{"id":46,"date":"2007-02-28T11:13:59","date_gmt":"2007-02-28T15:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blogx\/?p=163"},"modified":"2009-08-18T18:44:23","modified_gmt":"2009-08-18T22:44:23","slug":"the-sirens-song-of-the-kongamato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=46","title":{"rendered":"The Siren’s Song of the Kongamato"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Rebecca
\nImage by Will Hobbs (www.sirwilliamwesley.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The kongamato is sometimes referred to as \u201coverwhelmer of boats.\u201d It is a giant bird or bat-like thing that terrorizes the locals of the sub-Saharan continent of Africa. It is described as a sort of flying lizard, with a wingspan of 3-3 \u00bd feet. The kongamato is black or red, with a pointed snout, or beak, filled with sharp teeth. It\u2019s frequently described as looking like a pterodactyl. This description occurs so often that some people toy with the idea that it is actually a surviving pterosaur, a class of prehistoric animals that includes the pterodactyl. Other people say that perhaps it\u2019s a giant bat. Yet, more people suggest that the kongamato is actually a stork of some kind. Since many sightings occur at dusk, the light obviously effects how they perceive the creature. No matter what you say the kongamato is, it is safe to say \u201cbig flying thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now you may be asking, okay Rebecca, who answered the call of the kongamato? Not all of these people went out specifically looking for the creature, but once presented with the kongamato, it became what their trip was about.<\/p>\n

The kongamato made its debut in Frank H. Melland\u2019s 1923 book \u201cWitchbound Africa\u201d. He presented locals with a picture of a pterodactyl, which they immediately identified as the kongamato. In 1925 British journalist G. Ward Price and the future Duke of Windsor traveled to Southern Rhodesia. While there, they heard about local attacks made by the kongamato, stories that they shared upon their return to Britain. Captain Charles Pitman wrote in his 1942 book \u201cA Game Warden Takes Stock\u201d about a large pterodactyl-like creature that existed in the swamps. Dr. J.L.B. Smith investigated the kongamato in the 1950\u2019s to include them in his book \u201cOld Fourlegs\u201d which was about flying dragons. In 1956 J.P.F. Brown, an engineer, reported that two prehistoric looking creatures were flying over head while he was in Northern Rhodesia. This was well publicized in the papers of the time. Obviously there have been more sightings and stories in and amongst all these times. That\u2019s all history Rebecca, old news.<\/p>\n

Well is 1988 recent enough for you? University of Chicago biologist Roy Mackal was so intrigued by the history of the kongamato that he packed up and headed to Nambia in the summer of \u201988 to investigate. He collected many stories while he was there, but unfortunately left without seeing one. One member of his group stayed behind, and he did report that he saw a giant black glider.<\/p>\n

After everything is said and done, there is no proof of the kongamato. No photos or specimens. Perhaps the kongamato is just a folk tale, something tribesmen tell each other about to keep them from wandering too close to the water at night. The African equivalent of the urban legend. It could be that it is, in fact, the lone surviving pterosaur. Will we ever know? Probably not. Will people keep looking? Yes, they will, and that, for me is the real story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"