The Circle of the Dragon: History: Dragon Sightings

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There have been historical dragon sightings reported around the world. Here, a list of them will be kept to show where they have been seen.

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Year	Location	Information
550-590	Loch Ness	The famous Loch Ness Monster was seen by Cholm Chile¹.
1674	Cape Ann, Massachusetts	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 this beast.²
1700	Off of Martha's Vineyard	An unnamed sea serpent was seen by sailors.³
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.⁴
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.⁵
1817	Gloucester Harbor	In August, an unnamed sea serpent was sighted.⁶
1848	Boston brig Daphne	On September 20, Captain Trelawney saw an unnamed sea monster.⁷
1848	The Ship Plumper, due west of Portugal	The sighting occured late 1848, but the publication in the Illustrated London News came out on April 10, 1849. A naval officier sighted a slow-moving creature with the legth of about twenty feet and a head the size of six to eight feet.⁸
1848	The 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. ⁹
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.¹⁰
1897	Arkansas	William Miller was said to have killed a gowrow.¹¹
1905	The yacht Valhalla, off the coast of Brazil	Meade-Waldo and Nicoll, two naturalist, sighted a turtle-like sea monster. Meade-Waldo discribed the head and eye to be similar to a turtle's, and he said that he saw a frille 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.¹²
1915	White River	The first reported sighting of the White River Monster.¹³
1924	White River	The second reported sighting of the White River Monster.¹⁴
1935	Lake-of-the-Ozarks country	Five men returned to the shore and reported a giantic animal that became known as the Camden sea serpent.¹⁵
1939	High Pine Ledge (near Plymouth)	An unnamed sea serpent was sighted.¹⁶
1937	White River	In June, Bramlett Bateman reported seeing a gigantic creature, later known as the White River Monster.¹⁷

Footnotes

Folklore and the Sea by Horace Beck
Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis
Folklore and the Sea by Horace Beck
Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis
Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis
Folklore and the Sea by Horace Beck
Folklore and the Sea by Horace Beck
Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis
Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis
Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis
The Bear Went over the Mountain: Tall Tales of American Animals by R. B. Downs
Monsters of the Sea by Richard Ellis
Legendary Arkansas Monsters Have Deep Roots in History
Legendary Arkansas Monsters Have Deep Roots in History
The Bear Went over the Mountain: Tall Tales of American Animals by R. B. Downs
Folklore and the Sea by Horace Beck
The Bear Went over the Mountain: Tall Tales of American Animals by R. B. Downs

For more information, see the Bibliography.

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