Supposedly, about thirty years ago, a Cherokee chief, Chief John “A.J.” Huffer, caught on film a pair of legendary “thunderbirds” with wingspans of 14 to 18 feet. Some Canadian film crew is making a documentary about the whole thing.

Here’s a link about Thunderbirds on a cryptozoology site:

Perhaps the most controversial inclusion of the Thunderbird capable of lifting a human comes from 1977 in Lawndale, Illinois. It was here that on July 25, 1977 towards 9:00 pm a group of three boys were in the backyard. They saw two large birds coming, and as the birds came in closer they went after the boys. Two of the boys escaped, but the third, Marlon Lowe, did not. One of the birds clamped onto his shoulder with its claws and proceeded to lift the ten year old boy about two feet off the ground for a distance of at least 30 yards. With screams of distress calling adults outside and coupled with a series of blows by the 65-pound boy, the bird finally released him. The boy was relatively unharmed, with psychological damage instead of physical.

Another thing about thunderbirds, but I can’t find any images from that guy’s film reel anywhere. Damn. This page, called “Evidence of the Giant Birds” has more info, plus stuff about a huge prehistoric bird called the teratorn.