Story 2

Claim: Scandinavian countries had about as many tales of dragons as anywhere in the world. One old legend describes a reptile-like animal that had a body about the size of a large cow. Its two back legs were long and strong. But its front legs were remarkably short. And its jaws were quite large. One of the unique things about many dinosaurs was their short front legs, compared to their long, strong back legs.2 Many also had large jaws. Examples of dinosaurs which fit are the Edmontosaurus. (ed-MONT-oh-SOR-us), and the Iguanodon (i-GWA-no-DON).

Rebuttal: Iguanodon once lived in Europe, especially in what is now Scandinavia, 120-130 million years ago, but Edmontosaurus lived in North America 70-65 Million Years ago, not in Europe, so the 2 dinosaurs never lived at the same time. The claim shown on page 40 as well as here is a direct fabrication of Lindworms, dragons of Scandinavia with 2 or no limbs. Their bodies are incredibly long and serpentine. Never do they resemble dinosaurs in any form. Lindworms are monstrous snakes. Coiling, hissing, poisonous, evil snakes that live either in the mountains or in the water. They were very dangerous and in many cases hard to kill. Like normal snakes, they occasionally shed their skin like this one told in a well known Scandinavian Legend called “King (or Prince) Lindworm”.

A Lindworm in the tale was born alongside his twin human brother from a queen who sought help in having children from a wise old woman, who told her to eat 2 onions after their skins are peeled in order to have children. The queen took her advice and gathered up 2 onions to eat. But in her haste to have children, she ate the first onion without ever peeling it and it gave her a very bad taste. So she peeled the second onion and ate it. Then, she became pregnant and gave birth to twin boys. But the first son she bore was a hideous monstrous Lindworm who was so disgusting by his appearance that the queen threw him out and left him to fend for himself. Her second son, on the other hand, was born a normal human being and grew to be a handsome prince who met his brother years later while going out to find a beautiful woman to make into his wife. The Lindworm also wanted a woman for his bride and demands his brother to send to him all of the young women, doesn’t matter what background, before him to chose which woman he will have for his bride. So all of the women of the kingdom was brought before the Lindworm to be inspected, but the Lindworm ate all the women who never fit the Lindworm’s perception of what he wants out of her. One of the Lindworm’s candidates is a woman who was the only daughter of a shepherd. She went to the same old woman the queen visited years ago and ask how can she escape her fate at the hands of the Lindworm. The old woman told her not to resist the Lindworm, but to give in and tell the Lindworm to shed his skin just as the Lindworm will order her to shed her clothes. She will not die, but be a very happy woman who will accept the LindWorm’s hand in marriage. Taking the old woman’s advice, she went and presented herself before the Lindworm who told her to take off her piece of clothing. She did, but then told the Lindworm to take off his piece of skin. He did and the process went on about nine times before the last skin was shed to reveal a handsome prince whom she happily married afterwards.

Story 3

Claim: The city of Nerluc in France was renamed in honor of the killing of a “dragon” there. This animal was bigger than an ox and had long, sharp, pointed horns on its head. There were a number of different horned dinosaurs. The Triceratops (try-SER-ah-tops) is one example.

Rebuttal: The claim shown on page 40 as well as here is a direct fabrication of the story of a fearsome monster named Tarasque, who terrorized the people of Nerluc for many years. The dragon of Nurluc, whom the people killed in the story, was a female monster who was the child of the legendary serpent, Leviathan, and the Onachus, a hideous, buffalo-like she-monster that burned everything (apparently except for Leviathan and Tarasque) she touched. The monster whose description and her demise clearly states that she was not a Triceratops dinosaur.

Tarasque is described to be a 6 legged sea monster with a turtle like shell, face like an old man, horse-like ears, tail of a scorpion, a fiery breath, and the ability to shed her skin once every 7 years. The monster is killed when St. Martha, who was spreading the Christian faith around the land, tamed the dragon by sprinkling her some holy water while charming her with hymns and prayer offerings to God. Then, she lead the dragon to the town of Nerluc where the people ganged up on the dragon and killed her out of vengeance and fear. Later, feeling sorry over what happened after St. Martha rebuked them for this terrible deed, the people, who converted themselves to Christianity because of her, have decided to rename their town, Tarascon, after the monster whom St. Martha has tamed. The town exists to this very day.

Triceratops was a three-horned dinosaur that lived only in North America 65 million years ago and nowhere else.

Note: There is an Abelisaurid dinosaur named Tarascosaurus who was a large meat-eating dinosaur named after the monster whose fossils were unearthed from France, the country where the story of the Tarasque came from.

Story #4 (page 41a)

Claim: A well-known, old science book, the Historia Animalium, claims that “dragons” were not extinct in the 1500’s. But the animals were said to be extremely rare and relatively small by then.

Rebuttal: The dragons found in this so-called science book never looked like dinosaurs at all as you can see here and here. Historia Animalium (The History of Animals) is a 4 volume set written and published by Conrad Gessner (1516-1565), which all that it describes in it is winged dragons and how they are compared to flying snakes (Besides, the dragons illustrated in the book never looked like dinosaurs at all.). It also describes unicorns, basilisk, griffins, sea serpents, and other fantasy creatures which YECs never bother to mentioned. Using old, outdated medieval literature is highly inconsistent, worthless, and proves nothing when it comes to studying dinosaurs and science.

Story #5 (page 41b)

Claim: A scientist named Ulysses Aldrovandus carefully described a small “dragon” seen along a farm road in northern Italy. The date was May 13, 1572. The poor, rare creature was so little that the farmer killed it just by knocking it on the head with his walking stick. The animal had done nothing wrong but hiss at the farmer’s oxen as they approached it on the road. The scientist obtained the dead body and made measurements and a drawing. He even had the animal mounted for a museum. It had a long neck, a very long tail and a fat body. The skeletons of a number of ancient reptile-like creatures have similarities to this basic description.

Rebuttal: This also seen here is a hoax. As a matter of fact, much of his collections” mounted for a museum” were proven to be forgeries, including the “poor, rare creature” that was only made from what’s left of a ray fish. The image drawn by the scientist is found in an old outdated book that’s now available online called Mythical Monsters by Charles Gould (see link here; also found in Gessner’s book mentioned in Story #4 above). It gives out references to this account and shows the image of a dragon drawn by Aldrovandus that looked absolutely nothing like Tanystropheus at all. In fact, Taylor even got the supposed Tanystropheus wrong in the art! A prime example of YECs taking ancient images of dragons and distort them to fit their beliefs. Unlike this Triassic reptile, the dragon in the picture looked more like a drake or a fat lindorm than the Archosaur. The dragon in the picture had a neck and head that resembles a snake, a curling tail, a pair of bat wings, a big, fat belly, and only 2 short legs. Tanystropheus had a 10 foot long stiffen neck, 4 legs, a skinny body, and a tail that snaps off when attacked by a predator like a modern lizard of today. This lizard is ill equipped for both water life or land life. Yet, scientists are still trying to learn as much as they can about this special Triassic archosaur which probably spends its time on the ocean shores feeding on fish, ammonites, and other forms of sea life.