New French Fiction Book On Giant Snakes
Posted by: Loren Coleman on July 16th, 2012
Update: Bad news. Michel Raynal tells me this book is not new. It was first brought out in 1984 and is half fiction. Okay. Nevermind. It goes in the cryptofiction pile.
If you can read French, you will enjoy a new book by Christian Dedet, about giant reptiles seen near or in the Gabon River, Africa. The book is The Memory of the River, about the life of Jean Michonet. Near the beginning of the book is a passage on the extraordinary fight between a giant snake and a large elephant that took place near the St. Anne Catholic mission in Gabon.
The book contains another incredible meeting with “a giant snake,” worthy of the one described in the memoirs of Colonel Fawcett.
There is also an entire chapter on snakes, specifically talking of giant cryptid snakes.
One section notes (rough Google translation):
The giant snake – the same one that failed to end my youthful adventure on a tributary of Rainbo N’Komi – has a jaw so flexible, so expandable that it allows the snake to swallow a buffalo. We can meet specimens reaching almost 20 meters. The one that fought against an elephant, once in the lagoons of St. Anne, was probably of this size. There is not too long ago, a small zoo in Zaire, where I was shown a 19-meter specimen. My father said he saw pythons measuring up to 12 meters. Source.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
I do believe at one time not to long ago there were giant snakes in both South America and Africa. Sadly they are most likely extinct now or at least on the verge of extinction. However I did see a River Monsters episode in South America. Mr. Wade was staying in a small village while filming the episode. One of the elders told him that recently an entire village had to relocate due to a giant snake staking out its territory near the village. J. Wade asked if the snake was an Anaconda and the reply was intriguing. He said it was definitely not an anaconda. This snake is much larger, black in color and has yellow markings. I cannot remember the name the old man mentioned. But it was a native name for this snake. So according to villager they still exist and are not anacondas. This is one cryptid I think has an excellent chance of being documented soon.
Sometime during the 1980s, the Chicago Tribune featured a lengthy, dramatic article about an Amazonian village reportedly terrorized by a giant snake. I distinctly remember the article describing how it was so large it left a path through the jungle the size of a school bus. I’ve since been unable to find that article, or any reference to the incident itself. If anyone knows about the incident I’m thinking of, or where I could find more info about it, I’d greatly appreciate it.
The event you refer to happened at the upper end of the Amazon River in Peru. Later, on site research clearly showed that all the phenomena reported were geologically caused. And that the eyewitness testimony was greatly distorted by the regional press.
Love to see ANY kind of proof from Christian Dedets claim that… “There is not too long ago, a small zoo in Zaire, where I was shown a 19-meter specimen.” That’s 62 feet long!
As noted, book is fiction.
Thanks much, Corrick. (Though I have to wonder: how exactly did the press distort eyewitness descriptions of a geological event into that of a giant snake?)
Selective memory, but I believe the events took place in the mid-90’s. As I recall, there were no firsthand local witnesses of a physical snake. There was a major storm, tremendous noise as trees fell into the river and the next morning locals found one or more gigantic “trails” about 1,000 feet long leading down to the rivers edge. They then “assumed” that some gigantic snake must have made it. I remember seeing photos. Can understand their error. Subsequently it was shown to be one or more collapsed natural tunnels exposed by the storm. Hope that helps.