For many centuries, scientists have been puzzling over the "Chronicle of Deonisy of Tel Mahre", created in the 9th century. This manuscript is now in the Vatican Library, plus six more leaves in the British Library. It covers the events from the Creation to 774 AD. At the very end there is a very curious story.
774 AD e. Before the beginning of the reign of the Byzantine emperor Leo IV, a plague was raging in the country, and after it terrible beasts appeared that were not afraid of anyone or anything. They did not run away from anyone and, of course, killed many. They looked like wolves, but they had small, narrow muzzles … their ears were long, and their backs were like a pig's.
It is difficult to determine what kind of creatures were at the heart of these stories of shaggy demons. The now extinct beasts of prey, werewolf people, yeti or something else?
These mysterious animals have brought great destruction to the people living in the Abdin Rock area, near Hoh. In some villages, they ate over a hundred inhabitants, in others, from twenty to forty or even fifty. They were not afraid of a person, so there was nothing they could do about them.
When people nevertheless tried to pursue them, they could not frighten these monsters and put them to flight - the animals turned around and attacked people. If a person shot at a monster, it pounced on him and tore him to pieces.
The monsters entered fenced yards and houses, caught children and dragged them with them; no one dared to resist. At night they climbed onto the terraces, stole sleeping babies from their cribs and left without hindrance. Even the dogs were afraid to bark when these creatures appeared.
As a result, the country experienced more horrors than it ever knew before. People were afraid to walk the streets, even two or three people. Terrible monsters devoured all the cattle, because when they attacked a herd of goats or a flock of sheep, each one took several heads with him …
The monsters left these lands and went to Erzenen (an area in southern Armenia on the border with Assyria), where they ravaged all the villages. They also devastated the country of Mayfurk and the area around Mount Kahai, and also caused great damage to Amida (Roman colony in Mesopotamia) …"
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Several pages are missing from the ancient manuscript here. Scholars have long argued that Deonisy of Tel Mahre wrote a bizarre tale. Many argued about whether the author meant that the scary monsters had some kind of fins on their backs that protruded like stubble on the back of a pig, or whether he meant that they had long hair, as tough as boar on the back of the neck.
In many ancient chronicles there are stories of demons that appear out of nowhere to kidnap or devour their prey. These demons are often described as "shaggy black creatures with glowing eyes and demonic gaze." It is curious that in most cases these monsters appeared during a strong thunderstorm.
In his Chronicles, Abbot Ralph, abbot of a monastery in Coggeshell, in Essex, England, described the storm that roared and destroyed everything around the Day of St. John the Baptist in June 1205:
“On the holy night of John the Baptist, a thunderstorm thundered all over England … and the rain gushed continuously. In Kent, near the city of Maidstone, a strange monster was killed by lightning … this monster had the head of an unknown creature, a human stomach, and other parts of the body belonged to completely different animals. His black corpse was badly burned, and he gave off a stench; very few people were able to get close to him."
Abbot Ralph described another incident that occurred on July 29, 1205, at night during a thunderstorm:
“Throughout England, a thunderstorm raged, roared terribly, lightning flashed - many thought that the day of the Last Judgment had come. The next morning, in several places, traces of large, tapering feet of some kind of monster were found, the likes of which no one had ever seen. Many townspeople claimed that these were traces of giant demons."
Tudor historian John Stowe described an incident that took place around 1538 in London at St Michael's Church on Cornhill Street.
“The bell ringers were ringing the bells under the roof of St. Michael's Cathedral in order to drive out the demons, when an ugly likeness of a man entered the southern window and exited the northern one. From fear, all the bell ringers fell to the floor and lay like dead for a while."
Described by Stowe "animals with claws" caused bewilderment among historians and translators. In the Middle Ages, it was common practice to ring bells to drive demons away from their homes.
We usually view the past in the context of a modern lifestyle. Our thoughts and feelings are conditioned by today's world, so it is not always possible to recreate the spirit of the era we are studying. Often the meaning of ancient manuscripts, translated from generation to generation, changes beyond recognition.
For scientists, the obsessive and, apparently, fanatically instilled by the church and the state idea of demons is a mystery. Pagan myths and ancient superstitions tell of giant furry creatures living in forest caves - they were called the devil's offspring.
When Charlemagne conquered all the neighboring rulers, he introduced harsh laws to "ward off" demons from spoiling the crop. The monasteries were filled with angry speeches about demons kidnapping monks, or pious monks who fell into the clutches of "forest people". The abbots called for these devils of hell to be put to painful death.
In 840, Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons, spoke of three demons, who were first led around the city in chains for several days, and then stoned to death. In his manuscript "Deliverance from Anglo-Saxon Superstitions", written in Latin, the archbishop talked so familiarly about "evil demons" living in the mountains that he did not even include their description in his narration.