Piasa Bird Jan 26

For my Birthday last week, My dad bought me a shirt with the Piasa Bird on it.   The Piasa Bird is a Native American legend local to the area where my dad lives in Alton, Illinois.    The Piasa Bird is depicted as a mural which has been the victim of relocation and vandalism throughout its history.  However, remains infamous in the Mid Mississippi River Valley, each person who drives by it has a different version of it's story.    

My favorite, my best friend's mom used to tell us that the Piasa Bird would eat us if we didn't behave.    Apparently, Karen thought the Piasa Bird devoured local juvenile miscreants.   However, we learned later in grade school that an ambiguous native american tribe painted the image on the bluffs to ward off enemies, like an epic scarecrow, I guess.   Its actually impressive how I have grown up with this image overlooking an area I frequent without having any concrete idea of how it got there.  

According to Wikipedia, Piasa is actually an Anishinabbe word and is thought to mean "bird that devours men" or "bird of the evil spirit."  And the image was discovered on the bluffs by Jacques Marquette, and explorer in 1673.  

More Later!