The Lawndale Thunderbird Attack on Marlon Lowe

Lawndale is a small village in Logan County, Illinois. The Lowe family home sat beside open fields near Kickapoo Creek. On the evening of Monday, 25 July 1977, the adults sat in lawn chairs while the children played in the large yard. Three boys were playing hide-and-seek: Travis Goodwin, Michael Thompson and 10-year-old Marlon Lowe.

About 8:30 p.m., two large birds came in from the south. They swooped first at Travis. He ran and jumped into a small plastic swimming pool.

Then one of them went for Marlon, its claws catching in the straps of his sleeveless shirt. It lifted him off the ground and carried him about 35 feet. Marlon screamed and punched at the bird as his mother, Ruth Lowe, screamed and chased it from the door. It dropped him. "I was standing at the door, and all I saw was Marlon's feet dangling in the air," she said.

Both birds flew off. Ruth could not forget what she saw. "I'll always remember how that huge thing was bending its white ringed neck. It seemed to be trying to peck at Marlon as it was flying away."

The witnesses described them as coal-black, with long necks ringed in white and long, hooked beaks. A guest, James Daniels, called them "overgrown vultures". Wingspan estimates ran from 4 feet to about 15, and one account gave a body length of about four and a half feet. The family dog, normally aggressive, reportedly never barked. "There just aren't any birds around here that could lift him up like that," Ruth said.

Ruth Lowe reported the attack to the police and to the game warden. She was worried about the other children who played along Kickapoo Creek. Officials told newspapers that people were seeing turkey vultures and letting their imaginations run away with them.

Then the ridicule began, with crank calls and dead birds left on the porch. At school, Marlon became "Bird Boy". His father, Jake Lowe, was mocked at work. Marlon was reportedly traumatised. He refused to leave the camper, and his hair reportedly fell out or turned temporarily discoloured.

Jerry D. Coleman of Decatur interviewed Marlon, Ruth and Jake within hours. In 1979 he returned with his brother, Loren Coleman, for follow-up interviews. Loren Coleman counted seven witnesses. Rick Baker of the Bloomington Pantagraph also interviewed Marlon. The story went on to appear in Cryptozoology A to Z by Loren Coleman and Jerome Clark, and in Mark A. Hall's Thunderbirds.

Lawndale was not alone that summer. Days later, Tuscola police chief "Texas" John Huffer filmed two large birds at Lake Shelbyville. The Department of Conservation called them turkey vultures. On 11 August, John and Wanda Chappell of Odin watched a grey-black bird land in a tree over their pond.

The debate never settled, with suggestions including turkey vultures, large eagles and Andean condors. In 2015, Mathew Louis argued for Andean condors and suggested a foot tangled in the shirt straps while the bird's momentum briefly lifted the boy. Some cryptozoologists wondered about surviving teratorns. On MonsterQuest in 2007, Dr. Patrick Redig of the Raptor Center said a bird would need to weigh about 100 pounds to lift a 60-pound child, while Marlon Lowe appeared and said simply: "It dropped me." No substantiating evidence was produced.