**This story is a lot slower than the last one, so bear with me.**
This happened last June (2022) while I was spending the summer with my grandmother, and her newlywed husband, who we’ll call Josh, and her 2 dogs, who are both westies. I brought my PS4 with me, as I did every time. I was really excited, because it’s hell where I live and it’s nice to get away and enjoy something for once. My grandmother brought me with her, she lives in North Dakota, and I live in Tennessee.
We arrived at her place, and I was so happy to see the dogs. The dogs’ names are Kenzie and Sophie - they’ll be important later. We would drive around town, eating out, going to the movies, and doing other fun things. They let me sleep in their spare bedroom, so I set up my PS4 on the TV that’s in there.
I was playing Red Dead Redemption 2 one morning - this was the 2nd week of June - and I was really into the game: I had just gotten ambushed by the Skinner Brothers in Tall Trees. I was mowing them down, blowing brains out, it was a blood bath - and suddenly, my grandmother came through the front door with a suitcase and sat it in my room, and told me we were going to see Josh’s family in Wishek, about 3 hours away from us (Fargo).
We packed up and headed out, and we brought the dogs with us. The trip was pretty cool, because I had to hold Kenzie (the older and smaller one) because she has separation anxiety and can’t sit in a carrier or in the back of the car. I was falling asleep for about 30 minutes at a time, then wake up, then fall back asleep the whole trip. I had ASMR going to help me sleep, and I remember, I was listening to Softlygaloshes, who’s still my favorite.
We finally arrived at the Josh’s sister’s house, which was where the family all stayed during these family reunions. I wasn’t thrilled to be there at all because I hate traveling, and we had to stay there for a goddamn week! But I brought my PS4 with me, so I was hoping it would save me from this place. There was a problem though: there were too many people at the house, so some of had to use campers and stay at a lake, and we were one of them.
We took the camper and set up at Beaver Lake State Park, just a few miles from Wishek. The place was jam packed, but we managed to get a spot on the other end of the park, away from the mob of families. There were still 2 or 3 other RVs and campers where we were, but that’s better than the dozens on the other side. My grandmother and Josh left to go back to the house, while I stayed at the lake with the dogs, and I played Red Dead all night.
I woke up the next morning, alone with the dogs, apparently my grandparents stayed the night at the house, which didn’t bother me. I took the dogs out to use the bathroom and stretch our legs, when one of the family came charging of their camper, going to the lake. Left behind was their daughter, and she looked down, even depressed. I usually hate people, and want nothing to do with other people, but she was different, and I felt sorry and was curious of her. As she slowly and groggily stepped out of the camper, I let the dogs loose, and Sophie pranced over to the girl to greet her, while Kenzie stayed by my feet and growled, since she doesn’t like new people.
The girl knelt down to pet Sophie, and Kenzie eventually warmed up and approached the girl too. They definitely seemed to cheer her up, because she was smiling, and her movements became more alive and with purpose. She then looked at me and smiled even bigger, “Oh my god, I love Bullet!”, I was wearing my Bullet For My Valentine t-shirt. That comment spawned an instant friendship. We’ll call her Bre, we sat in my camper, with the dogs patrolling under our feet.
We must’ve talked for an hour or so. We talked about our interests, hobbies, our lives in general, and we eventually moved on to the topic of depression, and my suspicions were confirmed when she rolled back her pant leg to reveal several huge scars along her thigh. I opened up about my mental health as well, and I was genuinely happy. She said she never showed her scars to her parents or ever told them about her depression, since they’re really shitty parents. The more and more she talked about that stuff, the more and more she seemed vulnerable. It felt like we were making a genuine connection.
My grandparents returned and found Bre and I together and teased me about how I got a girlfriend now, and it annoyed me because my family always teases me about things, no matter what it is. Thankfully, they just came back to check on me and the dogs, and seeing that we were doing well, they headed back to the house. Bre’s parents came back and were really nice to me, but I could tell it was a facade, they were really forcing their politeness. Then they left for the lake again, and Bre and I spent all day together, she sat with me, and we played Red Dead for hours and hours, laughing and having a blast. We showed each other music we liked, and we actually liked a lot of the same bands, including Bullet For My Valentine.
The next few nights were amazing: Bre and I would meet outside the campers and hang out all day. It was a happy coincidence that her parents and my grandparents were away for 99% of the day, so we had each other all day. We even spent a few nights together, staying up and falling asleep at dawn. The reason my grandparents didn’t stay with me is because they knew I could take care of myself.
I believe it was the 5th day at the lake when things started getting strange: a storm had risen over the area, which wasn’t strange in and of itself, me and Bre stayed in my camper and still had fun. What started getting really strange however, was that the storm lasted for 2 days straight, and never cleared whatsoever, constant thunder and lightning, but we managed to ignore it for the most part. My grandmother texted me every so often to check on me, which didn’t bother me.
Bre and I were laying on the bed, this was probably around 2AM, talking about whatever we were talking about, when suddenly, like the switch of a light, the rain, thunder, and lightning stopped. The sky was still darkened, the world still looked miserable, but the storm had ceased. We went outside to look around, but everything was still normal, but everyone else came outside, confused at the situation. I made a joke, “Maybe the government can finally control the weather”, and Bre, jokingly, responded “Shut up”, I looked up one final time, and I saw a bird flying directly above us, and wondered for a second, why a bird was flying at all right now, but I ignored it after that.
I guess in response to the weirdness, we went to bed. Her parents let us sleep together for so reason - maybe to not look like pieces of shit around me. No, we weren’t getting our ashes hauled, she asked me to put on music, so I played Damnation by Opeth on repeat, because it’s a very mellow album. The dogs jumped on the bed and laid between us and we were fast asleep. I vaguely remember a dream about Bre, in a wedding time scenario. If it wasn’t clear before, i was falling head over heels for this girl.
I woke up at around 3:30AM, so about an hour and a half later. I got up and went outside for a pee, and it was dead silent, not a single person was outside, so I knew I was in the clear. As I was doing my thing, I felt a sudden massive gust of wind hit me from behind, so I turned around, and on the other side of the lake, I saw a huge silhouette of a bird-like creature hovering in the sky. I got done doing my business and ran to the lake shore and stared at the silhouette as it descended slowly into the forest. Its wingspan must’ve been 200 feet or more, and the shape of its body resembled Rodan from the Godzilla movies.
When it landed, it looked like it just sat down in the forest, and its head was still a good 40 feet above the treetops. I wasn’t that scared, in fact I wasn’t scared at all, because I knew I was looking a Thunderbird, a creature that symbolizes wisdom, courage and strength. The Thunderbird is often depicted as being the ruler of earth, protecting us from the Uktena (Horned Serpent), who are said to be the ruler of the underworld. I just stood there and watched it - it just sat there, looking around, not looking at anything in particular. Thankfully, no one else was outside, because they would’ve screamed and cause the creature to flee or attack.
I rushed back to the camper and woke Bre up, shaking her, patting her on the head, and whispering for her to wake up. She woke up after a good 10 seconds, clearly annoyed at me, and she sat up and asked why I woke her up. I excitedly told her “There’s an animal in the forest”, and she replied, “So? There’s animals in the forest all the time!”. I told her it was a big bird, and she reluctantly agreed to get up and check it out.
I lead her outside and immediately she saw it and gasped, she backed away slowly before attempting to let out a scream, but I put my hand over her mouth and tried to shush her. I gave her a crash course on the creature and told her they’re friendly. She started crying in terror, and I held her hands to comfort her. I said “You see I’m not scared at all, so you shouldn’t be either. It’s okay!”, and after a few minutes of sitting with her for a minute, she finally calmed down, and we watched it in silence and amazement as the creature continued to sit there. It was so big, we could even hear it breathing.
I got the amazing idea that we should go over and meet the Thunderbird. I got up and started to walk around the lake, but Bre grabbed my hand and began to cry again, begging for me not to go, but I was determined to see this thing up close. I ran back to the camper and got the high power flashlight that was on the table and headed back out. She once again pleaded with me, bawling her eyes out, saying I’ll die, so I asked if she wanted to come with me, and I explained to her that Thunderbirds don’t hurt people, I hugged her tightly and reassured her it would be okay. She finally agreed to come meet the Thunderbird.
After about 10 minutes of trekking through the forest, we couldn’t see the thing for the trees, but we could tell we were getting close because we could barely make out its breathing. We felt a rumbling as the creature must’ve repositioned itself, because we heard it moving and a few trees falling over, and Bre started panicking, but I hugged her and reassured her again, positioning myself so my back is facing the creature, as if that would protect us. After a moment, the world fell silent once more, and we began to hear the faint breathing of the creature in the distance.
We turned the flashlight to avoid spooking the kaiju, I held Bre’s hand so we wouldn’t lose each other. Thankfully the moon was slightly peeking through the still darkened clouds, so we could see in front of us, if only a little. The closer we walk in the direction of the creature, I could feel Bre’s grip grow tighter and tighter, and eventually I could feel her trembling. I whispered to her, reassuring her once more that it’ll be okay. I whispered to her, “Think about it, we’re gonna come face to face with a kaiju!”, and she responded, “Hopefully he doesn’t eat us”, and I finished with “I wouldn’t wanna die with anyone else”.
After another minute, I clumsily walked right into a tree, and quite hard, I let out a painful “Damn!” while still trying to be quiet. Right when I hit this tree, it instantly moved and the ground began to shake, except it was much more violent than before. The trees began to creak, snap and fall around us, and Bre clung to me and squeezed so hard, I thought it would break my ribs. Above us, I heard the creature vocalizing - think the velociraptor hisses from Jurassic Park. I look up and see the silhouette of the creature’s head, and it was clearly looking down at us.
The creature lowered its head, now only a few feet from us, I could barely see it. Bre was still holding me tight, and I felt her look up towards the creature, and she said in the quietest whisper, “Is it there?”, and I slowly reached out a hand and touched it; I pressed my hand in its beak and moved my hand along it, and it didn’t seem to mind. It made low hissing noises, once again, similar to a dinosaur. It slowly brushed its head against us and Bre squeezed tighter in response. “See? It won’t hurt us. Touch it”, I said to her, and she slowly let go and looked at it, barely able to see it, and put her hand on its beak. I held her other hand just to make her feel safe.
I knelt down to pick up the flashlight which I dropped when the creature nuzzled us. I stepped back at least 10 feet, aimed at the creature’s head, and shone the light, fully illuminating its giant head. It startled us both to finally see what this thing looked like. It then sat down, which shook the ground again, and it sat just like a chicken roosting. I said to Bre, “We can’t tell anyone about this, they’ll think we’re insane”, and she agreed to never talk about it to anyone.
The creature laid its head down on the ground and let us pet it, and its eyes glowed red in the light, like an owl. and its feathers were black and surprisingly soft, and its beak was black and elongated, just like a raven. It looked just like a raven. We sat with it and it swayed its head from side to side, chirped, it was clearly playing with us. After having our fun, we sat against the kaiju’s head and chilled out. Bre and I looked at each other, and I said, “Maybe we ARE going insane” and laughed at the situation. Somehow, we fell asleep, resting against the creature, and I suspect it fell asleep too.
We woke up just after sunrise, when the creature raised its head up and we fell over. We heard the distant screaming of people at the camp, and the creature stood up, startled. We ran to avoid getting stepped on and looked back at the creature as it spread its wings. We heard more and more people screaming in terror on the other side of the lake - it sounded like everyone was scream, and I guess in response, the creature let out a deafening roar: imagine Rodan’s road from the old Godzilla movies, but more birdlike. Silence fell over the area for a few seconds before all the people began screaming again.
The kaiju spread its wings and beat its feet on the ground, attempting to take off. It looked down at us for a moment, as if bidding us farewell. It jumped and took flight - its wings were so powerful, the wind they generated moved the entire forest, with trees bending, and some snapping and falling. The creature flew up into the sky at supernatural speeds and we watched it ascend before it vanished through the clouds.
We returned to the campground, and all the campers and RVs were gone except ours and few others. We heard the dogs barking their lungs out inside the camper, so opened the door and let them out, and they greeted us like they hadn’t seen us in years. As were laying in bed, just staring off into space, Bre says “This was the best week of my life… meeting you AND a Thunderbird!?” and without hesitation, she kisses me, which shocked me more than seeing the creature.
My grandparents finally came back, since the bad clouds had completely cleared. When they both came into the camper, they both asked, “What in the world happened?”, Bre and I looked at each other and I said, “Nothing, I don’t know why everyone left. I’m glad they did”, and she decided it was time to go. They managed to get ahold of Bre’s parents and had them come get her at the house. We went back to Fargo later that afternoon. On our way back, we stopped at a convenience store to use the bathroom, I looked up at the sky and saw the faint silhouette of the Thunderbird, as if it was watching over me.
Bre and I still talk today, and I went to see her this past summer, and she looks so happy now. I definitely plan on visiting her next summer. I’ve encountered 2 mythical creatures in my life, and I hope it stays that way! Whether you think this story is bullshit or not, I hope you enjoyed it at the very least.