He Killed it With a Hatchet

He Killed it With a Hatchet In 1932 in Short Gap, West Virginia, a grandmother placed her nearly one-year-old daughter (the narrator’s mother) on a baby blanket in the yard to get some sunshine while she washed dishes at the kitchen window. The girl’s grandfather was chopping wood at the nearby smokehouse when he saw an enormous black bird—described as a “Thunderbird”—casting a huge shadow as it swooped straight down toward the helpless baby. Realizing he couldn’t reach her in time, he hurled his hatchet and struck the bird dead. When the family measured the carcass stretched across the smokehouse wall, its wingspan was an astonishing 16 feet 4 inches. Neighbors came from around to view the mysterious giant bird, and a photograph was taken (though it has since been lost). The narrator saw the photo as a child and heard the story many times from his mother, who is now 91. It remains one of the family’s most legendary tales.

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