1948 'Monster Bird' Sighting | Project Blue Book Investigates Thunderbird Account

0 Views

Thanks! Share it with your friends!

You disliked this video. Thanks for the feedback!

Published Jun 19, 2026

0:00 "Monster Bird" sighting in 1948
0:44 US Army Colonel sees it too
1:47 size of a “small pursuit plane...”
3:38 The Piasa Bird of 1673
4:12 Native American "thunderbirds"
5:02 Conclusions

In 1948, a retired Army colonel who previously managed an air base, saw what he described as a large bird the size of a “small pursuit plane" above Alton, Illinois. Several civilians backed this up, including two in Northern Illinois the night before, one of whom called it "prehistoric."

At the time, the typical pursuit plane in the Army Air Force arsenal had a wing span of 34-42 feet, three times that of the largest living bird, the wandering albatross. Only the Hatzgopteryx and Quetzalcoatlus, flying reptiles of the Cretaceous, had wingspans this large — and they've been extinct for millions of years.

Curiously, in the same area as the Colonel's sighting is a mural of a mythological "thunderbird," painted by the ancient Cahokian civilization. Other Native American groups in the Midwest and even as far north as Alaska all tell similar stories of large "thunderbirds" that create thunder with their wings, and are large enough to carry whales with their beaks.

In 1925, indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands described US Army biplanes as “thunder birds” and celebrated when they saw them.

Consider supporting our investigative work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/itsredactedchannel

And join our Discord community for behind the scenes discussions: https://discord.gg/jfSpmmw
----------------------

Source documents and video/image credits: https://itsredacted.com/thunderbird-mythos-did-us-army-colonel-witness-native-american-legend/

---------------------

It's [redacted] is a venture of It's Bloody Science! LLC, which created the narration and editing of this video. All other images, sounds, music and video clips are freely available in the public domain or Creative Commons licenses, or are licensed via Powtoon software or the YouTube Audio Library.

-----------------------

Song 1: Tribal Affair, SYBS — freely available for use from YouTube Audio Library.

Song 2: La Danse Fetish de Femme, The Mini Vandals featuring Mamadou Boita and Lasso — freely available for use from YouTube Audio Library.

Song 3: Maestro Tlakaelel, Jesse Gallagher — freely available for use from YouTube Audio Library.