MUIRHEAD`S MYSTERIES: A HUGE SERPENT NEAR GRENOBLE IN 1809

A HUGE SERPENT IN FRANCE IN 1809

 I found the following story using the newspapers.com archive. It was published in The Pittsburgh Gazette on November 1^st 1809, reprinted from a French newspaper:

EXTRAORDINARY ANIMAL

The following account is translated from the French Moniteur of the 9^th August. It is dated Grenoble, Aug 1 and contains interesting particulars respecting the passage of an unknown animal , supposed to be a reptile, but of tremendous size, through the commune of Bernin. The account was written by the Mayor of Grenoble:-

“ During the night of the 14^th July last, the dogs in the village of Bernin were heard to bark in an extraordinary manner. Those of the lower part of the common began, and successively those belonging to the houses on the upper part betrayed the same sign of anxiety, at more than half a mile distance. The next morning the trace of an enormous animal, of which no one could form a just idea, was observed and lead to supposition of its being of the serpent kind. 

It seemed to have issued from the banks of the Iser, and directed its course towards the mountains, crossing a space of two miles in extent, along which its path was plainly visible through the meadows, corn and hemp fields ploughed grounds, and  even the public roads. It slightly waved its movements that from 12 to 16 inches in breadth - At its arrival in the neighbourhood of the first village, it met with a hedge of dead wood, and chose, at a middle height; the pace where the branches were least entangled to effect its passage. It serrated (?) Every thorn as completely as if …intentionally destroyed. At a short distance from this spot, it seemed to have rested itself under a tree, as a circular space seven feet and a half feet in diameter was observed, where the ground had sunk a little under its weight. On resuming its course, it altered its direction,which,however, still pointed to the heights. On reaching the public road it was compelled to pass through a quick hedge, three branches of which were found broken. 

It`s pace was perfectly visible in the middle of the road, and on its sides. It proceeded as far as the most elevated part of the common, where its track was suddenly lost in a torrent. Till then it had followed the unequalities (sic) of the ground, and in the corn and hemp fields which it had crossed, the blades were found completely crushed, without any trampling on the left or on the right, which might have induced a belief that men had occasioned that devastation. According to the width of its path; which gives pretty accurately the diameter of its size, the animal must be upwards of three feet in circumference. It has not been seen by any person, but its trace has been observed again on the common of Crolles, from which it may be thought that it has once more descended towards the river.” (1)

1. The Pittsburgh Gazette 1/11/1809

An expanded version of this blog will appear in Flying Snake 7 in late March 2014.