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Solomon Islands Dragon Snake
Flying creature solomon island
Two flying creatures depicted on a map from 1593.
[[{{{map}}}|250px]]
Background
Type Living pterosaur/living dinosaur, dragon
First Sighting Unknown
Last Sighting 2019?
Country Solomon Islands
Habitat Mountains with jungle, probably in caves
Possible Population Medium

The Solomon Islands Dragon Snake is a flying, fire spitting dragon-like cryptid from the Solomon Islands. Reported as hostile toward humans, there are frequent sightings of these creatures, which means that it is a living creature, not mythical. The Dragon Snake patrolled both the coastal areas and the mountainous interior of the Solomon Islands. The creature was responsible for people going missing and killing people.

Description[]

They are described as having nocturnal behavior, and only seen in the form of light or silhouette. The body is shaped like a man's, but the overall silhouette looks like a stingray. There is a shape at the end of the tail, most likely shaped like a diamond or triangle. They are white or black in color, with greenish-brown scaly skin, and piercing red eyes. They have the ability to make glowing light (bioluminescence) from their body, red in color, which they use for fishing on the coast (because light attracts fish and other sea creatures). They are also reported as having the ability to spit fire, in the form of a "light" which scorches and burns upon impact (most likely this means a fireball - not a continuous spray of fire like the Niger Firespitter). The size of the body light itself is about 60 feet in diameter, the wingspan might be larger or the same size as that.

Sightings[]

The earliest depiction of a strange dragon-like creature in the Solomon Islands comes from Gerard de Jode's atlas Speculum Orbis Terrae (Mirror of the World) from 1593. One part of the atlas depicts two flying creatures with bat-like wings and a long tail with flukes. One creature is shown as having two "pelvic fins", which may actually be meant to be its feet. The other creature has dermal frills, similar to the ropen. Both creatures have a long beak or snout.

Modern sightings by westerners occurred in the 20th century.

A native had been fishing in his 19-foot fiberglass boat at 3.00 a.m. He saw a Dragon Snake flying nearby, and in his foolishness, he flashed his torch at the creature. It flew over to him in an instant and hovered overhead. Panicking, he started the motor and took off to get away from the Dragon Snake, but it followed him as he "zigzagged" his way back to shore. It was during this short pursuit to the beach that it fired some form of light at him but it only partially hit him. A later inspection of his 19-foot fiberglass boat showed traces of scorching on some of the boat's interior paint. He said that when he drove his boat up the beach and ran into the bush, the Dragon Snake followed him to where he was hiding behind a tree and hovered above. When he moved around to the other side of the tree, it also went around to the other side. It was then that he literally got down on his knees and began to pray to God with his hands clasped in front of him. The Dragon Snake moved on. After that, he stumbled his way back to his village and was taken to hospital.

Marius Boirayon, a former RAAF engineer, bought a house in Cape Esperance. When he and his friends were fishing in the night, one of his friends, Joseph, shouted about the Dragon Snake whilst pointing in its direction. The creature made a bright, star-like light, about 60 feet in diameter. After several minutes, the creature submerged itself in the water. A few minutes later the creature surfaced with even stronger light. They continued to watch until it disappeared over the top of the coconut trees. Marius' friend told him that if he didn't see it one night, he was likely to see it the following night. His friend is right, over the course of 7 months, he reached the tally mark of 60 sightings.

The Dragon Snakes' lights can be seen frequently from the islands, whether they are in the coastal areas or above the mountainous jungle. However, the natives reported that they came from the mountains and lakes, only coming to the shore to feed.

Explanations[]

  • This dragon snake might be a living European-style dragon, like the Mount Kancing Dragon Snake from Indonesia. Both of the creatures were hostile to humans. The difference is, this dragon snake can spit fire.
  • The description itself resembles a living pterosaur cryptid, considering the man-like body, stingray shaped silhouette, scaly skin, and the tail's diamond-shaped end. Hostility and appetite toward humans is common among pterosaur cryptids like the Ropen, Kor, Kongamato, Orang Bati, Mount Kancing Dragon Snake and British Columbia pterosaur.
  • Another explanation is that they are Djinn, a race of shapeshifting creature.
  • Marius Boirayon himself thought the creatures were UFOs, and he even made a website about it. Marius' website though, is from 2003, when information about living pterosaurs and dragon-like cryptids was still scarce on the internet.

Trivia[]

  • There is a Japanese bronze sculpture depicting the creature at Mount Austin near Honiara. Depicted as a scaly humanoid holding his own long tail, pointing to the west with his left arm. Marius Boirayon himself described the creature as a "Star Trek warrior-type reptilian half-human man."

Gallery[]

See Also[]

  • Mount Kancing Dragon Snake, another "dragon snake" hailing from Indonesia.
  • Kor, flying creatures that attacked the Japanese army on Manus island, Papua New Guinea, during WW2.
  • Ropen, a corpse-eating pterosaur-like creature from Papua New Guinea, which is also bioluminescent.
  • Iowa Dragons, a dragon-like creature from Iowa.
  • Niger Firespitter, a dinosaur cryptid that's also reported as having the ability to spit fire.

References[]

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