The Spirit of Big Thunder known in Disneyland Paris as The Thunderbird is a character from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and is the attraction's central anti-villain antagonist. The Thunderbird is also a mythical creature from Indigenous North American mythology.
Description[]
The Spirit of Big Thunder is the Indigenous spirit which presides and/or personifies Big Thunder Mountain in the Western River Valley of Arizona. The spirit has the ability to control weather conditions, fault lines and other aspects of nature within its given region. The spirit is a protector of its land, and lashes out violently to those whom try to harm it. The Spirit is sometimes affiliated with being a Thunderbird, a mythical bird from Indigenous myth whose wing flaps are able to cause thunder.
History[]
Background[]
The Spirit of Big Thunder was worshiped by a Shoshone tribe in the Western River Valley of Arizona. This peace was intruded when an evil prospector named Henry Ravenswood found gold in the rocks of Big Thunder Mountain, and in his greed forced the Shoshone out of the vicinity to mine the gold for his company the Big Thunder Mining Company. The other primary leader of the company known was Barnabas T. Bullion of the wealthy east-coast Bullion mining-family and who was a greedy man that believed gold to be his birthright. On the September 23 of 1848, Barnabas T. Bullion received a land-grant from the U.S. government to mine in Big Thunder Mountain.
In the year 1860, the Spirit of Big Thunder caused a massive earthquake to hit Thunder Mesa. This earthquake collapsed a portion of the town into a canyon, killing everyone within; including Henry Ravenswood and his wife Martha along with the town's mayor and sheriff. However, those who died within the earthquake became undead, with Henry's ghost returning to Ravenswood Manor to murder her newest lover in the rafters and trap her within the house where she herself died. In the years to come, the mansion became nicknamed, "Phantom Manor", and the collapsed portion of the town, "Phantom Canyon"
Development history[]
Appearances[]
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad[]
Phantom Manor[]
Trivia[]
- A real life theory on the origins of the Thunderbird is that it originates from the misidentification of dinosaur bones. Incidentally, Big Thunder is shown as having many exposed dinosaur bones within its formation.
- The Spirit of Big Thunder and Oo-Soo-Ma-Te from Grizzly River Run are both theme-park Indigenous spirits who personify fictional mountains in the parks.
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