The Copiapo Giant Bird is a winged cryptid reported from the mountains of Copiapo, Chile.
Sightings[]
Artwork by Williama Rebsamena
One day in March or April 1868, around 5:00 p.m., after a day's work, the mine workers had assembled and were waiting for dinner when a strange flying object appeared next to the mine, which was called La Ternera. Depending on the description, it was flying at great speed from northwest to southeast or northeast to southeast.
Witnesses thought that part of the large cloud had been torn off by the wind, but learned that their guess was wrong when it came over their heads.
It was a strange flying creature that they had no knowledge of. Its head resembled that of a lobster, covered with thick, hard-looking feathers or hairs. The eyes on its head were bright like embers. The body was long like a snake, covered with bright scales and made a metallic sound whenever the animal moved its body. Huge wings sprouted from its torso, brown in color, and their surfaces were bristly like those of a boar.
During this witnessing, one worker testified that he smelled burning arsenic.
It is also said that this was not the first time this strange creature appeared, but nothing is known about earlier appearances.
In July of the same year, this report was also published in the journal The Zoologist.
Explanations[]
Some people believe that this is a sighting of a surviving pterosaur, but it is hard to believe that a pterosaur, no matter how little knowledge of paleontology was available to miners of the time, would look like a winged snake covered with metal scales. Of course, there are temporal and environmental issues in addition to this, so the theory of pterosaur survivors does not seem plausible.
The creature's appearance is so strange and the fact that so many people saw it suggests that some factor may have caused mass hysteria, but it is a matter of speculation.
Some believe it to be a creature similar to Manta-Man, as it is a winged cryptid also sighted in Chile.