In 1959, Colonel Remy Van Lierde of the Belgian Royal Air Force was on helicopter patrol. He had actually flown in over 400 objectives, his eyes trained to identify pal and enemy listed below. That skillset that would assist him with the occurring experience over the Katanga area of the Congo, for what he saw next stunned him and his copilot: A really enormous snake, approximated by his account to be over 50 feet in length.
This measurement would quickly have actually made it the biggest snake alive in the world, overshadowing today’s titans of the crawling world, like the green anaconda and the reticulated pythonGreen anacondas typical around 15 feet in length; reticulated pythons, on the other hand, have actually been understood to frequently extend beyond 20 feetaccording to the Natural History Museum in London.
Specialists are less persuaded. Is this Congo cryptid truly on the frontiers of science, or simply a wartime impression?
According to specialists, there’s no clinical proof that a 50-foot snake exists. Still, Van Lierde’s wild story– which continues to flow on podcasts and web online forums today– catches our cumulative fascination with the greatest snakes who ever lived.
What’s the Story Behind the 50-Foot Congo Snake?
According to Van Lierde’s claim, detailed throughout a 1980 interview with the British television program Strange World, the animal raised its powerful body almost 10 feet into the air as the helicopter stroked over for another close pass. In the interview, he was priced quote as stating “I felt if I got any more detailed, it would have struck at me. It might have quickly consumed a male.”
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Van Lierde approximated that the monster’s head was 2 feet broad; enough to easily make lunch out of existing snake heavyweights. The anaconda, the most large of all snakes, can have a mid-body size of over a foot in the biggest determined people.
Still, resident types of the Congo never ever approach the magnitude of the animal explained by Van Lierde. In Africa, the biggest recognized snake is the African rock python, growing to 20 feet long in the most extraordinary of casesa far cry from the (presumably) lofty lengths of the Congo titan.
Who Else Believed the 50-Foot Congo Snake Story?
To assist validate his own extravagant claims, Van Lierde and business took a single rough photo of the animal in concern.
Plainly, the image appears to illustrate what is seemingly a huge snake, looking huge in contrast to the close-by trees. Or are those bushes? Or yard? Are those dark spots on top left simply shadows– and even looming termite mounds, a typical sight in the Congo?
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The unclear photo thrilled some appraisers at the time. Ivan Sanderson, a biologist and cryptozoology lover, evaluated the file and pertained to a striking conclusion: the snake was not simply 50 feet long, however 200. In his eyes, the dark shapes were definitely termite mounds, which might grow approximately 26 feet high and over 50 feet broad in the Katanga area.
Do People Still Believe the Story Today?
It appears Sanderson wasn’t the only one enthralled (or horrified) by the concept of an as-of-yet undiscovered leviathan. The photo made the rounds on social networks in 2023, motivating a wave of lookalike unstable cam videos with claims of monstrous snakes. Van Lierde’s sighting was even discussed in a current episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Per a Reuters report launched in 2023, no herpetologists are persuaded that such a collosal snake lives today. Not all hope is lost for those obsessed with the idea of a fear of the river.
The percentages detailed by Van Lierde are in line with some ancient specimens that actually did exist.
What Were Some of the Biggest Real-Life Snakes in History?
Titanoboagrowing upwards of 45 feet in length according to a landmark 2009 research study released in Natureis the longest and heaviest snake of perpetuity. The ancient snake resided in the steamy swamps of the Eocene over 40 million years earlier, in what is now northeastern Colombia.
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The animal fed on the plentiful animals of its wetland environment, that included eight-foot-long turtles and crocodiles that would provide their biggest modern-day equivalents a run for their cash.
Nowadays, the Congo basin does not host the exact same supersized reptiles, so it’s not likely that a Titanoboa copycat would prosper today the exact same method it did eons earlier.
Exist Other Tales of Unproven Creatures in Africa?
Beyond genuine ancient antiques, Van Lierde’s sighting isn’t the only cryptid– an animal whose presence is unverified, like Bigfoot and or the Loch Ness Monster– that might wait for bold innovators in the Congo. Some explorers have actually declared sightings of an uncannily dinosaur-looking animal, recognized informally as mokele-mbembe
By some accounts, the animal looks like a four-legged lizard with a long neck and a single horn. This representation bears a striking similarity to the looming sauropod dinosaurs of the Mesozoic age. These were the biggest land animals throughout the prime time of reptiles and consisted of imposing titans like Argentinosaurus in their ranks, which are approximated to have actually extended to over 120 feet in length.
As with Van Lierde’s Titanoboa lookalike, there is also no proof that a swamp-dwelling sauropod still hides in the Congo today. It is almost particular that creative travelers, lovers and podcast hosts alike will continue to be captivated by tales of strange and terrifying monsters.
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