~ Mythological Dragon
~ Ogopogo
~ Ponik
~ Salamanders
~ Storsie
~ Tacoma Sea Serpents
~ Zambezi River Water Serpent
There have been hundreds of Sea Serpent sightings reported around the world, but the few listed here were picked for their closer relations to dragons; either in appearance, powers, or actions.
Mythological Dragon:
On the 10th of August, 1932, a man by the name of F. W. Kemp had a paranormal encounter while relaxing on Chatham Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca with his wife and son (thecryptmag.com, 2002). Kemp had sighted a sea serpent or dragon, and confided in only two trusted friends until a year later, the Victoria Daily Times published an article about another man, Major Langley, who'd sighted the same dragon. This tempted not only Kemp to report his sighting, but many more as the editor of the paper, Archie Wills, was flooded with many letters from different people who all claimed to have seen the same creature, but had kept quiet for fear of ridicule and disbelief (thecryptmag.com, 2004).
Kemp's recollection to the Victoria Daily Times conveyed a creature that sounded as though it had been pulled directly from a book of mythology. The recollection was thus: "Imagine my astonishment on observing a huge creature with it's head out of the water traveling about four miles per hour against the tide. Even at that speed a considerable wash was thrown on the rocks, which gave me the impression that it was more reptile than serpent to make so much displacement.
"The channel at this point is about 500 yards wide. Swimming to the steep rocks of the Island opposite, the creature shot it's head out of water on the rock, and moving it's head from side to side, appeared to taking it's bearings. Then fold after fold it's body came to surface. Towards the tail it appeared serrated with something moving flail-like at the extreme end. The movements were like those of a crocodile. Around the head appeared a sort of mane, which drifted round the body like kelp. The Thing's presence seemed to change the whole landscape, which make it difficult to describe my experiences. It did not seem to belong to the present scheme of things, but rather to the Long Ago when the world was young (thecryptmag.com, 2002)."
Kemp described the dragon as obviously having terrific senses of smell, sight and hearing. It's movements were described as "different from anything I have ever seen or heard of." The dragon's length was estimated to be roughly 24 m (80 ft); this was obtained by measuring the length of the rocks the dragon had perched on.
While the shape of the head couldn't be determined, Kemp said that it was thicker than the body (other accounts in the letters received by Wills of the Victoria Daily Times describe a face like a camel or horse). The colour of the dragon was described as a bluish-green in colour, that shone brilliantly in the sun like aluminium (thecryptmag.com, 2004).
Ogopogo:
North America's most famous sea serpent is Ogopogo, who lives in Lake Okanagan in British Columbia (near the Washington State border). Native Americans call Ogopogo N'ha-a-itk or Natiaka (lake beast), and they believe the sea serpent lairs in a cave which they specifically avoid (Suckling, 1998). In previous years, it was customary to sacrifice a live animal by throwing it overboard to appease the lake-dwelling monster, if you had to pass by the cave. The name Ogopogo is derived from a song written in 1926:
'His mother was an earwig,
His father was a whale,
A little bit of head and hardly any tail-
And Ogopogo was his name.'
(Mason, 2001)
Sightings of Ogopogo date back to 1850, and still continue today. Ogopogo is described with a humped back (it's very likely the swimming movements [undulations] would create this humped-back impression), with a long neck and dark colour (theshadowlands.net, 2002)- a description that is rather unremarkable among sea serpents. Fewer accounts describe Ogopogo as an "upturned boat", which seems at odds with the serpentine form, however a number of unforeseen variables may attribute to these clashing accounts.
Ogopogo is said to live primarily on fish and weeds, however natives claim the serpent has attacked and consumed people and horses, and many swimmers in the lake have gone missing. While the lake shore has, in the past, been patrolled by armed men to assure Ogopogo does not come ashore, the sea serpent is protected by British Columbian law, forbidding harm to the creature (Suckling, 1998).
Ponik:
In Lake Pohenegamook, close to the Maine border, there is reported to live an elusive sea serpent, 12 metres (40 ft) in length (theshadowlands.net, 2004). Named after it's home, Ponik is said to have a snake-like body, with three humps along it's back, flippers, and a face like a horse- synonymous with the traditional water monster.
Some theories have been put forth by Cryptozoologists to help explain Ponik away, the most common of which suggest a supernaturally large sturgeon or an extinct plesiosaur, a sea-dwelling dinosaur that lived during the Mesozoic era (theshadowlands.net, 2004). Because the sea serpent's face is said to resemble a horse, this could suggest some ancient linkage to Chinese dragons, though that idea may be stretching descriptions a little too far (especially when we must take into account the adapted aquatic body and the fact the two are from different countries), and it may be more likely that Ponik can be classed as a classic example of a real live sea serpent (though the idea of Chinese dragons sharing some vague linkage to Ponik should at least be given some consideration).
Salamanders:
The largest known species of Salamander live in Japan, and are said to be 1.8 metres (6 ft) in length. However, a handful of fishermen in the Trinity Alps, California, have reported catching Salamanders some 2.4 m (8 ft) in length (theshadowlands.net, 2004). To date, no examples of these large Salamanders have been captured for study.
You can read more on Salamanders in the Dragon Races post.
Storsie:
Storsie (short for Storsjoodjuret, also known as the Great Lake Monster) is a 6m (20 ft) long Sea Serpent believed to dwell in the waters of Lake Storsjon, Sweden. Reports of this sea serpent range from 1635 to the present. The Society for Investigating the Great Lake, founded in 1987, has since accumulated 400 recorded sightings of Storsie; a number which has never stopped growing (Suckling, 1998).
The descriptions of Storsie usually vary slightly, but a few things remain persistent: the body is long and snakelike in appearance, roughly 3-8m (10-25 ft) long, and 1-1.5m (3-5 ft) wide. Storsie has a small head, which has been likened to a horse, dog, lizard and snake, and unlike other sea serpents, Storsie comes complete with two long whiskers, a trait that has sparked controversy and debate over the possibility Storsie is in fact an unnaturally large catfish (Suckling, 1998). The argument, to date, has not been satisfactorily settled, and judging from the different witness accounts, it seems there may be both a large catfish and sea serpent in Lake Storsjon.
The body colour is primarily grey with few colour variations, which include red, yellow and black. As Storsie usually travels at high speeds across the waters, exact details of the creature's appearance are hard to obtain (theshadowlands.net, 2002). In 1994, Karl-Olov Johansson spoke about sighting Storsie in 1910: he'd seen the serpent making it's way back to the water, and thought he'd seen feet moving beneath the body as it swam into the lake. Johansson was quoted, "it didn't move as any known animal. It crawled and at the same time it's back went up and down (Suckling, 1998)."
On the dark bottom of the great salt lake
Imprisoned lies the great snake,
With naught his sullen sleep to break
Norse poem translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (Suckling, 1998).
Lake Storsjon and it's local serpent have mythological links dating well into history, when the lake was offered to the goddess of love and fertility, Fro. An island on the lake, Froson Island, is home to a standing runestone which, supposedly, ties Storsie to the lake until someone can decipher the writing (Suckling, 1998).
Tacoma Sea Serpent:
This serpent possesses one of dragon kind's defining abilities; a breath weapon. The Tacoma sea serpent has been described as 45 metres (150 ft) in length, with an oval shaped body (theshadowlands.net, 2004). The top half of the body is covered with thick hair, and from it's head to it's tail ran a series of copper circles that encircled it's body. The serpent's tail resembled that of a propeller, and atop it's head were two long horns.
On the 2nd of July, 1893, an Eastern fisherman and his friend, along well as a few local fishermen whose names were withheld, reported to the July 3 issue of the Tacoma Daily Ledger: "The air was filled with a strong current of electricity that caused every nerve in the body to sting with pain, and a light as bright as that created by the concentrate on of many arc lights kept constantly flashing.
"I turned my head in that direction, and if it is possible for fright to turn one's hair white, then mine ought to be snow white, for right before my eyes was a most horrible looking monster. The monster slowly drew in toward shore and as it approached, it's head poured out a stream of water that looked like blue flame. It's shape was somewhat out of the ordinary insofar that the body was neither round or flat but oval. It had coarse hair on the upper part of the body.
"At about every eight feet fran [sic] it's heat to it's tail a substance that had the appearance of a copper band encircled it's body. Blue flames came from two horn-like structures near the center of the head. The tail was shaped like a propeller.
"Sir, I tell you, in the electrically charged atmosphere birds and insects died. Two of my fellow fisherman became paralysed when licked by the blue flame. They lay on the beach until eventually recovering. At last, the monster submerged into the dark waters and a telltale luminous light betrayed its course (theshadowlands.net, 2004)."
The fisherman made it clear the dragon was not the result of a drunken hallucination, which was proved by the large amount of dead animals and the paralysis that overcame two of the fishermen after being touched by the blue flame.
Zambezi River Water Serpents:
A pair of sea serpents have been said to inhabit the Zambezi River in Southern Africa (theshadowlands.net, 2004). Fishermen in the area have spied what has only been described as large, humped creatures, though details are hard to obtain as the waters are so murky. The serpents are supposedly shy, despite being some 35- 40 m (117- 133 ft) in length, making them larger than the other animals in the river, such as the hippopotami, crocodiles, and all other fish.
The Zambezi River serpents really drew attention to themselves during one dry season, when the female swam upriver with her young, only to find the Kariba dam wall blocking her return route. After several attempts to break the offending wall, she waited until the rainy season when her partner rammed a way through the wall with the help of the flood waters.
Despite these violent actions, the sea serpents have been noted to swim away gently when they feel the presence of people close by. The pair have been described as having humped backs, and some people have reported seeing scales on these serpents, and believe they may be some distant relative to crocodiles (theshadowlands.net, 2004).