— The dragons in many European myths are thought to be based on the Nile Crocodile, and a few churches in France and Switzerland actually feature stuffed crocodiles as dragon remains! The world was smaller then, and full of wonder, unsubstantiated belief, and superstition.
Then in China of an earlier time and elsewhere, discovery of fossilized dinosaur bones was seen as proof of dragons, creatures found historically in the mythologies of many major cultures throughout the world…
–The Black Beast of Exmoor is a large, wild, cat-like creature held responsible for the killing of many farm animals in Devonshire, England. Report of the predator began in the early 1970’s. In the spring of 1983, one farmer lost over 100 sheep over 2-1/2 months of time. The slain animals were not killed in the fashion of a dog or fox (I didn’t do it!), having their throats ripped out. In 1987, the Beast was blamed for killing over 200 farm animals. More recent attacks occurred in August of 1995 and January of 2001. The Black Beast looks like a large panther, measuring almost 8 feet long from its nose to its tail. Some say that witnesses have exaggerated the size of a domestic or feral cat, or that the big feline escaped from a zoo and bred others. Still others contend that the Beast is from an alternative dimension, and can phase in and out of ours, thereby eluding hunters and capture!
Anyhow, what’s the big deal about The Black Beast of Exmoor? — I roam the countryside and mutilate livestock…alright, maybe I just rough them up real good…would you believe that I give them a good Dutch rub and wedgies…oh alright, I annoy them to tears!
—A centuries-old myth, a tall, hairy creature has been reported in Wisconsin and Michigan described as a dogman, also known as The Beast of Bray Road. A kind of American werewolf or possibly Bigfoot variant, witnesses of the Dogman have been found not to be lying under lie detector examination. Alledged hair samples of the beast, however, have been found to be from a bear or a housecat.–Watch the Dogman on Monster Quest, the most current new episode!
–A recent episode of Monster Quest concerned giant rats, and there has been considerable commentary on the same in other blogs. The Gambian Pouched Rat is known to extend upwards of three feet from nose to tail. As in their previous giant hogs episode, Monster Quest failed to produce video images of huge rats despite a “rat cam.” I did like an incident reported of rats who acted in concert to attack a woman. It’s easy to produce a few souls who have claimed to have seen rats as big as cats, however, and rats of this size probably do exist. Stephen King had a memorable short story in which the biggest rat was the size of a calf.
‘Ya know what makes most people abhor rats?–Their tails! The hairless tails of rats tap into an instinctual snake aversion. Remove the tails or make them hairy, and people don’t mind them nearly as much…consider the gerbil! One must respect rats; they’ve even survived nuclear testing at the Bikini Islands!
FOXSYLVANIA 
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