Virtually every culture on earth has an oral tradition of human encounters with large, strange beasts that are unknown to us today. The commonly accepted theory is that the dinosaurs disappeared long before humans appeared. So, what were these creatures our forebears spoke of, and what happened to them?

From the fossil record, we have considerable knowledge about huge creatures that are no longer present in the animal kingdom. Though they varied greatly in terms of size, shape, diet, habitat, and mode of motility, we collectively call all such long-extinct species "dinosaurs." Why they disappeared, we can only speculate. Standard evolutionary theory holds that some catastrophe, such as a devastating meteorite, struck the earth about 65 million years ago, rendering it uninhabitable for many species.

The creationist perspective favors a much more recent time frame for the dinosaurs' demise, with "old-earth" creationists occupying somewhat of a middle ground between the evolutionists and the "new-earth" creationists, who date the earth at somewhere around 10,000 years. Creationists pretty much agree that the disappearance of the dinosaurs was caused by the Genesis Flood and/or the global geological and climatic changes that transpired thereafter.

The critical difference between the theories is whether or not dinosaurs co-existed with humans.

The Bible talks about monsters, naming Leviathan and Behemoth. Dragons appear in the Babylonian creation story; Nebuchadnezzar built the city of Babylon with depictions of dragons all over the walls and on his seal. Ancient Egyptians used images of dragons to protect their palaces. Both ancient Greeks and Romans had dragon mythologies, as do China, Japan, India, and Mesopotamia.

Europe has an especially rich tradition of dragons. The Vikings carved dragons on their ships. Britain alone has nearly 200 sites identified with dragon lore; Celtic kings were called "dragons"; Wales has the dragon as its national symbol. All over England are places named for dragon slayings, and several local festivals have continued to re-enact the killing of the resident dragon since ancient times.

The gargoyle—gargouille in French—began as a dragon that "gargled" (spouted water) in an attempt to flood a French city. An archbishop disempowered the beast using the sign of the cross, and the gargoyle became a sign of protection that has adorned churches and other buildings since the Middle Ages.

North America has its share of dragons. Mexican history has Quetzalcoatl, part serpent and part beautiful bird; The Algonquin Indians of North America worshipped a dragon named Piasa; the Apache tribe had one called Chiricahua.

Interestingly, while Western dragons are portrayed as man-eating and evil, Eastern dragons are considered good, kind, and intelligent. In the western world, dragon killers have been celebrated, with 40 made into saints, the best known being Saints George, Michael, Catherine, and Margaret. In Medieval times, the dragon was considered a symbol of paganism and non-Christian beliefs, even of evil or the Devil.

Monster sightings continue into the present. In January of 1909, over 100 witnesses in the New Jersey-Pennsylvania area reported seeing the "flying devil," claiming it had a piercing scream and glowing red eyes. In the 1950s through '70s, bipedal reptilian creatures, nicknamed the Loveland Frog or Lizard Man, were reported in Ohio, New Jersey, Kentucky, and South Carolina. At about that time appeared Mothman, a creature resembling a bird, but missing its head, with red eyes where its shoulders should be. Mexico and Puerto Rico have Chupacabra--"goat sucker"--with recent sightings in the southwestern United States; Mongolia has the Death Worm.

Another interesting observation is that the "monsters" tend to get smaller as time goes on. So, what's the truth about all these weird creatures? Are they real?

I read somewhere that paleontologists have found evidence that the dinosaurs' habitat was already dwindling because of drastic environmental change before the asteroid (or whatever catastrophe) struck, and that the asteroid was merely the final blow. Take that a logical step further, and maybe they did die in a flood, or soon thereafter, and maybe the catastrophe was a coincidence--not connected to the dinos' demise at all. And maybe not all of them died; maybe some yet live.

© Lisa J. Lehr 2006