A young man, who was at an Idaho ranch for troubled male youths, observed what he believed was a Thunderbird while chopping wood one evening. A native man later confirmed his sighting.
I recently received the following account:
“Back in 2003, when I was 19 years old, I went to an all-boys boarding school in the middle of nowhere, called Wisdom Ranch, in order to help me graduate high school. Located in Arco, Idaho, population less than 1500, situated next to Craters of the Moon National Park. The school taught us troubled youth (about 12 of us with about 8 rotating staff) how to live, work, and achieve together by being farm hands, ranching, raising cows and bulls, maintaining horses, and basically everything in how to be in tune with nature and your surroundings. No TV, no internet. No NOTHING. It was owned by an old marine name Monty with his wife.
At the ranch, each of us boys had individual, rotating tasks assigned to us each week i.e; chopping wood for the fire place in our yurt we lived in, cooking meals in a separate but nearby yurt, collecting bathing water from the nearby stream, etc. We heated up pails of water on an outside stove to create hot water for our showers. We were COMPLETELY self sufficient and living off-grid.
One week during the winter, I was assigned to wood chopping duty. I liked to chop as much wood as possible in a day so I could have the rest of the week off. One evening I was outside chopping wood at around dusk. All the students and staff were inside the yurt as the day was winding down. We would play cards, lift weights, do homework, etc. That night as I was chopping, there's a nearby ridge-line about 100 yards away, and about 100 feet high. This ridge-line was familiar because we used to go hiking up there to see the wildlife as it was a game trail. We were use to seeing fawn, elk, coyote and even golden eagles. So the year I was there, I was very use to seeing the local wildlife in abundance.
As I was chopping, the sun was just barely illuminating that very ridge-line as dusk turned to night. I remember there was an Aurora Borealis that night so I wanted to stay out and chop wood while waiting to see my first Aurora Borealis. But then, something caught my eye. Something on the red ridge-line was big enough at that distance (an elk would be big enough) to catch my eye. I looked up and saw the biggest bird I'd seen in my life. It was perched on a boulder I was familiar with, because I remember standing next to it while on my many hikes around it. The boulder/rock was as tall as me, 6 feet tall and as round as a dinner table. The bird I was looking at was taller than the rock. I would guess 7 feet tall. I don't know how long it had been there, but as I looked at it, I remember it was very still, almost as if it were looking at the days last sun rays almost like it were basking in it. Glowing pink, red, and yellow from the sunset. It was literally the most majestic thing I've seen in my life and it still is all these years later. It remains one of my most vivid memories and will be so until the day I die.
To this day, I've never claimed to see a Bigfoot, UFO, ghosts, or anything extraterrestrial, cryptid, or paranormal. But I know what I saw was a Thunderbird that evening. I looked at it and was completely mesmerized. Never in fear. I've read how some Bigfoot witnesses are paralyzed in fear and wish they've never seen it. I had the opposite feeling. Completely at ease with what was happening. Something compelled me to stay totally still so it wouldn't get spooked by me and leave. After a good 45 seconds of staring at it, wide eyed, too shocked to even blink, it opened its wings and flew away around the back side of a much larger separate crag/boulder to its right/my left. It spread its wings and flew to its left and back around behind the mountain side and it was completely out of sight. Its wing span was easily as wide as the length of a school bus. It wasn't black like a crow, and it didn't resemble a pterodactyl like some people claim. It was just this absolutely colossal bird whose color mimicked the colors of the sunset.
We had a native American man named Steve who would come to out to the ranch out of his own kindness, and use a teepee he built for sweat ceremonies for us who wanted to partake. They were very spiritual. I told him, but nobody else, about what I witnessed and he believed me. He said it was the Thunderbird. Now I know the Thunderbird as an actual living breathing thing as I am. And I'm blessed to have seen it.” SS
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Join Lon as he welcomes paranormal researchers & authors Timothy Renner and Joshua Cutchin to Arcane Radio. Timothy and Joshua recently published 'Where the Footprints End: High Strangeness and the Bigfoot Phenomenon, Volumes I & II.' Follow the trail blazed by Timothy and Joshua, demonstrating how deeply the inexplicable, peripheral oddities of High Strangeness are infused in our contemporary wild man mythology. The journey concludes with a pair of case studies exemplifying how the mysterious mess of the supernatural collides with reality, generating truly baffling encounters. No one knows exactly where the footprints end... but these mark the final steps of our journey.
Joshua Cutchin has written 4 books and has contributed to several others. He has been featured on the History Channel's Ancient Aliens and has multiple guest appearances on 'Coast to Coast AM' and other acclaimed podcasts. He is also a recurring roundtable guest on the 'Where Did the Road Go?' podcast.
Timothy Renner is an illustrator, author, and folk musician living in Pennsylvania. His illustrations have appeared in the pages of various books, magazines, fanzines and comics as well as on many record and CD covers. Since 1995, Timothy has been making music both solo and with his band, Stone Breath. Timothy is the creator of "Strange Familiars", a podcast concerning the paranormal, weird history, folklore and the occult. He makes regular appearances on the paranormal radio show, 'Where Did the Road Go?', and has appeared as a guest on many other podcasts and radio programs, including "Coast to Coast AM". Timothy is also a member of the 'Phantoms & Monsters Fortean Research' team.
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