Author: Macabre Mary

Georgia-based author and artist, Mary has been a horror aficionado since the mid-2000s. Originally a hobby artist and writer, she found her niche in the horror industry in late 2019 and hasn't looked back since. Mary's evolution into a horror expert allowed her to express herself truly for the first time in her life. Now, she prides herself on indulging in the stuff of nightmares.

Mary also moonlights as a content creator across multiple social media platforms—breaking down horror tropes on YouTube, as well as playing horror games and broadcasting live digital art sessions on Twitch.

Thunderbird: Nightmare of the Skies

Horror Mystery and Lore

Post author By Macabre Mary
Post date December 10, 2019
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What is the Thunderbird?

The legend of the Thunderbird has roots in the history of North America—going back all the way to before external influences touched the continent—this enormous bird of prey was noted in folktales to be seen most often during the spring and summer seasons and in many instances its appearance would forecast a destructive storm coming to the area. Despite bringing life-giving water to the area, the omen of the Thunderbird always meant death and destruction to the people of the land.

Descriptions of this unbelievable black bird report that it has a wing-span between 10-20 feet, with some people comparing it to the size of a small airplane. The only comparable bird, scientifically speaking, would be the Pelagornis sandersi a species which hasn’t existed in over 24 million years. Many also lump the Thunderbird in with a similar cryptid who has been sighted in the Midwest, but it bears more of a resemblance to the extinct Pteranodon as opposed to a feathered bird. Regardless, simply the size of this aerial threat is enough to cause panic in parents of small children, as these creatures have been found attempting to snatch children off of the ground while playing outside.

Thunderbird soaring on the wind — Photography by Quentin Dr

While this creature is not a new avian phenomenon, the Thunderbird has had reported sightings in Juneau, Alaska as recently as the early parts of 2018—and the late Mark A. Hall even wrote an entire book dedicated to the topic. There are many writers out there with an opinion on the topic, some suggesting that it shouldn’t be categorized as a cryptid at all, considering the basis in historical science of birds like these existing once upon a time. It can difficult to get behind, without physical evidence that can be studied in a lab, but this is one cryptid that doesn’t necessarily require a flight of fancy to get people wondering whether or not it truly exists in our modern world.

In the end, reports of this child-snatching terror in the skies are not only an isolated incident in Alaska. Destination Truth even had an episode where they featured the search for the mysterious Thunderbird and while most of their episodes are a little lackluster when it comes to evidential support, I think it’s interesting that the legend of it warranted their time and efforts to try to capture it on film. So what do you think, have you ever seen a Thunderbird?

Macabre Mary

Georgia-based author and artist, Mary has been a horror aficionado since the mid-2000s. Originally a hobby artist and writer, she found her niche in the horror industry in late 2019 and hasn’t looked back since. Mary’s evolution into a horror expert allowed her to express herself truly for the first time in her life. Now, she prides herself on indulging in the stuff of nightmares.

www.macabremary.com

Tags alaska, cryptids, cryptozoology, north america, thunderbird

Is the Adlet the Werewolf of the Far North?

Horror Mystery and Lore

Post author By Macabre Mary
Post date December 8, 2019
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What is the Adlet?

Not a true werewolf—but they are the closest thing you’ll see to one in Inuit folklore. The Adlet (ah-dlit), also known as the Erqigdlet (urk-kig-dlit) in Greenland, is considered the arctic counterpart of the well-known werewolf and for good reason. Although they are not shapeshifters and the moon has no effect on them, their physical appearance is enough to make anyone believe they’re one and the same. In their own lore, they are considered a ferocious man-eating beast, originating from an unnatural mating between an Inuit woman and a dog. This woman ended up birthing a litter of ten—five of which were dogs, and five that were half-human, half-canine monstrosities which began their history of terrorizing the frozen north.

Many accounts of this murderous race of humanoids, have described them as having a more human upper-half and a fully canine lower-half, but there are more who say that they resemble the more infamous werewolf of European lore. What all of these descriptions have in common though is the details of their monstrosity. The Adlet, in particular, possesses a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, a rusty-red coat, a pronounced canine snout, pointed ears, piercing eyes, and a long, wolf-like tail. Other than the known ability of a werewolf to transition back into a human form after a full moon, they both seem rather similar, don’t they?

Origin of the Adlet

It would be negligent to speak at length about the Adlet, without giving an explanation of where this creature originated from within the Inuit culture, luckily there are recorded tales from the late nineteenth century that help to fill the gap of our knowledge on this particular cryptid.

Uinigumissuitoq married a dog. One night she was found outside the hut sleeping with the dog. She gave birth to ten children, one half of them dogs, the other Adlet. The children grew up. Every time their grandfather had got a seal, he loaded it upon his kayak and carried it to them. His grandchildren were very voracious. Therefore, he selected an island for their place of abode and carried them over there, his daughter, the dog, and the children.

Their father, the dog, swam every day to the old man’s hut to fetch meat in a pair of boots which he had hung around his neck. One day the grandfather filled them with stones instead of meat and thus drowned the dog. When he was drowned their grandfather continued to send them food.

The mother, however, said to her children, “Watch your grandfather, when he goes out in his kayak, and attack him!” They killed him. Then she searched for her children, and after having cut a sole for herself, she transformed it quickly into a boat, in which she ordered them to travel across the ocean. She sang, “Angnaijaja. When you have arrived on the other side, you will make many little things. Angnaija.”

Excerpt from Journal of American Folklore v. 1-2 (1888-1889): Eskimo Tales and Songs