The Piasa ( ) or Piasa Bird is a creature from
Native American mythology
The indigenous peoples of the Americas comprise numerous different cultures. Each has its own mythologies. Some are quite distinct, but certain themes are shared across the cultural boundaries.
Northern America
There is no single mythology of ...
depicted in one of two
murals
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spanish ...
painted by
Native Americans on cliffsides above the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
. Its original location was at the end of a chain of limestone bluffs in Madison County, Illinois at present-day
Alton, Illinois
Alton ( ) is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 25,676 at the 2020 census. It is a part of the River Bend area in the Metro-East region of the ...
. The original Piasa illustration no longer exists; a newer 20th-century version, based partly on 19th-century sketches and lithographs, has been placed on a bluff in Alton, Illinois, several hundred yards upstream from its origin. The
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
rock quality is unsuited for holding an image, and the painting must be regularly restored. The original site of the painting was on
lithographic limestone
Lithographic limestone is hard limestone that is sufficiently fine-grained, homogeneous and defect free to be used for lithography.
Geologists use the term "lithographic texture" to refer to a grain size under 1/250 mm.
The term "sublithog ...
, which was quarried away in the late 1870s by the Mississippi Lime Company.
History
Murals
The original mural was created prior to the arrival of any
European explorers in the region. The location of the image was at a river-bluff terminus of the
American Bottom
The American Bottom is the flood plain of the Mississippi River in the Metro-East region of Southern Illinois, extending from Alton, Illinois, south to the Kaskaskia River. It is also sometimes called "American Bottoms". The area is about , most ...
floodplain. It may have been an older
iconograph
{{Unreferenced, date=December 2009
An iconograph is a picture formed by a word or words. It can take the form of irregularly shaped letters or (especially in the case of poems) irregularly aligned text.
American poet May Swenson popularized such ...
from the large
Mississippian culture
The Mississippian culture was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American civilization that flourished in what is now the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Eastern United States, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from appr ...
city of
Cahokia
The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site ( 11 MS 2) is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (which existed 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri. This historic park lies in south-w ...
, which began developing about 900 CE. Cahokia was at its peak about 1200 CE, with 20,000 to 30,000 residents. It was the largest prehistoric city north of Mexico and a major
chiefdom
A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...
. Icons and animal pictographs such as falcons,
thunderbirds, bird men, and monstrous snakes were common motifs of the Cahokia culture.
![Washington SP petroglyph Dec2011 n28](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Washington_SP_petroglyph_Dec2011_n28.jpg)
An ''Alton Evening Telegraph'' newspaper article of May 27, 1921 stated that seven smaller painted images, carved and painted in rocks, believed to be of archaic American Indian origin, were found in the early 20th century about 1.5 miles upriver from the ancient Piasa creature's location. These pictures were authenticated in the Levis Bluffs area by George Dickson and William Turk in 1905. According to the article, four of these paintings were of "an owl, a sun circle, a squirrel, and a piece showing two birds or some kind of animals in a contest", the other three paintings were of "a great animal, perhaps a lion, and another an animal about as large as a coyote". These paintings were photographed by Professor William McAdams and were to be placed in his book ''Records of Ancient Races in the Mississippi Valley''. These seven archaic American Indian paintings were lost in transit to the Missouri Historical Society c. 1922. Other Native American carved petroglyphs of a similar time period and region as the Piasa monster are carved into the rocks at
Washington State Park
Washington State Park is a public recreation area covering in Washington County in the central eastern part of the state of Missouri. It is located on Highway 21 about northeast of Potosi or southwest of DeSoto on the eastern edge of the O ...
in
Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
about 60 miles southwest of the current Piasa image.
The 1797-8 map of French explorer Nicolas De Finiels' shows the cliffs above the Piasa labeled as ''Hauteurs De Paillisa.''
An earlier 1778 map titled "A new map of the western parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina; comprehending the river Ohio, and all the rivers, which fall into it; part of the river Mississippi, the whole of the Illinois River, ... Author Hutchins, Thomas, 1730-1789" clearly shows the place name "PIASAS" where the present day City of Alton is located and bounded by the Wood River to the east. This map is one of the earliest documented references for the word ''Piasa''.
Discovery
![Underwater panther NMAI GGH](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Underwater_panther_NMAI_GGH.jpg)
In 1673, Father
Jacques Marquette
Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Igna ...
saw the painting on a limestone bluff overlooking the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...
while exploring the area. He recorded the following description:
"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, and upon which the boldest savages dare not long rest their eyes. they are as large as a calf; they have horns on their heads 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 so long a tail that it winds all around the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs, ending in a fish's tail. 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 is their author; for good painters in France would find it difficult to reach that place conveniently to paint them. Here is approximately the shape of these monsters, as we have faithfully copied it."
The French cartographer
Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin
Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin (1650-c.1712) was a French trader who was appointed in the early 1670s as the first cartographer in '' Nouvelle France'' (Canada) by the colony's governor. He was appointed in 1688 as royal hydrographer by Louis XIV. ...
compiled a map titled ″The Mississippi″ in about the year 1682, from
Louis Jolliet
Louis Jolliet (September 21, 1645after May 1700) was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. In 1673, Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit Catholic priest and missionary, were the first non-Natives to explore an ...
′s description of his 1673 journey with Father Marquette. A creature similar to the
underwater panther
An underwater panther, called ' (in Ojibwe syllabics: ) or ' (in syllabics: ) in Ojibwe (), is one of the most important of several mythical water beings among many Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and Great Lakes region, particul ...
is sketched on the map east of the Missouri River and south of the Illinois River. As in Marquette′s description the animal is wingless with no resemblance to a bird.
Later French explorers, like St. Cosme, reported that by 1699 the series of images were badly worn due to the habits of the local Indians to "discharge their weapons" at the images as they passed. Author A. D. Jones, in his book "Illinois and the West" c. 1838, also describes the ravages of weapons (firearms) upon the images, and further refers to the paintings as being named "Piasua".
The original image was the largest Native American painting ever found in North America.
John Russell account
![Piasa P7090004](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Piasa_P7090004.JPG)
The monster depicted in the mural was first referred to as the "Piasa Bird" in an article published c. 1836 by
John Russell of
Bluffdale, Illinois. John Russell was a professor of Greek and Latin at
Shurtleff College
Shurtleff College was a Baptist liberal arts school in Alton, Illinois until 1957.
History
Founded in 1827 by Reverend John Mason Peck (a Baptist missionary) as Rock Spring Seminary in St. Clair County, Illinois, and relocated to Alton, Illino ...
, Upper Alton, Illinois. The article was entitled "The Tradition of The Piasa" and Russell claimed the origin of the word to be from a nearby stream: "This stream is the Piasa. Its name is Indian, and signifies, in the
Illini, "''The Bird That Devours Men''." The original Piasa Creek ran through the main ravine in downtown Alton, and was completely covered by huge drainage pipes around 1912. According to the story published by Russell, the creature depicted by the painting was a huge bird that lived in the cliffs. Russell claimed that this creature attacked and devoured people in nearby Indian villages shortly after the corpses of a war gave it a taste for human flesh. The legend claims that a local Indian chief, named Chief ''Ouatoga'', managed to slay the monster using a plan given to him in a dream from the
Great Spirit
The Great Spirit is the concept of a life force, a Supreme Being or god known more specifically as Wakan Tanka in Lakota,Ostler, Jeffry. ''The Plains Sioux and U.S. Colonialism from Lewis and Clark to Wounded Knee''. Cambridge University Press, ...
. The chief ordered his bravest warriors to hide near the entrance of the Piasa Bird's cave, which Russell also claimed to have explored. Ouatoga then acted as bait to lure the creature out into the open. As the monster flew down toward the Indian chief, his warriors slew it with a volley of poisoned arrows. Russell claimed that the mural was painted by the Indians as a commemoration of this heroic event.
Some sources report that this account was simply a story created by John Russell. In the book ''Records of Ancient Races in the Mississippi Valley ... '' Chapter 2, 1887 by W. McAdams, the author says he contacted John Russell, who admitted the story was fabricated.
The bird imagery is not reported in Father Marquette's description, which makes no mention of wings. It is also possible that Marquette's description and Russell's account were both accurate for their respective times. The image may have been repainted at some point between 1673 and 1836 to revise its appearance.
When contemporary
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...
s,
folklorist
Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...
s, and tourism promoters are looking for a narrative description of the story behind the Piasa "Bird", they often rely on Russell's account.
Origin Story
Esarey, Costa, Wood, et al now link the Underwater Panther to the Piasa both iconographically and phonetically to proper legend. "Payiihsa" is a "small supernatural being" and "pai'ssa" was referenced in an early explorer's list of supernatural beings. The "Payiihsa" often bear large feet with 4 or 6 toes and are referenced frequently in pottery and rock art symbolism along with the symbolism of the underwater panther. (To complicate matters, the term "Piasa" was applied in the 1970's to any symbolism matching the "protean super theme" of underwater panthers.) Costa's research in 2005 led to a Miami-Illinois Indian's tale of the malevolent twin dwarves (the "Payiihsaki"), the underwater panther, and the supernatural culture hero known as the Illinois Trickster, "Wissa Katch Akwa" who encounter a French trader. This legend of the Payiihsaki and the cliff art of underwater panther, as misinterpreted by Russell and others, is now believed by Esarey to be the origin of Russell's story of the Piasa.
The Underwater Panther origin is supported by research by Dr. Mark J. Wagner, Director, Center for Archaeological Investigations and Professor, Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
See also
![Piasa Bird Arrowhead Marker P7090003](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Piasa_Bird_Arrowhead_Marker_P7090003.JPG)
*
Underwater Panther
An underwater panther, called ' (in Ojibwe syllabics: ) or ' (in syllabics: ) in Ojibwe (), is one of the most important of several mythical water beings among many Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and Great Lakes region, particul ...
*
Manticore
The manticore or mantichore (Latin: ''mantichōra''; reconstructed Old Persian: ; Modern fa, مردخوار ) is a Persian legendary creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx that proliferated in western European medieval art as well. It has the ...
*
Chimera
Chimera, Chimaera, or Chimaira (Greek for " she-goat") originally referred to:
* Chimera (mythology), a fire-breathing monster of Ancient Lycia said to combine parts from multiple animals
* Mount Chimaera, a fire-spewing region of Lycia or Cilicia ...
*
Teratorn
Teratornithidae is an extinct family of very large birds of prey that lived in North and South America from the Late Oligocene to the Late Pleistocene. They include some of the largest known flying birds.
Taxonomy
Teratornithidae are related t ...
*
Thunderbird (mythology)
The thunderbird is a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture. It is considered a supernatural being of power and strength.
It is especially important, and frequently depicted, in the art, songs an ...
*
Horned Serpent
References
*
* Costa, David J.
Culture-Hero and Trickster Stories, in: Brian Swann, ed., ''Algonquian Spirit''. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 2005.
*
* O'Conner, Mallory McCane. ''Lost Cities of the Ancient Southeast'', Gainesville, Florida: The University Press of Florida, 1995.
*
* Sparks, Everett. ''In Search of the Piasa'', Alton Museum of History and Art (1990)
Notes
External links
"Piasa Bird" and picture Alton, Illinois
Prairie Ghosts
Piasa Birds
"Flight of the Piasa"by Dr. Raymond Scott Edge, 2007,
{{Pre-Columbian North America
Rock art in North America
Legendary creatures of the indigenous peoples of North America
American legendary creatures
Archaeological sites in Illinois
Mythological hybrids
Madison County, Illinois
Tourist attractions in Jersey County, Illinois
Legendary birds
Dragons
Cryptids
Mythological monsters