Spirit of Big Thunder

Big Thunder, as depicted in Disney Kingdoms: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

The **Spirit of Big Thunder,** also called the **Thunderbird** or simply **Big Thunder,** is a spirit that lives within the hills of Big Thunder Mountain. It is the cause of the havoc within the mines that leads to the events of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at the Disney Parks.

## History

Indigenous peoples (namely the Shoshone) who lived near Big Thunder Mountain told stories about a spirit that lives within its hills. It was a protective spirit, wrathful and ruthless towards the greedy.

When white settlers began to move into the Western River Valley, they were warned of the ill that came to fortune finders. Those warnings went unheeded the moment gold was discovered in the mountain.

When the mining took off, the towns of Big Thunder became plagued by natural and supernatural disasters, including earthquakes, droughts, floods, mine collapses, and self-exploding dynamite. The townsfolk blamed it on the spirit, and did their best to ward it off, but the towns still suffered, with consequences as a result of its wrath.

In 1860, the original white colony of Thunder Mesa was rocked by a massive earthquake, which killed most of the townsfolk including Henry Ravenswood, the founder of the Big Thunder Mining Company. The people of Thunder Mesa blamed the Rivers of the Far West drying out on the Thunderbird, as well. As a consequence of the earthquake, the souls of those that died were trapped in the ruins of Phantom Canyon. Ravenswood Manor was haunted by the malevolent ghost of Henry Ravenswood, taking on the form of the Phantom.

In 1869, the town of Rainbow Ridge was established and in 1879 would host the Big Thunder Mining Company. Due to accidents and earthquakes caused by the spirit of Big Thunder, Rainbow Ridge suffered a massive population decline. The town was once made up of over 2,000 people, but it shrunk to only a few dozen.

By 1880 another town called Tumbleweed was established in the region which held the headquarters of the Big Thunder Mining Company. Then president Barnabas T. Bullion was assisted in his quarrels with the spirit by his ally Jason Chandler, president of the Society of Explorers and Adventurers. While aiding Bullion, Chandler also advised Bullion to cease his mining after consulting the paranormal expert Madame Zarkov at the Museum of the Weird. Bullion refused Chandler's behests to cease mining and Tumbleweed encountered a terrible drought, with no rain falling for a long period of time. Soon, the opposite extreme took hold of the town, and massive rainfall flooded the town. A snake oil salesman called Prof. Cumulus Isobar tried to take advantage of it, but his efforts backfired, leaving him trapped in the flooded town.

## Appearances and allusions

### Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

The Spirit of Big Thunder appears in nearly all versions of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad attraction. Disneyland Paris used to feature a scene where guests encountered the carving of the bird within the rock work of the mountain.

### Thunder Mesa Daily Messenger

The Thunderbird serves as the logo for the newspaper the Thunder Mesa Daily Messenger.

### Disney Kingdoms

In this story, Big Thunder took the form of blue lightning, causing cave-ins, floods, and explosions within the mine, to ward off the miners in Rainbow Ridge. In it the stories originally spread with the tale of the greedy chief Bodaway, dragged into the depths of the mountains by the spirit for his crimes.

Onawa believed that Barnabas T. Bullion would get his comeuppance for his greed and misdeeds. However, when the time came, it was the foreman George Willikers who would be claimed by Big Thunder for his greed. When she passed, Onawa's spirit became one with Big Thunder, as she joined the rest of her people.

## Connections

### Phantom Manor

The Thunderbird is a major player in the backstory of Phantom Manor, having been responsible for the deaths of Henry and Martha Ravenswood along with the creation of Phantom Canyon.

Before the refurbishment of Phantom Manor in 2019, revealing the phantom’s identity to be Henry Ravenswood, some theorized that the phantom was in fact the Thunderbird, getting revenge on the Ravenswood family for invading sacred lands.

## Trivia

* The Thunderbird is named for a real religious figure in many Native American cultures - usually a figure of great power and strength.
* A potential human depiction of the spirit can be found in the Magic Kingdom where the mountain's peak is shaped to look like an Indigenous chieftain.

## References

1. ↑ Disney Kingdoms: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
2. ↑ http://www.fromscreentotheme.com/FunFindFridayBigThunderMountainRailroad3.aspx