The Mysterious Thunderbird Photo

During my search for some unsolved mysteries in Arizona, I came across this bizarre photo. This mystery photo is of a popularly known “Thunderbird” with a mysterious creature captured near the town of Tombstone.

In April of 1890, two cowboys noticed an immense flying creature, while in the Arizona desert. This creature’s body was about 92 feet long and was smooth like a serpent. It had huge wings, about a 160 foot wingspan, featherless and resembling bat’s wings. It also had two clawed feet, with a face of an alligator. They followed it on horseback until the horses were too afraid to continue, and then chased it on foot. It kept landing and taking off until the cowboys shot it full of bullets with their riffles, and finally killed it. Then the cowboys cut off a piece of the wing and brought it to Tombstone. At least this is how one of the stories were told.

Was this a true story or just an urban legend? The story was presumed to be written in an April 1892 issue of the Tombstone newspaper, the Epitaph. It was also told that a photo of a enormous bird was seen nailed to a wall. Since many tall tales have been spun in newspapers during this distinctive time in history, it’s hard to say whether it is a true story or just folklore. Employees working for the Epitaph search through many old issues of the newspaper and found no such photo. The question everyone is pondering, is the photo real? Many have remembered seeing the elusive “Thunderbird Photo” but no one seems to know where it is. Some feel that the photo posted above has been tampered with and the dead creature was added in. Also, according to the stories told, two men supposed to have found and killed the bird-like creature, but six men are in the photo. There is lots of mystery surrounding the photo, its existence and whereabouts, and the strange story that goes with it.

This is an unusual one indeed. If you know anything about this story, whether it is true or not, I would love to hear more.
~~Julie~~

Cottage #4: Mummified Body in Bathtub

There are people that enter in our lives and for some reason become like family who are there for every big event and holiday. In my family it was Audrey. Audrey was like a Grandmother that I never knew and was around every Thanksgiving and Christmas for the family’s party. She made sure that all the grandchildren got a dollar or two, wrapped around a candy cane. For April, it was Ronald.

After April and her sister moved out of the house on the corner, their Mother decided to downsize into a smaller place. She found a two bedroom cottage on a one acre lot a few blocks away from the house they were renting. This lot also had three other cottages that were rented out to others. One of the renters was Ronald. After a few months of living in the cottage, April’s mother heard a quiet knock at the door. She opened the door a saw this tall, thin, unassuming man, with scruffy beard standing there. He told her that his name was Ronald and he lived in cottage 4. After that initial meeting, Ronald came over many mornings having coffee, muffins or some other breakfast meal. Their conversations were of general subjects, never anything personal. Ronald never like talking about his personal life, especially any male companions that have been in his life or any he may be seeing at the time. He always came to her mother’s cottage and never invited her over to visit his. She never questioned why nor had any reason to suspect anything wrong. Even with that, they still had a special friendship. April and her sister got used to seeing Ronald at their mother’s place every time they came to visit. He was like an uncle to them. On Christmas morning, the girls would sleep in the spare room while Ronald slept on the couch. This friendship was strong for over two years.

One day, out of the blue, Ronald asked April, her mother and sister to start calling him Harry. He explained that it was his middle name and most people know him by that name. They thought it was an odd request for him to make since they have known him as Ronald for over two years. They told him that they would continue calling him Ronald because changing things now would be just plain weird. Shortly afterwards, Ronald started displaying very odd behavior and finally just disappeared without a trace.

April’s mother moved months later without ever knowing what happened. One evening she got a visit from the local police asking questions about Harry. She was worried and wanted to know if he was alright or if he did something wrong. They needed to know any information Harry may have told her because he was a person of interest in an investigation. She mentioned that she referred to him as Ronald and that he never talked about his personal life. She also told them that she never was in his cottage. She gave them as much information as she could remember with some questions of her own. Why the police was interested in Ronald or rather Harry?

In February of 2008, the Phoenix police responded to a call to the address of Ronald’s cottage. The owners were in cottage #4 to clean it out and found a mummified body in the bathtub. They rented this cottage out to an adult male in 1995. They received regular rent payments from 1995 to the summer of 2007, when the payment suddenly stopped. After briefly visiting the cottage and finding it abandoned, they did nothing at that time thinking that the owner would return for his things. They never entered the premises at that time either. But after not receiving any payments after that, they went in the cottage to inspect its conditions. They found it to be stacked from floor to ceiling with trash, personal items and was in extremely deplorable conditions. With the assistance of others, the owners started removing the trash. When they reached the bathtub, they found it covered with plywood and plastic. When they removed the wood and plastic, they found it filled with dirt and sand. As soon as they started removing the dirt, a human leg was exposed and the police were called.

The entire bathtub was removed along with the mummified body and dirt. Upon examination they found that the person buried in the tub had been dead for a number of years and they labeled the death as “unknown”. They are not positive that the body is of the original renter, Ronald, or if it could be someone else. Harry apparently took over Ronald's identity, cashed his checks and lived with his dead body for years. There are so many questions such as, how did they know each other and how did Ronald, or whoever that body belonged to, die? Was he murdered or just died of natural causes? Harry is only a person of interest at this time, with his whereabouts still unknown to this day.

This story was all over the local news in Phoenix and around the world. Because the case is still unsolved, the names of Ronald and Harry have been changed for that reason.

Above is an artist drawing of what Harry looked like.

~~Julie~~

The Unseen Intruder

April was no stranger to pranksters trying to scare her while in her bedroom. They tried by throwing eggs at her windows or just simply knock on them and run. The house they lived in was on a corner and her bedroom was located in the corner/front of the house. Basically it was easy for those who wanted to scare her to do so and made for a quick get-a-way without being seen. She has seen lots of activity in that room, some of which she just can't explain. One Friday night while their Mother was out with friends, April and her sister invited a couple of male friends over for popcorn and movies. While in the middle of a horror flick, their dogs started acting strange. They ran down the hall to April’s bedroom door. The door was shut and they kept growling as if someone or something was in there. Right after they got up to see what was wrong, they heard a loud bang coming from the room. They all froze and tried to come up with a plan on what to do. April’s sister told her that she had all the house keys including the ones that locked the bedroom doors. After one of the guys grabbed a kitchen knife, they all huddle behind him, opened the door, and walked in together. They felt a breeze coming from the room and noticed that her window was slightly opened. The sheets and blankets looked as if someone grabbed them from the top and pulled them to the end of the bed onto the floor. April keeps her window latched because of all the pranksters trying to scare her, so she couldn’t figure out how it got opened. The only way to open them was from the inside. Even more puzzling was how her sheets and blankets got on the floor when she clearly made the bed that morning. While her sister clutched the keys in fear, they wondered if they should call 911. Having no explanation for the window being opened, the boys decided to get brave and search the whole house for possible intruders. They started yelling, telling the intruders that they better leave because they had a knife, and they were not scared, even though they were. April and her sister sat waiting in the bedroom scared and wondered if this was just one of the many unexplained things that have happened since they rented that house. After a full search of the house, the boys came back to the bedroom and reported finding nothing. They went back in the living room, leaving the bedroom door wide opened. Her sister remembered leaving the keys their mother entrusted to her, in the bedroom. She asked April to go with her to get them because of what happened earlier. As they got to the bedroom, they noticed the door was shut and locked. They felt a chill all over because they know that the only way to lock the bedroom doors was with a key and the keys were in the bedroom. The dogs started growling at the door again, so this time they all ran outside scared and shaken. Grabbing the phone, April called their neighbor and told them what was happening. The couple came over and while the wife stayed with the kids, her husband checked out the house. He searched the entire place, finding nothing and no one. He told them that April’s bedroom door was opened, not shut and locked like they had told him earlier. The couple asked if they wanted them to stay until their Mother came home but they reassured them that they would be fine. After they left, one of the boys had to get home as well. He lived nearby and was so scared of what happened that he ran all the way and called April as soon as he got there to see if they were alright. The three of them were still scared and jumpy but decided to watch another movie, a comedy this time. Not long after getting into the movie they heard a loud crashing noise in the kitchen. This time they yelled to see if anyone was in there in stead of quickly investigating. Getting no response and being very frightened, the three of them got up and walked towards the kitchen in a huddle to check it out. When they got in the kitchen, they saw the drying rack and everything that was in it, lying on the floor. This rack was heavy and full of pots and pans so for it to just fall on the floor, it needed some strong force pushing it. It was almost as if someone picked it up and threw it on the floor. They also noticed that the cabinet door above the area where the rack sat was opened. The box of teabags was opened and almost all the bags were thrown all over the kitchen. There was no conceivable explanation for what happened. Still very scared, they cleaned it up and finished right before their Mother came home. Needless to say, neither of them got any sleep that night because of the unseen intruder.

April's Stories: The Wite-Out

It was late in the night and April was trying to get her report done for school. The house she was living in now, with her Mother and sister, was on a corner lot. Her bedroom faced the front with two windows at the corner of the room. She sat on her bed, which was near the windows, and placed her wite-out bottle and pens on the ledge. She decided to take a break and get something to drink. Her Mother was on the computer and her sister was sleeping. After grabbing the drink and talking with her Mother, she went back in the room to finish the report. She noticed that the wite-out bottle was not on the ledge with the pens. She looked all over her bed, and checked the side of the bed pressed against the wall hoping that it slid down inside. She moved the bed away from the wall and looked under it. Scratching her head in confusion, she searched all over her room and couldn’t find it anywhere. She thought maybe she took it with her to get a drink, but didn’t know why she would. It wasn’t anywhere in the kitchen or living room. She asked her Mother if she saw it, and her Mother told her that she did not have it with her. Now she’s getting very frustrated and even checked on her sister to see if she was playing a joke on her. When she opened the door, she called her sister’s name and got no reaction. Her sister was fast asleep. April then went back in her room and started looking for it again. She needed to finish the report, that night, and it was getting late. She left her room one more time to get another drink, and then decided to just finish the report without the wite-out. As she approached her room, there sitting in the middle of her doorway, was the bottle of wite-out. The bottle was sitting upright and looked as if someone neatly placed it there. She knows it wasn’t there before or she would have seen it. The mystery of the wite-out still remains until this day, with all the parties involved insisting that they never touched the bottle.

April's Stories: Bloody Mary

This was always one chant that I refused to do, it terrified me. Many were curious to try it and some had interesting results. April, her sister and friend were no exception. They wanted to see if this so-called urban legend was true. Her friend was religious and didn’t believe anything would happen but decided to join them anyway. It was daytime and they decided to do the chant in April’s bedroom. They put a blanket over the window but it just wasn’t dark enough. Since April loved to read, she had lots of books, so they used them to stack in front of the window to achieve enough darkness. They checked the stacks and were satisfied that the books were not going to move. They all got on the bottom bunk of April’s bed and covered themselves with another blanket. It was plenty dark at this time, so they began. Right after they were done, they heard a loud crashing noise that appeared to be coming from the room. This loud noise was followed by the sound of the blanket covering them tearing right behind her friend. The three of them threw off the blanket and saw all the books lying on the floor as if something tossed them there. That was enough for them and they ran though the house and out the front door. They stood in the yard sobbing, so afraid of what they just witnessed. Shortly afterwards, April’s mother came home. She was very worried to find the girls and their friend crying uncontrollably and was scared to find out what happened. After getting them to calm down, they explained about doing the Bloody Mary chant and what they experienced afterwards. She took them all to April’s bedroom to find the books scattered all over the floor. She then examined the blanket and found the rip that the girls heard, only it was four not just one. The slits looked as if someone forcibly torn the blanket with long sharp nails, causing four long holes. The girls were scared for months afterwards and their Mother was pissed that her old family blanket was damaged. I’m still not doing this chant!

--Julie--

April's Stories: The Orange Ball

I'm going to do a series of stories about my daughter's friend April. She has had many paranormal experiences since she was a small girl. She shared some of her stories with me just recently with more to come. She has given me permission to share them with you, so I will only be using April's name in the stories unless the story dictates.

The first time April remembers experiencing paranormal activity, she was only three years old. The house she was living in was around 50 years old, but by all appearances it looked like your typical suburban home. Her parents were divorced but both lived in the house, just in separate areas. Also living in that house was her little sister, who was only one year old at the time. April’s bedroom was in the furthest area of the house away from all the other rooms. One night while sleeping, she was woken up by a bright orange ball floating above her at the end of the bed. This ball had the appearance of lava moving around inside of its center, as if the sun itself was in her room hovering above her. She quickly closed her eyes hoping that it was just a dream and the ball would disappear. Instead, with her eyes closed, the ball was so bright that she could see it was getting closer until it went behind her head. She ran out of the room in terror trying to get away from the ball which now appears to be following her. The hallway seemed to be endless as she ran to find her parents. At the end of the hallway was a large mirror where the refection of the neighbor’s porch light from across the street was shining through. She thought it was the ball of light still following her, and kept running until she was in the safety of her Mother’s arms. For over six months April would not go in her room especially in the nighttime. She slept on the couch near her mother’s bedroom every night during that time. One night while sleeping, she woke up to see two angels floating above the couch where she was lying. One looked like a man similar to her father, who is still alive, and the other was a woman. Half asleep, she got up and went into her bedroom, a room she refused to go into for over six month, and grabbed some paper and crayons. She walked back in the living room, sat on the couch, where the angels were still floating above, and drew several pictures of them. After that night, April was not afraid to be in her bedroom and was able to sleep there from that time on. Her Mom still has the pictures in a box with many of April’s other drawings. There is one other thing that her Mother just recently told her, the light from the neighbor’s porch could not possibly have been what she saw in the mirror that night. The house had been abandoned several months earlier and there was no electricity in the house at all.

--Julie--

Ghost Adventures: Bird Cage Theatre Recap

Ghost Adventures Birdcage Theatre (07/03/09)
Tombstone, Arizona

I don’t usually recap this show but since they were at the Bird Cage Theatre, a place where I have been several times and Ghost Hunters had an active investigation, I thought, why not. This is what TAPS found on their investigation: The personal experiences: cards shuffling, smelling smoke, shadows walking across the window, shadow walking across the stage, a ball dropping and rolling, cowboy boots walking; Jason and Grant saw a woman about 5’ tall, in a white dress, wearing a bonnet, going downstairs in the poker room. They could not find anyone down there. They also smelt a lilac perfume smell. Steve and Brian heard a loud noise and found their heavy electrical cord unwrapped and lying on the ground. They could not figure out how that happened.
Audio: heard piano (music) playing
Video: saw the cord lift up and unwrap itself and no one was there.

Now let us see what the Ghost Adventures dudes found:
You see Zak interview LeRoy Colomy, the manager of the Bird Cage Theatre, first. He tells him that he believes in the paranormal because of his experiences. They start out in the main area which was a dance hall, theatre, gambling hall, saloon and a house of ill fame, all rolled into one. Above the main floor is where the 14 cribs were where the soiled doves and tainted angels (lady of the night) hung out. They entertained with champaign, kisses and other favors in each of the cribs. LeRoy’s paranormal experiences in that room were being tapped on his shoulder, the smell of cigar smoke, had his legs knocked out from under him by unseen forces. The many reports of physical contact is why Zak and the boys wanted to investigate the Bird Cage. As you look around you will notice that the walls and floors are riddled with over 140 bullet holes giving the Bird Cage a notorious name in history. It had 26 men died in the building, with 16 gunfights caused by thoughts of someone cheating at cards. He told Zak that the spirits got killed so quickly and that they had no where to go, which may be why the Bird Cage has so many ghosts hanging around. Zak next interviews Nova Fleury, a Bird Cage employee, who tells him that women working in the Bird Cage did very extreme things under very extreme circumstances and wouldn't be surprised that many of their spirits are still at the place. She thinks that business is still going on there. She saw an apparition of a woman in one of the cribs, in her 1880's undergarments, opening the curtains, and then moving back inside. The curtains were still moving afterwards. Right after she told him the story, Zak felt like he just got touched by unseen hands. Nova said that she felt a kiss on the cheek at one time while in the building. The next interview is with Dean Dougherty, employee at the gift shop. He tells Zak that many times he was whispered to, spoken to and saw a lady in a white gown and has been in the gift shop, during the daytime. He was a skeptic when he first started, but after his first experience, he is no longer. He tells them that his first experience was while he was walking up to the building, looked in the window, and saw the lady in white standing in the store. He quickly went in to tell her that she was not supposed to be there, but she just disappeared. He then shows Zak a picture of the lady in white going down the back stairs that someone captured. Cool picture. Downstairs, now in the poker room, Zak interviews Ruth Larriso, another gift shop employee. She has heard women's voices when no one was in the room and saw the lady in white exiting through a door in the basement. She got a good look at the lady and could see that she had a bonnet on. (Perhaps Jason and Grant’s apparition they saw?) In that room, the longest poker game in history took place. The game lasted 8 years 5 months and 3 days, and was non stop 24/7, the entire time. It had a 1,000 dollar buy in which is equal to 30,000 dollars today. They have heard poker games, glasses clinking, cards shuffling, poker chips being thrown, seen apparitions of cowboys and a naked woman in the wine cellar. Zak really wanted to capture her. Then we see the guys reenacting the fight at the OK Corral, where boys will be boys. Back in the Bird Cage we see Zak was standing near the hearse with Dwight Hall, a paranormal investigator. He captured many demonic type voices right next to the hearse during several of his investigations of the Bird Cage for the past 10 years. He thinks the hearse is the connection for all the spirits seen many died there. He captured voices saying, “Get the f*** out” and “Go to hell”, to name a couple. He tells them that Caleb is the bad spirit near the hearse and has been caught in some people’s photos. Dwight has felt a hand on the back of his neck and heard a female voice whisper to him while investigating. Lastly, they head off, on horseback no less, to find Brunckow’s cabin. Frederick Brunckow was the first to find silver in the Tombstone Hills and not Ed Schieffelin like history is told. In 1860 Brunckow was working the mine with three other men and about a dozen Mexican helpers. He and two of his men were robbed and murdered at the cabin. The Mexican workers were blamed for the killings. Brunckow's body was found in the minds with a big hole in his chest. Many say they can still hear his screams deep down in the mine.

LOCKDOWN: Zak first points out a skull in a case that was found in the ground at the Bird Cage Theatre. He and Aaron map out where the static night vision cameras are going to be set up. Number one is pointing at the stagecoach where apparitions are seen; number two will be in the poker room where apparitions have been seen and chairs moving; number three towards the wine cellar where the naked lady apparition was seen; number four point at the prostitutes room; and number five will point at the craps tables and stage room. Now that they have that all figured out, they head into the stage/lounge area and shut the door behind them. Zak immediately sees a light and Aaron hears voice. They said it felt like 50 people were watching them and then proceeded to hear a man's voice. As Zaks continues to shoot a gun, Aaron felt something tugged on his flashlight perhaps mistaking it for a gun. They heard a sound in the hearse area and headed to towards that room. Nick is now asking for some action and he got it, a noise where the prostitutes’ pictures are hung. Zak points his camera at each picture asking if they made the noise; while Nick hears a growl. Zak's camera went out of focus after asking one of the pictures if they are trying to get their attention then the sees a bluish face to the side of him, and freaks out. Now near the hearse, Zak produces a silver dollar to see is Caleb will come forward, then right afterwards, they heard a knock. Zak then gets in the coffin leaning on the wall but nothing happened. Zak and Nick head back to the poker room with whiskey and cigars while Aaron watches on the screens. On the way down, Zak sees a shadow and gets goose bumps. They both heard a man talking but the cameras didn't pick it up, but did pick up a faint female scream. They offer the whiskey and cigar to the spirits while their camera near the stagecoach caught unexplained footsteps. On the digital recorder they caught male voices saying "come here” and "no, keep talking", and then another voice saying "no". They checked to see if Aaron said the “no” because it was so clear, but it wasn't him. They continued hearing multiple disembodied voices and noises. Now it’s Aaron turn in the poker room alone. Standing near the stagecoach in the hearse room, he had the feeling like someone was following him up the stairs to the room. He puts the recorder on the death mobile, as he describes it and slides underneath the hearse. He freaks out and quickly gets out from under. He said that he felt something grab his shirt and decides it was time to leave. Aaron to the guys, “Dude not cool, not going to do this no more.” On their static cameras in hearse room, they caught a voice. In the poker room, they caught a strange light and caught what sounded like cards shuffling and a grunt or breath. Dwight, the paranormal investigator, thinks the light might be a spirit trying to manifest itself, because it looked like an upper torso. He listened to the female voice and heard it saying "someone is here" and a male voice "sighing" loudly as if they interrupted them having sex. He also confirmed hearing the cards shuffling, and then a noise like the cards were hit on the table afterwards. Apparently, there is lots of spirits still haunting the Bird Cage Theatre.

For more on the history and haunts of Tombstone AZ and the Bird Cage Theatre, check out my blog, "The Town Too Tough To Die".

--Julie--

Twilight Zone: TV Classic

Starting this Friday, July 3rd, on the Sci-Fi channel, they will be showing a Twilight Zone marathon. Check your local listings for times. Many of these episodes have great memories for me. I remember the times that my brother would stand by the doorway of the room we were playing in, imitating Rod Serling, and talking about what was going to happen. We just had so much fun playing out our favorite episodes.

The Twilight Zone is an American television collection of series written by various writers, created by Rod Serling, and aired from 1959 to 1964. Each episode is a combination of fantasy, science fiction, suspense, or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist. It was a popular and critical success, and introduced many Americans to serious science fiction and theoretical ideas through television. The program followed in the tradition of earlier radio programs with the success of the original series leading to the creation of two revival series. It would also lead to a feature film, a radio series, a comic book, a magazine and various other spin-offs that would span five decades.

Rod Serling created the title himself, but only after the series aired did he discover that the "twilight zone" was a term applied by the US Air Force to the terminator, the imaginary border between "night" and "day" on a planetary body. CBS purchased a teleplay in 1958 that writer Rod Serling hoped to produce as the pilot of a weekly anthology series. The Twilight Zone episode "The Time Element" marked Serling's first entry in the field of science fiction. The story is a time travel fantasy of sorts, involving a man named Peter Jenson visiting a psychoanalyst, Dr. Gillespie, with complaints of a recurring dream in which he imagines waking up in Honolulu just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Throughout the 1950s, Rod Serling had established himself as one of the hottest names in television, equally famous for his success in writing televised drama as he was for criticizing the medium's limitations. His most vocal complaints concerned the censorship frequently practiced by sponsors and networks. "I was not permitted to have my Senators discuss any current or pressing problem," he said of his 1957 production The Arena, intended to be an involving look into contemporary politics. "To talk of tariff was to align oneself with the Republicans; to talk of labor was to suggest control by the Democrats. To say a single thing germane to the current political scene was absolutely prohibited."

Twilight Zone's writers frequently used science fiction as a communication medium for social comment. The networks and sponsors who had censored all potentially "inflammatory" material from most of the live shows, were lacking knowledge of the methods developed by such writers as Ray Bradbury for dealing with important issues through seemingly harmless fantasy. Frequent themes include nuclear war, mass hysteria, and McCarthyism, subjects that were strictly forbidden on more "serious" prime-time drama. Episodes such as "The Shelter" or "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" offered specific commentary on current events. Other stories, such as "The Masks" or "The Howling Man," operated around a central genrey, moral, or legend that reflected the characters' moral or philosophical choices.

Despite his regard for the writing community, Serling found The Twilight Zone difficult to sell. Few critics felt that science fiction could go beyond the limit of empty indulgance in fanasties and enter the scope of an adult drama. While Serling's appearances on the show became one of its most distinctive features, with his neatly trimmed delivery still widely imitated today, he was reportedly nervous about it and had to be persuaded to appear on camera. Serling often steps into the middle of the action and the characters remain seemingly oblivious to him.

So on this long holiday weekend if you don’t have the money or desire to go anywhere, get your favorite beverage and snacks, kick back and get into the Zone.
--Julie--