This bio-luminescent, aquatic reptile has inspired terror in the fishing villages surrounding Russia’s little known Lake Brosno for generations.
Laying just 250 miles north-west of Moscow near Andreapol in West Russia is a relatively small body of water known as Lake Brosno, which, according to eyewitness accounts, is the home of a bizarre, glowing, reptilian creature. Reports of this luminous beast, which allegedly lurks near the bottom of their lake, date back to at least 1854.
That having been said, the legends of this aquatic horror have been told and retold for centuries. One of the most famous tales associated with the dragon concerns its encounter with the Tatar-Mongol army that headed for Novgorod in the 13th century. Their leader, Batu Khan, allegedly stopped his troops on the shore of Lake Brosno to rest and allow the horses to drink but, when the horses ventured to close to the lake, a colossal roaring beast emerged from the dark water and devoured animals and soldiers alike. The troops were so terrified that they turned back and Novgorod was saved.
Other ancient legends describe an “enormous mouth” that ate fishermen and a “sand mountain” that appeared on the surface of the lake. More recently, locals claim that during World War II, the dragon – apparently an Allied sympathizer – managed to swallow a Nazi airplane.
Described as being a 16-foot long, “iridescent,” dragon-like creature, with a fish-like or serpentine head, this animal is said to have spread terror throughout the small fishing communities located not only on Lake Brosno, but situated on the Volgo river as well.
This bizarre form of bio-luminescence is rare among cryptids, and has been reported in only two other animals, the winged predators known as the DUAH and the ROPEN, both of which are reputedly “flying” creatures that hail from across the globe.
Although most descriptions of Brosnya suggest it is reptilian, some researchers believe that due to the often frigid climate around lake Brosno, this creature cannot be a reptile. They have surmised that this animal is likely mammalian, although what manner of mammal they do not know.
In 1996, the Itar-Tass news agency reported that many of the residents of Brosno Lake are terrified of what the local press has dubbed “Brosnie” or “Brosnya” and that many of the citizens of these tiny villages have taken to fortifying there homes, as quoted from an article released by Reuters News Service:
“I’m afraid,” said one elderly woman, Varya, who lives in the small lakeside village of Benyok about 400 km northwest of Moscow. “I do not feel comfortable staying in this place. The monster could crawl into my house any day.”
Although there have been some (admittedly blurry and difficult to find) photos taken of this creature, not everyone is taking the reports of this animal so seriously. This was evidenced by the flippant remark made by an obviously skeptical scientist – Lyudmila Bolshakova, of Moscow’s Institute of Paleontology – in the same article, who refused to even entertain the notion of investigating this phenomenon:
“It sounds like a country fairy tale, the kind of story told over the years in the countryside.”
Thankfully, not all scientists seemed to share Bolshakova’s limited assessment of the situation. Tver region paleontologist, Nikolai Dikov, was quoted as saying that based upon the photographs this creature was probably related to an animal of decidedly prehistoric origin:
“The creature’s alleged shape suggested an extinct order of reptiles with teeth like mammals.”
The “extinct order of reptiles,” which Dikov was referring to is probably of the family known as Synapsids, whose teeth were differentiated into molars, canines, and incisors, similar to mammal’s teeth.
In 1996, an anonymous tourist from Moscow allegedly snapped a picture of this beast after his 7 year-old son screamed that he saw a “dragon” in the Lake. Sadly, this photograph, like so many others, is seemingly impossible to find.
In November of that same year, the Karavan weekly started an expedition to Lake Brosno. The expedition consisted of journalist Yeugeny Novikov, head of the Tver Regional Legislative Assembly’s press-service Nikolay Ishchuk, journalist Marina Gavrishenko, photographer Anaida Jilavyan and editor-in-chief of the Karavan newspaper Gennady Klimov. Gavrishenko, had this to say about Brosnya:
“At first sight, the whole of the monster story looks like a fairytale. After the expedition to Lake Brosno, I do believe that the place is actually mysterious. Stories told by witnesses prove this opinion. We met with local people who were perfectly sane and adequate. What is more, all legends about the mysterious monster trace the roots back to the old times. I am sure that legends and rumors cannot arise from nothing.”
In 1997, additional reports of this animal swimming close to onshore settlements caused yet another frenzy of terror along Brosno’s coast, and in the summer of 2002, experts of the Kosmopoisk Research Association went for an expedition to Lake Brosno and did echo deep sounding. The results of this expedition have yielded perhaps the most bizarre development in this case to date.
The Moscow newspaper “Arguments and Facts” interviewed Vadim Chernobrov, the Kosmopoisk coordinator, who discussed the strange discovery they made in the depths of the lake:
“Echo deep sounding registered an anomaly. There was a huge jelly-like mass of a railway car size handing five meters above the bottom. The mass stood motionless. We waited for some time and then decided to make it move: we threw an underwater petard, a low capacity explosive device. When the device blew up, the creature started slowly going up. We stared at the water, and it was clear; there was nothing resembling a monster, however something unusual was still felt in the lake water.”
Whatever this gigantic GLOBSTER-like creature actually was, this encounter adds a new twist on an already fascinating mystery.