Imugi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A close relative to the Korean dragon is a native Korean mythological creature known as an Imugi (이무기). There are different stories about the Imugi: Some, for example say that they are hornless creatures resembling dragons but have been cursed, and thus were unable to become dragons. Other say that an Imugi is a proto-dragon which must survive one thousand years in order to become a fully fledged dragon. In either case they are said to be large benevolent python-like creatures that live in the waters or caves. Their sighting is associated with good luck.
[edit] References
The only reference to the Imugi is by an unnamed 19th century western explorer. This extract is taken from his account of the encounter with the creature and is taken from his personal diaries.
“as we approached the edge a large wooden horn was blown. After a few minutes the water's surface was broken and the creature started to rise out of the lake. As it neared the shore I began to realise it's size, I believe it to be nearly 30 feet in length. It took the goat into the water with great ease.”
[edit] Explanations
It seems implausible that this is an Imugi as described in Korean mythology. It may be possible that it is a large animal of some description that the people have mistaken for the mythological creature, and so wishing for it to become a dragon they have chosen to protect it.
From the description it seems most likely that it is most likely to be large snake, probably a species of python. Like all snakes pythons are capable swimmers, and are among the largest. According to the Guinness Book of Records the reticulated python holds the record for the world’s longest snake, 10m (32ft 9.5in).
However it cannot be denied that it holds certain similarities to other lake monsters around the world, including the Loch Ness Monster in the United Kingdom, Champ (legend) in the United States of America and Mokèlé-mbèmbé in the Congo River among others.
It may be possible that the creature is a description of the Lake Tianchi Monster of Lake Tianchi, North Korea. The difference in eye witness accounts may come from somebody from outside the area seeing the creature and reporting it. If the residents of the local wished to discredit this (to protect the creature) they may have made false reports of different descriptions to make the original claim less plausible.
