The Piasa Bird
In 1673, two explorers paddling down the Mississippi saw a painting on a cliff of a monster with antlers, a man's face, scales and a long tail. It frightened them.
What was reported
Travelling down the Mississippi in 1673, the French Jesuit Jacques Marquette and the explorer Louis Jolliet saw a painting high on the limestone bluffs near present-day Alton: a creature as large as a calf, with horns like a deer's, red eyes, a beard, a scaly body and a tail that wrapped around it, painted in red, green and black.
It was later named the Piasa, and legends grew of a bird-like monster that preyed on people until an Illini chief destroyed it.
Explanations offered
The painting was probably made by Native people and may show the underwater panther or another powerful being of their beliefs. The original was destroyed by quarrying in the 1800s; a reconstruction now stands on the bluffs. The 'legend' of the chief was largely written by a 19th-century professor.
- When
- Seen in 1673; repainted since
- Where
- Alton, Illinois, USA
- Witnesses
- The explorers Marquette and Jolliet
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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