The Dragoon Dragon
The Tombstone Thunderbird, the Cochise Pterodactyl and the Dragoon Dragon ~ all they all one in the same?
Tombstone Thunderbird
The story began when The Tombstone Epitaph published this news article on April 26, 1890:
“A winged monster, resembling a huge alligator with an extremely elongated tail and an immense pair of wings, was found on the desert between the Whetstone and Huachuca mountains last Sunday by two ranchers who were returning home from the Huachucas. The creature was evidently greatly exhausted by a long flight and when discovered was able to fly but a short distance at a time.
Story continued:
After the first shock of wild amazement had passed the two men, who were on horseback and armed with Winchester rifles, regained sufficient courage to pursue the monster and after an exciting chase of several miles succeeded in getting near enough to open fire with their rifles and wounding it.
The creature then turned on the men, but owing to its exhausted condition they were able to keep out of its way and after a few well directed shots the monster partly rolled over and remained motionless. The men cautiously approached, their horses snorting with terror, and found that the creature was dead.
They then proceeded to make an examination and found that it measured about ninety-two feet in length and the greatest diameter was about fifty inches. The monster had only two feet, these being situated a short distance in front of where the wings were joined to the body. The head, as near as they could judge, was about eight feet long, the jaws being thickly set with strong, sharp teeth. Its eyes were as large as a dinner plate and protruded about halfway from the head. (a typical Cessna is about 27 feet in length for comparison)
They had some difficulty in measuring the wings as they were partly folded under the body, but finally got one straightened out sufficiently to get a measurement of seventy-eight feet, making the total length from tip to tip about 160 feet. (a typical Cessna plane has a wingspan of about 36 feet for comparison) The wings were composed of a thick and nearly transparent membrane and were devoid of feathers or hair, as was the entire body. The skin of the body was comparatively smooth and easily penetrated by a bullet.
The men cut off a small portion of the tip of one wing and took it home with them. Late last night one of them arrived in this city for supplies and to make the necessary preparations to skin the creature, when the hide will be sent east for examination by the eminent scientists of the day.
The finder returned early this morning accompanied by several prominent men who will endeavor to bring the strange creature to this city before it is mutilated.”
And that’s it…nothing more was ever published. Supposedly a photo exists but it certainly isn’t the one shown. Supposedly an old cowboy attending one of the earlier Helldorado celebrations claimed to be one of the ranchers involved, but that the Epitaph Newspaper blew it all out of proportion and that they never actually shot down the creature, so it was never measured in any way but had a wingspan more like 20’ and resembled an alligator with bat membrane like wings. A pterodactyl perhaps? Native Americans have many legends of “thunderbirds”. Is this an example? We’ll never know…but it is a very strange tale from back in the day in “The Town Too Tough to Die”. In fact, it is the story too tough to die!
What do you think?
Article above as found at:
