American Monsters: The History of America’s Most Persistent Urban Tales about Strange Birds, Serpents and Wolfmen

by Charles River Editors

On Monday, July 25, 1977, 10-year-old Marlon Lowe was playing hide-and-seek with his friends in the back garden of his home near Kickapoo Creek in the small community of Lawndale, Illinois. It was summer break; the weather was fine, and Marlon and other kids from the neighborhood were enjoying being outside. Marlon’s mother, Ruth, was watching out of the kitchen window. It was a scene likely repeated around thousands of homes across America, but things were about to get extremely weird. Without warning, two gigantic birds swooped down on the Lowe’s garden.[2] They were seen by a number of witnesses who described them as black with a lighter ring around the neck, a six-inch long curved beak, and a wingspan of at least ten feet, considerably larger than any known bird in the country. The birds seemed to be interested in the kids playing in the garden. One boy jumped into a plastic swimming pool to escape, but Marlon wasn’t so lucky. One of the birds grabbed the shoulders of his shirt in its talons and carried him into the air. His horrified mother watched his kicking feet rise up and out of sight as she stood in front of the kitchen window. Luckily for Marlon, the bird dropped him at a height of around 20 feet, and he fell to the ground, shaken but unhurt. He ran into a neighbor’s house for safety, and the two birds flew off. One adult witness told reporters: “I’ve been around this planet 51 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.”[3]