In 1443, Imperial China ruled the seas. The God-chief of Cahokia ruled the lands along the Father of Waters. And, the Piasa was about to be created where the destinies of these two empires would collide on the banks of the Mississippi. By the time the second half of the 1400's dawned, the Piasa stood alone as the testament to the dangers of "unintended" consequences, in a world changed forever. In 1673, Father Marquette and Jolliet were the first Europeans to record seeing the Piasa, and in the 1840's, Henry Lewis included its image in his book on the American frontier. By 1856, it would be gone forever, a victim of the fledgling United States of America's passionate pursuit of westward expansion. For the first time in 600 years, remarkable evidence has been uncovered which explains how the long-forgotten, tragic events behind the creation of this enigmatic artifact and its eventual destruction are an integral part of the string of events that created the world we know today...