Show Notes
Blake and Karen discuss the legendary photo said to capture 19th century cowboys or soldiers with a giant bird or pterosaur.
SHOW NOTE LINKS:
The original Tombstone Epitaph article about the winged creature
Karl Shuker's blogged several times on the Thunderbird Photo and wrote a eulogy for Mark Chovinsky, author of a thorough Strange Magazine article about the Thunderbird photo.
Ivan T. Sanderson figures into the story prominently. Kevin J. Guhl has written an extensive article about this.
I think all the researchers - the serious researchers - are converging on the "False Memory" hypothesis to explain this story.
However, debates about the photo continue.
Some of the online photos were promotional photos for Freaky Links TV show.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/monstertalk--6267523/support.
Some product links may be affiliated with Amazon revenue sharing.
More from MonsterTalk
Blake and Karen interview Marq Evans, directory of the new documentary Capturing Bigfoot - a new film that hits streaming October 20th, 2026 and features stunning new evidence that the Patterson-Gimlin Bigfoot Film may depict a person in a suit!
Blake and Karen welcome historian Dr. Amy Laurel Fluker of Youngstown State University to discuss Haunted by Memory, an annotated anthology of ghost stories drawn from the newspapers, veterans' papers, and periodicals of the Civil War generation. The project began with her late mentor, Dr. John R. Neff, who stumbled onto his first Civil War ghost story while reading veterans' obituaries. When Neff died in 2020, his family asked Fluker to carry his work to the finish line.
An interview with forensic anthropologist Evan Bird, creator of The Corpse Review.
In this episode, Blake and Karen welcome Dr. Kristin LaFollette, Associate Professor of English at the University of Southern Indiana, to discuss her new book, *Rehumanizing People of the Past: Bioarchaeology, Medical Museums and Archives, and the Human Remains Trade* (SUNY Press, 2026). The book illustrates how technical communication frequently dehumanizes the people represented by human remains, and offers guidance for adopting rehumanizing language to return dignity to these individuals. The conversation is not strictly paranormal, but overlaps meaningfully with MonsterTalk themes around science, storytelling, folklore, and how language shapes perception.
Blake and Karen welcome back Daniel Alan Jones, investigative reporter, founder of the Texas Cryptozoology Network, and creator and host of The Vortex, for the second half of their conversation. Last week covered how Jones found his way into the field. This week the question is where the field has gone since he arrived, and where it might be headed next.