Cowboys and Aliens—silly idea or historical fact?

I mocked the first advertisements for the movie Cowboys and Aliens. The concept of cowboys shooting bullets at alien spaceships seemed too bizarre even for me, a Sci-Fi Fantasy fan. I thought it was a crazy idea for a movie. And I wasn’t alone. Chat groups filled up with negative comments about this movie long before it came out.

If reports of alien visitors go back thousands of years, then it would make sense that there should be reports of these strange occurrences in the Old West. And it seems there are.
Native Americans have stories about ‘star beings’ and the Thunderbird of Native American mythology is believed to have been either a large bird or an alien spacecraft—they could make lightning with their eyes and flap their wings to produce thunder. The Thunderbird has also been described as having metallic, bulletproof skin.

In the Arizonan desert in April of 1890, two cowboys saw a huge flying creature that had the body of a serpent, immense wings, two clawed feet and an alligator-like face. The cowboys chased the bird, opened fire and killed the monstrous bird. This is the story that was allegedly told to the Epitaph, a Tombstone newspaper. Was this a prehistoric bird like a pterodactyl or was this an alien spacecraft? Or a hoax as many people believe?

In 1897 in Aurora, Texas, a strange flying object reportedly crashed into an Old West windmill and broke into pieces. The occupant of this ‘spacecraft’ was described as ‘not of this Earth’ and given a Christian burial. Some people living in Aurora believe that an alien is buried in their cemetery.
It’s possible that Cowboys and Aliens is more than a ridiculous idea and might have some basis in fact. After seeing more trailers for the movie and hearing some of these Old West alien encounter stories, I stopped snickering. And I heard that Cowboys and Aliens is receiving some really good reviews.

Kelley Heckart

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Thunderbird

Not the car…I’m referring to the famous bird that claps through the sound barrier causing fear and awe to those who hear it. Those giant wings of his are capable of stirring the wind and sounding thunder whenever he beats them. This particular deity is a bird of power and strength - hence his immense popularity. Among all the Native American deity’s why does this one stand out among the rest?

The folk tales told by the numerous tribes across the Midwestern and Pacific Northwest are quite varied. However they all agree that they should never try to get him angry and do whatever it takes to keep him happy. Why? Well, it might have something to do with his ability to shoot bolts of lightening out of his eyes. Or perhaps it’s because he’s the only deity who controlled rain. If there isn’t rain…well…there won’t be many crops to harvest.

This picture shows a bolt of lightening shaped like a bird flapping its giant wings…

Of all the tales of deity, the most popular is the one of the whale.

Long ago a group of Native Americans grew restless from hunger. From his cave the benevolent deity saw their plight and flew out over the ocean to capture a whale. He then flew back with it and gently lowered it to the ground right in front of them. A spectacle of this magnitude must've been amazing to them…

I found the coolest tales of Thunderbird to be the one where they’re human shapeshifters! The giant bird capable of lifting a whale out of the ocean can shift into a small human? That’s just way too cool!

This legend tells of a group of thunderbirds (plural there) could shapeshift into human form by tilting back their beaks and shrugging off their blanket of feathers. These people then married into human families. After several generations, they soon forgot about their supernatural lineage. That is… until some foolish humans captured them and tried to enslave them… One can imagine what happened next, right?