuck me.

[00:06:35] I guess that must be like, yeah, of course. So, yeah, I mean, they weren't they weren't tracking stuff like we like we do today. Like we have hundreds of different species of birds. They probably couldn't tell the difference. Right. As well as we can. Yeah. Or like they just they just sort of like. I think they're like, that's the thing. It's like they had names for them and this is all speculation, but they had names for them that weren't like turkey vultures or like the bald eagle.

[00:07:04] But it was like, oh, no, that's like the spirit of this or like that's this thing. And that way it is sort of the same way that we're like, we can look in the sky and be like, oh, that's just a morning dove flying or like, oh, that's a pigeon. But it is it's interesting that you still have those stories and they were still so revered because you do have legends where, you know, these cryptids sort of like like Mothman.

[00:07:34] These cryptids just started all of a sudden in the 50s or like the 60s. And then that was it. So we're already starting strong with Thunderbird having these ties to the true people that were living off the land before any of us were. But then the crazy thing is, is that like the sightings never really stopped.

[00:07:56] I mean, what do you make of like the the really early sightings where they supposedly were like more leathery bat wings and like more pterodactyl like in. I don't know. I don't know about that was. Yeah, I don't know.

[00:08:22] I mean, it's you'd have to think it's kind of in the same vein of. It could just be a giant bat. Right. We know it's it would be way more likely that a giant bird exists instead of a giant bat. Yeah. Or even that a pterodactyl is still alive today. Yeah. Or was alive then. I mean, like, I think we do have to like really think about.

[00:08:48] And we've talked about this a lot, but I do think we have to start getting real serious when we start saying that dinosaurs are an explanation for something, because it's like, wait, guys, like we really need to understand how long ago dinosaurs actually did live and die. That like in order to survive, they would have had to have mated and not mated with like their siblings like they need to mate with like non family members. So there was no inbreeding and stuff like that.

[00:09:16] So like, although it is totally possible, I do think we have to start getting a little more critical of that. But that doesn't mean, you know, I'm not talking about like, like Gigantopithecus to me is a different beast, especially because it was. Were there in prehistoric times, were there giant birds or? Or was that a little after?

[00:09:43] There was the Teratorne, but I think that came in way after. But we're going to ask Google right this second. Okay. Because I was wondering, like, with my weird club with Mr. E, he really opened my eyes to how some of these like ancient species went extinct and not just like, oh, a big rock hit the earth and a bunch of them got killed off.

[00:10:08] No, like he went into, for those who haven't seen the episode, he went into like how the Megalodon and the Leviathan ended up having their food supplies evolve, like out evolve them and develop like societal defenses.

[00:10:27] And I'm wondering, like, if there was a giant bird at the time, like if it could have adapted and survived long enough that we, that they'd be around for us to document them. And then, you know, it's a massive species. It's not going to be around forever for the same reasons that Leviathan and Megalodon went extinct. So. Right. More on the Thunderbird weird club right after this.

[00:10:55] I mean, so Google is saying that. So, okay. Like, because technically dinosaurs were birds because like chickens are the most closely related to like T-Rexes and stuff. Somehow. Yeah. We're still confused about that. But at least Google is saying that the first true like giant flying birds was a bony tooth Pelagorn thidids. I'm definitely saying that wrong.

[00:11:23] But they were around about 50 million years ago. So, they were closer to like, it says like they lived for like 25 to 28 million years. But their species eventually evolved into, you know, like smaller birds and like seagulls and all those things.

[00:11:49] So, like, I do feel like flying, flying dinosaurs and stuff to me stood a greater chance of surviving than anything that lived on land. Mainly because they can just like be in the sky and be like, haha suckers, like you guys are screwed. But. Yeah. Natural disaster. They migrate.

[00:12:15] They don't, you know, they'll feed off like other dinosaurs that are on the land or in the water. I think, yeah, they're the most adaptable. Well, that's what I mean. And like also like if all the other dinosaurs are like kind of dying on land and they were carnivores. I mean, well, there you go. Now you got dead dinosaurs everywhere, free food and no competition except for yourself. So, there is that.

[00:12:42] But I don't think Thunderbird is. I don't think it's a prehistoric bird in the sense of like a pterodactyl, although that would be super dope. I think that when you look at like just all of the sightings, they all describe them as, you know, large birds, but like as birds.

[00:13:03] But, you know, we have all of these descriptions of like different colorations, too, which start to stick out because, you know, for the most part, everybody's descriptions are like basically the same. You have the massive wingspans and like the sort of gliding without flapping their wings, which is a very big, large bird of prey, especially like that's how they fly.

[00:13:30] And most of the time, everybody says they're they were dark coloration. But then you have some that were like like the Reddit story where it's like, oh, there was red on him. But then you have other cases where like they said they had a white ring around their neck. So then it gets into this sort of thing of like, so are there different species of Thunderbirds? Yeah, I'm wondering how close.

[00:13:55] That like how big is a wingspan that they say a Thunderbird normally is? Well, it depends because like there's some that say they're up to like 70 feet, but a lot of people are more saying like 20 to like 30 feet, which is like like insane. That's that's crazy.

[00:14:17] Yeah, when you when you really think about it, like even even normal birds like, you know, the stellar eagle and or like the eagle and vultures who have like six foot wingspans. That's insane. That's like the size of a of an adult person like laying across. So that's already too much. I was I was asking because I was like, how how easy can you see a bird's color like from the ground with how with how high they normally fly?

[00:14:46] Like I may just have bad eyes. I wear glasses, but I can't judge a bird's color very well when it's flying. But if it if it is like 30 foot wingspan, I mean, I'm sure that's a lot easier. Right. But I guess at the same time, it's like, well, no, I was about to I was about to compare it to an airplane. But like, that's not how that works. I was like, well, like, you know, you can see a rest in peace, but you can see a spirit airline up there. You know, look, it's yellow.

[00:15:13] But I it I feel like, yeah, it is. How are you able to see the color? So like these people must be seeing it either because it's super close or because they got a good look at it. You know, a lot of them did say that it was it was sitting on a tree or, you know, something like that. But then we get to.

[00:15:34] To me, of course, which makes me so excited about this cryptid, but also what like is so interesting is that somehow like Illinois and Pennsylvania, like not that Pennsylvania is technically the Midwest, but like that Midwestern area somehow became like the Thunderbird hub. Like that's where Thunderbirds now hang out.

[00:15:57] That's kind of weird to me because I would think that it's more like the like the plains, like maybe like Colorado, like Kansas, like that area. It just feels like it doesn't make sense. No, exactly. Like what are they hanging out in Ohio? Just like in like Akron or something. You know what I mean? Like, you know, you can just go to Colorado and kind of like be in the desert by yourself or like go to a mountain. But I don't know. It's just the Midwest is kind of crazy.

[00:16:24] But it is interesting also that like the other place that Mothman is sighted is Chicago all the time, which is also like weird. Midwest has got every kind of cryptid in it. It's oh, yeah, it's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. But, you know, so you start to have all these sightings there.

[00:16:44] And I'm I feel like I guess maybe because it's just closer to where I grew up, you know, Pennsylvania, that I'm like, OK, well, if these people, you know, we see vultures all the time, which are very large birds and stuff like that. But like, OK, so if they're seeing something big, then they're seeing something big. And I feel like they know the difference between a vulture and whatever bird they're seeing, you know, whatever this thunderbird is. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong there.

[00:17:13] But then we get to the best, probably the best cryptid sighting like ever, which is the 1977 low family incident where, you know, what was his name? Roland? Is that his name again? I don't remember. And I don't remember either. I think I'm thinking of Roland. No, Marlon. I was close. I was thinking of Roland. It's like an hour and a half ago. I should know this.

[00:17:38] I was thinking of Roland, the guy that got possessed that caused the all the movies and everything. But no, not Roland. Marlon, who that poor kid got picked up into the sky by a frickin Thunderbird. And that see that one for me is like you cannot explain to me how a and like the kid. He wasn't like a baby. Like, yeah, if he was a baby, I'd be like, OK, a large vulture could pick that up.

[00:18:07] But like he was like five years old. Like that's that's a substantial like he was at least 30 pounds. See, my my hang up on that is. If it's a Thunderbird and they're usually 20, 20, 30 foot wingspan and it goes picks this kid up and eventually flies away. How did no one else hear it?

[00:18:34] Like we can hear helicopters from pretty far away. If it's a bird that big, you could you can hear it pretty, pretty easily. I would think. Well, but then you also have owls that fly and you don't hear a single sound from their wings. Even the large ones. You got me there. So it could be something like that. I mean, for me, it's more like you're telling me that like nobody else saw giant birds in the area.

[00:19:02] And then they these two came and picked up this kid. That's that's like the hang up. But at the same time, why would you make up that? Like, that's a weird story to make up. Yeah. I mean, at the same time, there are like birds of prey that have picked up kids. Yeah, that's true. Could have just been a really big one. But I mean, I'd like to suspend my disbelief and think that a giant bird picked this kid up.

[00:19:32] I mean, that's that's right. And and, you know, it's the same way that it was with like the Hopkinsville, although that's like the best incident that's ever happened. But it's the same thing where like the family didn't really want anybody to talk about like they were kind of just like I was just like I feel like the mom was basically just Ruth was like, girl, I'm just trying to report this. You know, I'm scared. My kid almost just got eaten by a bird. I'm just trying to garden out here.

[00:20:01] Like, leave me alone. So, like, I always find that if that's your if that's the response from the person, I'm kind of like, oh, OK, so that did happen because they don't. It does make it a lot more people. Yeah. And like Marlon's probably like, bro, I don't want fame. I just didn't want to get like lift into the sky and like taken to a nest. Like, that's crazy. Yeah.

[00:20:25] But what makes this one even crazier is then the footage that came basically a couple months after. And it's like the first big footage we have of Thunderbird. And it's it's on the Instagram post if you if y'all need to go see it. But it does show to what look to be large dark birds flying around.

[00:20:53] And now to me. I feel like they look like vultures, but I've always thought that like it just it looks like a vulture flying. But at the same time, I don't know. I like they're landing on trees and stuff and like they do look large. But I guess I don't know how big the tree is. So, like, you can't really like it could be a crow for all I know. If the tree looks like that.

[00:21:22] Well, it's like you said in your episode, a big part of the Thunderbird myth is people not being able to accurately judge size from from long distances. And that's I think for Thunderbird as a whole. That's my biggest hang up. Like while while I think Thunderbird is entirely possible and probably did exist at one point.

[00:21:47] I don't think we have any now or it would be a lot better documented. Better documented. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. But no, I think now it's a lot of miscalculations on size. Yeah. I mean, here's the thing.

[00:22:09] In the same way that I believe that Bigfoot is a species of ape that have figured out how to live in the land and have figured out how to not be found. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a giant bird species that is doing the same thing. I guess the only thing is that, like, with something like Sasquatch and Bigfoot as a whole is like their whole thing is they are intelligent beings.

[00:22:38] Whereas, you know, sort of not to like this on the birds, but like, I don't know. I don't think they're like that smart. I mean, you have crows that are like intelligent, but you know. Yeah. I think that a lot of the stories coming from the Midwest is kind of weird because I could see how giant birds are existing in hiding in like national parks or something.

[00:23:05] Kind of like crawlers and where a lot of Bigfoot sightings come from. Yeah. Because there's so much land that people aren't at like nearly ever. Mm hmm. So that would make sense. But in the Midwest, I know that's the thing that just keeps me keeps me questioning it. But the weird thing is, is that like the sightings don't stop. Like this is one of those cryptids where I couldn't include all of the sightings.

[00:23:33] Like if I if I had included all the sightings, I we would have been there for we were already there for like 40 minutes. We would have been there for two hours talking about it. But and the fact that the sightings are basically all the same is quite interesting. How it very much is, you know, a giant bird. I saw it flying or I saw it perched on a tree. And then when it did fly, it was gliding. It wasn't flapping its wings.

[00:24:00] So there is that consistency where you are like, OK, well, if all these people and especially from that website where it's like people from Colorado, it's from all these different places. You are kind of like, OK, well, that is interesting that you are all seeing the same thing and claiming that they are way too big to be normal birds. Like that's that's strange. That's definitely strange.

[00:24:21] But we also have that sighting in Colorado that was a literal Thunderbird. And it's the one where the guy said he saw it flying literally on like a storm front. And to me, I mean, hello, that is if that's exactly what the Native American legends were all saying. You're kind of like, oh, OK, well, case closed. Perfect. I mean, he saw it. So that's the Thunderbird.

[00:24:52] Yeah, I think that one's a lot more likely to be a Thunderbird than the than the kid getting picked up. Yeah, but I don't know. Continuing to play devil's advocate, a bird can migrate away from storm. So, yeah, a bird can be flying away from a storm and it's like that's kind of normal to like they don't want to be in the sky during a storm.

[00:25:16] But, you know, I think the real kicker is again that like this whatever this is, whatever this giant bird that's being seen, people are saying or at least believing it's big enough to report it as a cryptid as a creature that they don't know what it is.

[00:25:40] Rather than like what I think you or I would see if we saw a giant bird in the sky, we'd be like, oh, that is a large bird. Anyway, I'm going to go get some French fries today. You know, or like got to finish the laundry. Like, I don't I just feel like we have they're actually being concerned about it. Right. So then I'm like, oh, yeah. So I'm like, oh, shit. Maybe maybe I would be also knocking down the the cryptid world to be like, OK, guys, I saw it.

[00:26:05] But it's interesting how, again, people are saying consistent reports over and over. And that this whatever this is, is still being reported from, you know, Native American times all the way up until current events.

[00:26:30] And then we have the first Reddit story ever read on out there, which is super cool. But we have it and it's the one from Canada in 2011. And that story is weird, I feel like, because the way that he described this large bird in the tree, like wings up, sort of like screaming at them.

[00:26:57] It does scream territorial or like, you know, that it was caught in a moment that it didn't that it felt threatened, at least. And unlike a lot of the other ones where people saw it in the sky or, you know, flying above them, this one was seen like from their deck. Then they went outside and they could still see it. And so like they were like feet away from it.

[00:27:25] And that's where you're like, OK, so what could that have been? Yeah, I see if if if if they if they came up to me and was like, I saw this bird sitting like pretty much at the end of my deck. Mm hmm. And it was massive. I'd be like, OK, yeah, I'd probably I'd probably believe you. It wasn't flying like 100 feet above you. So right. Right. And that's like that's the one.

[00:27:53] I mean, first off, what a fantastic first Reddit story to ever be read on out there, because that's pretty dope. But also it is a it's another story of this cryptid that sort of breaks the mold of like. OK, yeah, that is weird. That's a it's a weird sighting to have. And and there's there are possible explanations for it, but there's also not explanations for it.

[00:28:19] Like it's one of those things where it's a lot harder to just say, oh, it was a sandhill crane or whatever. Yeah, because it definitely wasn't a sandhill crane. Let's be honest, guys. OK, that one was not a sandhill crane. Others could have been, but not that one. But also, no, we should get merch that's got like just like Mothman or something on it. And it just says it's probably a sandhill crane. Yeah. Like, honestly, guys, can I take a second to talk about that?

[00:28:47] I feel like I've seen a sandhill crane, I think now. And yeah, it was scary. But guess what, guys? It doesn't look anything like the cryptids that everybody keeps saying it looks like. So I don't really know why we keep saying that. I don't get how like it's just this thing in the cryptid community that when you're debunking it, every cryptid is a sandhill crane. They can look completely different. And they're like, it's a sandhill crane. Sandhill crane. Bigfoot. It could be a sandhill crane. I don't know. I'm not throwing it on you. Very hairy. Sandhill crane.

[00:29:16] It's a sandhill crane just in Washington. So it's Bigfoot. It could be. I don't know, guys. Yeah. But this one, there's no way that this is a sandhill crane. And if this is a sandhill crane, that's it. I'm throwing in the towel. I'm done. I'm out. No way. Shut the show down. Yeah. They're all cranes. We're good. Everything's a crane. I'm a crane. You're a crane. Loch Ness Monster was a sandhill crane. Sandhill crane. Whatever. That one's swimming. Yeah.

[00:29:43] But I just feel like the crane's got to go. And that's what I'll say on the crane. And I'll go back to Thunderbird now. But, you know, you have these, like, we do have large birds. Like, that's a real thing. We have giant birds. Did you, wait, did I tell you about how a bald eagle flew right in front of my window here? No. Oh, my gosh. Okay. This was on my Instagram. So now I'll have to put it on.

[00:30:12] It was, like, on one of my Instagram stories. But, yeah, I was literally, like, in my kitchen. And it was on a Sunday. On your Instagram story? How did I not see it? Well, it was, like, a long time ago. You know, it's only there for, like, 24 hours. But, okay. So I was, picture me in my kitchen, right? And I'm making, I think I was literally making lunch. Like, I was just, like, hanging out. And I just happened to look outside.

[00:30:39] And I literally saw a bald eagle, like, flying around out there. It was being chased by crows. But, like, ready? Look at how crazy this is for everyone to watch. Oh, my God. Look at that. What the hell? You know, that's got me wondering how fast, like, a thunderbird would actually be.

[00:31:09] Because if a thunderbird is about as fast as, like, our regular birds, that's terrifying. Yeah. And, like, that looks like a small bird. You know what I mean? Like, that looks like a small bird. That's a bald eagle. So that thing's at least, like, four feet wingspan. And, like, giant claws. There's a species. I think it's a species of hawk. And it makes its nests really high.

[00:31:37] So that when it hunts its prey, it dive bombs them. And, like, hits them with its, like, full body. Yeah. Imagine a thunderbird doing that. Go ask Marlin. Okay. Because he knows. Yeah. And that's why. He would know. He would know. He knows it. And that's why he was so messed up after that. More on the Thunderbird Weird Club right after this. No, but it is crazy.

[00:32:04] I mean, like, when you're talking about that, you have the staircase murder, which is one of the most famous, like, true crime cases up in, I think it was Long Island. But maybe it was in North Carolina. I can't remember. It's one or the other. It's either up north or it's down south. Um, but one of the theories on why this woman died was that she went out into the front yard to, like, fix Christmas lights and an owl dive bomb and, like, cut her head open.

[00:32:31] So then she went back inside and, like, they had the whole, the whole thing was that because they found a feather in her hair and the feather, like, was an owl's feather. So they came up with this whole theory that she went out to, like, fix Christmas lights after, like, she had a fight with her husband or something. The owl dive bombed her, like, basically cracked her head open and she was concussed. So then she went inside and started going up the stairs and then, like, fell backwards.

[00:33:01] And then, like, that's how she ended up dying. But, like, that's, like, a real thing. And they had an owl expert come to trial because it was, like, an actual, like, trying to, like, show reasonable doubt. But, um, I don't think it worked. I think he was still found guilty. Or maybe he wasn't. I don't remember. But the owl theory is, like, the first time that, not the first time, but it was, like, a big moment where I was, like, see, guys, that's why I'm afraid of them.

[00:33:26] Like, because the owl expert was, like, oh, yeah, being hit, like, depending on how high the owl was, like, the force that they have is, like, the same force as being hit by a car. Are you kidding? Yeah. Like, are you kidding me? Absolutely not. But, so, you know, if a small bird. I may be convinced to fear owls. Thank you. Thanks, everybody. Like, hello. We've been doing this for years now. And I think everyone should be afraid of owls.

[00:33:54] Except for, honestly, barn owls are starting to grow on me. I'll say it. I'll say it. I think they're kind of cute now. And the burrowing ones, of course. The burrowing ones because of Hoot, the fantastic film made back in the day. Hoot is based on a book. But, you know, you have all these, like, giant birds that could be seen as a thunderbird. You know, you have the condors, vultures, of course.

[00:34:25] But then when you have, like, when you do start to, like, look at the ones, like, that are living around America. The only, to me, like, the only answer would either be it's a condor or a vulture of some sort. Yeah. Just, like, by the descriptions. And here's the big thing.

[00:34:47] I do think probably most thunderbird sightings are either a condor or a turkey vulture or a different vulture. I just think that, like, that is what it is. I think that when you're out in the forest or whatever and you look up and you see a giant bird or see a giant shadow, you're like, whoa, that was huge. That couldn't have been a normal bird.

[00:35:14] And it's just because the perspective of, like, there's nothing in the sky to compare it to. So you're kind of at the whim of your fear already because you're out in an unknown area or you're in this unknown scenario. Plus seeing something. You've got my gears turning. Why? What are you thinking? Now I'm wondering. How many reports? Hold on. How many reports are there of thunderbirds outside of the U.S.?

[00:35:43] Well, Canada, I feel like, is the only one. But you've got to Google that. Mainly Canada, Mexico, U.S. Apparently Australia a little bit. Yeah. UK has some sporadic reports. Okay, so it's mostly confined to North America. Yeah. Okay.

[00:36:12] So this has got me thinking. If it's mostly confined to North America, what? What are the birds that we are, like, most commonly saying that it could be? And are those birds mainly living in North America? Yeah. Like vultures. Yeah. Because if that's, like, the same. Like, if it's just these vultures and, like, condors that are the most likely suspects of thunderbirds. Yeah. And they mainly live here.

[00:36:41] And that's where we're getting thunderbirds. That's probably what they are. Right. Like, I don't think vultures are in other countries. Where are vultures mainly living? Watch. We're going to find out they're worldwide. They're, like, everywhere. Oh. Oh, are they? Oh, no. They're on every continent except Antarctica and Australia. Which does make sense. There's no vultures in Australia, really?

[00:37:10] I guess not, which is kind of weird. But Africa, they are in Asia. Oh, apparently their preferred habitats are literally Africa and Asia. So, like, we're, like, subset in North America. Okay. So, news to me. But I do still think that that, like, that's kind of the big overarching feeling of this cryptid.

[00:37:35] Is that, you know, we, and we also don't have the largest species of birds living in America. Because we don't have the stellar sea eagle. I think that one's in Asia, right? Stellar sea eagle. Or, no, maybe that's South America I'm thinking about. But, you know, you have these, you still have these, like, giant birds.

[00:38:06] Oh, yeah. North, Northeast Asia is the stellar sea eagle. Which is the largest one. But also, those ones are, like, really easy to tell. Because they're really pretty. They're brown with, like, white spots on their wings and stuff. And have, like, the brightest yellow claws and beak. In the same way that, like, when you look at a bald eagle, you're literally like, yeah, that's a bald eagle. Like, yep, bald eagle. I can see it. Done.

[00:38:34] But then when you look at a vulture, you're kind of like, I don't know, it's a gross, really large bird. That's dark. And they're always dark, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I do think it's definitely, it's definitely interesting. But I don't. Yeah. I looked up the, like, 10 across the world. The 10 largest flying birds. Yeah.

[00:39:01] None of them are located in the U.S., which is really interesting. So then we're back to, okay, so this is a thunderbird. This is a cryptid. Yeah. Or, or we're back to the sort of what my Jersey Devil conclusion was, is that what we've seen,

[00:39:29] and I think this is actually very recent, there was literally a bird from a different continent found in America for the first time, like, ever. Um, but, and, wait, what are those, what's those Australian birds? I feel like I've talked about this before. What's those Australian birds? They're like, they're not kazoos, because that's not a bird. That's an instrument. What? Oh, yes. The flying kazoo. What's the bird? It's like a, it's not a cockatoo.

[00:40:00] Cuckoo bara. Cuckoo bara. Cuckoo bara. I've seen a cuckoo bara. I saw it in California on the Catalina Island. Huh? Like, I 100% saw it. It was literally right above my head, and I, I thought it was an animatronic, because I, we were, like, we were playing mini golf. And I was like, oh my gosh. Then I was like, that's a really weird bird. And I was raised by a bird woman. So I, I look at birds.

[00:40:27] Um, but I was like, that's a really weird bird. And then I got back, like, was thinking about it. And I was like, first off, I don't know why I didn't take a picture. Guys, I'm kind of the worst cryptid hunter ever. It's that time that I literally saw whatever that sea monster was. And I just, like, stayed inside. Instead of, like, going. Instead of hunting it down. Instead of, like, going to see what it was, I just kind of was like, that was weird. Got it on film, so that's good. Like, come on. That's more than I've ever done.

[00:40:55] Well, yeah, but still, that is disgraceful of me. Okay, that's, that's horrible. So I should not be proud of that. But, you know, I do think that it is possible that there were some of these birds from different countries that were somehow migrated here or escaped from a private collection or whatever. And some of those sightings are like that. Like weird sightings that people are like, I've never seen that before. That's weird.

[00:41:25] And so now it's a monster. Rather than being like, whoa, oh, that's a weird bird that I've never seen before. Hmm. Must be a different species. You know, I think that's one of the theories with the Ozark Haller as well, is that it was a black panther that escaped from an exotic collector. Yeah. Well, also, there was just another, a video that came out of a black cougar, I think, found somewhere. I just saw it on the news.

[00:41:53] But I don't know, maybe the video was just of a, like a normal black cat. But I remember it's like, the video is like, it's appearing over a ledge. And like the woman in the video, the caption was like, this is the first time a black cougar or a black puma or whatever has been spotted in like years. So it could be that too. But none just like, none to say. But it is, you know, it is very possible that, that this is a very real animal

[00:42:21] that either isn't sighted often. So people are not used to it or that is sighted so rarely that people again are not used to it. It's definitely one of those things where like, I don't know. I just, we don't have, like there's no physical evidence whatsoever. We don't have a body. We don't have anything like that. The only evidence we have are stories. And then we have one video. So like,

[00:42:51] I don't know what we're supposed to believe. This is a call for all you listeners. If you get attacked by a massive bird with a 10 foot plus wingspan, get a feather off of it and take it, take it to a scientist. Or take one for the team, go, and then figure it out for us. Come back and like survive. I don't know. It's like, if you were chosen, right. If you were chosen by the Thunderbird,

[00:43:20] like that's kind of on you. You do have to look inside yourself to realize why you were chosen, but you were. So like figure it out, go there and like kind of help us all out in the same way that like, if one of us is adopted by Sasquatch, like you kind of have to live there now, like learn it all, come back and tell it there and report back. Right. It's, it's, it's just the call to action. Okay guys, it's your duty as cryptid hunters like us. You just have to do it. And if you get taken by a crawler,

[00:43:50] I'm sorry, we're not coming for you. Oh no. I mean, honestly, if you're taken by a Thunderbird, I'm not coming for you. I would say that. Like you can come back whenever you're ready, but like, I'm good. I don't really need to be near a bird like that. That's kind of just too much for me. Oh, you know, you know what I just thought of the similar to how different cultures have the same, like dragons, giants, all that. The, the, uh,

[00:44:19] Asian countries do have the Phoenix. Yes. Which is similar to the Thunderbird. For sure. Definitely. Like a cousin. So, I mean, wondering if Thunderbird was over in Asian countries for a little bit. Yeah. I feel like, I mean, it's also interesting that there's is like fire and then ours was from like lightning and stuff. Um, you know, I, I,

[00:44:47] I think I'll always be in the camp that Thunderbirds real just from my own stubbornness. Um, but it's also because there's not enough evidence to prove it's not real. Like there's not enough evidence to prove it is real. It's way too viable. Right. Like there's also not enough to say like, no, it's not. So then I'm kind of like, great. Then it is. It's real. And I will be looking forward to seeing it. I, I lean into the,

[00:45:17] it may not be alive now, but it probably was at one point. Yeah. That's definitely fair. I mean, you have real species of birds that were this large that did exist at one point. So like, it's very feasible that it just took a while for them to go extinct. Um, and, and like, also like when we do think about it, you know, you have tortoises that live for hundreds of years,

[00:45:47] not hundreds, but like 150 years, you know, like these animals live for so long and they were technically part of a different times frame of animals altogether. So it is possible that like, we have this giant bird that their lifespan is hundreds of years.

[00:46:11] And it took a really long time for them to sort of die off rather than, you know, other animals whose lifespans are like 30 or like less than that. And that's why there were a lot of sightings before and why, you know, good old Marlon was picked up in the sky in the seventies. And then now nobody's talking about being picked up in the sky. I wonder how Marlon's doing. I wonder if he'd like to come on the show. Yeah,

[00:46:41] we should find him. I, I wonder if he's still scarred from it. I wonder if he remembers it. He doesn't do interviews about it, which is kind of messed up. Like he, he's, he stated he do, he won't do interviews or he just has, he hasn't. Unless his mom told me he wasn't allowed to. We're going to track him down. Respect. We're tracking down. Yeah. I don't, I don't care if I was five years old and I got picked up by a giant bird, I'd still probably remember it. So, yeah, it would be part of my two truths and a lie. Are you kidding me?

[00:47:11] And it's not the lie. I'll tell you that. I'll tell you that much. But yeah, I, I feel like, I feel like we can put this one under a forever cryptid because unless you can definitively tell me it's not real, I'm always going to believe it's real. It's got legendary status. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, that's all we can do here. So, thanks for listening guys.

[00:47:40] This was the first real weird club back. And we'll definitely be doing more of them. And we've got some really cool stuff on the horizon. And so this will be the end of the episode we post on Spotify and Apple podcasts and everywhere you get your podcasts. But if you subscribe to our Patreon, we will continue the conversation and we will even talk to you.

[00:48:08] Talk about other weird things that we have going on in our lives. And so, yeah, you can head to Patreon to check it out. So, yeah, we'll see y'all there. So, what do you think? Is the Thunderbird really out there? Be sure to follow us on Instagram at OutThere Cryptids for episode posts, updates, and more.

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