Ancient lizards and dinosaurs could be found in Russia several centuries ago. A mysterious creature (either a crocodile or a prehistoric dinosaur) was discovered in the city of Arzamas at the beginning of the eighteenth century. The authorities imbibed the monster in a barrel and sent it to St. Petersburg for study. But according to the men accompanying the cargo, as can be assumed, they drank alcohol from the keg, and the relict lizard (possibly the last on the planet) was allowed for a snack …
The coat of arms of the city of Moscow is known to everyone - it depicts George the Victorious piercing the Serpent with a spear. But few people realize that this very Serpent (it is not excluded) is a very real creature that once lived in Russian forests. Old legends tell that bloodthirsty monsters were once found in the European part of Russia.
Like dragons, they had a ferocious disposition, lashing out without a doubt on foot and horse, tearing them to pieces. The fabulous Russian heroes fought with them. They were destroyed by medieval knights in order to win the favor of the princess. And, who knows, perhaps, not without their participation, some kind of prehistoric dinosaurs disappeared from the face of the Earth, which even survived the Ice Age.
This is not so absurd as it might seem at first glance. After all, not only legends and fairy tales tell about mysterious monsters, reminiscent of the description of primitive lizards. There are other quite trustworthy sources that tell about unknown dragon-like creatures. If you open the thirtieth volume of the Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles, you can find there an amazing record dating from 1582:
“In the summer, the Korkodila lutia came out of the river and closed the way, many people have eaten, and people are horrified and pray to God throughout the earth. And you will hide your packs, but you will have hid others. The same year, Tsarevich Ivan Ivanovich introduced himself, in Sloboda, December 14th."
What kind of corcodiles (crocodiles?) Came out of the river and attacked people? After all, the matter did not take place in distant Africa, but near Novgorod. Maybe the chronicler just lied for the "catchphrase"? But here's another entry from an English trading company agent named Jerome Garsey. In 1589 he once again went to Russia and in Poland he witnessed the incredible. The following entry has been preserved in his diary:
“I left Warsaw in the evening, crossed the river, where a poisonous dead crocodile lay on the bank, whose belly was torn by my people with spears. At the same time, such a stench spread that I was poisoned by it, and lay sick in the nearest village, where I met such sympathy and Christian help that I quickly recovered."
Strange lizards, uncharacteristic for our fauna, are also found in the memoirs of the Austrian ambassador to Russia Sigismund Herberstein, who visited us in 1517 and 1526. Here are his words:
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“This area is teeming with groves and forests, where you can observe terrible phenomena. It is there and to this day there are a lot of idolaters who feed some snakes with four short legs like lizards, with a black and fat body … with some fear and reverently worship them, crawling out to the supplied food …"
Three historical sources that tell about very similar phenomena. Isn't that worthy of attention? Of course, you can try to dismiss these testimonies, as they clearly do not fit into the usual picture of the world. This is exactly what scientists once did with the story of one pilot who had an accident on the island of Komodo in the Java Sea.
It was in 1912, when he returned to his homeland, he began to tell incredible stories about some bloodthirsty monsters that supposedly live in those places. Only in the summer of 1926, an expedition of zoologists arrived on the island, who actually discovered giant relict lizards, which they called "the dragons of Komodo Island".
These prehistoric animals, numbering no more than a thousand, reach a length of 3.5 meters and weigh about 150 kilograms. Giant monitor lizards are quite aggressive, sometimes they steal sheep of appropriate peasants, hunt antelope. The famous German hunter, who killed many lions, tigers and other dangerous predators in his life, died on Komodo Island under unexplained circumstances. He went to photograph a flock of monitor lizards and never returned. On the bank of the swamp they found only his boots and a warped movie camera. It is possible that he, on his own skin, became convinced of the reliability of the existence of relict creatures, having become a victim of these ancient creatures.
Maybe something similar was once found in Russian forests? I would like to believe that one day cryptozoologists will be interested in the legends about "Russian crocodiles". After all, more than once, checking such rumors, they were convinced that folk legends do not arise from scratch.
From official sources:
Currently, the International Union of Cryptozoologists unites 800 scientists from 20 countries. Based on legends and myths, they are engaged in a targeted search for mysterious animals and incomprehensible phenomena of wildlife. And this is not a pursuit of a sensation, but painstaking scientific work on the knowledge of the planet's biosphere. Let failures often lie in wait for them on this path. But there are also victories.
Take, for example, a snail weighing more than one and a half kilograms. Scientists knew about it from the stories of the blacks of Central Africa and even found giant shells of these gastropods. But a living specimen was discovered quite by accident - among the logs brought to Marseille. The gulliver snail was demonstrated with triumph in Paris, Los Angeles, San Francisco, London. Among the corals of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, cryptozoologists recently caught 8 new species of exotic fish at once, the existence of which no one even suspected. A large (120 centimeters) lizard, a relative of the Central Asian monitor lizard, was recently caught in the sands of Arabia. Following the legends of the Arabs, they searched in vain for 15 years.
The list goes on and on. It includes not only small animals, but also quite large ones. And even one monster. There is no longer any doubt that it lives on our planet. And it dwells not just anywhere, but in the notorious Bermuda Triangle.
At the bottom of the ocean, near one of the islands, cryptozoologists, checking the old pirate legend about a giant octopus, set a steel trap with a tasty bait. And when they took him aboard an oceanographic ship, they saw twisted metal. But in the sharp claws of the ingenious device, the remains of living tissue, skin and muscles of an unknown creature were preserved. Analysis showed: the trap was broken by a multi-armed hercules, capable of wrapping its tentacles around even a submarine.
Judging by the degree of deformation of the alloy steel, the monster should weigh at least three tons. Until now, biologists considered such a large cephalopod an idle fiction of drunken sailors. One of the main trump cards of cryptozoologists is the cross-finned coelacanth fish living near the Comoros. Paleontologists believed that it became extinct for another 200 million years ago. Since the ancient coelacanth lives to this day, why not hello to its other contemporaries?
Maybe the crocodiles of the Novgorod forests are also miraculously survived prehistoric lizards that lived in Russia several centuries ago? No answer. And prospective researchers of this riddle would like to throw in some more food for thought.
The unknown crocodile, which this time received the name "Arzamas Monstruz", reappeared on Russian soil at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Evidence of this event was found in the archives of the city of Arzamas. Here's a quick excerpt from the doc.
“In the summer of 1719 June 4 days there was a great storm in the district, and a tornado and hail, and many cattle and all living creatures perished. And a serpent fell from heaven, scorched by God's wrath, and smelled disgusting. And remembering the Decree by God's grace of our Sovereign of All-Russia Peter Alekseevich from the summer of 1718 about Kunshtkamor and collecting various curiosities for it, monsters and all kinds of freaks, heavenly stones, and other miracles, this serpent was thrown into a barrel with strong double wine …
The paper was signed by the Zemsky Commissar Vasily Shtykov. Unfortunately, the barrel did not reach the St. Petersburg Museum. Either she got lost on the way, or the negligent Russian men entered from the barrel "double wine" (as they used to call vodka), putting other contents for a snack … The nature of the Arzamas monster remained unsolved. Has the tornado brought a real crocodile from distant countries? Indeed, according to the description, the fetid monster that fell from the sky had short legs and a huge mouth full of sharp teeth. Or, somewhere in the then dense Russian forests, were the last mysterious creatures mentioned in the Novgorod chronicle living out their days?
Or maybe they are still alive?
Recently newspapers reported that something appeared in the Desna River, tearing fishing nets to shreds in one motion. Attempts to catch an unknown creature have not yet been crowned with success. Who knows, maybe ancient reptiles such as those mentioned in the old chronicles and depicted on the Moscow coat of arms have not yet died out on our land?
