Piasa

Painted on the bluffs near the town of Alton, Illinois, is the mural of the Piasa, which, according to early Native American residents, meant ‘the bird that devoured men.’ The present day restoration overlooks what the Ojibwe Tribe called the misi-ziibi, what we now call the Mississippi River.

Present day Alton is plagued by the disappearance of many outdoor pets and small animals. People report seeing a large snake-like creature in and around the river along with a huge eagle-like bird. Do these creatures herald the return of the Piasa?

Sara Williams, a Chicago teenager, finds herself left with an aunt in the Great River town following an auto accident that claims her entire family.

Together with her Alton police officer cousin, Pamela Sweet, and a Chicago museum cryptozoologist, Mike Kellogg, she searches for an answer to the question, Did the Piasa once actually exist? Despite her scars from the accident and driven by the intent on one day returning to her friends back home, Sara blossoms into a sassy assistant who discovers that fate has a plan for her and...the legend may be more fact than fiction.