Dragon Sightings

 

Year Location Information

550-590

Loch Ness The famous Loch Ness Monster was seen by Cholm Chile. [1]

1674

Cape Ann, MA, USA John Josselyn's An Account of Two Voyages to New England reported the sighting of a large sea serpent coiled up on a rock. Another person, Obidiah Turner, also reported it. [2]

1700

Martha's Vineyard Sailors spotted an unnamed sea serpent [1] off Martha's Vineyard.

1734

Off the Coast of Greenland In Hans Egede's A Description of Greenland, the Bishop describes a huge sea serpent with the creature's head so high that it matched a mass-head, a body that was as bulky as a ship, and a body that was longer that four ships. Egede, who later became Greenland's Bishop, also claimed that the creature's body appeared to be covered in "shell work", with rugged skin and paws. The creature later reared up and dived back into the water. [2]

1802

Gulf of Maine Reverend Abraham Cummings reportedly followed around a sea serpent of some kind. It was said to have the head of a serpent that was large than a horse's and was fifty feet in length. [2]

1848

Boston brig Daphne On September 20, Captain Trelawney saw an unnamed sea monster. [1]

1848

The Ship Plumper, due west of Portugal The sighting occurred late 1848, but the publication in the Illustrated London News came out on April 10, 1849. A naval officer sighted a slow-moving creature with the length of about twenty feet and a head the size of six to eight feet. [2]

1848

Frigate Daedalus, off the Cape of Good Hope Captain Peter M'Quhae reported seeing an enormous serpent which was at least sixty feet in length. He claimed that it had no fins, and he could not say how it was moving (it was not moving as most snakes do). He reported that the head was certainly that of a snake and that there was either hair or seaweed clumped around its back. [2]

1849

The ship Fly, in the Gulf of California George Hope reported an alligator-like creature that had a longer neck than an alligator, and, instead of four feet, had flippers. [2]

1897

Arkansas William Miller killed a gowrow. [4]

1905

The yacht Valhalla, off the coast of Brazil Meade-Waldo and Nicoll, two naturalist, sighted a turtle-like sea monster. Meade-Waldo described the head and eye to be similar to a turtle's, and he said that he saw a frill of the monster sticking out of the water some eighteen or so inches behind where the neck was coming out of the water. It was reportedly brown and white in color. [2]

1915

White River The first reported sighting of the White River Monster. [3]

1924

White River The second reported sighting of the White River Monster. [3]

1939

High Pine Ledge (near Plymouth) An unnamed sea serpent was sighted. [1]

1937

White River In June, Bramlett Bateman reported seeing a gigantic creature, later known as the White River Monster. [4]

 

Footnotes

  1. Beck, Horace - Folklore and the Sea
  2. Ellis, Richard - Monsters of the Sea
  3. Legendary Arkansas Monsters Have Deep Roots in History. Link Defunct: <http://www.arkansas.com/media/display/id/185>
  4. Downs, R.B. - The Bear Went over the Mountain: Tall Tales of American Animals

For more information on footnotes and references, please see the bibliography.