Solomon Islands Dragon Snake

Solomon Islands Dragon Snake
	; Two flying creatures depicted in a map from 1593.
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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 Solomon Islands. Reported as hostile toward humans, these creature made frequent sightings, which meant that it is a living creature, not mythical. The Dragon Snake patrolled the both the coastal areas and mountainous interior of Solomon Islands. The creature(s) was responsible for people going missing and killing people.

Description

They are described as having nocturnal behavior, 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 scale skin, and piercing red eyes. They has the ability to make glowing light (bioluminescence) from their body, red in color which they use for fishing in the coast (because light attracts fishes and other sea creatures). They also reported as having the ability spit fire, in form of "light" which scorch and burn upon impact (most likely this means fireball - not continuous spray of fire like Niger Firespitter did). 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 strange dragon-like creature in Solomon island comes from Gerard de Jode's atlas Speculum Orbis Terrae (Mirror of the World) from 1593. One part of the atlas depicts two flying creature with bat-like wings and long tail with flukes. One creature is shown having two "pelvic fins", which may actually meant to be its feet. The other creature has dermal frills, similar to the ropen. Both creature has long beak or snout.

Modern sightings by westerners occured in the 20th century.

A native had been fishing in his 19-feet fiberglass boat at 3.00 a.m. He saw a Dragon Snake flying nearby, and in his foolishness, he flashed his torch to 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 upon 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 friend, Joseph, shouted about the Dragon Snake whilst pointing to its direction. The creature make a bright, star-like light, about 60 feet in diameter. After several minutes, the creature submerged itself to the water. A few minutes later the creature surfaced with even stronger light. They continued to watch until it disappears over the top of coconut trees. Marius friend told him that if he didn't see it one night, he were likely to see it in the following night. His friend is right, over the course of 7 month, he lost the tally mark of 60 sightings.

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

Explanations

This dragon snake might be living European-styled dragon, like the Mount Kancing Dragon Snake from Indonesia. Both of the creature were hostile to humans. The difference is, this dragon snake can spit fire.
The description itself resemble a living pterosaur cryptid, considering the man-like body, stingray shaped silhouette, scaly skin, and the tail diamond-shaped end. Hostility and appetite toward human is common among pterosaur cryptid, like Ropen, Kor, Kongamato, Orang Bati, Mount Kancing Dragon Snake, and British Columbia pterosaur.
Another explanation 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 pterosaur and dragon-like cryptid are still scarce in the internet.

Trivia

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

Gallery

References

Solomon Island Mysteries