Marco Polo's Cryptid Encounters

The Venetian merchant, explorer, and author Marco Polo (1254–1324) traveled the world and recorded many strange things he encountered along the way in his writings. This includes cryptid encounters.

Maybe the most notable strange encounter that Polo had in his travels occurred in Asia when he saw the Great Serpents of Karazan. The enormous snakes were ten paces, or 25 feet in length and 10 spans, or 7.5 feet in girth.

Did Polo witness some sort of prehistoric creature that had survived into his day? Especially in light of the Chinese legends of dragons, this thought may be worthy of consideration. 

Dragon legends exist not only in Asia, but all over the world. Could the Marco Polo dragons have been some sort of dinosaur that had survived extinction? Hard evidence is lacking, but there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence to draw from. Consider this strange creature resembling a dinosaur that is found at Angkor Wat in Cambodia. Angkor Wat was built in the 12th century—not long before Marco Polo's travels:

Consider, also, some of the Chinese legends:

  • Supposedly (though I have been unable to find the original source), a Chinese law book dated 1611 BCE mentions a "Royal Dragon Feeder" whose duties included throwing food into sacred ponds.
  • Legend holds that the Yellow Emperor traveled about in a chariot pulled by 6 dragons.
  • There are claims that a Song Dynasty emperor raised dragons on his complex to pull carts in parades.

The word dinosaur, which means “terrible lizard,” wasn’t coined until the 1840s. Until then, “terrible lizards” were simply known as dragons—at least according to some cryptozoologists who believe a remnant of dinosaurs survived extinction and possibly even made it into the present day.

Even among the mainstream, it is widely believed that dinosaur fossils may have given rise to dragon myths. Read more about that using the following links:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/where-did-dragons-come-from-23969126/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2017/05/15/freaky-dragon-dinosaur-discovered-alberta/101710598/

According to Polo, he encountered many other strange things including giants on the Island of Zanzibar; in a region he visited, he claimed to see men with tails; Polo shared accounts of unicorns and even dog-headed men. He also wrote of a gigantic bird with a 30-pace, or 75-foot wingspan. This is similar to the “Roc” in North America—better known as a Thunderbird.

Unrelated cultures spanning the globe have legends of these massive birds. Why?

  • Are they something that was witnessed first-hand?
  • Did fossils give rise to the stories?
  • Could there be a hazy memory handed down of ancient megafauna that died out at the end of the last ice age?

What should we think of Marco Polo’s accounts? While it is entirely possible that Marco Polo may have simply been sharing tall tales in his writings, could there be at least a grain of truth behind some of the stories?


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