The Piasa Bird is a local legend, famously represented by a painting on the bluffs along the Great River Road near Alton, Illinois. Steeped in folkloric tradition, the Piasa Bird has an intriguing history.
Maybe my family made the Sunday afternoon drive over to Alton a little too early in my childhood because—I’ll be honest—that painting and the tales behind it scared the dickens out of me.
And not learning from my own experience, I decided to tell my kids the legend. They always asked for spooky ghost stories, so I figured, why not? This resulted in one of my kids crying and calling me scary.
To be perfectly honest, until I did the research for this episode, I was still fairly skeeved out by the story myself. So perhaps this episode isn’t the best one to listen to right before bedtime.
The Piasa Bird: Origins and Description
The Piasa Bird is a petroglyph—or pictograph—a form of sign language incised in stone depicting a large bird-like animal.
Sitting high in the bluffs, it is the largest Native American painting ever found in North America.
It was first discovered by Europeans in 1673, by none other than explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet. Marquette was a missionary fluent in several Native languages.
On one trip to the region, the group came across the painting of the Piasa Bird. Marquette wrote:
“While skirting some rocks, which by their height and length inspired awe, we saw upon one of them two painted monsters, which at first made us afraid, upon which the boldest savages dared no longer rest their eyes.
They are large as a calf, they have horns on their head like those of a deer, a horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger’s, a face somewhat like a man’s, a body covered with scales, and a long tail that winds all around the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fishtail.
Green, red, and black are the three colors composing the picture.
Moreover, these two monsters are so well painted that we cannot believe that any savage and their author, for good painters in France, would find it difficult to reach that place and conveniently paint them.”
LaSalle also mentioned the painting in his journals while exploring the area.
Observers noted that Native Americans passing the painting on the bluffs would shoot arrows—and later bullets—at it. No one is sure if this was out of hatred or an odd form of offering. Some Native Americans stopped at the site to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings, attempting to appease the Piasa.
Theories About the Painting’s Origins
How did this giant mural come to be? Several theories exist:
Local Native American tribes, such as the Illini or the Mississippian, are often credited. However, it’s unlikely the Mississippians painted it since their culture died out about 400 years before the first European recording.
Some speculate Chinese explorers painted it, suggesting the Piasa Bird is actually a dragon—an emblem of the Chinese Empire—to claim the land.
Another theory says it was painted by the Lost Tribe of Israel, representing the beast prophesied in the Apocalypse by St. John.
Lastly, some say members of Marquette’s party, who became ill, created the painting to appease the devil.
While all these are fascinating, we’ll focus on the popular folklore that attributes the painting to local Native American tribes.
The Legend of the Piasa Bird
For centuries, locals have recalled seeing the Piasa Bird high on the bluffs of Alton. No one really knows who painted it, what exactly it represents, or how it was painted. It had no name—just an existence.
The legend grew significantly thanks to John Russell.
Russell was born in 1793 in Vermont and moved to Illinois as a child. He spent most of his life in Bluffsdale, Illinois. A Baptist minister, writer, and at one point a professor of Greek and Latin, Russell published an article in 1836 titled The Tradition of the Piasa Bird, The Bird that Devours Men in The Family Magazine—a family magazine, indeed!
Here’s an excerpt from Russell’s story:
“No part of the United States, not even the highlands of the Hudson, can view, in wild and romantic scenery, with the bluffs of Illinois on the Mississippi, between the mouths of the Missouri and Illinois rivers. On one side of the river, often at the water’s edge, a perpendicular wall of rock rises to the height of some hundred feet. Generally, on the opposite shore is a level bottom or prairie of several miles in extent, extending to a similar bluff that runs parallel with the river. One of these ranges commences at Alton and extends for many miles along the left bank of the Mississippi. In descending the river to Alton, the traveler will observe, between that town and the mouth of the Illinois, a narrow ravine through which a small stream discharges its waters into the Mississippi. This stream is the Piasa. Its name is Indian, and signifies, in the Illini, ‘The bird which devours men.’ Near the mouth of this stream, on the smooth and perpendicular face of the bluff, at an elevation which no human art can reach, is cut the figure of an enormous bird, with its wings extended. The animal which the figure represents was called by the Indians, ‘the Piasa.’ From this is derived the name of the stream.
The tradition of the Piasa is still current among the tribes of the Upper Mississippi, and those who have inhabited the valley of the Illinois, and is briefly this:
Many thousand moons before the arrival of the pale faces, when the great Megalonyx and Mastodon, whose bones are now dug up, were still living in the land of green prairies, there existed a bird of such dimensions that he could easily carry off in his talons a full-grown deer. Having obtained a taste for human flesh, from that time he would prey on nothing else. He was artful as he was powerful, and would dart suddenly and unexpectedly upon an Indian, bear him off into one of the caves of the bluff, and devour him. Hundreds of warriors attempted for years to destroy him, but without success. Whole villages were nearly depopulated, and consternation spread through all the tribes of the Illini.
Such was the state of affairs when Ouatoga, the great chief of the Illini, whose fame extended beyond the Great Lakes, separating himself from the rest of his tribe, fasted in solitude for the space of a whole moon, and prayed to the great spirit, the Master of Life, that he would protect his children from the Piasa.
On the last night of the fast, the Great Spirit appeared to Ouatoga in a dream, and directed him to select twenty of his bravest warriors, each armed with a bow and poisoned arrows, and conceal them in a designated spot. Near the place of concealment, another warrior was to stand in open view, as a victim for the Piasa, which they must shoot the instant he pounced upon his prey.
When the chief awoke in the morning, he thanked the Great Spirit, and returning to his tribe, told them his vision. The warriors were quickly selected and placed in ambush as directed. Ouatoga offered himself as the victim. He was willing to die for his people. Placing himself in open view on the bluffs, he soon saw the Piasa perched on the cliff, eying his prey. The chief drew up his manly form to his utmost height, and planting his feet firmly upon the earth, he began to chant the death-song of an Indian warrior. The moment after, the Piasa arose into the air, and swift as the thunder-bolt, darted down on his victim. Scarcely had the horrid creature reached his prey before every bow was sprung and every arrow was sent quivering to the feather into his body. The Piasa uttered a fearful scream, that sounded far over the opposite side of the river and expired. Ouatoga was unharmed. Not an arrow, not even the talons of the bird had touched him. The Master of Life, in admiration of Ouatoga’s deed, had held over him an invisible shield.
There was the wildest rejoicing among the Illini, and the brave chief was carried in triumph to the council house, where it was solemnly agreed that, in memory of the great event in their nation’s history, the image of the Piasa should be engraved on the bluff.“
In 1847, Russell printed a different version in the Illinois Journal describing the Piasa Bird as a giant condor killed by a single warrior.
Separating Fact from Fiction
So, which version is true? Neither entirely.
Russell admitted his story was fabricated, but by then the legend had taken hold.
Why, then, is there a giant mural of a ferocious beast on the bluff in Alton?
Near the site is a cave explored by Russell and others. He described it:
“After a long and perilous climb, we reached the cave, which was about fifty feet above the surface of the river…. The roof of the cavern was vaulted, and the top was hardly less than twenty feet high. The shape of the cavern was irregular; but, so far as I could judge, the bottom would average twenty by thirty feet.
The floor of the cavern throughout its whole extent was one mass of human bones. Skulls and other bones were mingled in the utmost confusion. To what depth they extended I was unable to decide; but we dug to a depth of 3 or 4 feet in every part of the cavern, and still we found only bones. The remains of thousands must have been deposited here. How, and by whom, and for what purpose, it is impossible to conjecture.”
It’s clear something ancient happened there, but the details remain unknown.
The Painting’s History and Modern Renditions
The original painting was visible until about 1845 but was made of crumbly limestone, much quarried away in the 1870s.
The legend faded for a while but resurfaced in the 1920s when 18-year-old Boy Scout Herbert Forcade and his brother painted a version on a bluff near Alton—quite an Eagle Scout project!
This mural was presented to the city in 1924 but later fell into disrepair.
In 1952, a new Piasa Bird mural was painted by Buse and Grove but was eventually destroyed due to quarry blasting.
In the 1980s, the Rotary Club of Alton-Godfrey attempted to create a large metal sign of the Piasa Bird for the bluffs. Despite fundraising challenges, local companies donated labor and materials. The steel bird sign weighed 4.5 tons and took over 500 hours to paint.
It was installed at Norman’s Landing (now Great Rivers Park) but removed in 1995 due to safety concerns and sold to Southwestern High School for $1, where it was repainted and displayed near the football field.
The Piasa Bird Today
In 1998, the Alton community and the American Legends Society recreated the Piasa Bird mural on the bluffs. The current mural measures 48 feet long and 22 feet high and was painted by local artist Dave Stevens.
Because the limestone is crumbly and weathers poorly, the mural requires touch-ups every few years.
In 2001, the Piasa Bird Park opened, featuring the mural and plaques retelling Russell’s version of the legend.
Closing
The legend of the Piasa Bird lives on. Some even claim to see a large bird resembling the mural flying over Alton.
Whatever the Piasa Bird actually was, and whoever painted it, will always remain a mystery and a cherished part of local folklore.
One thing is certain: the people of Alton have proven the Piasa Bird will always have a home high on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.
I encourage you to visit the Great River Road in Alton, check out the mural, the park, and learn a bit of the story for yourself.
You can find more at:
Twitter: @showme_history
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Until next time, I’ll see you in the Lou.