Thunderbird

Hello and welcome back to Fab Figmentals!

I’m Lindsey Morse, your guide through the realm of curious creatures, magical monsters, and beautiful beasts. Each week on this podcast, we explore a different legendary creature by looking at its history and folklore. Each episode begins with a story, and then we take a look at the creature’s origins and how it’s been portrayed throughout the ages.

In this episode, we’re going to look at the thunderbird, an extremely large supernatural creature of great power and strength, best known for its ability to control the weather. 

The legend of the thunderbird is widespread throughout the traditions of native people throughout America and Canada, but it is especially important and most frequently depicted in the Native American legends from the Pacific Northwest. 

Because the thunderbird belongs to so many different cultures, legends can vary pretty widely; though there are certain commonalities. 

In most cases, thunderbirds are able to control the weather, and each flap of their giant wings creates a clap of thunder— hence their name. In most cases, they are seen as protectors, bringing beneficial rains that help nourish crops and ward off drought; however, they can also be vengeful. They’re often described as enforcers of morality, and if you happen to be a person of low moral integrity— you better run if you see a thunderbird coming. They might bring punishment in the form of lightening, strong winds, or floods. 

Visually, the most notable aspect of their appearance is definitely their size. They have brightly colored feathers that are so large they’ll only fit in a quiver when folded in half, and they’re so big they can pick up a whale up in their talons, as an eagle would lift a fish. 

Another common theme is their ability to shape shift. In some tales, thunderbirds have the ability to change into human form, and this transition is really quite something. When I think of shape shifting, I often picture the gruesome, bone-popping transformation you sometimes see these days in werewolf movies, but the thunderbird’s transformation is described more gently, as though its taking off a costume. It removes its feathers as if stepping out of a coat, and tips back its beak to reveal a human face— as if removing a mask. When the creature is ready to return to its bird form, it simply pulls back down its beak and steps back into its feather suit.

Because legends do vary according to culture, we’re going to try something a little different for today’s episode. We normally share just one story at the start of each episode, but today I’d like to share two.

The first is adapted from a story that was published in a 1933 edition of The Journal of American Folklore from an article titled “Tales from the Hoh and Quileute.” (FYI the Hoh and Quileute are two Native American tribes from western Washington State, so this first story comes from the American Pacific Northwest.) In this tale, we witness firsthand the vengeance of a thunderbird wronged. The story is called, “Thunderbird Turns People to Stone.”

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There was once a young hunter who was out one day looking for food. While walking across the prairie, he saw something large and unfamiliar in the distance, and went to investigate. As he neared, he saw that a whale carcass lay upon the great plain, and nearby there was a giant sleeping bird. The bird was bigger than any he’d ever seen before, and he knew based on its size that it must be a Thunderbird, for no other bird would be able to carry such a large kill ashore in its talons. 

The Thunderbird was sound asleep. The whale was so heavy that the Thunderbird needed to rest before consuming its hard earned prey. 

The hunter wanted to return to his people to tell them about the Thunderbird and the whale, but he feared they would not believe his story. So, he crept over to the Thunderbird and removed a feather from its wing as proof. The feather was as large as a canoe paddle.

He returned to his village and told everyone what he had seen. At first, they did not believe him, but upon seeing the feather they knew his story was true. Food that season had been scarce, and the people were hungry, so the hunter suggested they all return to the whale and eat it themselves. If they were quick, he pointed out, they might return before the Thunderbird awoke. 

They made their way back to the whale, and word of the great find spread throughout the neighboring tribes. They all loaded up in their canoes and made their way to the whale to claim their piece of the carcass. They were all overjoyed to find that the whale was now unguarded; the Thunderbird was gone. Excited and greedly, the men sliced the flesh, blubber, and meat; before they knew it, the entire whale was cut up and distributed between the hungry tribes. They cooked and cooked and ate and ate until their bellies were full. But their satisfaction wouldn’t last for long. 

All around them, the sky turned dark. The clouds rolled in and thickened. The Thunderbird was coming back, and he was angry. He saw what the men had done, and lightning flashed from his eyes. 

The rain came first, followed by hail. Frozen balls as large as men’s fists fell from the sky and plummeted to the ground with brutal speed— killing and mangling everyone on the prairie below. When all of the men were dead, the storm passed and the Thunderbird descended from the sky and turned all of the men to stone. The piles of whale meat and blubber also turned to stone, and all of this stone formed a ridge that stretched from one side of the prairie to the other.

This great stone ridge still exists to this day, and if you look closely you can see the skull and ribs of the Thunderbird’s whale.

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Now, let’s travel from the American Pacific Northwest further north to hear a story from the Eskimo people of the lower Yukon region of Alaska. 

This story is called, “The Last of the Thunderbirds,” and it was first published in 1911, in Katharine Berry Judson’s book, Myths and Legends of Alaska. 

Whereas in the first story we witnessed the wrath of the thunderbird, our second story is all about the anger of men.

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Long, long ago there were many thunderbirds living in the mountains, but at last there were only two left. These birds made their home on the round top of a mountain overlooking the Yukon. They hollowed out a great basin on the summit for a nest, and from the rocky rims they could look down upon a village upon the river bank.

From this perch the thunderbirds, looking like a black cloud, would soar away, bringing back to their young a reindeer in their talons. Sometimes with a great noise like thunder they swooped down upon a fisherman in his kayak and carried him away. The man would be eaten by the young birds, and the kayak broken to bits in the nest. Every fall the young birds flew away into the northland, but the old birds remained in the nest. They had carried away so many fishermen that only the most daring would go out on the great river.

One day when a fisherman went to look at his traps,

he cautioned his wife not to leave the house for fear of the thunderbirds. During the morning, she needed fresh water and started for the river. A noise like thunder filled the air, a black shadow fell over her, and a thunderbird darted down upon her.

When the fisherman returned to his house, people of the village told him of the thunderbird. He made no answer. He took his bow and quiverful of war arrows and started for the mountain. When he reached the rim of the great nest, he looked in. The old birds were away. The nest was full of young eagles with fiery, shining eyes and shrill cries. The hunter fitted a war arrow, the string twanged, and the arrow killed a young thunderbird. So the hunter killed them all.

The hunter hid behind a great rock near the nest. When the old birds came home, the thunder of their wings was heard even across the great river; their cries of rage frightened the villagers on the river’s bank. The mother bird swooped down upon the hunter beside the rock. Quickly he fitted a war arrow, the string twanged, and the arrow bit deep into her throat. Then the mother bird, flapping her wings so that the hills shook, flew away to the northland.

The father bird circled overhead and then swooped down upon the hunter. He crouched below the rocks and the thunderbird’s great talons caught only the rock.

The hunter fitted yet another war arrow in his bow, the string twanged, and the heavy war arrow bit deep under his great wing. Spreading his wings like a black cloud in the sky, this thunderbird too flew away to the northland.

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In addition to the Hoh, Quileute, and Eskimo, whose stories we just heard, Thunderbirds also pop up in stories from the Menominee, Ojibwe, Winnebago, Sioux, Arapaho, Algonquin, and Shawnee traditions.

In many of these stories, common themes— like the ones we looked at earlier— emerge, such as the creature’s ability to control the weather & shape shift; however, it’s interesting to look at how the legend varies from culture to culture. What do you say we explore a few specific examples? 

First let’s look at the thunderbird according to the Menominee tribe. Here, we find thunderbirds living on a giant mountain that floats in the sky. The birds look down on the people of earth, and they are said to enjoy watching people fight and triumph in the face of adversity. According to the Menominee, thunderbirds are the natural enemy of a great horned snake, and it weren’t for the thunderbirds humans might have been devoured or overrun by this terrible creature. 

Algonquin legend also sees the thunderbird protecting humans from a horned serpent. But according to the Sioux, the thunderbirds were most active in the “old times” when they protected humans from a race of dangerous reptilian monsters. And in the Ojibwe tradition, thunderbirds protect mankind from evil underwater spirits.

Other legends expand on different aspects of thunderbird lore. 

Algonquins believe that thunderbirds played a role in the creation of the universe and that they are actually ancestors of mankind. 

Like many other tribes, the Shawnee tradition sees thunderbirds instilled with the ability to change their appearance but with an interesting twist. In this case, thunderbirds will sometimes transform into young boys, but there’s a way to tell if a youngster is really a thunderbird in disguise— they have a tendency to speak backwards. 

For me, the unique elements of each culture’s take on the thunderbird is fascinating! 

But where did the idea for the thunderbird originate? 

Well, some cryptozoologists believe that it could have been a real-life creature. Perhaps a pteradactyl that survived longer than thought possible. But scientists agree that this is unlikely. Whereas it might be conceivable that a creature like Bigfoot actually exists and has just been hiding in the forest for many, many years, it’s harder to justify the possible existence of a giant bird big enough to pick up a whale. It would most certainly have been regularly seen by humans; and if it still exists today, it would be all over radar. 

It’s far more likely that the thunderbird was created to help people understand and explain natural weather phenomenon. 

And this possibility leads me to something fascinating I uncovered while researching. 

There’s a story about the thunderbird that exists in several forms throughout various groups in the American Pacific Northwest. These tales tell of an epic battle between the “thunderbird and the whale,” also sometimes known as Mimlos whale. 

In these stories, there was a great flood, and the evil Mimlos whale was a monster. It killed other whales, depriving the people of much-needed meat and oil. The benevolent thunderbird fought Mimlos whale on behalf of the people, but the two were well matched. Again and again they would battle, each fight ending in a draw. In one especially great battle, the thunderbird grabbed Mimlos whale from the waters and soared high with it in his talons. He dropped the whale from a great height, shaking the ground, uprooting trees, cracking the earth, and flinging canoes every which way. The flood waters receded and rose again. Many people died. Eventually, Mimlos whale escaped to the deep ocean, and the thunderbird gave up the hunt.

Fascinatingly, this battle might have been inspired by real-life events. In the 1980’s geologists found evidence of a powerful earthquake that took place in the Pacific Northwest in the year 1700. 

Now known as the 1700 Cascadia earthquake, the event occurred along the Cascadia subduction zone on January 26, 1700 with an estimated magnitude of 8.7–9.2. The length of the fault rupture was about 1,000 kilometers, and the earthquake caused a tsunami which struck the coast of Japan. 

Such a large earthquake would most certainly have an an incredible impact on those living in the Pacific Northwest at that time, and some ethnologists believe that the stories of thunderbird violently battling Mimlos whale— shaking the earth and cracking the ground— is, in fact, a detailed description of this deadly disaster.

-closing music-

Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of Fab Figmentals!

Research, writing, and sound editing are done by me, Lindsey Morse. Niall Cooper assists with writing and editing. Our theme music was created by the wonderfully talented Graeme Ronald. 

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If you like learning about creatures that lurk in the shadows, perhaps you’d be interested in learning more about humanity’s darker side. If so, please also check out our sister show, Assassinations Podcast.

We’re taking a research & writing break next week, but we’ll be back the following week to explore the hidden world of the Huldufólk, a race of elves found in Icelandic and Faroese folklore. 

We’ll see you next time.