Piasa

The Piasa ( PY-ə-saw) or Piasa Bird (aka Paillissa, Piesa) is a later name applied to the creature[s] from Native American mythology depicted in a mural painted by Native Americans high on cliffsides above the Mississippi River. Its original location was at the end of a chain of limestone bluffs in Madison County, Illinois, at present-day Alton, Illinois. Contemporary sketch of one of the beasts is identifiable as the underwater panther type. A second mural site depicting tritons (mermen) was also rumored. Later string of reports claimed the mural was still well preserved and visible upto the first half of the 19th century, and claimed to be called "piesa" in 1812. A painting published 1857 and a sketch published 1887 (claimed drawn 1825) purported to depict the creature with wings added, but many folklorists adjudge the eyewitnesses not to be earnest, deeming the attached legend of the chieftain Ouatoga (who fended his tribe from the bird, protected by a divine invisible shield) to be fakelore, i.e., a piece of fiction by John Russell (1836, 1848), with varying versions of this folktale explainable as works of other fabricators, or modified retellings collected orally from residents where Russell's tale had circulated. A separate legend, contending that a monster bird took sides in a historic tribal conflict between the local natives was published by Perry A. Armstrong (1887). The wall where the original paintings existed at Alton was probably destroyed ca. 1850s. The mural has been restored with replicas a number of times in the 20th century (image right).

Overview The original petrographs were described by French explorers Marquette and Louis Jolliet (1673) and described as a multicolored human-faced creature with a long tail terminating in fish-like fin. They made a sketch, a copy of which is preserved in maps created by cartographer Jean-Baptiste-Louis Franquelin (1678, 1681), and 19th century copies thereof. This creature is identifiable as the underwater panther of native lore. Subsequent French explorers and missionaries learned of a second mural location painted with tritons (man-fish or mermen), but claimed not to be able to find either, or that there were only red-colored horse pictures on on lower walls, or already effaced or gone by 1698. The monster paintings recorded by the Jesuit Marquette (1673) were the "object of Indian worship" that alarmed even Marquette himself on the ongoing "idolatry", according to the interpretation of some commentators. The rival Recollects order which explored the area afterwards described the natives offering tobacco to the paintings in order to appease the Manitou great spirits at the Cape St. Anthony site where the Miami and the Matsigamea (Mitchigamea) clashed. The sheer high cliffs in question were called the "Piasas" by the 18th century, attested in American maps. The "painted monsters" themselves were being called piesa by 1812, and were claimed to be still visible. At least one petrograph allegedly remained, described as the "piasa bird" and made famous by writer John Russell (1836, 1848). There were also pictorial winged depictions of the piasa, one by painter Henry Lewis (sketched c. 1846, published 1857) but the sketch published in § 1887 McAdams book purportedly executed 1825 (image second from top, right) became the more famous Wayne C. Temple (1956) wrote the most comprehensive account on the creature He did not believe any trace of the painting still remained to be seen in the 19th century, disputing the string of claimed witnesses. Thus he dismissed Lewis's winged painting (as too dragon like), and the famous piasa sketch (as McAdams's own reconstructed drawing based on Marquette's writing, as his daughter claimed). Commentators conjecture the wings may have been an added foreign added element, inspired by European art while others note a peculiar resemblance in style to the Chinese dragon). Temple also concluded that the tale about the warrior chief Ouatoga who exposed himself to the danger of the bird to save the tribe, was a piece of Russell's fiction and not genuine folklore. Though other versions　(featuring different names and settings) signed by other authors appeared in the period, Temple explained these away as either fabricated by other fiction writers, or that mangled and embellished versions collected from local residents retelling what quickly became old yarn. While some researchers concur, others allow for the possibility that genuine native folkloric material had been transmitted. There is a separate legend, which § 1887 Armstrong book published, relating howe the monster bird interceded against the Miami in favor of the Mitchigamea (of the Illini confederacy), in the historical tribal war (which were told by the natives to § 1687 Douay and 1697 Hennepin). The face of the wall which held the mural was quarried away in 1846 or 1847 according to McAdams, but various other dates (c. 1856, 1867 1870s,) have been offered. Either way, instead of the original Piasa now either destroyed or worn away, a newer 20th-century replica was installed on the Piasa bluff at Alton, based on the famous drawing, has been placed on a bluff in Alton, Illinois, several hundred yards upstream from its origin. The limestone rock quality is unsuited for holding an image, and the painting must be regularly restored. The limestone rock quality is unsuited for holding an image, and the painting must be regularly restored. The original face of the bluff where the painting occurred was quarried away around 1846 or 1847.

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