Delamere Dragon

 



The Delamere forest in Cheshire, England is known for a wide variety of strange phenomenons, from ghostly haunting, to time slips to various cryptid sightings. The one that interests me the most is a dragon that has supposedly survived into modern times.


Back in Roman times a road was built through the Delamere forest, to bring salt from the deposits at Northwich to the city and fort at Chester. This was the first substantial intrusion into the forest. Previous to this the Celts had built a hill fort on the edge of the forest, but avoided going deep inside. During the construction there were reports of the labour crew being harassed and attacked by a large reptile. It started with animal carcasses being found in the forest that has been torn apart by a large predator, although this wasn’t that out of place as bears and wolves still existed in England at the time. This was followed by the sounds of roaring from deep in the forest, described like the roar of a lion. Then worker sent on patrol or on isolated work started disappearing. Other workers described being stalked by a large reptile which hid within the tree line on the edge of the road.


Legionaries were sent out from the fort at Chester to kill the dragon. The dragon was said to be resistant to their weapons and several legionnaires were killed, but eventually the dragon was killed. The Roman reports are fragmentary, and often embellished, making them unreliable.


During the medieval era the idea of a dragon living in Delamere forest persisted. It was described as having armour like scales and was dark in colour. It would stalk shepherds from the treeline, terrorize rural communities and kill livestock. Like the Roman reports of the beast, the medieval writings were often embellished and followed similar moral tales of dragons elsewhere in Europe. It’s not the sort of evidence that would lead a modern reader to expect such a creature to have ever truly existed, much less persist into modern time. However modern sightings suggest otherwise.




In the summer of 1985 a married couple named the Tailors were walking through Delamere forest. They were familiar with the area and walked the trails through the forest often. This time they decided to stray from their usual route and take a small overgrown offshoot from the path. Along the way they came to a clearing. Within was the overpowering smell of rot. The couple assumed it was just an animal which had died in the clearing and if they continued on they would be away from the smell.


As they approached the edge of the clearing they saw something huge just within the treeline, partly hidden by shade and vegetation. It looked to them like an elephant laying on its side, with its back facing towards the couple. It was covered in moss and leaves, like it hadn’t moved in a very long time. As they looked on the creature awoke and slowly began to get up. As it rose they got a better look at the thing. It had a tyrannosaurus like head, the body of a rhinoceros and a long reptilian tail. It skin was a mix of scales and rhino like armoured folds. The creatures movements were slow, like it was awakening from a deep sleep. Before it stood fully the Tailors turned and ran. They continued to run without looking back, but they could hear the creature giving chase behind them, breaking vegetation and making a loud stomping gallop. It gave a low rumbling growl.


The Tailors ran until they reached the main path, where they found a grounds keeper patrolling the forest. When they reached the main path everything returned to normal, there was no sound of the beast pursuing them. They told the groups keeper what had happened. He seamed unsurprised, not worried or dismissive. He simply told them to stick to the official paths and that he hoped they would continue coming to the forest and not be frightened off.




2009, a local man was walking through Delamere forest, near Blakemere Moss, a lake within the forest. He asked that his real name not be given. He was walking his dog along one of the well used trails. A route he took many times.


Along the way his dog stopped and growled at something in the vegetation off to the side. He assumed the dog had found a deer or rabbit, although admittedly the dog looked scared and this was not its normal reaction. The man then heard something in the forest were the dog was pointing. The thing in the forest emit a low rumbling growl. The man noticed glowing red eyes in the dark shade of the forest in that direction. Something was hiding behinds the bushes. It was large, but couldn’t be seen distinctly.


The owner of the eyes stood up, rising above the bushes where the man could see its head and shoulders. It was a humanoid lizard man. The creature was bulky and much taller than a human, at least 8 feet tall. It had a feral reptilian appearance, but clearly stood on two legs. The proportions were wrong for a human, the arms were far too long, reaching to the knees, its chest was impossibly wide and its legs were short and bent like an animals. The creature just stared at the man and his dog, not moving. The forest was completely silent, no wind, birds or insects made any sound. The man felt an overpowering sense of dread, not panic.


After about a minute the creature lowered down behind the cover of vegetation again and he lost sight of it. It was gone from sight. The dog continued to growl and alert to the location and the man felt like the creature wasn’t fully gone, just changed position and continued to watch him. He decided to end his dog walk early and returned from the direction he had come. The man never returned to that spot and walked his dog along a different path from then on.


It’s unknown if the lizard man was another form of the Delamere dragon or a separate creature entirely. Delamere forest has had many instances of strange occurrences. In 1974 a group of ecologists saw a sabre tooth tiger while studying the life in the forest. On other occasions people have seen Roman soldiers walking in a line, their legs buried in the ground up to the knees, seaming following exactly at the height were the old Roman road was buried. There have also been countless reports of strange lights, disembodied voices and shadowy figures in the forest. Whatever the Delamere dragon is, it remains as enigmatic as these other phenomenons.



Sources


https://ludchurchmyblog.wordpress.com/places-further-afield/delamere-forest-anomalies/

https://ukwildman.blogspot.com/2020/02/screams-werewolves-and-sabre-toothed.html

https://www.cheshire-live.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/dinosaur-delamere-prehistoric-puzzlers-5283770

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsL4iWrqqnI




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