There are things that have happened that lead us as a species and as a society to realms we never identify or solve. Some analysts speculate that when science and spirituality meet neither can quantify but neither can either deny the validity of one another. So is the case of such dark realms as demonology, relativity, or Quantum Mechanics. When dealing in time travel, extrasolar life or the possibility of parallel universes where mysterious entities may originate one can never be sure.

Official response

In the words of US Air Force General Curtis Le May, the tactician who masterminded incendiary bombing over Japan in World War II, the architect of Strategic Air Command, and former running mate with Barry Goldwater for the presidency he admittedly was stumped by a series of inexplicable UFO sightings that defied explanation by the finest military air force in the world. So as the media and skeptics continually contradict witness testimony we are still at a crossroads of establishing a reality that is either factually based or theoretically hypothesized, but still beyond our technical grasp!

Arizona phantom

The year is 1966 in Arizona. Through the southwest United States a rash of sightings has occurred, but these are not a UFO flap or Bigfoot hysteria. Something completely different seems to have manifested itself since the 19th century first reported by the American Indian tribes of the southwest and then later by white settlers who have explored the area and established small towns, farms, and ranches. Despite the European technology that has stunned Native Americans still modern living cannot explain away bizarre sightings known as "Thunderbirds" yet others have used different and more disturbing terms like "Hawkman".

Stunned witness!

A resident of Arizona, a woman living outside of town and in the arid countryside within her affluent household has a terrifying encounter. While preparing dinner and awaiting her husband's arrival she hears a bewildering sound like the violent fluttering of a huge flock of birds outside her living room windows! When she went to the large bay window at the front of her home and cast aside the curtains she was so shocked by what she saw she nearly passed out before calling the county sheriff's office. Just inches from her face standing on the other side of the glass was a predatory bird standing at least 6 foot in height glaring at her as she gazed back in horror!

More inexplicable reports

Yet, this was not an isolated incident! There were numerous such encounters through out the American Southwest from southern New Mexico to south Texas mostly in the desert regions. Through out the 1940's and beyond to the 1970's ranchers, residents, and Native Americans occupying these hostile lands witnessed gigantic birds that threatened the observer, followed moving vehicles, and terrorized the unsuspecting. Even former military intelligence officer and zoologist Ivan T. Sanderson did some research in these areas. He himself had reported a huge Vampire Bat, as he described it, in South America that had forced him to plunge into the Amazon River in order to escape it! Sanderson had reported on Unidentified Submerged Objects in the seas that had eluded the US Navy decades before such reports surfaced among mainstream journalists.

Ancient dinosaur?

University Professors who specialized in Paleontology speculated that the sightings could be that of surviving pterodactyls who were leading a very isolated existence out in the arid wilderness of the vast and largely unexplored American desert. A number of popular TV shows began to spring up over the fascination of the public over such speculation with well known TV celebrities appearing in an episode that mentioned such a mystery! There were also Dime Novels inspired by these incidents! Yet, the fascination soon wore off but not the phenomenon! As author, John A. Keel said in his books the prospect of a giant reptilian bird of ancient descent that seemed to become very agitated at the sight of human beings and had been observed to carry them off had been reported by the public as well as Native Americans who populated nearby reservations! This was not a fictitious or frivolous promotion of the bizarre!

Persistent calls to PD's

Police files taken in by small town jurisdictions began to show reports about something that few knew about, yet had caused those who witnessed the events pure terror! From Phoenix to Gila Bend and from Farmington to El Paso reports persisted through out these dusty and sandstone composed landscapes that left some people spellbound and others scared out of their wits after the appearance of an aerial beast large enough to carry them off! Author John A. Keel, well acquainted with the mysterious appearances he had investigated knew well just how insidious such sightings could be.

Airborne sightings

Why would local single engine pilots such as Cessna drivers be reporting giant birds while in flight over these vast desert regions seen flapping their huge wing spreads? Of course just as today and in the past in response to UFO and Sasquatch reports authorities tended to rule out such causes and instead attribute them to conventional explanations. In the cause of giant birds it would be hoaxes or misidentifications, in the case of UFO's it would be marsh gas or the planet Venus, or in the case of Bigfoot killing deer or livestock it would be mountain lions, bear, or the unknown as reports would go. It would seem that the authorities simply could not tolerate eye witness testimony!

Dallas Audiences spellbound

The Dallas, Texas radio station KLIF ran a series of late night talk shows Friday evenings that thrilled audiences over such mysteries and the "Hawkman" reports that were especially chilling for those young teenage listeners who were tuned in! Several similar reports made in the largely sparsely populated US southwest came to be noted. 1966 was a banner year for not only monstrous airborne creature sightings, but UFO's as well and as the US Air Force scrambled to handle shocking unexplained aerial phenomenon there were also comprised of the disturbing "Hawkman" reports that sent many an observer into hysterics there in the states of New Mexico, Arizona, and south Texas. Author John A. Keel would have attributed these sightings to the typical Fortean phenomena of long unknown accounts that have dated back centuries among human observers.