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Myths about dragons come from all over the world and have been found in the cultures of all the major continents except Antarctica (due to the lack of an indigenous human population). Stories of dragons date back to the ancient civilizations of China, Mesopotamia, India, Hebrew, Native American and Norse to name just a few.
Many of these legends and myths developed completely independent of each other. So, did these mighty creatures once walk the Earth and fly the skies above it – more importantly do they still?
Dragons still infect the culture of our modern life. Their influence can be seen in literature in the books of JRR Tolkien (The Hobbit), Anne McCaffrey (the Pern Series) and JK Rowling (Harry Potter) to name just a few; the hugely popular role playing and computer games based on TSR’s original “Dungeons and Dragons” which became and remains a worldwide phenomena.
Speaking of Dungeons & Dragons a film based on the games has just been released with a rather "unique" dragon. But there have always been dragons in films including “Reign Of Fire”, "How To Train Your Dragon", “Dragonslayer” and countless more.
Dragons can easily be found in other forms of art not covered above and, in fact, date back to the earliest form of human expression – the art of story-telling.
So, what are these fantastic creatures really? Are they just a figment of the human imagination and myths? Are they just a product of the innate human fear of the dark and the unknown?
Many say dragons date back to the primate’s fear of snakes, feline predators and birds of prey all wrapped up into one fearsome creature – essentially that dragons were born from the instinctual fears of our earliest ancestors as we evolved from monkeys and apes. Another accepted theory is that dragons were born when early humans found the fossilized skeletons of dinosaurs.
Yet if dragons were born purely of our fear of the unknown, what of the myths that give dragons the credit for giving us speech or of creating the very world we live on in more Eastern influenced legends? The fear of dragons seems to be a more Western influenced myth with the rise of Christianity and the legends of the serpent of Eden; the Devil.
This is not to say that Christianity was the first to vilify the dragon as examples of that can be found much earlier in human history; the story of Beowolf being the best example. Rather (like many other mythologies) they took an accepted monster and used it to create a creature of ultimate evil.
Thi provides a possible explanation of the differences between the Western and Eastern views of the dragon.
The Western European dragon is most often depicted as a reptilian creature with bat wings that breathes fire, hoards treasure (greed) and is the spoiler of purity and innocence; for example their taste for virginal young maidens.
The Eastern Chinese dragon is more serpent like and is revered for their wisdom and longevity of life; both far exceeding humans. This is best seen in “Dungeons and Dragons” creation of the Red (Chaotic Evil) Dragon who is more Westernized and is rightly identified as a demon or devil and the Gold (Lawful Good) Dragon who is more Easternized and passes on its great wisdom to the human race.
In the end though, this article is written from a cryptozoological point of view rather than a theological one. The question remains (as with other animals covered in this section), did dragons ever truly exist? And, more importantly perhaps, do they still exist now?
The best argument against this is the lack of proof in the fossil record. Although new species of dinosaurs are discovered every year so perhaps a fossil of a dragon has yet to be discovered. Another explanation is that dragons have long been rumored to possess magical or sorcery skills that may allow them to hide from humanity merely because they wish it to be so – putting them in the category of elves or angels and demons.
They also may be extra-dimensional and simply do not die and leave remains in the dimension we call reality.
Every year there new sightings of dragons all over the world – although in modern days these sightings are contained usually in the Far East or Europe.
Could these wondrous creatures of fantasy and legend still exist on Earth or travel to Earth or are they descendants of the dinosaurs that died out sometime near the beginning of the last Ice Age?
Or are they mere creations of human fear of darkness and the unknown?
Or do they have access to dimensions we only theorize about?
You decide.
Werewolves are a creature that is half man, have wolf. If a man becomes infected by the bite of a werewolf, he will change into a lycanthropic type beast on the night of a full moon; a werewolf will appear when you least expect it too. It will appear when you are probably the most vulnerable.
In fact, many people have been caught so off guard over their werewolf sightings that they felt the need to post their stories! Werewolves have been seen and heard all over the globe! In one particular location known as Wisconsin the “Bray Road Beast.” Is a very popular sighting! This particular creature is seen walking around at night; especially on the nights of a full moon.
People claim to have seen them walking around like a person on their hind legs. They have been said to have glowing eyes, strange smells, and three claws on both hands. Their fangs are huge and their fur is of a reddish color.
Sometimes people driving along the road see the beast making a snack out of the dead animals that sit on the side of the road. As soon as it sees the people looking at it the beast it runs away.
Also in Wisconsin, a man by the name of Mark Schackleman was driving on highway 18 near Jefferson. He said that he saw a beast that was well over 6 ft tall. Glowing eyes and fangs. It was digging in the ground until it saw him looking at him then took off into the woods!
In a similar situation, in Ohio, many people said they have seen werewolves between the months of July and October in the 1970’s.
In Indiana there is a place of high paranormal activity known as Werewolf Hollow. There have been several strange animal sightings, strange sounds as well as unidentified objects as well. Many people go on hunts there to try and find some sort of answer to all of the unusual circumstances…
The final werewolf sighting I uncovered was in France in the 17th century. The beast was known as the “Beast of Gevaudan” . A beast wandered around several villages choosing to snack on people more so then animals. It made over two hundred attacks! Finally the villagers put the beast to sleep. Later on another animal did the same thing…to this day the animal has never been seen again…
There have been many more almost countless sightings of these creatures for hundreds of years. So are werewolves real?
You decide.