The Black Bird of Chernobyl was an Avian Cryptid. The menacing phone calls, horrific nightmares and sightings began in the middle of April, 1986 and
ended with the 'fleeing' of the Black Bird from a burning reactor during the Chernobyl Disaster of April 26, 1986.
Overview
Before the Disaster
For a few days employees at Chernobyl, a nuclear power station located near Pripyat, Ukraine had reported frightening phenomena. Some had received
menacing phone calls, had horrifying nightmares while others said they had seen a large, dark, headless man with gigantic wings and fiery eyes.
Despite the best intentions of officials there was nothing they could do.
The Chernobyl Disaster
During a routine test of Reactor 4 a massive explosion rocked the Chernobyl power station. While firefighters and employees battled to contain the
radioactive blaze and prevent further destruction, several employees claimed that a 20' bird escaped the reactor, gliding through the irradiated
smoke into the sky. There were reports later that many more employees had seen the bird.
Description
According to workers before the Disaster the creature was a large, dark, headless man with gigantic wings and fiery eyes. Later reports described it
as a '20 foot bird' that escaped from a reactor. Also of note were menacing phone calls and nightmares that occurred before the Disaster and the
'harbinger of disaster' aspect of the Black Bird.
Theories
Mothman
The Black Bird of Chernobyl's description, phenomena occuring and 'portent of disaster' image seem eerily similiar to the Mothman of the U.S,
leading some to see it as a relative, or even one and the same. Both are described as dark and headless, with gigantic wings and fiery eyes. The
nightmares and phone calls are also quite similar to those that surrounded the Mothman's appearance in the U.S. Also of note is the 'harbinger of
disaster' aspect of the Black Bird, it occuring before what would later become the worst nuclear disaster in history, and Mothman appearing prior to
the collapse of the Silver Bridge between Point Pleasant, West Virginia and Kanauga, Ohio in December of 1967.
Black Stork
Another theory is that the Black Bird was just a black stork, an endangered species endemic to southern Eurasia. However this theory fails to take
into account the phone calls, nightmares and how it could have survived . Also it doesn't address the fact that black stork have only been seen near
Chernobyl after, not before, the disaster.
Chernobyl Kaptar
There have been recent rumours of a wingless red eyed hominid the Chernobyl Kaptar in the Chernobyl area.
Role of The Mothman Prophecies Movie
Most on-line reports and facts for The Black Bird of Chernobyl seem to be derived on the publicity material surrounding The Mothman Prophecies (2002)
a movie that combined fiction with supposed fact. Thus there is a question mark surrounding their reliability.
External Links
The Black Bird of Chernobyl
Cryptozoology Forum Post
Production information for The Mothman Prophecies
including details for The Black Bird of Chernobyl