Piasa

Common card · No. 207012

The Piasa ( PY-ə-saw) or Piasa Bird (aka Paillissa, Piesa) is a later name applied to the creature or creatures depicted from Native American mythology, and depicted in a mural painted by Native Americans high on cliffsides above the Mississippi River near Alton, Illinois. The origin of the word piasa is uncertain, but originally described the cliffs rather than the creature or mural. The oldest known written reference to the mural dates to 1673 from French explorers, and the oldest known sketches date to 1678 and 1682 also from French sources. These sketches show a four-legged creature with a spotted or scaled semi-feline body, an antlered head, and a long tail. This mural is now believed to have depicted a legendary creature known as the underwater panther. By the mid-1800s it was common to depicts the creature with wings, but wings were not an original feature on the mural and appeared in later retelling and interpretation. A second mural site depicting creatures similar to mermen...

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