# Have you seen the Thunderbird Photo? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 9, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616 "2005-06-09T17:27:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/21 "2005-06-09T19:16:01Z")
> [@Rich Mann](#): > > The reason that I did not put this in GQ or GD is because I really don’t care to discuss whether the image ever existed or if it was real. I know I have seen thunderbird images which are from the correct time or close to it. But, I can’t remember where. I checked the Museum Of Hoaxes and the Museum Of Unnatural Mystery and came up empty. The second does list a few reports of thunderbird sightings from 1960 to 1980. > [@](#): > > This is a poll. In that case, I won’t mention that the original image and story were also hoaxes. Should I find a link, I will simply change my poll answer from ‘Yes, but I don’t know if I’ve seen that one.’ to ‘Yes I have’. I won’t be able to post a link to the image you’re looking for however. That would change all subsequent responses to ‘Yes, it was in Doc’s post’ and invalidate the poll. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/22 "2005-06-09T20:28:51Z")
It would have been more helpful to post links to the hoax photos you were already aware of and said something like “not this one”. By the way, I’d never heard of this story but the photo that I can see is really cool! Thanks, **Scott Plaid**. By the way, **Rich Mann** , I suppose you’re well informed on how memory can play some wierd tricks on you. You read about something as a kid, then as years go by, you actually remember seeing it. Your mind may have imagined how the photo looked and since you probubly had more important things to think about growing up, you “remember” seeing a photo that you only read about. I’m sure this has crossed your mind. Possible. ---
**Author:** ![Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/58956e/32.png) [@Hoodoo\_Ulove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoodoo_Ulove)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/23 "2005-06-09T20:39:55Z")
> [@Rich Mann](#): > > So, have you seen it? > [@Rich Mann](#): > > I really don’t care to discuss whether the image ever existed Huh? ---
**Author:** ![JohnBckWLD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JohnBckWLD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnBckWLD)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/24 "2005-06-09T21:00:40Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > It would have been more helpful to post links to the hoax photos you were already aware of and said something like “not this one”. Or [_this one_](http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1950-1959/1957-Ford-Thunderbird-1600x1200.jpg) - from 1957. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/25 "2005-06-09T21:22:40Z")
Now if somebody would just post a link to the rotgut. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/26 "2005-06-09T21:35:06Z")
I’m looking for an image that never existed in the first place. I have seen hoaxed images purporting to be this image, but that’s not what I’m looking for. If you have seen this image that has never been seen, or imagined this image which has never been imagined, please post a link to it. I am not looking for images that have been hoaxed or hoaxes that have been imagined. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/27 "2005-06-09T21:57:14Z")
Seriously. I can’t remember what odd site I first read the story and saw the original illustration on. The drawing on the Freaky Links page is obviously based on the original, but there are differences. I remember the original being more outlines and less detail and the lines and shading having more of a zig-zag squiggle quality. It isn’t in the museum of hoaxes, or the museum of unnatural mystery ([www.unmuseum.com](http://www.unmuseum.com)) and I can’t remember where it was. I keep wondering what other weirdness the site had that I’ve forgotten. Hmm, it might not have been a website but a role playing book. I can’t remember and it’s driving me nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/28 "2005-06-09T22:38:09Z")
> [@JohnBckWLD](#): > > Or [_this one_](http://www.seriouswheels.com/pics-1950-1959/1957-Ford-Thunderbird-1600x1200.jpg) - from 1957. OK, speaking of wierd photos - WTH is that strange thing behind the T-Bird? It looks like a wrapped pipe of some sort (water?) with a red metal thing sticking up in the air. At first I thought it was some rope tied from the tree, but I don’t think it is. It could be some bizarre '50’s yard ornament, but why would it be in the strip of grass between the road and the sidewalk? What is that thing? ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/29 "2005-06-09T22:45:28Z")
> [@Lamar Mundane](#): > > OK, speaking of wierd photos - WTH is that strange thing behind the T-Bird? It looks like a wrapped pipe of some sort (water?) with a red metal thing sticking up in the air. At first I thought it was some rope tied from the tree, but I don’t think it is. It could be some bizarre '50’s yard ornament, but why would it be in the strip of grass between the road and the sidewalk? > > What is that thing? It’s a sapling. I think the tape is to keep bugs from desroying the trunk before it gets a chance to grow larger. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/30 "2005-06-10T01:07:12Z")
This situation seem kin to when people vividly recall scenes from Star Wars movie, which in reality only took place in the Marvel line of Comic Books. > [@DocCathode](#): > > Hmm, it might not have been a website but a role playing book. I can’t remember and it’s driving me nuts. A role playing game? Burea 13, perhaps? P.S. Everyone else has quite concisly sumerized when this situation is so annoying. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/31 "2005-06-10T01:18:20Z")
> [@Scott Plaid](#): > > Burea 13, perhaps? Good guess but no. I’ve only ever seen one Bureau 13 rpg book and that was a decade ago. If it was an RPG, I suspect Chill, one of the White Wolf non core books, or maybe Gurps horror. (Nope, just found my copy of gurps horror, no Thunderbird.) This is going to bug me for years. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/32 "2005-06-10T02:47:31Z")
**Rich Mann** , in case you didn’t “get it” from several of the above posts, I’ll try a little different way. From the OP: > [@Rich Mann](#): > > I am aware that because of the mystery surrounding this subject (and human nature) there have been hoaxed photos purporting to be the ‘original’, so don’t bother pointing to these." Unless you believe us to be telepathic, or you post a link to every single photo you believe to be hoaxed saying “Not this one”, there is No Way that we can tell which picture you _might_ consider to be the original that you saw. People were only trying to help. ---
**Author:** ![jimpatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9e5f3/32.png) [@jimpatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimpatro)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/33 "2005-06-10T05:42:21Z")
**Lamar Mundane** > [@](#): > > OK, speaking of wierd photos - WTH is that strange thing behind the T-Bird? Aurora contrail!!! ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/34 "2005-06-10T06:32:59Z")
FWIW, I have a vague recollection of seeing a photograph similar to what’s described in the OP. It was a thunderbird similar to what was shown in the drawing linked to earlier, and I think it was affixed to a barn wall with some people in front of it. It definitely wasn’t the pterodactyl photo. Unfortunately, I have no idea what book I saw it in. It would have sometime between the mid-'70s and mid-'80s that I saw it. ---
**Author:** ![eleemosynary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dc4da7/32.png) [@eleemosynary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleemosynary)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/35 "2005-06-10T06:37:44Z")
> [@Rich Mann](#): > > So, have you seen it? I haven’t seen it, you might want to try looking over at [Strangemag.com](http://Strangemag.com) (if you are willing to purchase their on-line magazine). IIRC, they ran at least a couple of articles on the Thunderbird photograph but I didn’t read them so I don’t know if it contained the actual photo you are looking for. HTH, Elee PS: As a sidenote and definitely not meant as a hijack, strangemag has a great article (which is free, I believe) called “The Haunted Boy” about the hoax that eventually turned into the Excorcist movie. ---
**Author:** ![Rich\_Mann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@Rich\_Mann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rich_Mann)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2005, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616/36 "2005-06-10T08:17:21Z")
**Hunter Hawk** , that would be the approximate time frame, yes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-seen-the-thunderbird-photo/307616.md?page=1)