The Piasa Bird
Credit: Cassie Tucker
Origins:
Alton, Illinois
Legend:
The Piasa Bird was a terrifying people-eater said to have a bird-like winged body, antlers, and a human face with a beard. It was given its name by the Illini Indian tribe. “Piasa” means “a bird that devours men” in the tribe’s native tongue.
The Piasa Bird was said to have snatched tribe members living near the river one by one, despite efforts to stop the creature. It wasn’t defeated until Chief Ouatoga devised a plan that came to him in a dream. He sacrificed himself to the creature, by gripping onto tree roots as it attacked, so that it would struggle to carry him off. This bought the tribe members enough time to take out the bird with poison arrows.
An original mural was painted on limestone as a tribute, and members of the tribe who passed by the mural would shoot arrows into it to salute the bravery of Chief Ouatoga.
Visit:
Alton, Illinois
You can visit the mural that is supposedly a recreation of the original one painted by the tribe. It’s accompanied by a large granite arrowhead on which the full legend of the Piasa Bird is inscribed.
Find other cryptids on the U.S.A. road map
More local cryptids:
