Dragon Sightings
From pre-Christian times until the late 17th century, dragons roamed all over Europe. They have been observed by knights, historians and naturalists.
Scandinavia
Recorded in 1572, a dragon inhabited the area north of Lapland. The region was so desolate that the dragon was reduced to a diet of mice.
London, England
On November 30, 1222, dragons were seen over the city. The flight preceded - and may have caused thunderstorms and severe flooding.
Henham, Essex, England
An amphiptiere nine feet long was discovered on a hillock near the town in 1669. The terrifying serpent remained in the area for some months but inflicted no actual harm.
Ireland
According to legends, Tristan of Lyonesse slew a dragon here in the 11th century. The commentator Giraldus Cambrensis, however, announced in 1188 that Ireland was free from all dragons, possibly from the intervention of Saint Patrick in the 5th century.
Provence, France
A dragon called a Drac, inhabited the Rhone River throughout the 13th century. The town of Dracguignan was named for it. The worst attack seemed to have occurred in Beaucaire.
Isle St. Marguerite, France
On the French Island of Marguerite a flying dragon was said to have killed over 3000 villagers and knights throughout the Middle Ages. Because of the ferocity of the creature, it was often confused with the Tarrasque. Although, unlike the Tarrasque, it had wings. It was dubbed Drac, and inhabited the Rhone River in France throughout the thirteenth century. It was infamous for the blood it shed. The French town of Draguignan was named after it. Most of Drac's attacks were aimed at the village of Beaucaire. Over a dozen armies went on campaigns after it but none were successful. The specific campaigns are recorded in the French and early Germanic histories: Ocino, Ragnarold, and Umberto of Guineve. The dragon is said to have eventually died of old age.
Drachenfels, Germany
Sometime before a fortress was built here in the 12th century, this mountain hid a dragon that flourished, it was said, on a diet of young women.
Sanctogoarin and Neidenburg, Germany
The naturalist, Edward Topsell wrote in 1608 that Sanctogoarin was plagued by a dragon whose flights caused fires. The dragon of Neidenburg poisoned wells by bathing in them.
Bonn, Germany
The Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi had in his collection, a lindworm killed near Bonn in 1572.
Switzerland
Christopher Schorer, the Perfect of the canton of Solothurn, reported the sighting of a winged mountain dragon near Lucerne in 1619, as well as an encounter in 1654 between a hunter and a dragon. The latter retreated with a rustling of scales into its mountain den.
Rome, Italy
The Historia naturalis of Pliny the Elder reported that a dragon killed on Vatican Hill during the reign of the Emporer Claudius (died 54 AD) contained the body of a child; centuries later, in 1660, the German Athanatius Kircher, examined a dragon killed near the city. He commented on it's unusual webbed feet.
Kiev, Russia
In the 1200ds a Ukrainian historian named Byliny wrote of a small dragon which terrorized the steppes of western Russia for decades. The dragon was called Gorynych and was finally killed by a Ukrainian hunter named Dobrynja to avenge his brother's death.
Lindisfarne, England
In 793, the same year Vikings raids this coast, the monastery of St. Cuthbert on the island of Lindisfarne off the West Coast of England, over a hundred monks claimed to have seen a flying dragon with black wings. Others joined it at sunset, and the monks said that the sky was eventually filled with them.
Libya
In A.D. 67 Roman Historian Octavus Livy wrote that he personally witnessed a battle between the eighth Roman Legion (led by General Scipio Regulus) and a great Heraldic Dragon in what is now Lybia and which lasted for almost a week. Over three thousand Roman soldiers were killed in the battle, which finally ended with the remaining Romans building siege engines and cornering and crushing it to death it in a canyon.
Suffolk and Essex, England
In the Cathedral of Canterbury a history records that on Friday, September 26, 1449, between the English towns of Suffolk and Essex there was a fight between a huge black dragon and a red, which was witnessed by an entire township and lasted for over an hour. In the end, the black was badly wounded and retreated to its lair. Two of the most respected Englishmen of the fifteenth century witnessed the fight: John Steel and Christopher Holder, and later confirmed the validity of the event.
Vatican Hill, Rome, Italy
In Historia Naturalis, written in 1701, it is recorded that a powerful Heraldic Dragon was killed on Vatican hill in 1669 during a fight with the army of Rome. This Dragon was reported to have had wings and webbed feet.
The Scottish Coast
In 1942 the German U-boat Reichland torpedoed a Norwegian trawler near the Scottish coast. The crew witnessed what they later recorded as a great sea serpent, over 60 feet long, breaching and swimming frantically away from the sinking ship.
The Atlantic Ocean
In 1966 two British Paratroopers rowing across the Atlantic in a survival test were wakened. John Ridgeway looked out from the boat and clearly saw a creature of enormous size, like a serpent, poised over them with its head held high above the waves.
Dragons - Content | Myths and Legends