David Castleton (Author) on Nostr: The Piasa Bird, painted on cliffs next to the Mississippi River, near Alton, ...

The Piasa Bird, painted on cliffs next to the Mississippi River, near Alton, Illinois. According to one account, this monstrous creature - with huge antlers, a scaly horselike body, fangs, wings and a long beard - swooped out of the sky one day and snatched up a member of the Illini tribe. It thereafter terrorised the Illini on a daily basis, usually snatching humans to devour. It was eventually killed. Warriors fired arrows at its only weak point, the delicate scales right beneath its wings, and - with a shriek - the bird tumbled into the Mississippi. A depiction of the Piasa was then painted on the cliff and each time a warrior passed, he would fire an arrow - and later rifle - at it for good luck. The earliest written record of the painting (which does not mention wings) is from 1673. Over time, it faded and a portion was quarried away by landowners in the 19th century, but decades later the mural was restored. #folklore #history #art #mythology #Psychogeography