Ancient dragons, diverse in form and behaviour, appear from Western Europe across China and over the opposite side of the globe to America. Perhaps dragons represented frightening forces of nature? They were usually found in deep wilderness or places where people could not, or dared not, venture.

Dragons can be linked to the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, and we see this particularly in China where they represent the forces running through the earth. Perhaps the image of a dragon being speared by a Saint is a christianisation of some form of Earth acupuncture, with the energies being redirected by the placing of Iron objects in the ground at appropriate points.

Or perhaps dragons weren’t mythical or symbolic at all. Are dragons an extinct species? These mystical creatures can sometimes be found today in watery haunts of the Southern hemisphere.

The Celtic Saints were especially skilled at banishing and destroying water monsters and dragons, and the imagery may be symbolic of the early struggle between Christianity and Paganism.

The best known is the water monster summoned and banished by Columba in the River Ness in 565 CE. T here is definitely something uncanny about Loch Ness, and it’s been suggested that the area is a ‘window area’ for strange phenomena. What does this mean ? Dragon lines, ley lines, ancient gods, aliens - your guess is as good as mine.

Dragons in the Pacific

In Australia the Bunyip lurked in rivers, lakes, swamps, and billabongs (former parts of rivers left behind when the course was altered). Bunyips were malevolent towards human beings and caused nocturnal terror by uttering horrible roaring cries and jumping out of water holes to devour unwary animals and people. In the Dreamtime these water creatures were involved in the great deluge. Some hunters caught and imprisoned a small bunyip, making its mother so angry she flooded the land until it covered everything. Those who managed to escape were turned into black swans.

Dragons are among the ghost-gods of the ancient Hawaiians. Known as mo-o and kupuas, they lived in pools or lakes and could appear as animals or human beings according to their wish. Kupuas have a strange double body. say the Hawaiians. Their ancestor was Mo-o inanea, The Self-reliant Dragon, and she figures prominently in the Hawaiian legends.

Mo-o-inanea brought the kupua dragons from the Hidden Land of Kane in the migration of the gods to the Hawaiian Islands. For a while she lived with her brothers the gods at Waolani, but after a long time there were so many dragons that Mo-o-inanea had to leave her brothers and find homes for her numerous dragons. So she went down to Puunui in the lower part of Nuuanu Valley where she dwelt in her dual nature–sometimes appearing as a dragon, sometimes as a woman.

There were many dragons around Hawaii, like the two who lived in the Wailuku River near Hilo. They were called “the moving boards” and made a bridge across the river. Sometimes they accepted offerings and permitted a safe passage, and sometimes they tipped the passengers into the water and drowned them. Two dragon-women still guard the precipice at the end of Nuuanu Valley above Honolulu today.

Iin the ocean and inland waters of New Zealand, hiding in deep pools, rivers, lakes and dark caves, is the mysterious Taniwha.

Long relegated to the realms of folklore, these dragons have appeared in recent years as environmental guardians of sites threatened by bulldozer-oriented development. In 2002, 550km north east of Wellington, a new highway was stopped by a taniwha who objected to the massive roadworks. Freak accidents and unfortunate deaths plagued the scheme until, on advice from the local Ngati Naho people, Transit New Zealand moved the route to higher ground.

Recommended Reading

Wildlife anomalies from the blood drinking death birds of Ethiopia to the Mongolian Death Worm. Strange and scarey, overlooked, lost, undiscovered, forgotten and extinct animal species in The Beasts That Hide from Man: Seeking the World’s Last Undiscovered Animals