[mellow music]
NARRATOR: Tombstone, Arizona.
The spirit of the Wild West is alive and well
in this small town, where saloon doors still swung open,
and horses pull stagecoaches along Main Street.
Founded in the late 1800s, Tombstone embraces its history,
when outlaws, gunslingers, and violent shootouts
were all too common.
[wind whistling]
[suspenseful music]
[gunshots]
NARRATOR: The gunfight at the OK Corral
is the most well-known tale from this Wild West boomtown.
[suspenseful music]
But Tombstone's past is also riddled
with bizarre supernatural stories,
including tales of strange creatures
roaming the frontier that spread like wildfire
in the 19th century.
There are a lot of legends that
have come out of Tombstone, but there's one very curious one.
In 1890, the "Tombstone Epitaph" reported a story
about two ranchers who saw a giant flying
creature in the sky above them.
CHAD LEWIS: They not only were afraid of it,
but apparently they tracked it down and killed this creature
and tried to take a photograph of it sprawled out.
NARRATOR: According to local lore,
a photo of the strange creature was indeed taken and even
published in the "Tombstone Epitaph,"
but locating the supposed picture
has proven to be difficult.
In terms of the photograph, there are legions of people who
remember seeing this picture even
into the 1930s and '40s, yet no one has
ever been able to locate it.
And in fact, the edition of the "Epitaph" that the story ran in
didn't have any photographs at all.
[suspenseful music]
NARRATOR: Although the alleged newspaper photo has never
been found, over the years, a number of bizarre pictures
featuring cowboys and a massive winged creature
have surfaced and can be seen on the internet.
One photograph depicts a group of men
with a giant winged beast.
The creature is winged, but it's not really a bird.
It looks more like a pterodactyl, something
prehistoric with large, leathery wings
and a large head with two feet hanging down below.
It adds to the mystery of the creature
and makes us wonder what exactly is flying
around in the southern deserts.
NARRATOR: While the images of the winged creature
are compelling, historians have questioned their authenticity
and claim that they may have been fabricated
as a result of the fascination people
have with this strange tale from the Old West.
Although most variations of the photos seem to be hoaxes,
I think it's weird when you combine all
of the things of the newspaper encounter,
people swearing that they personally saw the photograph,
and now it's gone.
It only adds more history and wonder to the story.
And I think, in some regard, it makes it even bigger
than it would have been.
[dramatic music]
NARRATOR: Is the story of the Tombstone pterodactyl
just a tall tale, or is it possible that there really
was a species of giant flying creatures that roamed
the deserts of the Old West?
Perhaps the answer can be found by examining accounts
from Native American folklore of a creature
known as the Thunderbird.
TOK THOMPSON: The Thunderbird is one
of the most widespread, powerful creatures and symbols
in Native American mythology.
It is a gigantic bird, some kind of raptor,
sometimes with somewhat human qualities.
But it's connected with thunder and with light.
[thunder]
Very often, flapping its wings is what creates thunder.
It shoots lightning out of its eyes.
The Thunderbird is common in Native American tribes
all over the West.
You'll find them in petroglyphs on the rocks,
or you'll find them in totem poles.
It's a special bird, a special spiritual power of protection,
and support, and strength.
That's what the Thunderbird represents.
[dramatic music]
DAVID WEATHERLY: By some accounts,
Thunderbirds were strictly spiritual beings.
They lived in another world, and they
were frightening but could also sometimes
lend their power to the people.
On other occasions, they were purportedly real creatures
that could swoop down at any time
and snatch up humans if they so choose.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that there
is a connection between the Thunderbird
and the winged creature that was reportedly seen near Tombstone,
Arizona in 1890?
For now, the answer is unclear, but people remain fascinated
by the idea that massive winged birds really did soar
over the American frontier.
TOK THOMPSON: It's important to remember that this is
taking place in the Wild West.
It's taking place when people are looking out for marvels
and becoming aware of Native American explanations,
Native American mythology at the same time.
So people were aware that the Thunderbird
was held to be out there, which leads us back to the question.
The Thunderbird-- is it a cryptid,
like it's out there somewhere?
Is it simply a deity that's sort of
cobbled together from abstract notions of what the divine is?
[dramatic music]
Or is it sort of resulting from people
finding pterodactyl skeletons and saying,
wow there must have been a great big bird here at some point?
Or maybe all three?
So this is still a great mystery.