Subject: Sauroids and Reptillians (2/4) Lines: 370 "The most dramatic of the dragon models, however, is on the ridge of Ben Cruachan above the Pass of Brander. It overlooks Lock Awe (Note: The popular encyclopedia of mythology, 'THE MYTHOLOGY OF ALL RACES', contains a volume titled 'CELTIC MYTHOLOGY' which refers to a cavern called 'Cruachan' in Great Britain from which strange and frightening beasts were said to emerge over the centuries, creatures which would cause death a havoc to the residents of the countryside. Although it may be nothing more than a 'legend' could Cruachan cavern be connected to the 'Cruachan Ridge' just mentioned? - Branton). The Great Beast of Loch Awe (BEATHACH MOR LOCH ODHA) was celebrated in Celtic folklore. "...Oddly, no dragon models seem to have been found in Ireland. it is possible that they were levelled by early Christians. 'St. Patrick may have struck a more subtle and fundamental blow at paganism than is generally realized when be banished the serpents from Ireland,' comments Dr. Anne Ross. With this I entirely agree. "Place-names suggest a relationship with the old dragon cult. 'I went round the whole of Ireland until I found the girl at Loch Bel Dragon at CROTTA CLIACH,' says an unknown eighth- century author. The modern name for this lake in the Galtee Mountains is Loch Curra. The word 'Bel' is a reference to the Babylonian god Bel-Marduk. The Scots seem to have changed it to 'Bill', the name they used for a bull. As recently as 200 years ago it was customary to sacrifice a bull on 25 August, on the isle of Inishmaree, to the dragons in Lough Maree. So the idea must have been well-rooted. "How and when the religion of the dragon...crossed to America is not known. Quite the best dragon-simulation is the earthwork at Peebles, Ohio. The ground-plan of this structure with its thin neck, bulky frontal portion and coiling eel-like tail is a good representation of the phenomena that appear in lochs. So it looks as if someone, somewhere, had a really gook look at a specimen. "The centre of activity of the culture seems to have been at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. It was in this area that Marquette, a missionary-explorer, found petroglyphs of dragons on a bluff in 1675. He appears to have named the bluff 'Piasa Rock' or 'Piast Rock' (Rock of the Pest). The dragons, painted in red, black and green, were the objects of worship by the Indians. The bluff was near the present town of Alton. Unfortunately, the face of the rock was quarried away in 1846-47 and the only trace of the dragons are the illustrations in a rather rare German book. "These Illinois dragons had slightly Chinese features. You would have to march a long way into the hinterland of art forms to find a more unlikely combination than a pair of Chinese dragons painted by Amerinds which were given the Latin name 'Piast' by a French priest. "However, it doesn't seem to be very likely that the Amerinds, as a whole, were much given to dragon-worship. Rather the reverse... "Monsters and U.F.O's are no longer observed solely in the isolation of lonely communities. People are becoming aware. "...The American Indian doesn't need a Condon Report to tell him about U.F.O.s. He needs only to look at the history of his people. "The question arises: does dragon-worship still go on? "Britain's best-known Satanist was the late Aleister Crowley. At the end of the last century he bought Boleskine House on Loch Ness and started signing his letter 'The Great Beast'. This was years before the WORLD heard about Loch Ness monsters. Crowley than came into contact with the ideas of Dr. John Dee. "Dee lived in Wales during the sixteenth century. He was an occultist (and) Queen Elizabeth I consulted him over all her major decisions. "...In spite of everything, the universe is one and hydrogen atoms dance on Mars and Venus just as they dance on earth. Although it now seems that Satan and his dragons really do exist, we are already beginning to perceive dimly that they are actually components of a much greater reality extending through unthinkable gulfs of time and space. "...dragon phenomena, although apparently objective in nature, can be demonstrated only to the extent that U.F.O. phenomena can be demonstrated. That is to say, both can be occasionally photographed at a distance, both yield returns using sonar and radar respectively, yet neither leave behind any material analysis (Some would argue with that however, and state that in MOST cases when such hard 'evidence' surfaces it is immediately apprehended by officials and given the highest secrecy classification - Branton). The U.F.O., as we have seen, can actually disappear while under observation in the manner of an apparition. Whether dragons can do so also must remain a possibility until we know more about the real nature of these strange happenings." Drawing some links between traditional supernatural or 'paranormal' phenomena, Mr. Holiday relates the following experience: "On 7 October 1965, Annabelle Randall was driving her fiance, John Plowman, back to his home near Warminster (England). At 11:30 p.m. they approached a railway bridge near Heytesbury, Wiltshire, where several FATAL ACCIDENTS have occurred. "As the car approached the bridge they saw a sprawled [creature] lying with its legs and feet on the road. Miss Randall managed to avoid them and stopped. It was found that the figure had vanished. A search of the road, the bridge and the surrounding area failed to reveal any trace. "About 12:25 a.m. the girl set off alone on the return journey. Near the same bridge she saw a bright orange glow against an embankment. She described it as a 'large orange ball' which suddenly shot across the road and took off into the sky. "Simultaneously, she became aware of a second round object except thit this one was dark and stationary. And walking along the road towards her came two figures wearing tight-fitting dark clothes and some sort of headgear. From the thighs downwards they glistened as if wet. The car almost ran them down as the now frightened driver kept going at top speed till she reached town. "...From all this there is a case to be argued that monsters and U.F.O.s are in some way linked. Abnormal chains of causation tending to frustrate inquiry into the nature of the phenomena have been reported in both cases. John A. Keel, an American journalist who has been delving into the mystery for over thirty years, talks about a 'conspiracy'. He warned me: 'Proceed with great caution in your Loch Ness work. We are caught up in a series of games which must be played by "their" rules. Anyone who tries to invent his own rules, or breaks the basic pattern, soon loses his mind or even his life.' (This might apply in many instances, except of course in the case of those who are working for and 'on the side' of someone much 'greater' than the draconian forces apparently working behind much of the 'UFO' and 'creature' events - Branton). Those who think that this is dramatic and absurd may care to remember the words of St. John: "'And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by THE MEANS of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the BEAST.' "'The beast' that performed these miracles was what the Jews called 'The Shining One', 'The Great Serpent' and 'Satan'. If this is the underlying truth of the phenomena then Keel's warning is by no means too strong." * * * (INPUT 004) In 'POPULAR SCIENCE', March 1990 issue, p. 24, we read of an apparently quite intelligent, predatory lizard which constantly walked upright on two legs in a remarkable human-like manner, counter balanced by a tail. This lizard, in fact, may have been the original ancestor of all the reptilian species throughout the world (and beyond?). If left to it's 'natural' course (of not so much 'evolution' as 'mutation') over the years, according to some paleontologists, a race of creatures such as described below might have through natural selection become more intelligent and 'hominoid' in nature, and as its brain and physical form developed, and it's limbs became stronger through 'survival of the fittest', the 'tails' of such a predatory race may have become atrophied. Anyway, this is what some scientists have theorized. But such creatures are long extinct, according to 'official' scientific knowledge. Because of this, they say, we need not worry about being threatened by such a race which, if they existed today, might be a formidable challenge to man's dominion of the planet. But 'what if' such a race did not become extinct for reasons we still have yet to answer, but instead 'disappeared' from the 'face' of the earth to 'somewhere else'. It's a scary thought, to say the least. According to 'POPULAR SCIENCE': "The oldest known dinosaur, HERRERASAURUS... (was) a flyweight when compared with some of its ponderous descendants. HERRERASAURUS weighed perhaps 300 pounds and stretched a mere six to eight feet long. It had enormous claws and small forelimbs, showing that it spent much time ambling on two legs. It also has a peculiar, double-hinged jaw...that allowed it to clamp down on wriggling prey. And its teeth were finely serrated. These characteristics...clearly mark HERRERASAURUS as an active flesh eater. "The site of the fossil find (of remains of the saurian - Branton), the Ischigualasto Formation in northwestern Argentina, is the only area in the world where there are no gaps in the fossil record across the time zone being investigated." In reference to the discoveries made by researcher Paul Serano, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago, who with colleague Alfredo Monetta discovered some remains of the bi-ped sauroid lizard near San Juan, Argentina, the article states: "Serano says that the very first dinosaur should have lived at the time of the rock layer containing HERRERASAURUS, but that climate and geological factors combined to keep any fossils from bring preserved there. "'We'll have to concentrate above and below that zone,' says Serano, 'Fortunately, those layers are very good. It's likely we'll be able to find more interesting fossils there.' "The paleontologist won the $500,000 Packard Foundation Award last October, which he says will enable him to continue on the track of dinosaurs." * * * (INPUT 005) In 1948, the SATURDAY EVENING POST published an article titled 'THERE COULD BE DINOSAURS.' Three men, the Belgian Bernard Heuvelmans, the Russian Boris Porchnev, and the American Ivan T. Sanderson, the article stated, had been involved in developing a strange science--cryptozoology--the search for animals whose existence 'established zoology' does not wish to acknowledge. At the time the article appeared it created something of a scandal. Sanderson, a notable zoologist, in later years retracted non of his assertions. The article states: "...A well-known South African big-game hunter, delighting in the name of Mr. F. Gobler, returned from a trip to Angola and announced to the Capetown newspaper, the CAPE ARGUS, that there was an animal of large dimensions, the description of which could only fit a dinosaur, dwelling in Dilolo Swamps, and well known to the natives as CHIPEKWE. He stated: 'Its weight would be about four tons AND IT ATTACKS rhino, hippo and elephants. Hunters have heard a CHIPEKWE--at night--DEVOURING A DEAD RHINO, CRUSHING THE BONES AND TEARING OUT HUGE LUMPS OF MEAT. IT HAS THE HEAD AND TAIL OF A LIZARD. A German scientist has photographed it. I went to the swamp to search for it, but the natives told me it was extremely rare, and I could not locate the monster. Nevertheless I am convinced the CHIPEKWE does exist. Here is the photograph." This article produced a terrific outburst in the editorial and correspondence columns of the paper, both scientific and sporting, and all with much logical knowledge, agreed that it might exist. The fact that the descendants of the dinosaurs exist is not disputed, since alligators and crocodiles are known to be in this category. The question is, did the 'larger' reptiles survive or did they die-off when the enormous food supplies which they required disappeared? What about the smaller reptiles, those bi-pedal predators about human size or slightly larger which walked on two legs? Did they die out with their more massive counterparts for lack of 'food' as well? In 1920 a certain 'Monsieur Lepage' brought out of the Congo an account of an alleged creature which is believed to exist there. Unlike the reptilian beast which tribesman swore roamed the swamps of Angola, the Congo reptile described by Lepage seemed to be a plant-eater, through deadly nevertheless. Lepage returned from his hunting trip and announced that he had come upon an extraordinary animal of great size in a swamp. It had CHARGED him, making a snorting noise, and he had fired wildly but, seeing that the monster did not halt, he beat a hasty retreat. When the beast abandoned the chase Lepage turned and examined it through a pair of binoculars for a considerable period of time. He stated that the creature was eight meters, or about twenty-six feet, long, had a long pointed snout, a short horn above the nostrils and a scaly hump on its shoulders. The forefeet appeared to be solid, like those of a horse, but the hindfeet were separated into digits. Aside from this, a leader of a German expedition to the Cameroons in 1930 made a very interesting report which has never been published in full, although it has been quoted by several writers. In widely separated areas, the expedition leader collected descriptions of an alleged beast or beasts which went by the name MOKELE-MBEMBE, from experienced native guides who could not possibly have known each other. His description is as follows: "The animal is said to be of a brownish-gray color with a smooth skin, its size approximating that of an elephant; at least that of a hippopotamus. It is said to have a long and very flexible neck and only one tooth but a very long one; SOME SAY IT IS A HORN. A few spoke about a long muscular tail like that of an alligator. "Canoes coming near it are said to be doomed; the animal is said to attack the vessels at once and to kill the crews, but without eating the bodies. The creature is said to live IN CAVES that have been washed out by the river in the clay of its shores at sharp bends. It is said to climb the shore even in daytime in search of food; its diet is said to be entirely vegetable. This feature disagrees with a possible explanation as a myth. The preferred plant was shown to me; it is a kind of liana with white blossoms, with a milky sap and applelike fruits. At the Ssombo River I was shown a path said to have been made by the animal in order to get at its food. The path was fresh and there were plants of the described type near by. But since there were too many tracks of elephants, hippos, and other large mammals, it was impossible to make out a particular spoor with any amount of certainty." The now famous report of the late King Lewanika, of the Barotse tribe, seems to confirm the above description. This king, who took great interest in the fauna of his country, constantly heard of a large reptile that lived in the large swampy regions. He passed this information on to white men, but since few if any of them believed it, he gave strict orders that the next time any of his people saw the creature they were to immediately tell him. After some time three men did report a sighting, stating that they had come across the beast at the edge of a marsh, that it had a long neck and a small, snakelike head and that it had retreated into the swamp on its belly. King Lewanika immediately visited the spot and states in his official minutes that it hed left a track in the reeds 'as large as a full-sized wagon would make were its wheels removed.' Other evidence comes from widely diversified sources. For instance an experienced white hunter named Stephens, who was also in charge of a long section of the telegraph line which runs along the banks of the Upper Nile, has given a great deal of information about a large, swamp-dwelling reptile known to several tribes as the LAU. The natives described the beast to Stephens in great detail and more than one of them affirmed that they had been present at the killing of a LAU. They variously described it as being between forty and a hundred feet long, but concurred in stating that the body was as big as a donkey, that it was dark yellow in color and that it had a vicious, snake-like head, with large tentacles or wiry hairs with which it reached out to seize its prey. Later a Belgian administrator from the Congo asserted that he had seen a LAU several times in a swamp and had shot at it. These reports seem to come from all over Africa, and not be limited to a single area. There are vast areas of Africa which, no doubt, have never seen the foot of man. One of the most convincing of the native accounts, however, emerged from Northern Rhodesia. The report seemed to describe a creature which was more akin to the CHIPEKWE, the flesh eating saurian which has been reported elsewhere. An Englishman who spent eighteen years on Lake Bengweulu in that country has given an account of the slaying of one of the beasts, as it was described by a local chief, who heard the account from his grandfather. Apparently the tribesmen had killed the creature with the hippo spears. It had a smooth, hairless, dark body and the head was adorned with a single ivory horn. The story was firmly rooted in the local tradition, and the Englishman in question believed in the existence of the creature, for he reports that a retired local administrator had heard some very large animal splashing in a lake at nighttime and had the next morning examined large unknown spoors or tracks on the bank. Some years ago during the excavation of the Ishtar Gate in ancient Babylon by the German professor Robert Koldewey, the scientist and his associates brought to light a number of startlingly realistic bas-reliefs of a dragonlike creature with curiously mixed features. It had a body covered with scales, a long tail and neck, the hind feet of a 'bird' although many of the early saurians are known to have had three-pronged feet like 'birds', the forefeet of a 'lion' and a strange reptilian head sporting a single straight, upright horn like that of a rhinoceros, wrinkles under its neck, a crest like a modern iguana lizard, and a very pronounced, serpentine tongue. Could the real or imaginary existence of such a creature have given rise to legends of 'horned dragons'? At first this creature was classed along with the winged, human-headed bulls and other grotesque monsters from Babylonian mythology, but continued research gradually forced professor Koldewey to quite a different conclusion. The creature had the name of the SIRRUSH and the priests were said to have held it in a dark cavern in the temple. It was depicted on the walls of the Ishtar Gate in great numbers and in association with a large, ox-like animal which is now known to have been the extinct aurochs and very definitely a real animal. When analyzed, except for some considerable Babylonian artistic license, the strangely 'mixtured' characteristics of the SIRRUSH appeared to be much less incredible than had at first been supposed, and in spite of his solid Teutonic background, Professor Koldewey became more and more convinced that it was not a representation of a mythical creature but an attempt to depict a real animal, a beast which had actually been kept alive in Babylon in very early days by the priests. As one researcher put it, paraphrasing the Professors own findings, "...After much searching in the depths of his cautious scientific soul, he even made so bold as to state in print that this animal was one of the plant-eating, bird-footed dinosaurs, many types of which had by that time been reconstructed from fossil remains. He further pointed out that such remains were not to be found anywhere in or near Mesopotamia and that the sirrush could not be a Babylonian attempt to reconstruct the animal from fossils. Its characters as shown in Babylonian art from the earliest times had not changed, and displayed great detail in scales, horns, wrinkles, the crest and the serpentine tongue, which, taken together could not all have been just thought up after viewing a fossilized skeleton." * * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To find out more about the anon service, send mail to help@anon.penet.fi. Due to the double-blind, any mail replies to this message will be anonymized, and an anonymous id will be allocated automatically. You have been warned. Please report any problems, inappropriate use etc. to admin@anon.penet.fi.