Karadag snake. Karadag monster. Legends and secrets of the Black Sea. Karadag Nature Reserve That snake was found in Crimea

There are many mysterious phenomena and events on our earth, and one of them is Karadag monster. Photo and video Black Sea monster, who is also called Karadag snake, are given in the article below. You can believe in its existence or not, but myths and legends, fairy tales, are not born out of nowhere.

All of them were created by the people based on what people once managed to see. Of course, people’s imagination added something to what they saw, and sometimes distorted it, but it’s still not worth denying the presence of animals, including dragons.

The Karadag monster loves to swim near this rock

And now, from time to time, some lucky people manage to see inexplicable phenomena or animals that would seem to have become extinct long ago. But we must not forget that our planet is still little explored and scientists every year discover previously unseen plants and animals, especially in remote corners of the Earth.

The most mysterious places on earth are under water, in oceans and seas. Not a single scientist can answer how many secrets the water depths hold, how many underground seas and rivers exist on Earth and what animals can live in them.

So it is with the Karadag monster, it is not yet known for sure whether it exists or not, but according to people, it really exists. Where did this dragon come from and why does it live in the Black Sea, and since when? All these questions have yet to be answered.

History of the Karadag monster

The history of the Karadag monster goes back many centuries. In general, about the fact that a real Serpent lives in the sea
Gorynych, it has been known for a long time; even ancient people created a legend about him. The ancient Greeks knew about the Black Sea, which was called Pont Euxine a long time ago. And one of them, Herodotus, even in those days wrote that a terrible, terrible monster lives in this sea, it’s almost terrifying! According to his description, this snake was long with a large body and tail, an eerie, toothy mouth that could easily bite not only a person, but also chew blood or a horse. This monster also had a ridge running down its back, and its strong paws with claws could grab the victim and hold it until scary beast had lunch. Burning red eyes frightened and forced ancient travelers to avoid the Black Sea.

The Karadag monster is 10 times scarier than this monster

But the sailors were not always able to get to the place they needed; sometimes they had to sail through the Black Sea and they often saw the thirty-meter body of a monster, which, when moving, raised strong waves comparable to a storm. If we talk about its length, it is the height of a 10-story building!

And what was even more frightening for the sailors was the fact that the snake was moving at great speed and no matter where they were in the sea, it could always catch up with them. The wave from its movement was so high that there was a storm in the sea right there. The monster moved along the surface of the sea, which made it possible to see it well and talk about it, of course, if after meeting it you managed to stay alive.

Not only the ancient Greeks, but also Turkish sailors saw the monster. They wrote in their reports about
travel to the Turkish Sultan and they told him about a terrible snake that destroyed ships. Their words
was confirmed by Russian navigators, and everyone wrote about the terrible Karadag monster as a huge monster, terrifying at the sailors, who were frozen with fear of him and could not even move, how terrible he was.

But they were not the only witnesses who managed to see the snake. So one of the Evpatoria
police officers reported to the tsarist Russian chancellery about the existence of a terrible toothed snake with red
eyes, which ate all living things that he managed to meet on the coast. And this was during the time
Emperor Nicholas I, who was very fond of all kinds of secrets, amazing phenomena, of which there were plenty on Russian soil.

Expedition to Crimea in search of the Karadag serpent

As soon as the story from the shores of the Black Sea arrived at the office, the tsar ordered to organize an expedition to Crimea to study the terrible Karadag snake and sent it there so that people would know whether it was true or just fiction.

It is also interesting that the snake lived near Karadag, which is why it was customary to call it that - the Karadag monster. Karadag means Black Mountain in Turkish. The expedition arrived in the area, pitched their tents and began searching. Scientists literally combed the area, and soon they were fabulously lucky, they found baby monster egg, weighing 20 kg, while nearby there were also fragments of the skeleton of the monster itself - part of the tail. But at this point the search was stopped, and only certain people who saw the living monster and happily avoided direct contact with it wrote to the king about it, telling in horror how big and terrible it was.

However, the monster itself was soon frightened, and most likely tried to hide, or even leave the Black Sea, because ships appeared in its waters - steamships, cruisers and battleships. This happened before the start of the First World War in 1914.

Surprisingly, as soon as the war began, the monster appeared again in the waters of the Black Sea, as if it wanted as many people as possible to know about it, and maybe it started good time, because how many people died during hostilities in the depths of the sea, for him it was a real feast.

During the war, the Germans also started talking about the Karadag monster. So one of the submarine captains
times, standing one moonlit night on board his submarine, which had risen to the surface of the sea, I saw not far away a strange and very large creature that very quietly swam nearby and moved away. And this happened in the Crimea region, during the lull between battles, perhaps the monster decided to feast on the corpses of the dead soldiers at the moment of calm! There was definitely plenty of food for him at that time!

The captain was very frightened and immediately sent a report to the command, although he did not tell his subordinates anything so that there would be no panic on the ship. The only thing he did was give the command to his subordinates to urgently dive in order to avoid meeting him.

Other stories from writers about the monster from Karadag

The evidence of the encounter with the monster does not end there. Maximilian Voloshin, a Russian poet who visited this region of Crimea in 1921, also talks about his meeting with him in his notes. He writes that a lot of Red Army soldiers were sent to search for the snake, but they never managed to catch the monster. This was published in a local newspaper, which was immediately sent to the great writer Mikhail Bulgakov, who wrote the story “Fatal Eggs” based on the information received.

There was another Russian writer who observed the terrible creature - Vsevolod Ivanov. One day he watched dolphins peacefully having fun in the bay. Suddenly he saw on the surface of the sea some strange ball, similar either to sea mud, or to a suddenly formed island covered with vegetation. The diameter of this ball was approximately 10-12 meters, and it rested peacefully on the waves, but suddenly it moved and began to unwind. And when it unwinded, the writer saw a disgusting, terrible animal that resembled a snake, which began its movement towards the dolphins.

The length of the Karadag monster is about 30 meters

But dolphins are very unusual creatures. They sensed something was wrong and instantly disappeared from the snake’s field of vision. While the monster was approaching the dolphins, the writer managed to see that his stomach light color, while the back is brownish-brown, and it swims just like simple snakes. It was the coloring that misled the writer, which is why he mistook the snake for a ball of algae. And the old serpent of Karadag, meanwhile, seeing that he could not catch up with the dolphins, curled up into a ball again and, in order not to waste his strength in vain, decided to swim with the flow. Having reached its former habitat, the monster spun around again and, unexpectedly for the writer, raised its head out of the water. Either the writer was far away, or he just didn’t quite have the good vision, or maybe the monster quickly dived, but the writer only managed to notice that the head of this creature resembles a snake’s in shape, but he did not notice the eyes. Perhaps the eyes were simply very small.

Having examined the space surrounding it, the snake quickly retreated into the gorge; apparently there were no more objects for its dinner.

Such phenomena were constantly observed by residents of the coastal zone, and from time to time their stories ended up in
magazines and newspapers.

How the Karadag monster killed dolphins

Just twenty years ago, the story about the monster reappeared in the press, and he wrote about the Karadag monster
director of the reserve P. Semenkov. He talked about how the fishermen saw the snake. Early in the morning, the fishermen decided to collect the nets that they had installed the day before, they got into their boats and went to the location of the nets. They swam and began to pull out the nets, but there were still no fish; they only managed to pull out torn nets. They found the truth in these networks dead dolphin, whose stomach was bitten off. At the same time, the fishermen assumed that it was the snake that killed the dolphin, because the dolphin lost its stomach with one bite.

There are simply no other animals that have such a large mouth in the Black Sea! On the surface of the wound in the stomach, the fishermen saw traces of large teeth, the distance between which was about 2 cm. And there were 16 such teeth. The fishermen were very scared when they saw the dead dolphin, recently killed, because blood was still pouring from its body. The fishermen panicked and quickly cut the rope of their nets and quickly swam away from the scene of this incident.

A year later, fishermen again found a dead dolphin in the waters of the sea with exactly the same bites. Moreover, they found this dolphin in almost the same place, and Turkish sailors also found bitten dolphins in this area, and again traces of large teeth were visible on their remains.

Turkish fishermen brought one of these finds to their homeland and took it to Istanbul University. It was carefully examined by scientists and confirmed that no known animal could have left such marks on the belly of the poor dead dolphin, or rather, what was left of it.

A year later, V. Belgian, a resident of Feodosia, had to meet the monster. On August 12, he left home and went to the sea to swim. He plunged into the warm sea, swam some distance and emerged. It's good that he was healthy person, because not everyone could withstand it and not die from fear. As soon as he surfaced, he saw a terrible big head snakes! Fear gave the swimmer strength, and he quickly swam to the shore. When he came out, he rather hid and watched the animal from behind the stones. A couple of minutes later, he saw the head of the snake appear in the place where he had previously been. He managed to make out the monster's head, which was not only large, but also had a large crest that ran down its back. Half dead from fear, he ran home.

Another journalist managed to meet the monster in the late 90s of the last century. He talked about how the workers of the underwater laboratory, submerged in the sea, saw a monster in the porthole. It looked at people, people looked at it, numb with fear. And when the submarine workers came to their senses and decided to photograph the snake-like animal, it turned around and quickly moved away, so there were no unique photographs.

Among coastal residents, in places where this unknown animal is most often found (Ayu-Dag, New World,
Koktebel), there is even his tooth. This evidence of the existence of an animal has been studied more than once by scientists,
each of which confirmed that this tooth does not belong to any known animal.
There is a lot of evidence that the Karadag monster really exists, but there are people who, despite this, do not believe what eyewitnesses say.

So there are scientists, oceanologists who put forward their arguments, among which the most important is the age of the Black Sea, which is no more than 7,000 years. But the Black Sea has special water filled with hydrogen sulfide, and scientists do not know for certain what can live in such an environment. In addition, the bottom of the sea has not been explored, which means that there may be underground reservoirs, lakes and rivers, where other animals may well live. It is possible that they, these prehistoric monsters, live there and even
move to other seas and oceans through underground reservoirs and their currents.

The hydrogen sulfide environment of the Black Sea is also important, because completely unknown life can arise in its waters.
It has not yet been possible to confirm the correctness of eyewitnesses of the monster, but perhaps some people who are burning
desire to see and take reliable photographs of this snake, they will be able to meet it. Each sea is full of secrets that are yet to be discovered!

Video about the Karadag monster

People managed to film a unique video about the Karadag monster from above, from the mountain. Looks like Black Sea
the dragon really exists. Next year I will go to Crimea in the summer especially because of the Karadag monster,
I’ll ask a friend for a video camera with a powerful telephoto lens - maybe I’ll get lucky and my video footage will turn out to be
better quality!

The Black Sea is home to about 180 species of fish: beluga, sturgeon, herring, sprat, horse mackerel, mackerel, flounder, tuna and others.

Over the past 80 years, whales have entered the sea twice. Three species of dolphins live permanently: the porpoise (Azov), the bottlenose dolphin and the white-sided dolphin. These animals are real old-timers of the sea.

There are two species of sharks in the Black Sea - the katran, or spiny shark, also called the sea dog; and small spotted shark scyllium, also known as cat shark.

White sharks (Latin Carcharodon carcharias, or man-eating shark) also swim here, but this happens rarely.

The Katran can reach 2 meters, and the catshark more than a meter never grows up. Both sharks behave in relation to their prey like real predators, and sometimes even a gaping vacationer gets a handout.

They eat everything that moves, even if they are already full.

Recently, a legend has been heard again regarding the appearance of a giant monster off the coast of Crimea (also called the Kandahar monster Blackie). There were even eyewitnesses who described this creature something like this - it is black, with a small head, but huge paws, without hair, with bluish scales and red eyes, in its gaping mouth there are several rows of sharp teeth, like a shark, it makes guttural sounds similar to elephant screams...

The sea lizard was allegedly seen off the coast of Feodosia, near Sudak, and Alupka.

Scientists are extremely skeptical about these stories - if the sea is only 7 thousand years old, then where could the eggs of ancient lizards appear on its bottom?

And if they were brought here by a water flow from the Mediterranean, then these creatures would not be able to survive here.

“New small representatives of fauna periodically appear in the sea, but all the large ones have already been studied by scientists. And believe me, the described creature does not resemble any other inhabitant of the marine fauna that has been studied. It is unlikely, rather even incredible, that it can exist in reality,” comments Oksana Kritskaya, associate professor of the Department of Marine Geology at Kuban University.

But the fishermen's story about the event that happened on December 7, 1990 makes us wonder if scientists are hiding the terrible truth from us?

“A team of fishermen from the Karadag branch of the Institute of Young Fishermen of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine went to sea to check the nets. The network is a canvas 2.5 m wide and 200 meters long with a cell size of 200 mm. It was installed at a depth of 50 meters with coordinates at a distance of 3 miles in the direction southeast of Lyagushachya Bay and 7 miles south of the village of Ordzhonikidze.

They arrived at the scene at about 12 noon and began reassembling the network from the southern end. After 150 meters, the net appeared to be broken, and the fishermen decided that when setting it, they had thrown their net on top of someone else’s, and the owner of the lower net was forced to cut off the upper one in order to check his own.

They came in from the other end of the network and continued checking. When we went to the ragged edge, we pulled a dolphin to the surface - a Black Sea bottlenose dolphin about 2.5 meters in size, whose tail was entangled in a net. After retrieving the dolphin, the fishermen discovered that the dolphin's belly had been bitten out in one bite. The width of the bite along an arc is about 1 meter.

Along the edge of the arc, teeth marks were clearly visible on the dolphin's skin. The size of the tooth mark is about 40 mm. The distance between the teeth marks is about 15-20 mm. In total there were about 16 tooth marks along the arc. The dolphin's belly was bitten out along with its ribs, so that the spine was clearly visible. In the area of ​​the head dangled the remains of the lungs, from which blood flowed as we rose. The marks of teeth were clearly visible on the sides of the frames, and were located symmetrically.

The dolphin's head was severely deformed, evenly compressed on all sides, as if they were trying to drag it through a narrow hole. No eyes were visible, and the deformed part had a whitish color, reminiscent of the color of a fish taken from the stomach of another fish.

The examination of the dolphin lasted no more than three minutes. The sight of the dolphin and the flowing blood caused severe panic among the fishermen. One of them cut the net, the dolphin fell into the sea, and the fishermen full speed left the area and went home."

Dolphin bite mark unknown creature(According to P.G. Semenkov. Geological journal No. 1, 1994):

In the spring of 1991, fishermen found a second dolphin with similar teeth marks on its body. It was an Azovka 1.5 meters in size.
They pulled him out of the network, which was installed in approximately the same place as on December 7, 1990.

This time the net was not torn, and almost the entire dolphin was very entangled in the net, wrapped like a doll, so that only one head was sticking out. The marks of three teeth were clearly visible on the dolphin's head. In appearance, they were exactly like the teeth marks on the body of a bottlenose dolphin.

Do you believe in sea ​​monster at the Black Sea?
Is it true that this is a giant mutated white shark?

The Crimean Peninsula is a place with many mysteries and legends associated with it. The hero of one of the legends was a monster named the Karadag Serpent. If you believe rumors and research by enthusiasts, a fantastic monster lives in the Black Sea, near an extinct Karadag volcano. This may seem like fiction, but references to a formidable creature in ancient chronicles are too common. Moreover, even now there are eyewitnesses who claim to have seen him in person.

The history of the legend of the Karadag snake

The unusual reptile has terrified people for many centuries. Thus, even Herodotus in his writings spoke about a monster living in the waters of the Pontus Euxine (as the Black Sea was previously called). According to the descriptions of the “father of history”, the Karadag serpent is a black creature with a huge mouth, tail, claws and a horse’s head with a crest on it.

According to legend, the animal swims along with a stormy sea wave. It moves very quickly and can catch up with any ship. The appearance of the creature becomes fatal for sea vessels: the monster is able to devour them along with the passengers. The gaze of the serpent numbs people, and it is impossible to escape from it. Black Sea dolphins are also often attacked.

Ottoman sailors also mentioned meeting the monster more than once. In their reports to the Sultan, they wrote about a dragon living in one of the Black Sea caves. Over time, the Karadag serpent became so famous that the coat of arms of the Bakhchisarai Khan was decorated with its image. They say this was done to intimidate enemies.

In Russia, they first became interested in the monster under Nicholas I. In 1828, the police officer of Yevpatoria reported to the sovereign that a huge sea snake lived in the district. The inquisitive emperor equipped an expedition and sent it to the Crimea to capture uninvited guest. Since the main information came from the vicinity of the Karadag volcano, it was decided to look for a natural miracle here.

But the sea did not reveal its secret to scientists. But they managed to find the remains of a huge reptile’s tail and an egg that weighed 12 kg. Inside the egg was an embryo with a crest, reminiscent of a dragon from fairy tales.

The story continued at the beginning of the 20th century. This time an eyewitness to the appearance sea ​​beast became the wife of Maximilian Voloshin, who shared her impressions with journalists. The writer’s friends became interested in the news, and Mikhail Bulgakov even wrote the story “Fatal Eggs” about deadly snakes.

Material evidence of the existence of the Karadag snake

Of course, stories about the snake can be considered a figment of the imagination of local residents and guests of the peninsula. But encounters with the monster are mentioned by educated and pragmatic people, not prone to fiction and all kinds of hoaxes. Among them are military personnel, officials, and geologists.

In addition, there is material evidence of the existence of the monster. Thus, in the house of Crimean Alexander Paraskevidi there is huge size tooth. This red object, about 6 cm long, was found on the beach near the village of Stary Mayak. Ichthyologist from Turkey Arif Harim, who examined the find, admitted that science does not know the animal to which the tooth belonged.

Another evidence is the remains of dolphins bitten in half, which are periodically found by fishermen. It's hard to imagine an animal that could attack quite large mammals. Istanbul ichthyologists also deny the fact that the dolphins could have died from damage from ship propellers. But a huge monster can cause terrible injuries.

Shocking encounters with the Karadag monster

WITH unusual phenomenon Both local residents and vacationers had to face this. City Council employee V.M. Belsky saw a formidable creature on August 12, 1992, while swimming in the sea. Having emerged, the man discovered a huge snake head ten meters away from him.

Horror gave the official strength: he rushed to the shore, ran out of the water and hid between the stones. From the shelter, Belsky managed to get a better look at the monster. The body of the monster, which was slowly shaking itself off from the water, was covered with gray horny plates, and its small eyes scanned the shore in search of a victim.

One of the vacationers, Vladimir Ternovsky, even managed to ride on the back of a kite. When a tourist was windsurfing, someone from below suddenly threw him off his board. The man found himself in the water, but, to his amazement, he felt solid ground under his feet. Living being which was moving quickly. Fortunately, the man was able to overcome his fear, jump off and quickly reach the shore.

What do scientists think about the Karadag snake?

Despite the fact that many scientists are skeptical about the myth of the sea dragon, a variety of versions have been put forward. Thus, cryptozoologists are confident that several species of prehistoric animals still live on the planet. The Karadag monster supposedly belongs to one of them.

True, oceanologists and biologists object to them. Experts argue that the Black Sea is only seven thousand years old. Therefore, the possibility of an ancient lizard appearing in it is a big question.

Elena Sovga, an employee of the Marine Hydrophysical Institute and a candidate of geological and mineralogical sciences, expressed her opinion on this matter. According to the professor, until recently scientists were confident that seabed Newly discovered organisms cannot be found.

But hydrogen sulfide, of which there is a lot in the Black Sea region - the environment is mysterious and little studied, and its life potential is inexhaustible. In this regard, it is possible that as a result of mutations that have occurred in sea ​​water unknown life forms arose.

Of course, the story of the Karadag snake is still considered only a legend. But do not underestimate the numerous facts confirming the existence of the monster. To clarify the situation and put forward official version, expeditions need to be carried out. Since such events require large financial investments, it is not yet possible to raise funds for them. And yet, over time, people will learn the truth, because life sometimes brings real surprises.

Karadag monster. Legends and eyewitness accounts

Do we know everything about biological mysteries Black Sea? It turns out not. In its gentle coastal waters and magnificent wild beaches, a person cannot thoughtlessly rely on his seemingly obvious safety. Over the years I have collected legends about mysterious monster, which, as it turned out, is far from a mythical character, but a real living creature that our contemporaries accidentally met.

December 7, 1990, a team of fishermen from the Karadag branch of the Institute of Biology south seas The Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, consisting of A. Tsabanov, I. Nuykin, M. Sych and N. Gerasimov, went to sea to inspect the nets set for catching Black Sea stingrays. The net, which is a canvas 2.5 m wide and 200 m long with a mesh size of 200 mm, was installed at a depth of 50 meters with coordinates at a distance of 3 miles southeast of Lyagushachya Bay and 7 miles south of the village. The fishermen arrived at the site around 12 noon and began re-assembling the net from the southern end. After 150 meters the network was broken. Deciding that when setting, they threw their net on top of someone else’s and the owner of the lower net was forced to cut off the upper one in order to check his own, the fishermen entered from the other end of the net and continued checking. When they approached the ragged edge, they pulled to the surface a dolphin - a Black Sea bottlenose dolphin - 2.3 m long, whose tail was entangled in a net. Upon closer inspection, the fishermen discovered that the dolphin's belly had been bitten out in one bite, along with its ribs, so that the spine was clearly visible. In the head area dangled the remains of lungs, from which blood was dripping. The width of the bite in an arc was about 1 meter. Along the edge of the arc, teeth marks were clearly visible on the dolphin’s skin. The size of the tooth mark is about 40 millimeters. The distance between teeth marks is 15-20 mm. In total, marks from no less than 16 teeth were visible along the bite arc. The dolphin's head was severely deformed and evenly compressed on all sides, as if they were trying to drag it through some narrow hole. The eyes were not visible, and the deformed head had a whitish color, reminiscent of the color of the body of a fish pulled out... from the stomach of another fish. The examination of the dolphin lasted no more than three minutes - its disfigured appearance and flowing blood caused severe panic among the fishermen. One of them cut the net, the dolphin fell into the sea, and the fishermen left the area at full speed for the base. On the shore, immediately upon returning from the sea, the fishermen were asked in detail about everything that had happened by Pyotr Grigorievich Semenkov, the director of the Karadag Nature Reserve, an enthusiast, in love with Crimea and making great efforts to preserve natural resources peninsula. Based on the stories of the fishermen, the artist made a sketch of the dolphin they saw.

In the spring of 1991, fishermen brought back a second dolphin with a similar bite and teeth marks on its body. It was an Azovka 1.5 m long, which was pulled out of a net installed in approximately the same place as on December 7, 1990. This time the net was not torn, and the dolphin was almost completely entangled in it, like a doll; so that one head was peeking out. On the dolphin's head there were clearly visible marks of three teeth, which in appearance were exactly similar to the marks of teeth on the body Black Sea bottlenose dolphin. The brought dolphin was placed in a refrigeration chamber and YugNIRO employees were invited to examine it. These were experts in marks found on the body marine mammals, caught in the ocean fishery, located at that time in Kerch and Odessa. However, neither in May, nor in June, nor in July did anyone come to the Karadag branch of InYuM, and at the end of August an accident occurred, and everything that was in the refrigeration chamber, including the dolphin, disappeared...

Most of the researchers at the Karadag branch, primarily zoologists, unanimously rejected the hypothesis that the cause of the death of dolphins and the source of the marks on their bodies was any living creature. The reason for their death was seen in the fact that the animals most likely encountered some kind of technical device- the propeller of a ship or even... a torpedo. Some of the employees still admitted that the cause of the death of the dolphins could have been another living creature, but none of the inhabitants of the Black Sea known to science could have the honor of being among the “candidates for the role of killer.” Moreover, even famous inhabitants world ocean, if they were guests of the Black Sea, they would not be able to leave such marks on the bodies of dolphins!

Now is the time to remember the legendary monster that supposedly lives in the Black Sea. Mentions of him are found in Crimean legends. One of them - "Chershamba" - tells about a snake place near the village of Otuzy (modern village of Shchebetovka) on the Otuzka River, where reeds grow - Yulnachik (translated from the Crimean Tatar "yulanchik" literally means "snake's nest"). “Here... in the reeds lived a snake, which, curled up, seemed like a shock of hay, and when it walked through the field, it became ten tribes or more. True, the Janissaries killed it. Akmaliz Khan discharged them from Istanbul. But the cubs remained from it... “Apparently, this snake was an unusual creature for the Crimea, since the Janissaries had to be called from afar to destroy it.

IN Orthodox Church Icons depicting the plot of the “Miracle of the Serpent” are widely known. The most famous image is of St. George the Victorious. Church tradition says that George was a noble young man from Cappodocia. A warrior who believed in Christ appeared near a pagan city, near which there was a swamp. It was in it that the man-eating snake, killed by George, lived. The legend “The Miracle of George about the Serpent” was created among Eastern monasticism and dates back to the oral tradition of the 5th-6th centuries. The author of a major study of the legend of St. George and the snake, A.V. Rystenko, claims that the legend is based on real fact. And only later did these real images acquire an allegorical meaning. Here one involuntarily comes to mind ancient greek legend about Laocoön and his sons, whose death served as the starting point for the death of Troy. The terrible sea serpentine monster is mentioned in the works of Aristotle, Euripides, Pliny, and Seneca. On one of the walls of the ancient Assyrian palace in Nineveh is depicted sea ​​serpent, met by King Sargon II near the island of Cyprus. According to Procopius of Caesarea, the court historian of the Byzantine emperor Justinian VI, who lived in the 6th century, near Constantinople “... that sea monster was caught... which the Byzantines called Porphyry. This monster tormented Byzantium and the surrounding areas for more than 50 years; True, it did this with sometimes long interruptions... Emperor Justinian was very concerned about catching this monster, but he could not do it.” In his message, Procopius describes in detail how he managed to catch this snake: “... the sea was completely calm and smooth, a very large school of dolphins swam at the mouth of the Euxine Pontus. Suddenly, seeing the monster, they scattered in all directions... Having captured some of them , the monster immediately swallowed them. But then... it continued to pursue them until it unnoticedly swam close to the shore. Finding itself here in deep mud, it began to fight... in order to get away from here as quickly as possible, but could not get away from the shallows. .. When the rumor about this spread throughout the entire neighborhood, everyone rushed here and, continuously hitting him with all kinds of axes, not only killed him, but also pulled him to the shore with strong ropes. Having laid him on the carts, they found that it was about cubits long thirty, ten wide..." “With the death of the sea monster, liberation from many disasters resulted,” Procopius of Caesarea concludes his story. “Some say that the monster that was caught was not the one I mentioned, but different.”

So, again an unknown creature, the object of which is dolphins, and again in the Black Sea. Saint Theodore Stratelates killed a serpent near the city of Heraclea Pontus (modern Eregli). A.V. Rystenko in his research reports that in Western Ossetia there is a known place where a fight between a hero from the Ossetian Katemurov family and a monstrous snake took place. V.H. Kondaraki in his work “Universal Description of Crimea” reported no less interesting fact: in 1828, the Evpatoria police officer filed a report in which he wrote about the appearance in the district of a huge snake with a hare’s head and the semblance of a mane, attacking sheep and sucking their blood. Two snakes were killed by local Tatars, who believed that the snakes had sailed from hot countries. Mentions of a meeting with an unknown serpentine creature in the Crimea are also found in later times. S. Slavich in his story "In Search of Cimmeria", published in the magazine " New world" in 10 for 1969, according to eyewitnesses, he reports a meeting with a huge snake at Cape Kazantip (Kerch Peninsula): "... A one-armed shepherd noticed something shiny under a thorn bush, similar to a ram’s skull polished by rain and winds, and just So, having nothing else to do, I hit this skull with a cherlya. And suddenly the incredible happened - there was a seemingly silent explosion: a thorn bush torn out by its roots took off, a cloud of dust shot up. Pieces of hardened earth flew in all directions. The shepherd became numb and numb, no longer understanding where he was and what was happening to him. He saw only this cloud of dust, and in it his seemingly enraged shepherd dogs and something huge, writhing with monstrous strength and speed. When the shepherd came to his senses, one dog was killed, and the two survivors were frantically tearing at the still convulsing body of some huge reptile. What appeared to the one-armed man to be a ram's skull was the head of a huge snake. Soon after, the shepherd is said to have died. This happened before the war." M. Bykova in her book "Legend for Adults. Reflections on the hidden living thing" mentions the story of Maria Stepanovna Voloshina that "in 1921, a note was published in the local Feodosia newspaper, which said that a “huge reptile” had appeared in the area of ​​Mount Karadag and a company of Red Army soldiers was sent to catch it.” The newspapers did not report how this enterprise ended.

M. Voloshin sent a clipping about the “reptile” to M. Bulgakov, and it formed the basis of the story “Fatal Eggs.” Gad was allegedly seen in the village of Koktebel. In the same book, referring to Natalia Lesina, M. Bykova gives a description of another meeting with a huge snake on Karadag. The story happened in September 1952 with Varvara Kuzminichnaya Zozulya at Cape Boy. In a quiet heated place near the said cape, she was collecting brushwood and mistook the monster for a pile of brushwood, almost stepping on it. According to the stunned woman's description, the animal had a small head, thin neck, and the back is thick, like a pillar. When she, barely alive from fright, began to wave the rope, the animal began to unwind like a ball. The lower and upper limbs were visible, and it... squeaked. “As long as I’ve been living, I haven’t seen anything like this,” the woman summed up. Another eyewitness, geologist Promov, saw huge snake on Karadag near the Lagorio wall.

Around the same years, Vsevolod Ivanov observed the “most fantastic of the most fantastic” snake. Here is an excerpt from his story: “The spring of 1952 in Koktebel was cold and rainy... On May 14, after prolonged cold weather, windless warm weather set in... I walked... past the Devil’s finger, along the Gyaur-Bakh gorge, and then, not to waste a lot of time on the difficult descent to the seashore into Carnelian Bay on a rock, near a tree... I tied a rope and went down. Near the shore, among small stones overgrown with algae, a mullet was playing. Further away, 100 meters from the shore, dolphins were swimming , moving in a flock along the bay to the left... I turned my eyes to the right and just in the middle of the bay, about 50 meters from the shore, I noticed a large, 10-12 meters in circumference, stone overgrown with brown algae... It was meters from me to this stone 200. I... noticed that the stone... was deviating to the right. This means that it was not a stone, but a large bunch of algae... While smoking my pipe, I began to observe a ball of algae... which began to lose their round shape. The ball lengthened . In the middle of it, breaks appeared. And then... Then I trembled all over, rose to my feet and sat down, as if afraid that I might scare “it” if I stood on my feet... The “tangle” unfolded. Turned around. Stretched out. I was still counting and not counting "it" as seaweed until "it" moved upstream. This creature swam with wave-like movements to the place where the dolphins were, i.e. to the left side of the bay... It was big. It is very large, 25-30 meters, and as thick as a desk top if you turn it sideways. It was under water for half a meter or a meter and, it seems to me, it was flat... The monster, wriggling, just like swimming snakes, did not quickly swim towards the dolphins. They immediately fled. This happened on May 14, 1952>. Dolphins and a mysterious snake again!

On an autumn evening in 1967, Lyudmila Szegeda, walking along the Armatluk Valley, stepped over a log. Hearing a splash behind her, she turned around and saw a huge snake, as thick as a log, crawling from one body of water to another. The log she had stepped over was not there.

Correspondent of the Sudaksky Vestnik newspaper Alexander Nikolaevich Ovchinnikov saw a snake-like creature several years ago from a 20-meter height of Cape Frantsuzhenka. The dolphins scattered to escape from this snake. According to the story of Alexander Nikolaevich, in the 30s, a Tatar fisherman from the village of Kuchuk-Lambat (now the village of Maly Mayak) encountered a snake in Stone Chaos. The fishermen who arrived in time saved him, but the poor man was paralyzed and died a month later. “Dog's head,” he managed to say before his death. This story was told to A.N. Ovchinnikov by the son of the deceased fisherman.

Another eyewitness, Vladimir Mikhailovich Volsky, a senior employee of the executive committee of the Feodosia City Council, on August 12, 1992, at approximately 15-16 pm, was swimming in a cove on the eastern shore of Cape Knik-Atlama, 1-2 kilometers from its tip. Being a good swimmer, he easily swam 40 meters from the shore. The depth of the water reached 4 meters. Having emerged, he looked around and... to his horror, about 30 meters from himself, he saw a huge, up to half a meter, head of a snake on a thin neck, about 30 centimeters thick. The snake dived towards the swimmer. Without thinking for a second, Vladimir Mikhailovich rushed to the side and along the ridge of stones facing the sea, jumped out onto the shore and hid behind the stones. A moment later, a monster’s head appeared at the place where he was in the water. Vladimir Mikhailovich was able to see him clearly, he even saw the skin and gray horny plates on his head and neck. General feeling eyewitness - creepy. According to V.M. Volsky, a year before his meeting with the monster, a strong young man, a military man, a master of sports in swimming, who always swam here, died of a heart attack in this area of ​​the sea.

V.M. Kostyukov, who worked as a fishery inspector for more than 30 years, reported that one of the shepherds saw in the Chauda area near Cape Salar a snake-like creature with a large head and a body resembling a pillar. The dolphins disappeared in panic when the snake, wriggling, began to approach them. It would not be amiss to add that legends about the sea serpent are widespread among fishermen Eastern Crimea.

So, these days, many have seen a “huge monster”, a snake, in the sea or coastal area. This creature was known before; mentions of it go back to ancient times. According to N. Lesina’s observations in Koktebel, eyewitnesses saw two types of monsters - with limbs and snake-like ones. Noteworthy is the narrowing of the creature’s habitat: if in the 19th century it was seen in the area from Cape Tarkhankut to Karadag and, obviously, to the east, then before the beginning of the Great Patriotic War the monster was observed near Kuchuk-Lambat, near Ayu-Dag, at Cape Kazantip in the Sea of ​​Azov. At the end of the twentieth century, more or less reliable evidence points to one area - Karadag. There are a lot of collected facts that are difficult to explain. The degree of reliability varies (much can be imagined by a frightened person). However, many of the stories are quite reliable. Nowadays, when it would seem that all the inhabitants of the world's oceans have been studied, we encounter unexpected sensations. Thus, from the stomach of a sperm whale killed near the Pacific coast of North America, the remains of some large three-meter animal, which some zoologists called “cadborosaurus,” were extracted. According to Edward Buswill, a researcher at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, “Cadborosaurus is a mysterious sea animal” with which Aboriginal people have been familiar for many centuries. Descriptions of the Cadborosaurus are generally similar to the mysterious Crimean creature: an animal with long neck, short pointed front fins, dog-like head. It is often described as having a mane along its neck. Some witnesses paint a more snake-like appearance of a creature with a narrow long body up to 7 m, which meanders above the surface of the water. This is similar to the description of the animal by N. Lesina - a giant snake with small limbs, with a “hare”, “dog” head and mane. The magazine "Around the World" paid attention to this information. However...

However, serious zoological experts believe that it is premature to draw any conclusions before capturing a living specimen of Cadborosaurus. P.G. Semenkov is also right, obviously, when he considers it necessary to conduct a special expedition near Karadag. The author of this article shares this opinion and believes that it is necessary to Scientific research to verify the reality of the existence of the Karadg monster. The most unexpected errors are possible. The Crimean peninsula and the adjacent maritime space have been studied too well. Too many people live on its shores for them to encounter a large creature so rarely. And yet... The fact of the death of two dolphins was actually recorded, and the marks on the body of these animals correspond to the idea of ​​​​the size and habits of this creature. Maybe the time has come when scientists will cast aside skepticism and snobbery and, with an open mind, at least begin to analyze the facts already collected? Or maybe the time will come when they themselves will actively seek out new facts about the Crimean monster?

Igor Moskuri, "Crimean Time"

Hello friends.

Many of us know that the world is full of secrets and mysteries. Let us recall, for example, the famous Nessie, who has been seen more than once in Loch Ness, or the giant octopuses of which are occasionally raised from the depths by fishing boats. Every year there are more and more such messages.

Whether to believe in their existence or not, everyone decides for themselves. Today I want to talk about a mysterious animal that supposedly lives in the Black Sea at the foot of an ancient volcano.

Someone calls him Karadag snake, some consider it an extinct reptile that has somehow survived to this day, others consider it the spirit of Mount Karadag.

The locals even gave him a name - Blackie.

But first things first.

First mentions of strange creature, living in the Black Sea, appeared a very long time ago. The ancient Greeks composed legends about him that have survived to this day. The scholar Herodotus described it as giant snake with black scales, a horse's head, long tail and a ridge on the back.

According to ancient legends, when the creature surfaced, it foamed the water, raising big waves capable of sinking small boat. The look of the terrible red eyes made the sailors freeze with horror and discouraged any desire to approach the terrible place.

This was also confirmed by Turkish sailors. In their reports to the Sultan they talked about scary monster, sinking ships and devouring their crew alive.

Local residents also added fuel to the fire by frightening travelers with stories of snake attacks on coastal villages.

One of the ancient legends “Chershambe” tells about a snake place located near the current village of Shchebetovka (the old name is Otuz). According to legend, in a lowland overgrown with reeds lived big snake which (curled up in a ball) could be confused with a haystack, and if anyone met it crawling, then its length was ten knees or more (a knee is a measure of length equal to 40-50 cm).

To get rid of this scourge, the local khan specially ordered the Janissaries from Istanbul, who killed the snake, but it is no secret that offspring could remain from it.

Later mentions

In the 19th century, the Evpatoria police officer (authority representative) wrote in his report to Emperor Nicholas 1 about the appearance in the vicinity of a huge snake with a hare's head and a horse's mane, which attacked sheep and drank their blood.

These eyes are opposite...

By order of Nicholas, an expedition was sent to Crimea to capture this reptile. It was not possible to catch the snake itself, but an egg weighing 12 kilograms was found, and nearby the remains giant tail. The egg was cracked, revealing an embryo with clear signs of its “dragon” affiliation. There are rumors that the egg is still kept somewhere in the storerooms of the Kherson Museum of Nature.

At the beginning of the last century, a note appeared in a Feodosia newspaper that a huge snake had appeared in the area of ​​Mount Karadag, and a company of Red Army soldiers was sent to catch it. Arriving in Koktebel and exploring the surrounding area, the military found only a trace of a mighty body going into the sea.

In 1952, the writer Vsevolod Ivanov, walking in Carnelian Bay (Koktebel area), saw a ball of algae in the sea, which he did not notice at first special attention. However, after some time, I noticed that the ball began to unravel and lengthen on its own, and as a result, it swam towards a pod of dolphins that appeared nearby.

The length of the creature was about 30 meters and it moved like a snake, in a wave-like manner. The dolphins, sensing danger, scattered.

Cases of attacks by unknown creatures on dolphins in the Black Sea are quite common.

In 1990, a team of fishermen, near the village of Ordzhonikidze, went to sea to check their nets. While checking one of the nets, the fishermen discovered its break, at the end of which a dolphin, the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin, was dangling with its tail entangled.

The animal's stomach and ribs were bitten out in one piece, and the width of the bite was about a meter. The edge of the bite was framed by teeth marks up to 4 cm in size.

Frightened by what they saw, the fishermen cut the net, threw the remains of the dolphin into the water, and quickly left the place.

What does modernity say?

According to one of the windsurfers, who was engaged in his favorite sport a few kilometers from the shore, suddenly something threw his board, causing him to fall into the water. But what surprised him most of all was not this, but the fact that he fell on something large, hard and clearly alive.

Having come to his senses, he rushed to the shore at the speed of a bullet and, fortunately, “something” did not pursue him.

During one of the dives of the Bentos underwater laboratory, scientists noticed a blurry shadow across the submarine’s hull. Having looked more closely, they realized that something huge was swimming near the porthole, resembling a snake in appearance.

It was not possible to photograph it, either because of the stupor that arose, or because the creature, sensing something was wrong, quickly went into the depths.

No less interesting case occurred quite recently in 2004 and was described on her website by Tatyana Karatsuba Seid-Burkhan.

According to her, while relaxing on Karadag with their friends, they watched the love games of two sea snakes at once. Huge white bodies with black backs wriggled right at the foot of Karadag.

The observation lasted for several hours, and then... her words simply amazed me:

— Tired of looking, we retired to the cave!?

In my opinion, this is a strange statement! Can you get tired of looking at a creature that no one has seen before? Don't try to take a video or photo of it?

I would probably run to Koktebel just for this to get a camera.

Who are you, Blackie?

What kind of animal is this anyway?

Based on eyewitness descriptions, Blackie may or may not be major representative lizards that dominated the planet millions of years ago, or a snake that somehow grew to enormous sizes. Or maybe it’s actually two different types animals.

Lizard?

Could an ancient lizard of such size survive after the fall of a meteorite and the subsequent ice age, and exist for millions of years practically unnoticed?

If we assume that he lived in underwater caves near Karadag, where at that time it was probably warm from the close occurrence of magma, then it is possible.

It’s hard to say what he ate all this time, whether he could breathe on the surface or whether he had enough air from the caves, or whether he had gills at his disposal.

One thing can be said with certainty: in order to exist for so long, it needed to breed offspring, which means there must be at least two animals.

Snake?

If this is still a sea serpent, which appeared long after the meteorite fell, then how did it reach such a size? By far the largest known science The snake is the anaconda, but its size does not exceed 12 meters.

What did this snake eat to grow so big? Dolphins? Given their agility, this is not an easy prey.

Plankton? Fish? As is known, the Black Sea is a sea closed type, and due to the presence of a hydrogen sulfide zone, it is also practically lifeless at depths of more than 200 meters. There are clearly no such huge migrations of fish and plankton as in the oceans.

Or maybe gigantism is associated specifically with hydrogen sulfide? It is found in small quantities in the cells of our bodies and the bodies of animals and helps regulate life processes.

Well, just like in the first case, there must be at least two individuals of different sexes.

Where do you live?

During the period of active movement of the earth's layers, when the appearance of Southern Crimea, it is quite possible that voids could form under Karadag and in the nearby bottom layer. This area has been a nature reserve for a long time and is therefore poorly studied.

It is in these voids, and possibly entire networks of caves with huge galleries, that hitherto unknown life could well have survived modern science. It’s not for nothing that every year scientists discover new species of animals and plants.

Why do you meet so rarely?

Well, they don’t like people with their wild desire to tame an unknown animal.

But seriously, as mentioned above, the area has been poorly studied. There may be only a few animals, and due to mass fishing, they have serious problems with food.

There may be many options, and there is no clear answer to this question yet.

However, some environmental activists are trying to protect the marine reptile unknown to science and are appealing to the government to take measures to preserve the habitat of the Karadag snake.

It is not known for certain whether snakes actually exist or are they just a figment of fantasy, however, for example, the Scottish authorities still keep the question of Nessie’s existence open on the agenda, and are trying with all their might to keep its halo of habitat intact.

Interesting fact?)

About 20 years ago, residents of a remote Chinese village killed and ate a real sea dragon!

Having beaten him to death with stones, they, following the ancient grandma's recipes, began to cook a stew from it, grind the bones into powder to prepare healing potions, and sell the meat at the local market.

The dragon in China is a sacred and magical creature, and therefore the villagers decided to use it for its intended purpose.

When information about this reached civilization, scientists decided to reassure local population. We conducted an examination of the half-eaten leftovers and... almost went crazy!

The remains belonged to a plesiosaur!

This is how science lost living proof of the existence of dinosaurs in our time.

To believe what is told or not is a purely personal matter. I don’t claim to be the original source, so I ask you not to hit me too hard with sticks. It’s better to express your own opinion on this matter.

That's all I have for today.

Best regards, Sergey Drozdov.

P. S. If you have any questions after reading the article, do not hesitate to ask in the comments.

P. P. S. You can familiarize yourself with the topics that will be covered in the near future at.