Wings in the Night
Apart from the fact that it’s extremely doubtful if not impossible that we ever ‘evolved’ from
primates, have you ever considered the very real possibility that the entire timeframe we have
been given for the events that have occurred on the Earth may in fact be completely wrong? For
example there is significant evidence suggesting that the Dinosaurs may not have actually died
out 65 million years ago at, but may have in fact survived until much more recently?
As ridiculous as the idea may seem to you at first; incredibly, evidence suggests that the theory
is not without substance and should not be too lightly dismissed without first receiving some
serious consideration. A considerable amount of unusual and strangely persistent legends abound
concerning strange flying beasts for example; there are quite literally hundreds of such reports,
many of them, from some quite populated parts of the world and from very respectable people.
There are also strange rock carvings and paintings around the world as well as artifacts that depict
such creatures. One quite fascinating story describing such a winged creature appeared in an
interesting book by a British Anthropologist called Frank H Mellard entitled ‘In Witch-Bound
Africa’ first published in 1923.
Frank Mellard was the Chief Magistrate for the Kasempa district of Northern Rhodesia from
1911 until 1922 and also a respected scholar and explorer. In one section of his book he describes
a tribe of natives known as the ‘Kaonde’ who live in the Jiundu swamps in North-West Zambia
reporting that the tribe lived in fear of a terrifying winged monster that inhabited the depths of a
nearby section of swamp. The natives called the beast a ‘Kongomato’ which means ‘the
overwhelmer of boats’ and they describe the creature as not being so much like a bird, but rather
more like a huge lizard but with large membranous wings that spanned around 4 to 7 feet, similar
looking to those of a bat. They say it has no plumage and leathery skin, reddish in colour. The
natives told Mellard that they believed it has a beak that also contained teeth but readily admitted
that no-one had actually seen it close enough to be really sure and lived to tell any tales about it.
Mellard tried to convince any of the natives to take him to the swamp where the Kongomato was
located but could not get one of them to take him there for any money or prize and he firmly
believed that the natives were quite genuinely terrified of the area it was said to live, particularly
after nightfall. Eventually he obtained some books that contained pictures of some Pterodactyls to
show the tribe and claims that every single native unhesitatingly pointed at the picture and
nodded, firmly stating that this was their kongomato.
Mellard said that for his part in the tale, he believed the natives and wrote that he was
convinced the creature had somehow survived the passage of time, at least until recently, adding
that the swamps of Northern Zambia would indeed make an ideal habitat for such a creature.
There are a number of other explorers who have lent corroboration to Mellards’ strange tale of
flying beasts from Zambia too.
Quite an interesting comment is made by A. Blayney Percival in a similar book to that of
Mellard’s entitled ‘A Game Warden on Safari’ that was published in 1928. When writing of a
conversation he had with some local natives in Kenya, Blayney remarks: “... the Kitui Wakumba
tell of a huge flying beast which comes down from Mount Kenya by night; they only see it against
the sky, but they have seen its tracks; more, they have shown these to a white man, who told me
about them, saying, he could make nothing of the spoor, which betrayed two feet and an,
apparently, heavy tail.”
And another tale containing a striking number of similarities to Mallards’ story were also
recounted in ‘A Game Warden Takes Stock’ by Colonel C.R.S. Pittman published in 1942: “When
in Northern Rhodesia I heard of a mythical beast which intrigued me considerably. It was said to
haunt formerly, and perhaps still to haunt, a dense, swampy forest region in the neighbourhood
of the Angola and Congo borders. To look upon it is death. But the most amazing feature of this
mystery beast is its suggested identity with a creature bat-bird-like in form on a gigantic scale
strangely reminiscent of the prehistoric pterodactyl. From whence does the primitive African
derive such a fanciful idea?”
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