owl

Alot of legends surround Gougane Barra and its lake. It was here in the lake that Saint Finbarr
chased off Lú, Gougan Barra Dragon. A dragon or a sea monster like Nessie, the legends vary in their descriptions. The creature’s expulsion is believed to be the source of the large channel that is now the River Lee flowing west to the sea at Cork City. A little sea monster is memorialized in the hedge along the isle’s road. Saint Finbarr was also believed to have been led by an angel from the source of the river Lee at his monastic site to its marshy mouth where he built a monastery “out of which grew the Sea and the City of Cork”.

Saint Patrick was also reputed of slaying a dragon in Irish Mythology albeit depicted as a giant serpent. Serpents and dragons are often co-mingled together as the same beast in Irish myth. It was of his slaying that the red blood from the death of the sea serpent spewed into the waters of Lough Derg colored the waters as such. he supposedly killed the last remaining serpent on Saint’s Island. This was supposedly the mother of all the Irish serpents, and thereby being the mother to Lú in Gougan Barra Lake. Some claim that Saint Finbarr drowned the serpent instead of chasing him off. Others claim the serpent was slaughtered. The serpent is not always depicted as a snake, lake monster, or dragon but usually as a winged creature like the one depicted in the St. Patrick’s slaying of the beast. There is a 3000 BCE copper relief of a giant lion-headed bird named “Imdugud” found at the Temple of the Goddess Nenbursag at Tell-al-Ubaid that is more in likeness that historians believe was imagined as the dragon that Saint Finbarr and Saint Patrick slayed. Other scholars think the so-called serpent was not a several hundred to thousands pounds of dragon as both Saint Finbarr and Saint Patrick were not warriors, but rather monks armed with a staff. Perhaps it was a 20-30 pound beast some scholars say, such as Gerald Maloney, such as an ancient species of ground burrowing Owls such as “Ornimegalonyx Otero” or the fantastical Banshee, that flew in from a hole in the earth and frightened the monks and over-exaggerated to be a dragon.
One legend says that when Saint Finbarr arrived he found a serpent living in the lake. He caught the monster and threw it to one side, it landed miles away, leaving an impression of its body in the earth that filled with water and later was called Lough Allua.

Bibliography /Recommended Reading / References:

 


The Lizard Man of South Carolina

This brings me back to a crazed David Icke conspiracy theorist named Purple Crow in Vancouver BC when I think of lizard men, or the famous telvision show “V”. The Lizard Man of Scape Ore Swamp or the Sumter Lizard Man, the Lizard Man of Lee County, or the South Carolina Lizard Man are all titles of a mythological modern-day creature haunting the backwoods and swamps of South Carolina. Native American legend with oral lore from 1972 in the area is claimed that the Inzignanin near Chicora by the South/North Carolina border told of fishy humanoids covered in scales, 5 feet tall, with fairly inflexible tales 18 inches long, and webbed hands. He was first reported being seen on June 29, 1988 and ever since has been popping up in urban folklore. He has been described as a reptilian humanoid cryptid living either in the South Carolina swamps or within abandoned subways or sewers in towns near the swamps. He is described as standing over 7 feet tall, bipedal, muscular, covered in scaly lizard-like skin with dark hair (similar to big foot). He has been said to have only three toes on each foot and three fingers on each hand and maybe flaunting a tail. In June of 1988, a 17 year old boy named Christopher Davis claimed to have been attacked by the creature on his way home from work when he was changing a flat. He claimed the creature tried to grab at his car and climbed onto his roof as he sped off to escape the attack. He claimed the creature damaged his side mirror and scratched his roof. He claimed it was lizard like with red glowing eyes, three big fingers, long black nails, and green rough skin – all green and angry, grunting, and chasing him. That month there were several more reports by others of being attacked, with unusual scratches and bite marks found on cars parked close to the swamp, all within three mile radius of the swamps of Bishopville, South Carolina. Police at the time were perplexed, trying to balance between disbelief and humor to concern and intrigue, thinking it was actually a bear not a lizard man. Two weeks later, the sheriff’s department made several plaster casts of what appeared to be three-toed footprints, measuring 14 inches in length, that were later labelled unclassifiable. They were cited as not belonging or matching any other footprints of any other recorded animal on record. Tourists and cryptid hunters began plaguing South Carolina in search of the beast, with even radio stations such as WCOS offering a million dollar reward to anyone who could capture it alive. On August 5th, an airman from Shaw Air Force base named Kenneth Orr, filed a report with the police claiming to have encountered the creature on Highway 15 and having shot/wounded it. He gave to evidence several scales and some blood. He later confessed to inventing the sighting after being cited for unlawfully carrying a gun and a misdemeanor offense for filing a false police report. 2004 reports of a creature trying to snatch and drag a young girl into the river was blamed on the Lizard Man, but later theorized to have been an alligator. In 2005, the South Carolina Lottery used the creature in their television advertisements, and later that year a woman from Newberry claimed to have seen two Lizard man creatures outside her home. In 2008, Bob and Dixie Rawson, a couple in Bishopville South Carolina reported being attacked and damage to their car with traces of blood and claims that these creatures killed their cats. Police claim it was a wolf or coyote. After investigating the claim, E.J. Melvin, the Lee County Sheriff discovered a dead cow and coyote in a field next to the Rawson homestead. History Channel’s “MonsterQuest” investigated the legend, showing that it was not possible for a canine to have caused such damage on the Rawson’s car, it would have taken over 300 lbs of torgue to cause that kind of damage. By 2010, the show “Destination Truth” investigated the legend claiming the footprints were a hoax and the creature fabricated as a means of tourism, extensive local merchandising, and fandom. Lee County Chamber of Commerce hosts a 5 km Lizard Man run, sells Lizard Man shirts, and a Lizard patrol shirt. Another report in 2011 by a couple claiming to have had their car mauled by something tall with similar damage as the others. Reptilian humanoid creatures have been reported through history – the Greek God of the cold north wind, Boreas was described as a winged man with serpents instead of legs; Crecrops I was a half-man, half-snake mythical king of Athens; Chinese Mythology has reptilian humaoid dragon kings as well as a serpentine figure named Fu Xi; There is the snake God named Glycon who has a human head; The Lord of the Tree of Life from the Epic of Gilgamesh links Ningizzida with the water serpent constellation Hydra; the Chinese Dragon thunder God Shenlong is depicted with a human head and dragon’s body; the Ancient Egyptian God Sobek has a crocodile head; the Aztec God Tlaloc has snake fangs; the Greek “Father of all monsters” Typhon was a man from the waist up with a mass of seething vipers from the waist down; the Zoroastrian God Zahhak grows a serpent on either of his shoulders; The wife of Typhon is a half-woman half-snake Goddess named Echidna; in Portugese and galician folklore there is a snake goddess named Moura with long blond hair and a snake body; and of course MEdusa and the Gorgons in Greek mythology; the Lamia – a Greek female demon as half-woman, half snake; Islamic mythology depicts some djinn as half human and half-serpentine; Indian Naga were reptilian beings living underground and interacting with humans atop; the Genesis creation of the Serpent identified with Satan was known to be either male/female in mythology.

 


Real life dragon discovered : SciencePunk

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Real life dragon discovered

Posted on: February 16, 2010 5:45 AM, by SciencePunk

Neatorama reports the discovery of a real life (albeit tiny) dragon!
dragon.jpg

While participating in a herpetology study we stumbled across this female laying eggs in a nest. She was found in the Lambusango Forest reserve and was immediately released after this photograph was taken.

Neatorama notes it could be related to Draco volans. No word yet on whether it breathes fire, hoards gold, or kidnaps fair maidens.

 


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