How do I put myself into horror-writing mode after a long day of doodling cartoon penises on my desk pad at work? By thinking about things like the Thunderbird photo.

The deal is, way back in the western days the press used to print even more bullshit than they do now. One example was the story of a bunch of gunslingers who claimed to have shot down a gigantic 100 foot-long reptillian bird monster. The story ran in a local newspaper, then other newspapers nationwide and then was reprinted dozens of times in “Amazing Stories” type magazines in the 60’s, when that stuff was popular. You can find lots of people who remember seeing the articles and everyone remembers seeing the photo along with it. It showed the carcass of the huge monster pinned to a wall, with several guys standing in front of it, arms outstretched, fingertip to fingertip, to demonstrate how huge the thing is. The photo is famous.

Also, it doesn’t exist. You pull up the archives of those magazines, and even the original newspaper, and it just isn’t there. Or anywhere else. The articles are there, minus the photo. And yet, thousands of people say they saw it, and all remember it the same way.

In the daytime, I think it’s a pretty cool example of peer influence on experience and the fallibility of collective memory. At night, when it’s quiet and I’m alone, I have different ideas.

If you’re easily creeped out and want something to clear that from your memory, try this. You’ll need sound.

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