Other Flying · Alton, Illinois · 1839
IL-1839ID case-ef04362687Added to map Oct 8, 2026
- Creature
- Other Flying
- When
- Nov 1839to the month
- Where
- Alton, Illinoisto town level
- Reports
- 4 documents1 independent
The account
The text recounts an Indian tradition of a giant bird called the Piasa that preyed on humans in Illinois until it was killed by warriors led by Chief Ouatoga.
Trace the source trail → every document, in time order, and how they connect
We map claims, not creatures: this is what the sources say, not proof. How a case is built
Details
- Creature
- Other Flying
- Where
- Alton, Madison County, Illinois, 62002, United States
mapped to town level · from the report's own words - When
- Nov 1839
- Account
- Not first-hand (retold or reported by someone else)
- Backed by
- 1 independent source (4 documents; copies and reprints are not confirmations)
- Added to map
- Oct 8, 2026
- Case id
- case-ef04362687
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Source trail (2)
Down the rabbit hole → 4 documents, and how they connect
Every link goes to where we found the account. The earliest we found is marked; it is the earliest found, not necessarily the original.
- Image 1 of Danbury times (Danbury, Conn.), November 13, 1839
Newspaper · 1839-11-13
Earliest found, not necessarily the original. - Image 4 of Watchman of the South (Richmond, Va.), November 19, 1840
Newspaper · 1840-11-19
Further reading
- On the Track of Unknown Animals, Bernard Heuvelmans (1959)
The founding work of cryptozoology.
Borrow on Internet Archive - Cryptozoology A to Z, Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark (1999)
Encyclopedia of reported creatures.
Borrow on Internet Archive - Abominable Science!, Daniel Loxton and Donald Prothero (2013)
Skeptical history of the Yeti, Nessie and others.
Borrow on Internet Archive - In Search of Prehistoric Survivors, Karl Shuker (1995)
Borrow on Internet Archive
Books we have not reproduced: borrow them free at archive.org. Listing a book is not an endorsement of its claims.