from the latest
conspiracyjournal.com... online issue:
- KEEP YOUR EYES TO THE SKIES DEPARTMENT -
Historic Sightings of Flying Snakes
Do “flying snakes” exist? Roy Mackal and other cryptozoologists have investigated flying snake reports in Africa. Did you know there are files on
airborne serpentine reptiles in North America? Here are some reports for your consideration. You will rapidly discover that there are varying levels
of credibility in these articles. ~ Loren Coleman
The earliest known recorded sighting can be found in the journal writings of Hieronymus Benzo, an Italian naturalist who traversed the New World from
1541 to 1556. In his text Istoria de Mondo Nuovo Libr. III, Benzo included the following entry on an expedition into what is now Florida:
"I saw a certain kind of Serpent which was furnished with wings, and which was killed near a wood by some of our men. Its wings were so shaped that
by moving them it could raise itself from the ground and fly along, but only at a very short distance from the earth."
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Athens Messenger, Athens, Ohio, 9/16/1875
Leavenworth, Texas
In August of 1875, an unnamed woman dwelling in the southern side of Leavenworth, Texas made local headlines with her insistence that a smallish
winged snake was undertaking excursions over her neighborhood. So astonishing was her testimony that a local, aged psychic was stirred to boldly
foretell (to the local newspaper) “in a short time the air would be full of flying serpents”. Perhaps, if the next 35 years might be interpreted
as “a short time”, she was partially right.
In September of that same year, two young men surnamed Remington and Jenkins, while hunting in the woods near Leavenworth, were astonished to see this
oft-gossiped about creature soaring straight toward them at an altitude of about four feet. Jenkins quickly removed his cap and, with an accurate
sweep, netted the little beastie. It turned out to be quite harmless; it was approximately one foot in length, spotted and bore wings approximately
the size of their hands. After dispensing of it, the two intelligent lads brought the now lifeless body home and preserved it in a jar of alcohol.
Tragically, this essential physical specimen appears to have been lost to time, most likely in much the same manner as myriads of copies of Action
Comics #1 have been innocently tossed by mothers with other attic junk, without realization of what they possessed.
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Galveston Daily News
Galveston, Texas.
May 23, 1899
FLYING SNAKE.
Has a Skull Like an Adder and a Bat-Like Expression.
New York Journal.
A flying snake five feet long has built its nest in one of the tall trees at Waterford, N.J., and when it is not setting on its eggs to hatch out a
lot more flying snakes it is roving about intimidating the natives.
No amount of hunting in mere natural history books will reward the searcher with a glimpse of a picture of a flying snake or any information about
one. The creature does not exist in any scientific work. It is found only in Waterford, where a party of indignant citizens are making a desperate
effort to locate it before it eats some of the farmers.
Robert McDougall, who saw the flying snake, is perhaps the most prominent citizen of Waterford - a fact that the intelligent reader has already
guessed, for persons who see sea serpents, flying snakes, wild men, or horned gazoozas are invariably described by their neighbors as prominent in
order that the story may not be doubted and the town thereby indirectly reflected upon.
This gentleman was taking a short trip through the woods, cogitating as he walked as to the turnip crop, when suddenly the flying snake darted from
the low branch of a [illegible] pine tree and flapped its wings with hoarse cries until it vanished from view. Its bearing was plainly vindictive.
“It had the look of a bat in its face,” says McDougall, “but it was a flying snake sure enough; one of the venomous kind, I should say. Its
skull resembled that of a puff adder, but it had no hair, and it had a tapering tail and eyes that flashed fire, but never before did I see eyes on a
monster like that,” and Mr. McDougall shuddered at his narrow escape.
On the following morning the Waterford vigilantes armed themselves and repaired to the lair of the flying snake. They found its footprints, not in the
air, where it might be expected that a snake on the fly would leave them, but on the ground. They were web-like prints, something like those of a
swan. The local indignation increased when it was thereby proved that the monster is amphibian.
Hiram Beechwood, who lives at a place called Elm, says he saw the flying snake at daybreak crossing a road near a swamp. As soon as it noticed it was
observed[,] it exchanged looks of deadly hate with him and then, uttering an angry bleat like an exasperated sheep, unwound a pair of bat-like wings
and slowly flew into the swamp, where it is feared it has a nestful of eggs.
According to the ornithologists of the place, flying snakes are an established fact. They stick pretty closely to the thick undergrowth unless driven
out by forest fires or lack of food. They build in tall trees, Mr. McDougall says, and when in a good temper utter a note something like that of a
robin who has just found a worm. When annoyed or frightened, however, they emit an angry scream that is very terrifying.
Some of the residents hold that the snake is a vegetarian and won’t eat Jerseymen. Others wisely say that this may be so, but still it might bite
them, and they are going after it to put it out of its misery.
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Logansport Pharos
Logansport, Indiana
March 25, 1885
A flying snake is on exhibition at Virginia City, Nevada. The reptile is four feet long and has two wings attached to its body, about four inches back
of the head.
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Greenville Evening Record
Greenville, Pennsylvania.
June 16, 1900
Venango county papers note the appearance of a flying snake and also a leathered snake. The latter was captured by Arthur Savage, of Canal township,
and is said to have a fine coat of feathers and a head like a chicken. It is about three feet in length. It eats nothing but grain and drinks an
abundance of water. Mr. Savage intends to take it to some zoological garden.
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Alton Evening Telegraph
Alton, Illinois.
August 9, 1905
The moonshine whiskey business appears to be flourishing in Missouri. At least flying snakes are reported in several places in the Ozark Mountains
region.
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Washington Post; Washington DC, 10/29/1911
St. Charles, Missouri
Another specimen was observed over St. Charles, Missouri, not far from the Mississippi River in 1911. Mrs. John Bishop and her children were startled
from their work and play by an odd sound evocative of a monoplane. This buzzing though was not from an engine, but rather from the highly rapid
fluttering of a sizeable pair of wings attached to a three-foot-long spotted snake passing over their residence. The awe that overtook the
unsuspecting family quickly transformed into terror however, as the airborne snake turned and approached the terrified group of witnesses. The mother
hastily herded the children into the home where they watched in safety as the creature performed various aeronautic feats for almost twenty minutes
before it disappeared over the horizon in the direction of Alton, Illinois.
The Washington Post also noted on June 5, 1911 that the “passengers and crew of the White Star liner Celtic brought with them to New York today a
revival of the sea serpent tales of other years. They reported having passed early yesterday morning a formidable looking creature that was going at a
high speed in pursuit of a school of young whales. The monster, they say, had wings, and rose frequently 10 feet or more from the water. Whales and
pursuer faded from sight within a few minutes.”
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Bonham, Texas, June, 1873
In June of 1873, a farmer in Bonham, Texas, looked up from his work and was astonished at what he saw. There appeared to be an enormous flying snake,
banded with brilliant yellow stripes, writhing and twisting in the sky above him. Other people in the Bonham vicinity also witnessed this strange
apparition, which was said to be at least as long as a telegraph pole. According to a report in the local newspaper, Enterprise, the bewildered
eyewitnesses watched the creature coil itself up, and thrust forward its enormous head as if striking at something.
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Sky Dragons - Amphipteres
These winged serpents were spotted in the skies of Great Britain until the mid 1600s. Described most commonly as a large snake with small wings behind
the head, they could grow to lengths around nine to ten feet. Their heads were dragon-like, with multiple tongues and sharp fangs. Villagers reported
having been able to scare them away by throwing rocks.
Similar creatures were reported in India. These sky dragons, or winged serpents, were nocturnal, and equipped with a singular form of defense. Their
urine was like acid, and could melt the skin of anyone walking below.
Winged serpents also plagued the ancient Middle East. Arabia and Egypt were overrun with these snakes, reportedly small in size yet devestating to
crops and livestock. Luckily, ibises ate these sky snakes. Even Moses was reported to use ibis birds to help his attack on Ethiopia who had invaded
Egypt.
An intriguing variation on the mythology and anecdotal history of North American winged snakes is the contemporary investigation of Northern Arizona
University anthropology student Nick Sucik into Navajo and Hopi legends that tell of snakes that can take brief flight through convoluted spiral
contortions and lunges. He published a well-researched paper in 2004 on these mystery animals that nicely bridged the fields of theoretical
herpetological physiology and cryptic anthropological folklore.
Sucik’s flying snakes of Arizona were hypothesized to be wingless—by definition of bat or bird—but capable of limited aeronautics through
extended flaps that stretched over a significant portion of their bodies. He discredited the few reports he found (which did not include any of these
presented here) that testified to bat-like or scaled wings, writing them of as justifiable misidentifications made under startling circumstances.
Thanks to Jerome Clark and Scott Maruna for archival input.
Sources: Cryptomundo/Biofort
www.cryptomundo.com...
biofort.blogspot.com...
