Maryland Man Reports 1971 Encounter with 'Thunderbird' in Backyard

The Singular Fortean Society was contacted recently by a witness who said that one morning he, along with his mother and twin brother, saw what could only be described as a “thunderbird” in a tree near their Lanham, Maryland home in the summer of 1971.

"I was about 10 years old," the witness said. "We were in the kitchen. We had a country-style kitchen with a backdoor that led to the backyard and a cement porch. My brother was standing at the doorway looking through the screen. He saw a huge bird land in the tree—near the top of the tree—in our backyard."

The man said his brother excitedly called their mother and he over to see the anomalous animal.

"We walked over to the door and to the screen, and saw this massive bird, dark colored. I estimated it to be five feet from the talon to the head, perched near the top of this tree—about a 50’ tree. The limb was bent over like a ‘U’, this thing was so heavy," he said.

“The branch was at least an inch or two thick,” he added. “I was surprised it sat on the branch for so long. It looked like the branch was going to give way.”

He ran to the closet to get a pair of binoculars, and handed them to his brother.

"[My brother] zoomed in for 30-45 seconds," the witness said. "You know, a good, long time to zoom in and look at it up close. I mean, we're only about 80' away, I'd say; you know, guesstimate—the houses were close and the tree was in my next-door-neighbor's backyard—and we’re looking from the backdoor of my kitchen.”

The boys’ mother looked through the binoculars next, before handing them to the witness.

"I’m zooming in and looking right at the face of this bird, and it had a beak like an eagle, long and bent downward like a hook, and it was dark colored, brownish black," he said. "I had a real long look at it, four to five minutes."

But as they stood watching the strange bird, the witness’ brother moved to open the screen door, startling the creature and causing it to fly away.

"It started to get airborne, and it struggled," the witness said. "It put its wings out—you can’t imagine, I’ve never seen anything like it—I estimated it to be 12, more like 15 feet long, tip to tip. It was incredible! As it struggled to get airborne in the beginning, it was like a slow-motion flap with these huge wings, and it looked like a mini-tornado hit the tree. The air displacement from the wings, it was incredible. I’m talking limbs thrashing around like a mini-tornado. It finally got airborne and rose up and flew into the distance."

The witness isn’t sure exactly what he saw that day, but he’s certain it was no mundane animal.

"We have turkey vultures in Maryland, and it was four times the size of a turkey vulture. It’s not a turkey vulture, it’s not an eagle. I can’t explain it. It was a sight to behold, I can tell you that," he said. "At 10 years old I didn’t know about the thunderbird. But as I’ve gotten older and done more research...it was a thunderbird. That’s the only thing that explains it."

"That's what I saw."

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