I saw the Arthur Clarke episode years ago and remember the pilot saying the snake's head was comparable in size to that of a mature horse. The scientific consensus is that this was "one big f**king snake."
I always wonder why is it, almost always these back then it's these westerners/foreigner who always happen to have once in a lifetime encounter with these animals and not rhe locals or at least the local's encounters aren't reported and yet we now live in a time where we have smartphones that can shot 4k videos and can zoom 10x with more research happening in these regions, but suddenly we don't find or encounter such animals anymore... Where are the giant snakes? giant spiders, big hairy ape men?
This is the Yacummama. Thought to be 100 foot. Not only that, the Congo spider is thought to be 5 feet, and biggest crocodile is 50 feet. The congo is scary
It’s not possible for a 5ft spider to survive today . The book lungs they have aren’t capable of pulling enough oxygen out of today’s atmosphere to sustain life .
It is, frankly, absolutely insane to try to use modern satellite imaging to find the location of a photograph from over 60 years ago, in a region as changeable as the central african wilderness. There is absolutely no chance that the location, if it is indeed a real photograph of a real Congo site, is still identifiable to the area as it was back then.
The landscape doesn't change that much in Africa except in the desert. And even in the desert, some parts of the landscape change every week and others don't change, that's how the Tuaregs move around. A bit like in primary forests, its inhabitants find their way with the hundred-year-old trees which are the largest and which never change compared to the others around them.
Whoever said that the camera details were incorrect because of the two measurements of 45mm and 6 by 6 only demonstrated that they know nothing about cameras and photography. 6x6 is an indication of the size of the negative and a 40mm is the focal length of the lens, this size is known as medium format and has a crop factor when comparing it to 35mm formats of 0.55. This means that a 45mm lens on a 6x6 camera would have about the same field of view as a 25mm lens on a 35mm negative/sensor size, putting it as a wide angle lens.
@@ogrelogre8429 If anything it makes it longer - Pro photographer here - I can concur the maths is correct other than in the comment the poster says both 40mm and 45mm. 40mm on 6x6 = 25mm on 35mm (horizontal view) film whereas 45mm would be around 30mm (horizontal view) - the standard lens on a 6x6 is 80mm (51mm) whereas the standard lens on a 35mm is 50mm
Snakes are one of the few creatures that continue to grow for their entire lives, so if this particular snake was, for an unknown reason, exceptionally old - it would be correspondingly much larger than normal. It could also be a completely new species. I suppose one could search for shed snakeskin in the area, but it would require someone who doesn't mind poking about the territory of "a snake that could swallow a man whole". This story is old, and has never been revealed as a "hoax". The fact that the pilot was a respected officer, and sought experts to examine the photograph to assist in identifying the creature, lends to it's credibility.
@@marc0lin00 , you are correct that a Congo snake picture was debunked online, but it wasn't this one, it was a 2014 hoax. This photo was taken by Colonel Remy Van Lierde, a decorated war hero, while he was the Commander of the Kamina Air Base in the Belgian Congo in 1959. It was photographed from a military helicopter, witnessed by two other officers. The photo was developed by the military, and Col. Van Lierde submitted it to many experts to have it explained. He died in 1990 without ever wavering in his story. Incorrect he may have been, but I doubt Col. Van Lierde would risk his reputation, or his military career to stage a hoax. Recently the exact location was established using Google Earth, and after adjusting the elevation it was determined the snake in the photo was 49 feet long. @JackStarrs seems to have covered it, but I haven't watched his video.
yea i believe a giant snake was actually captured that day and i say that because the region where the snake was seen has been poorly examined and not many ppl go there and l collect data. it’s also one of the few places that have a high temperature which as u may know is the best place to house big snakes. so in my conclusion i would say it probably lives and spends most of its time in the water and it would definitely be some type of new species of snake
I have an uncle who worked his whole life in Africa in every country more than once for the UN, setting up boreholes for clean running water. He has been by the gorillas. He was by the pygmies seen the cannibals and manny manny different tribes. He was known as the "Waterman," and nobody touched or harmed him because he supplied clean water to their families and elders. He always said that if you want to see something 10X its size, it will be in the Congo. Remember, at that time, there were no Chinese or other countries that needed rare earth metals for cell phones, so Africa was still in good shape. He used to pick up the snakes by the tail and through them out of his tent. He was a 6ft3inch well-built South African and an amazing man. RIP Uncle.
I was really looking forward to this video and you didn't disappoint. Well researched and greatly presented. The image has really stuck with me for many years and I could never really make up my mind. Hopefully, that color footage will be released one day. Thanks again for another great video!
In part's of the event. In question. i do myself. I believe he saw the biggest snake. He ever saw. I don't believe the location. Of seeing said snake. Which isn't a really bad lie. Simply put. Big Game Hunter's. Would try tracking it down. Build a name for themselves or adding another Legendary Trophy. The High Ranking is a Red Flag for me. Never trust the MIC.
The way you say "ya'll" leads me to believe you're probably from the South like I am. If so, you should know, we don't really have a whole lot of room to be judging others on what they did in the past, now do we?😉 @@ianb.2575
I’m not at all claiming this as true, I’m not sure if I even believe the snake is real, but the Congo river is 700ft deep in some places. Maybe there is a large snake species that lives deep in the river, and still isn’t identified
But a snake build like a python or boa (the latter only present in South America of course) isn't exactly suited to deep diving as a regular part of its lifestyle. Some of these species love water and Anacondas are outright semiaquatic, but it's more about river benches and swamps/marshes.. I honestly doubt such a snake could withstand the pressures because their skeleton is extremly flexible, with one lung being extremly reduced and the other extremly elongated so it would need to deal with the pressure along a considerable stretch of the snake's overall body length.
That’s insane! 700ft?! That’s more than double the height of the Statue of Liberty I think! I can just imagine a submarine going down to the bottom and getting lunged at by a giant python.
Even if its not a new species it could be an exceptionally large specimen of a known species. Maybe it was closer to 35-40 ft than 50 ft, which would still make it a record breaker
Good video, I had heard of this story before but never this detailed. It kinda reminds me of the story about the Roman general Regulus and the giant snake. I dont know if you're familiar, but if I remember correctly...the romans were in africa and crossing a bridge and this giant snake jumped up from the water and took a man down and drowned him. Long story short, they eventually kill the snake and send the 120 foot skin back to Rome to hang up somewhere. Anyways, when the empire collapsed the skin was lost. Interesting story.
@Truthisscarierthanfiction I'll be honest with you. This photo looks genuine and the fact that a color photo of that same spot can't be access, kind of makes mote believable. Maybe the fact that "They" have no intention releasing Evidence ever to the public. This isn't the first to hear that some other authority hides information from the public.
@@Truthisscarierthanfiction Hey dude, on google earth they have a feature that allows you to go back and view earlier google earth images, i think it goes back to 1990, the snake is probably dead by now and might have been unique even for its kind, maybe, ill gonna use the feature, hopefully i find something
Animals that spark natural phobias are almost always overestimated in size. I've had people swear up and down to me about seeing "tarantulas bigger than dogs". I'm a spider and snake keeper, so this happens when people find this out. I don't argue, or try to refute their stories. Unless and until you actually get close for a measurement, its way too subjective. To my mind, if current keepers can't get snakes past the 30 ft mark regularly, when meals are appropriately provided, temperatures are meticulously regulated, and the animals are parasite free, it doesn't seem very likely that wild animals will trounce those measurements to the extent that people claim sightings for. I'm not an expert, and this is only an opinion. Thanks for the video.
The size claims are a stretch, but there's still room for a difference in food quality compared to captive snakes. We know wild food sources to be more nutrient dense than farmed foods. A snake species that had to contend with other monster predators in a particularly rich environment could have left a remnant population, albeit one that's probably dead by now because of us. Artificial conditions might be ideal for keeping an organism alive but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll thrive to their fullest potential. I really don't think artificial conditions can ever recreate what truly wild nature does in terms of natural selection.
Though in nature, they have unlimited space in some places like Congo, rainforest, etc....and many species of things grow to the size of their habitat. Goldfish can grow to huge sizes, if put into a lake and they survive. Snakes that can get big don't always get as big as possible if in an enclosure that limits those levels of growth. Stuck away, isolated, plenty of prey, rare human intrusion...can get some incredible things with time added.
If it's an undiscovered species then your point about the keepers isn't applicable, the claim isn't we are finding those very same snakes we have in captivity in the wild at much bigger sizes than we can get them to grow too, the claim is we are spotting new species which naturally grow that big, if we did have them in captivity we'd very easily have them exceeding 30ft all the time by a large margin.
in 2005 they mistaken this bones as croc fossils, and when they studied a new specie of Snake, "BREAKING THE RECORD OF TITANOBOA" in India in a mining area, it was 50 feet long and named "Vasuki Indicus" And was declared as "The king of serpant" The Titanoboa lost its title for being the biggest snake, but it lived 47million years ago, but this could possibly this.
@@SAFFRONINFERNOpaleontologists found snake fossils that may have exceeded the titanoboa in length. They’ve name it Vasuki after the mythological snake.
The Congo rainforest has an incredible ecosystem and there have been sightings of giant snakes all across the world and in the fossil record there are enormous snakes growing far larger then the ones we have today it is very well possible that there is some sort of huge snake unknown to us yet
I always wonder why is it, almost always these back then it's these westerners/foreigner who always happen to have once in a lifetime encounter with these animals and not rhe locals or at least the local's encounters aren't reported and yet we now live in a time where we have smartphones that can shot 4k videos and can zoom 10x with more research happening in these regions, but suddenly we don't find or encounter such animals anymore... Where are the giant snakes? giant spiders, big hairy ape men?
I've always rated this as one of the more possible cryptids. It's some rough and wild terrain, and the idea of a very large species of snake doesn't seem too incredible to me. I do wonder what they would eat, to sustain such a colossal body.
I always wonder why is it, almost always these back then it's these westerners/foreigner who always happen to have once in a lifetime encounter with these animals and not rhe locals or at least the local's encounters aren't reported and yet we now live in a time where we have smartphones that can shot 4k videos and can zoom 10x with more research happening in these regions, but suddenly we don't find or encounter such animals anymore... Where are the giant snakes? giant spiders, big hairy ape men?
I wouldn't underestimate what's in the Congo, Amazon, and such. Whether it's an 1800's journal of a 30ft Great White, or reports of a 35 ft crocodile in the phillipines, the growth of animals can be shocking.
I agree,just look at humans. Average male height is around 5'7" to 5'9",yet we have people like shaq,yao ming or robert wadlow who are way taller than average. If that can happen with humans,why couldn't it happen with animals?
I always wonder why is it, almost always these back then it's these westerners/foreigner who always happen to have once in a lifetime encounter with these animals and not rhe locals or at least the local's encounters aren't reported and yet we now live in a time where we have smartphones that can shot 4k videos and can zoom 10x with more research happening in these regions, but suddenly we don't find or encounter such animals anymore... Where are the giant snakes? giant spiders, big hairy ape men?
@@joetokyo1158 shaq and the other guys are still only just 2-3 feet taller than the average human... they are around 50% taller/bigger, you can't expect a snake that is typically 7-8 feet long to suddenly be able be over 100% larger than the average large pythons of the area... that'd be like if the biggest person ever is 10 feet tall lol
Cool photo but the pilot said he made 6 passes at the area, why not take more than one picture? a different angle or showing the snake move positions between the pictures could have given it much more credibility
Not quite sure, there was a report that there was another photo but I think it was a misunderstanding. Heuvelmans says that there were two copies of the photo framed differently, so I think there was only ever one photo
@@Shadowman820 That depends on the camera. Only a few a minute with the old Kodak Brownie camera that I inherited from my mum, but there were professional cameras that could take continuous shots through an entire roll of film by then. I'm guessing that the camera this photo was taken with was somewhere in between the two, but closer to the latter.
I worked at a sand mine in Uganda mpigi district in a swamp known as Lwera. We heard stories of a giant python known as "Jaja(grandpa) Lwera" that was said to kill cattle and people. One day we hired sand prospectors to look for new sand deposits as in the area where the dredge was situated the sand was depleted. They came back half an hour later wet and panting frantically. Claimed a giant snake had knocked over their canoe before they scampered back to shore. They also said it had the girth of a cow and a head as big as a pigs head. Of course as a person with interest in snakes and knows African rock pythons don't exceed 20 feet I was doubtful. The fact that they declined the agreed pay as long as we didn't compel them to go back and complete their job made me wonder.
@@Truthisscarierthanfiction I don't know. I used to think that, but in the wide shot well to the right of the snake's head-end is something that looks more like a tree than anything else in the photo.
I keep flipping back and forth on if I think it is or not, the top right in the uncropped pic does look like grass but also the motion blur at the bottom is strange for a close up photo
Amazing video! Interesting pieces of lost media and the backstory of this image is wild! I always thought it was a normal sized snake that people thought was way bigger
I’m certainly no cartographer, but I would think you should be able to use Belgian military topographical maps and match them relatively accurately with the contours easily visible in the original photograph. The general area is known so it shouldn’t be too terribly difficult. 🤷♂️
No comment on the size but I just wanted to say that as a keeper of pythons, boas, and ratsnakes, I disagree that it would be odd for a snake to raise part of its body up as described. It's commonly called telescoping.
I've always been intrigued by this story. The witnesses sounded credible. However something about the reflections off the snakes back has always seemed a bit off.
@loverofyurigagarin1149 I don't have the geometry skills to explain it adequately. Some of the reflections, glare and angles don't match up. The sun is supposedly behind the chopper. Which makes some of the reflections appear legitimate. However then you have a totally different angled surface facing another direction entirely that also has a reflection. 🤔
@@loverofyurigagarin1149 snakes esepically reptiles arent that shiny lol, it looks like it was covered in oil, especially considering the cameras of those times, they had a hard time capturing light and no hdr tech, so often photos would be overexposed, but yet here the snake is perfectly visible and unaffected by the strong lighting which is visible on the surrounding environment
I first heard this story in the 1990's and it has never changed. I also saw the video about the trees in the picture and someone proved the scale to be exactly the same as the pilot reported it to be.
I've watched this video many times across multiple channels here on RUclips and I am in the believer camp not because of the photo but the pilot himself and his determination to present his find to the wider world.... and there are few places on earth as remote from civilization as the Congo...
my Dad talked about giant snakes they could see from airplanes that could be seen from the trees when he was in the air force flying all over the jungle.
why is always military men who come with these grand stories from "exotic" or "mysterious" lands? if such did exist, how come the people who actually live there never encounter or report such
After reading through the comments I find it shocking no one else commented that the snake looks totally superimposed on the photo. It has an animation quality to it
@@Shadowman820 they can, heck bored teens can pull off better hoaxes with less, a military photographer probably had the best camera available back then, you'd be surprise how often stories like these come from westerners, especially those who wanna retire soon, gotta leave a bit of legacy to your name
@@bitty_beastly47No I believe the max we’ve seen is about 23 with a couple rumored 24-25ft. I do believe that there are probably some out there that are or are a tiny bit past 25ft but only a couple and those guys are the giants of the giants. Same thing with Anacondas too but I think they have the potential to be much bigger imo due to more land and a bigger river.
Thanks for doing this video…it provided valuable context that gave the photo a bit more credibility than I had remembered it having. I always thought it was a fake; now I’m not sure.
Since the satellite image perfectly matches the terrain, why don't any zoologists or wild life enthusiasts visit this location and investigate? Van Lierde said that this snake emerged out of a hole in the ground. This terrain looks unchanged even after 70 years nearly. They can investigate both the locations. There are streams in the area and the snake can probably hunt there. I believe that this snake rarely emerges out. But whenever it does, I think it eats big and hibernates in underground caverns. I really believe that this snake is real. I wish that its mystery will be solved before I die. It really keeps me up at nights. Wish I had the means to reach this location. I would investigate it myself!
Lack of funding, proof of where the photo took place, and it’s probably very hard to get out there are very big factors. I’m sure some scientists want to but they would have to be fairly confident and location and getting someone to fund this expedition would be nearly impossible. It’s a cryptid so most people in the scientific world probably just laugh it off someone like Mr beast would have to fund an expedition.
I do think pythons can reach 9 meters, especially in these older days. I mean invasive Burmese, rock and reticulated pythons have all reached 7 meters+ in modern day when our impact has been the worst. A couple more meters and few dozen more kilos in their hayday doesn't seem too unlikely. 15 is kinda a stretch. That's bigger than Titanoboa, which was absolutely an aquatic snake and dined mostly on large lungfish.
wow that satellite image very closely resembles the snake photo's area, it's just not shown very good in this video. if you click on 5:59 and let the video play for a second and click on 5:59 again, you'll see that the path/river bed on the satellite image (upper twisting part) is the exact same as in the snake picture. so, maybe it is a gigantic snake. always thought this was just a bad joke, but the satellite image changed my mind
Well, I held up a ruler to my screen and it was about 8.5 inches long on my 51 inch tv screen. I bet you all feel silly now thinking it was a 100 foot snake.
Ok i commented on the 7th minute of your video! a big mistake of the journalist when interviewing colonel remy van learde, on a documentary made by sir athur clarke, regarding the giant congo snake, the journalist who interviewed the colonel, did not ask the question, where is the actual location point of the sighting of the giant congo snake. when colonel remy van learde with his 3 crew in the helicopter, reporters also did not ask questions, when the colonel returned from patrol where is the location of the forest, and how far is the actual location of the sighting of the giant snake from kamina air base. this case happened in the province of katanga region, but colonel remy did not state the exact location point of the sighting of the giant snake, many assumptions say the distance of the sighting of the congo giant snake, about 60 miles northwest of kamina air base, and this means the location of the forest the sighting of the Congo giant snake approximately 96.5 kilometers northwest of Kamina Air Base, a year after the sighting George vonnivaer had come to the wrong place to take photos and record a color video of the situation at the sighting location, vonnivaer had gone to a place 100 kilometers northwest of Kamina air base, vonnivaer's location was also inaccurate
It is very clear that there is a big tree at the bottom right of the picture , pause the video at 9:41 . and the snake appears much larger than this tree. It is certain that this snake is no less than 30 meters long and 2 meters thick.
I’ve been to Congo and they have pythons in the wild of abnormal size they get too big to move around and hunt so they stick to muddy and wet regions where it’s easier to move their colossal bodies by sliding on the terrain and only move at night. For them to see one so far out and visible from a helicopter in broad daylight seems far fetched but there are large snakes out there
Fascinating analysis, I do think it’s very possible an unknown undocumented species of giant snake distinct from the African rock python does exist in the Congo, you did bring up a good point about how snakes at such largest sizes are generally more aquatic and seeing one this far from water is peculiar, and perplexing. Also there have also been reports of giant crocodile species growing over 30 feet Called the mahamba, and western reports of very large giant crocodile reported in the region as well. Also I’ve heard of a very interesting report from bill gibbons that a crocodile skeleton was discovered by Pierre Sima a Cameroonian national and also other local people in the Congo. They put the bones together and measured it out at 30 feet. I do wish they would have took a photograph of the bones or even at least collect samples for dna analysis. The Congo region definitely holds a host of unknown and undocumented species in the region. On a final note, I have heard of other giant snake reports from other parts of Africa, I believe it was in Ethiopia, could have been a new species, it’s been a while since I’ve read up on it though.
Could you tell me more about the Gibbons croc skeleton story? Was it from his book about the Mokele and Missionaries? I've heard stories of giant crocodiles and giant spiders from people from Cameroon.
I remember the Grootslang of Southern Africa is supposedly a giant snake (seems more like folklore to me though). There's a story of romans killing a giant snake if I remember right
Yes, I originally heard about this story from bill gibbons crypto hunt RUclips channel, though I forgot which video in particular mentioned this crocodile skeleton discovery, but I did ask bill, and told me about its discovery, really wish they had some photos or material to bring back. As for bill gibbons book on Mokele mbembe and missionaries, I’m honestly not sure, bill could very well have mentioned it in one of his books, I still need to get a copy of one. Also that’s really cool, I’ve heard about a Mokele mbembe battling with a giant crocodile in the Cameroon, or maybe it was the Congo? But from what bill said, the Mokele mbembe was using its tail against the giant crocodile. I believe that particular story with a Mokele mbembe clashing with a giant crocodile is mentioned in an interview with bill gibbons, the channel is called Beastly Theories and it’s EP. 74 Mokele mbembe. Also what have you heard about these giant Cameroon crocodile reports, stories ? Sounds intriguing, Also that another very fascinating one, giant spiders, I’ve heard about them reported in the Congo, and as for Cameroon giant spiders that’s really interesting, it’s been awhile since I’ve heard about giant spiders or ones in that area, ones that would rival a full grown coconut crab or larger in size would definitely be quite an extraordinary and perplexing find. And they would have to have a different method of breathing to be able to grow to such sizes, unlike there smaller contemporary species. Also what do you know about these giant Cameroonian spiders? Are they also reported in other countries besides the Cameroon and Congo? Also regarding undocumented species, I’ve heard of an unknown monitor lizard locals reported in the Congo, different from the ornate monitor. Also heard reports of crocodiles in the lower Congo by local people that sound like oversized dwarf crocodile species, and reports of its breeding Behaviour being compared to the the Central African slender snouted crocodile which is more closer genetically to dwarf crocodiles osteolaemus than to true crocodiles, crocodylus. And 4 or maybe 5 other unknown crocodile species reported in Africa I’ve heard about.
@@jointcerulean3350 Thank you for the information. I'd heard two about the crocodiles in Cameroon. The first involved one siezing a man who was drawing water from a well and eating him. The locals completely abandoned the well as a water source and eventually filled it in and left the area for fear of the animal, which they said was different from a normal crocodile by it's length and bulk, darker colouration and it having small protuberences or "horns" around/over the eye area. The second one involved one of these animals swimming along side, underneath and bumping a fuel vessel (I'm not sure if they have official terms, but the boat had a cargo of various fuels) along the length of the river it inhabited. The animal was almost the same size as the vessel, which was 50 feet. All I know about the giant spiders in Cameroon is that they are very poisonous and the bite causes localized necrosis of the limb resulting in tissue damage and amputation. They live underground in holes kind of like trapdoor spiders, but are much larger. The persons I spoke to said it's considered unlucky to talk about them. Perhaps there's been a great deal of sightings missed due to this.
@KingFluffs Indeed, and thank you for very much for this very fascinating and tantalizing information. This is very intriguing and quite astonishing amount of detail, I have not heard of this type of crocodile before in the Cameroon, and really taken aback by how much has been described in great detail about this croc. Having a much larger size than other normal crocodiles, and a more bulky build and darker coloration. This crocodile reported in the Cameroon sounds like a truly undocumented new species of giant crocodile of some kind, very detailed description of this mystery crocodile, very likely some kind of osteolaemine crocodile by the sound of it, related to species such as dwarf crocodiles, rimasuchus, kinyang, and voay robustus. And one very interesting detail mentioned about this croc was it’s horn like protuberances above its eyes, sounds a lot like or similarly to what is seen in spectacled caimans of South America, and which is also present in dwarf crocodiles which have bony eyelids, though it’s not often expressed, flared out or pointed like a spectacled caiman. If these horn like structure above the eyes were noticed by the local people, they would be much more predominant and larger than modern known crocodilian horn like eyelid protuberances it would seem. That is a really fascinating report croc report, Sighting. Also that second report is Wild, sounds like a 40 foot crocodile, must have been incredible to see while on the cargo boat, that’s a really mind boggling one, and it’s interesting it collided with cargo boat, something that sized would be preying on hippos and other large megafauna no problem. Also those giant spider reports are interesting, living like trap door spiders wow, very cool info, wonder if they occasionally forage for prey like some tarantula species, and that sound pretty gnarly about its venom. On the last bit of information, that does sound likely to be the case, unfortunate if true, it would make a lot of sense if that is the reason why it is not reported more frequently, sounds like a similar situation with the Mokele mbembe living in the Congo region, such as in the lac tele locality.
The photo is not real, it has been verified a recreation as the original photo was supposed to have been lost. This is a verified fact, the photo is fake !
@@Msrandumbhow can be real if the photo Is Snake and no one ever find It? Not even the skeleton. Are you really that delusional to believe that? No one, not even the indigenous people, ever saw a snake as big as a whale. Go touch some grass
Reminds me of a fun video I saw back in like 2008-2010 RUclips era. Allegedly a huge snake filmed from the air in the Amazon rainforest. It was a color video and there was this real big snake in the water almost crossing the whole river. RUclips used to be so good for urban legend kind of videos like that its such a shame. Hard to look for now it seems
@tauseefahmad999 Well then you are obviously an expert in Giant Snakes : "it's just the camera angle" of course.. Why didn't I think of that ! You are real Genius ha ha
Well, the worlds longest snake that currently exists is the Reticulated Python. The longest one ever measured (which counts for the longest snake that’s currently known to still be alive) was around 37ft I think. The longest snake ever to be known to exist though was the Titanaboa which, from as far we know, is currently extinct. If the longest current record for a snake is 37ft (if my memory for that is correct) then this snake would only be 13ft longer-if it is 50ft that is. It’s possible this could be a surviving Titanaboa as they could get up to 47ft long I think (making this snake only a few feet longer supposedly) but it’s also possible that this could be an entirely unknown species of snake that still hasn’t been documented by science. The Congo is a big place so anything could be possible and thinking that a huge snake being around 50ft long also isn’t COMPLETELY out of the realm of possibility, especially if we’re dealing with a unknown species of snake (and considering what else I’ve mentioned about already-known known snake lengths) but I’ve also heard claims of this snake being 195ft long-that’s much more unlikely and probably isn’t the case. That’s just too long but 50ft or around that? Yeah, I could see that being possible.
No Snake has ever been confirmed at thirty feet or greater. Every single one has either proven to be much smaller or never verified. There are several long-standing rewards in the million dollar range that have never been claimed. There are also currently an inestimable number of retics, anacondas and Burmese pythons in captivity eating far better than any wild counterpart and no one is raising them up that big. If they got that big we would have a few. 23-25’ is about as big as you will find.
In nature, they have unlimited space in some places like Congo, Rainforest, etc....and many species of things grow to the size of their habitat. Goldfish can grow to huge sizes, if put into a lake and they survive. Snakes that can get big don't always get as big as possible if in an enclosure that limits those levels of growth. Stuck away, isolated, plenty of prey, rare human intrusion...can get some incredible things with time added. Catfish and carp, above the gates of dams, can get to be 5 ft - 6 ft big! People and animals that drown get swept there eventually if not retrieved, and are eaten by those scavenger fish. A catfish. I know for a fact this is true...I've heard it firsthand from divers at Arizona lakes/dams who go check the gates when someone is missing from the lake...they estimate when they disappeared, the lake flow to the dam, etc. and go down that time period. Gross, yes, but that is what happens. I absolutely believe there are various species of cryptid critters roaming this planet...those we still do not have viable, physical proof of. Just because some might be large, doesn't mean they can't hide...if they are around that long, they are smart to have survived rarely seen, so long. So yeah...I believe airborne, ground dwelling, and ocean dwelling critters...probably underground as well...are still to be discovered by humans.
Its just the fact that the congo has the same environment and resources as the amazon and the rainforest of south east asia Both home to monster proportions snakes leaving the congo a viable area for a massive python/anaconda like species but its.just a thought experiment
So... they made several fly-bys, and still only one usable picture was taken? Sounds awfully like those UFO encounters where the guy would have a ton of oppotunities to take pictures, still can only produce one, extremely grainy photo taken from a mile... One single image of something obviously rare and inexplicable is always a huge red flag.
I really appreciate that you take the time to use both measuring systems. As an Australian whos got no concept of imperial it is such an immersion breaker. Sometimes to the point I have to Google to the differences
I try to switch the order I use em in based on the country. Like if it takes place in Australia I go Metric first then imperial, and the opposite if it takes place in America
"A snake that big would struggle to move around" Nope. Reticulated pythons are a perfect example. And even the largest of them move quite effortlessly. Do they raise up to attack prey? Physically definitely capable of that, it's just that it doesn't usually happen. How do I know? One of them is sitting right behind me *right now* and literally as I'm typing I feel her head on my shoulder 😜 And I've seen *countless* times what they're capable of. It's not siding with those who told the story/told the photo, just clearing up some things here and there as a snake keeper and breeder.
The giant snake photo. There's nothing in the photo for scale. The supposed trees could be any weed or bush. For all we know the photo could have been taken by some guy on a path, and the snake could be less than a meter long. The image superimposed over the satellite photo doesn't match, there are no landmarks clearly visible in either photo. It's a case of people seeing what they want to see. Whoever did it must have skipped every GIS course available, though, because there's no road on the planet that you couldn't lay that photo over in order to claim a match. When I first got into photography as a kid, I'd stage pictures like this for fun. Maybe if I turned them black and white I could convince someone that there really are a bunch of anatomically incorrect dinosaurs roaming the forests.
There always seems to be a grainy photo with no scale and a bundle of eyewitness accounts and stories and estimates. People want to believe gigantic prehistoric type animals exist out there. Maybe what they saw was big but trying to say it was 50ft etc. is very difficult from a helicopter.
Theirs a scientist that had a prehistoric model of the snake made based off of a vertebrae that was discovered a The snake was 60 foot.. you can Google model prehistoric snake and watch it being built..
Col Percy Fawcett was ridiculed for reporting the shooting of a 90ft snake in Amazonia, a small dinosaur type creature and a two-nosed dog. The two-nosed dog appears to me the most laughable. They laughed at him. Years later, they found the two-nosed dog, it still exists today.
I'm a snake expert including road observations which can be extremely fleeting and difficult from a moving vehicle, but are necessary to herpetology. Three of the things I look for are in this photo. One is glossiness (scales aren't as shiny as metal but aren't dull like rubber), another is dead or injured snakes often show their bellies, and a third is their liquid shape unlike a stiff branch or root. Photos often capture unusual moments or movements however. I think a helicopter pilot is an excellent witness that adds credibility to the photo. There's another story told by an ex-soldier in Central America about a snake that eats cows, and I noticed there was nothing in the description that suggests it was an anaconda or a boid. It could be an entirely different kind of snake.
@@MasterMF9751 I was just looking up the range of Titanoboa fossils. Unfortunately the fossil record tells us something different from what a person would actually see, but it could very well be Titanoboa.
It's a Vasuki indicus. They have recently found a vertebrae of this giant snake. And it's a giant cobra. There are so many legends about this mighty beast in ancient Indian text. They were kept in Hindu temples for worshiping. Humans were fed to them as sacrifice
@@user-xy6wu3xg2c Ancient Indians knew about this snake; there are references to it in many Hindu and Buddhist texts. According to legend, one of these snakes provided shelter to Buddha while he was meditating. They coexisted with ancient Indians at some point. I believe a small number of this snake population lived in ancient India and were worshiper as gods. Stuff you read in Conan books. History is sometime more terrifying than fiction.
RUBISH! If there was a photographer, on the helicopter, who had nothing else to do, whilst flying over the “snake” for a while, then why is this single, low quality photo, the only photo he took? Imagine how much food, a snake that size would need. With the size claimed, the snake would be way too heavy/slow to hunt anything. A snake that size, would struggle to hide, so how comes none, of the locals ever saw it? A spices? Hardly possible that there would be talk of an entire spices, able to hide that well, whilst of such size, that none of them have ever been seen alive or found dead.
Pilot: "SIR with this amazing F24-Camera we got that can shoot multiple photos per minute, how many pictures of this amazing never-before-seen creature do you wanna take, to document this unique moment?!" Remy Van Lierde: "Nah, one is enough." 😊📷
The snake looks big if the picture is even real and if it is it looks like sand and big trees usually dont grow in sand so it would probably just be bushes all around it making it look bigger
I actually did my own analysis of the different size estimates and their probabilities a few months back. I’ll leave it below… Congo snake size analysis Extremely unlikely (due to estimates of proportions and eye witness accounts) 3 foot tall tree = 12 foot snake (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate) Highly unlikely (due to estimates of proportions and eye witness accounts) 5 foot tall tree = 20 foot snake (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate), plausible for rock pythons in the region although their phenotypes are fairly dissimilar Unlikely (due to estimates of proportions and eye witness accounts) 24 feet (estimate of largest ever somewhat verified report of a rock python, although slightly larger specimen are thought to be potentially possible) Plausible? 8 foot tall tree = 32 foot snake, commonly reported but unverified (aka cryptids) Green Anaconda and reticulated python snake sizes (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate) Plausible? ~33 feet (world record for reticulated python - matches description but not native to region) Less plausible due to size 38 feet (minimum estimated length of ‘Pumina’ in Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, 2 Volume Set by George M. Eberhart) Less plausible due to size 12m (~39 feet) length (minimum estimated length by wildlife photographer Ray Tercafs) Less plausible 10 foot tall tree = 40 foot snake (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate, also Mysterious World's estimate) Unlikely due to novelty of the size of snake 14m (~46 feet) length (maximum estimated length by wildlife photographer Ray Tercafs, also maximum estimated length of ‘Pumina’ in Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, 2 Volume Set by George M. Eberhart) Highly unlikely due to size of snake 12 foot tall tree = 48 foot snake (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate) Highly unlikely due to size of snake
A big rock python subspecies could exist. Like zoologist Forrest Galante said the congo is the only rainforest without giant snakes. Granted African rock pythons are the fourth largest snake but its definitely too small compared to other snakes that resides in rainforests especially in rainforests with so much large animals. The biggest thing wrong with this photo is that the snake doesn't seem close to water and giant snakes are often semi aquatic. This size of snake would likely act as an anaconda but the body shape is definitely a python. Snakes dont stop growing so it could also be an old specimen but a rock python would never get that big in such a competitive area. The only way of knowing is making contact with the tribes or villages there to find out what the biggest snake is
I'm gonna get flamed, but...I think the photo is an obvious fake. The snake image looks like it was cut from one picture and pasted on another. The snake image looks like it was taken with a different camera at a different resolution. the snake is in focus more than it's surroundings and it's obvious (to me) that the photo is a composition of 2 images taken by 2 different cameras using different settings.
I saw the Arthur Clarke episode years ago and remember the pilot saying the snake's head was comparable in size to that of a mature horse. The scientific consensus is that this was "one big f**king snake."
The scientist in question being Samuel L. Jackson?
@@thoughtfuldevil6069 Exactly right, and why not? SLJ has played many characters who would say that, and I suspect the man himself would say it, too.
No shit
I always wonder why is it, almost always these back then it's these westerners/foreigner who always happen to have once in a lifetime encounter with these animals and not rhe locals or at least the local's encounters aren't reported and yet we now live in a time where we have smartphones that can shot 4k videos and can zoom 10x with more research happening in these regions, but suddenly we don't find or encounter such animals anymore...
Where are the giant snakes? giant spiders, big hairy ape men?
This is the Yacummama. Thought to be 100 foot. Not only that, the Congo spider is thought to be 5 feet, and biggest crocodile is 50 feet. The congo is scary
The Yacummama is from the Amazons in South America though also known as the Sucuri
@@TrollBot.the Sucari is from the Nile river in Egypt and is also known as the Rambunca
It’s not possible for a 5ft spider to survive today . The book lungs they have aren’t capable of pulling enough oxygen out of today’s atmosphere to sustain life .
No , its yomamma . 🫵🏽
None of that is corroborated.
It is, frankly, absolutely insane to try to use modern satellite imaging to find the location of a photograph from over 60 years ago, in a region as changeable as the central african wilderness. There is absolutely no chance that the location, if it is indeed a real photograph of a real Congo site, is still identifiable to the area as it was back then.
Lol I love how you wrote this. Keep it up.
Additionally its a photograph devoid of scale
This makes sense to me, though I'm not familiar with topographical changes in the Congo.
The landscape doesn't change that much in Africa except in the desert. And even in the desert, some parts of the landscape change every week and others don't change, that's how the Tuaregs move around. A bit like in primary forests, its inhabitants find their way with the hundred-year-old trees which are the largest and which never change compared to the others around them.
Whoever said that the camera details were incorrect because of the two measurements of 45mm and 6 by 6 only demonstrated that they know nothing about cameras and photography.
6x6 is an indication of the size of the negative and a 40mm is the focal length of the lens, this size is known as medium format and has a crop factor when comparing it to 35mm formats of 0.55.
This means that a 45mm lens on a 6x6 camera would have about the same field of view as a 25mm lens on a 35mm negative/sensor size, putting it as a wide angle lens.
Thank you!! You explained it better than I could. Certainly this fact has come to someone’s attention in the past?
@@MattyP3789lol, hes confusing the camera lenght with the resolution
Does that also change the size estimates of the snake?😊
@@ogrelogre8429 every parameter involved does 🤔😊
@@ogrelogre8429 If anything it makes it longer - Pro photographer here - I can concur the maths is correct other than in the comment the poster says both 40mm and 45mm. 40mm on 6x6 = 25mm on 35mm (horizontal view) film whereas 45mm would be around 30mm (horizontal view) - the standard lens on a 6x6 is 80mm (51mm) whereas the standard lens on a 35mm is 50mm
Snakes are one of the few creatures that continue to grow for their entire lives, so if this particular snake was, for an unknown reason, exceptionally old - it would be correspondingly much larger than normal. It could also be a completely new species. I suppose one could search for shed snakeskin in the area, but it would require someone who doesn't mind poking about the territory of "a snake that could swallow a man whole".
This story is old, and has never been revealed as a "hoax". The fact that the pilot was a respected officer, and sought experts to examine the photograph to assist in identifying the creature, lends to it's credibility.
Maybe just as in humans, this snake 🐍 had gigantism.
It a actually was claimed as hoax 3 years ago. You can find the source online
@@marc0lin00 , you are correct that a Congo snake picture was debunked online, but it wasn't this one, it was a 2014 hoax. This photo was taken by Colonel Remy Van Lierde, a decorated war hero, while he was the Commander of the Kamina Air Base in the Belgian Congo in 1959. It was photographed from a military helicopter, witnessed by two other officers. The photo was developed by the military, and Col. Van Lierde submitted it to many experts to have it explained. He died in 1990 without ever wavering in his story. Incorrect he may have been, but I doubt Col. Van Lierde would risk his reputation, or his military career to stage a hoax.
Recently the exact location was established using Google Earth, and after adjusting the elevation it was determined the snake in the photo was 49 feet long. @JackStarrs seems to have covered it, but I haven't watched his video.
@@marc0lin00what’s the source?
yea i believe a giant snake was actually captured that day and i say that because the region where the snake was seen has been poorly examined and not many ppl go there and l collect data. it’s also one of the few places that have a high temperature which as u may know is the best place to house big snakes. so in my conclusion i would say it probably lives and spends most of its time in the water and it would definitely be some type of new species of snake
I have an uncle who worked his whole life in Africa in every country more than once for the UN, setting up boreholes for clean running water. He has been by the gorillas. He was by the pygmies seen the cannibals and manny manny different tribes. He was known as the "Waterman," and nobody touched or harmed him because he supplied clean water to their families and elders.
He always said that if you want to see something 10X its size, it will be in the Congo. Remember, at that time, there were no Chinese or other countries that needed rare earth metals for cell phones, so Africa was still in good shape. He used to pick up the snakes by the tail and through them out of his tent. He was a 6ft3inch well-built South African and an amazing man.
RIP Uncle.
I was really looking forward to this video and you didn't disappoint. Well researched and greatly presented. The image has really stuck with me for many years and I could never really make up my mind. Hopefully, that color footage will be released one day. Thanks again for another great video!
Appreciate the support as always! Someday I gotta visit that archive
The helicopter pilot who saw the snake was a high ranking and well respected man. I believe him.
In part's of the event. In question. i do myself. I believe he saw the biggest snake. He ever saw. I don't believe the location. Of seeing said snake. Which isn't a really bad lie. Simply put. Big Game Hunter's. Would try tracking it down. Build a name for themselves or adding another Legendary Trophy.
The High Ranking is a Red Flag for me.
Never trust the MIC.
He's from Belgium ( like me) and we are down to earth people who don't make things up like this.He saw something big that's for sure.
@erikramaekers63 the way y'all treated the Congolese was downright barbaric
@@ianb.2575 that goes for most colony's unfortunately, especially european powers
The way you say "ya'll" leads me to believe you're probably from the South like I am. If so, you should know, we don't really have a whole lot of room to be judging others on what they did in the past, now do we?😉 @@ianb.2575
I’m not at all claiming this as true, I’m not sure if I even believe the snake is real, but the Congo river is 700ft deep in some places. Maybe there is a large snake species that lives deep in the river, and still isn’t identified
Wtf...700 feet? Well, I learned something new today.
@@WangMingGe the deepest part is about 720 to 730 feet
Anything is possible within 700ft. It's twice the size of Godzilla jeez
But a snake build like a python or boa (the latter only present in South America of course) isn't exactly suited to deep diving as a regular part of its lifestyle. Some of these species love water and Anacondas are outright semiaquatic, but it's more about river benches and swamps/marshes..
I honestly doubt such a snake could withstand the pressures because their skeleton is extremly flexible, with one lung being extremly reduced and the other extremly elongated so it would need to deal with the pressure along a considerable stretch of the snake's overall body length.
That’s insane! 700ft?! That’s more than double the height of the Statue of Liberty I think! I can just imagine a submarine going down to the bottom and getting lunged at by a giant python.
Even if its not a new species it could be an exceptionally large specimen of a known species. Maybe it was closer to 35-40 ft than 50 ft, which would still make it a record breaker
Good video, I had heard of this story before but never this detailed. It kinda reminds me of the story about the Roman general Regulus and the giant snake. I dont know if you're familiar, but if I remember correctly...the romans were in africa and crossing a bridge and this giant snake jumped up from the water and took a man down and drowned him. Long story short, they eventually kill the snake and send the 120 foot skin back to Rome to hang up somewhere. Anyways, when the empire collapsed the skin was lost. Interesting story.
Hey that's gonna be covered in an upcoming sequel to my video on lost cryptid evidence. Thank you for the support!
@@Truthisscarierthanfiction Can't wait fam.
River Baradas, yes.
@Truthisscarierthanfiction I'll be honest with you. This photo looks genuine and the fact that a color photo of that same spot can't be access, kind of makes mote believable.
Maybe the fact that "They" have no intention releasing Evidence ever to the public. This isn't the first to hear that some other authority hides information from the public.
@@Truthisscarierthanfiction Hey dude, on google earth they have a feature that allows you to go back and view earlier google earth images, i think it goes back to 1990, the snake is probably dead by now and might have been unique even for its kind, maybe, ill gonna use the feature, hopefully i find something
There’s another Chanel called wartime stories that has a video about a giant snake that was spotted by some soldiers, but it was seen in honduras.
I remember this episode, El Diablo was scary.
not gonna lie but i truly got shivers while watching that video, my mind just imagining how enormous the El Diablo was
Ya never know what's lurking in the water
Can i get a link to that video?. I can't find that particular El Diablo episode
@@v-trigger6137I just watched the video right now, it's called "American soldier reports a massive snake in Honduras"
Animals that spark natural phobias are almost always overestimated in size. I've had people swear up and down to me about seeing "tarantulas bigger than dogs". I'm a spider and snake keeper, so this happens when people find this out. I don't argue, or try to refute their stories. Unless and until you actually get close for a measurement, its way too subjective. To my mind, if current keepers can't get snakes past the 30 ft mark regularly, when meals are appropriately provided, temperatures are meticulously regulated, and the animals are parasite free, it doesn't seem very likely that wild animals will trounce those measurements to the extent that people claim sightings for. I'm not an expert, and this is only an opinion. Thanks for the video.
Interesting thoughts! I definitely think you bring up a good point with snake keepers
Freaks of nature happen. Even with perfect enviorment and nurture most cant have Yao Ming sized kids and yet these giants are still born
The size claims are a stretch, but there's still room for a difference in food quality compared to captive snakes. We know wild food sources to be more nutrient dense than farmed foods. A snake species that had to contend with other monster predators in a particularly rich environment could have left a remnant population, albeit one that's probably dead by now because of us.
Artificial conditions might be ideal for keeping an organism alive but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll thrive to their fullest potential. I really don't think artificial conditions can ever recreate what truly wild nature does in terms of natural selection.
Though in nature, they have unlimited space in some places like Congo, rainforest, etc....and many species of things grow to the size of their habitat. Goldfish can grow to huge sizes, if put into a lake and they survive. Snakes that can get big don't always get as big as possible if in an enclosure that limits those levels of growth. Stuck away, isolated, plenty of prey, rare human intrusion...can get some incredible things with time added.
If it's an undiscovered species then your point about the keepers isn't applicable, the claim isn't we are finding those very same snakes we have in captivity in the wild at much bigger sizes than we can get them to grow too, the claim is we are spotting new species which naturally grow that big, if we did have them in captivity we'd very easily have them exceeding 30ft all the time by a large margin.
in 2005 they mistaken this bones as croc fossils, and when they studied a new specie of Snake, "BREAKING THE RECORD OF TITANOBOA" in India in a mining area, it was 50 feet long and named "Vasuki Indicus" And was declared as "The king of serpant" The Titanoboa lost its title for being the biggest snake, but it lived 47million years ago, but this could possibly this.
I had a heart attack reading this
@@viktori9p895 call an ambulance
VASUKI is considered one of KINGs OF SERPENTS in INDIA
He is part of INDIAN MYTHOLOGY
@@SAFFRONINFERNOpaleontologists found snake fossils that may have exceeded the titanoboa in length. They’ve name it Vasuki after the mythological snake.
@@dI9ESTIVES123 Read of THAKSHAK the KING OF SERPENTS as per HINDU MYTHOLOGY
The Congo rainforest has an incredible ecosystem and there have been sightings of giant snakes all across the world and in the fossil record there are enormous snakes growing far larger then the ones we have today it is very well possible that there is some sort of huge snake unknown to us yet
Jormungandr.
I want to see Hel and Fenrir(Giant Wolf).
Yeah Forrest Galante (famous zoologist) also said that the Congo is the only rainforest without giant snakes
I always wonder why is it, almost always these back then it's these westerners/foreigner who always happen to have once in a lifetime encounter with these animals and not rhe locals or at least the local's encounters aren't reported and yet we now live in a time where we have smartphones that can shot 4k videos and can zoom 10x with more research happening in these regions, but suddenly we don't find or encounter such animals anymore...
Where are the giant snakes? giant spiders, big hairy ape men?
I've always rated this as one of the more possible cryptids. It's some rough and wild terrain, and the idea of a very large species of snake doesn't seem too incredible to me. I do wonder what they would eat, to sustain such a colossal body.
I always wonder why is it, almost always these back then it's these westerners/foreigner who always happen to have once in a lifetime encounter with these animals and not rhe locals or at least the local's encounters aren't reported and yet we now live in a time where we have smartphones that can shot 4k videos and can zoom 10x with more research happening in these regions, but suddenly we don't find or encounter such animals anymore...
Where are the giant snakes? giant spiders, big hairy ape men?
That is some godforsaken terrain, right where you'd expect a cryptid snake to dwell.
The congo has some of the most beautiful scenery in the world.
@@Msrandumb but it lacks God
@@MikeHawk8008 We all lack god. Doesn't exist.
@@whoever_81 says you, I’m chillin doin just fine
@@MikeHawk8008 Good...I am chilling too.
No way that spot would look anything like it used to.
I wouldn't underestimate what's in the Congo, Amazon, and such. Whether it's an 1800's journal of a 30ft Great White, or reports of a 35 ft crocodile in the phillipines, the growth of animals can be shocking.
I agree,just look at humans. Average male height is around 5'7" to 5'9",yet we have people like shaq,yao ming or robert wadlow who are way taller than average. If that can happen with humans,why couldn't it happen with animals?
@@joetokyo1158The world record holder is 8'11
I always wonder why is it, almost always these back then it's these westerners/foreigner who always happen to have once in a lifetime encounter with these animals and not rhe locals or at least the local's encounters aren't reported and yet we now live in a time where we have smartphones that can shot 4k videos and can zoom 10x with more research happening in these regions, but suddenly we don't find or encounter such animals anymore...
Where are the giant snakes? giant spiders, big hairy ape men?
the phillipines ones is true cause we have several crocs thay large that has been actually recorded and kept in captivity
@@joetokyo1158 shaq and the other guys are still only just 2-3 feet taller than the average human... they are around 50% taller/bigger, you can't expect a snake that is typically 7-8 feet long to suddenly be able be over 100% larger than the average large pythons of the area... that'd be like if the biggest person ever is 10 feet tall lol
Cool photo but the pilot said he made 6 passes at the area, why not take more than one picture? a different angle or showing the snake move positions between the pictures could have given it much more credibility
Not quite sure, there was a report that there was another photo but I think it was a misunderstanding. Heuvelmans says that there were two copies of the photo framed differently, so I think there was only ever one photo
1000%
How quickly could you take pictures with cameras in 1959 ?
Pretty quick.@@Shadowman820
@@Shadowman820 That depends on the camera. Only a few a minute with the old Kodak Brownie camera that I inherited from my mum, but there were professional cameras that could take continuous shots through an entire roll of film by then. I'm guessing that the camera this photo was taken with was somewhere in between the two, but closer to the latter.
I worked at a sand mine in Uganda mpigi district in a swamp known as Lwera. We heard stories of a giant python known as "Jaja(grandpa) Lwera" that was said to kill cattle and people. One day we hired sand prospectors to look for new sand deposits as in the area where the dredge was situated the sand was depleted. They came back half an hour later wet and panting frantically. Claimed a giant snake had knocked over their canoe before they scampered back to shore. They also said it had the girth of a cow and a head as big as a pigs head. Of course as a person with interest in snakes and knows African rock pythons don't exceed 20 feet I was doubtful. The fact that they declined the agreed pay as long as we didn't compel them to go back and complete their job made me wonder.
Very interesting story. Cool name too
to me this photo really looks like a smaller snake on some rocks. you can even make out the grass texture
I definitely thought that the wide shot kind of looked like grass
@@Truthisscarierthanfiction I don't know. I used to think that, but in the wide shot well to the right of the snake's head-end is something that looks more like a tree than anything else in the photo.
I keep flipping back and forth on if I think it is or not, the top right in the uncropped pic does look like grass but also the motion blur at the bottom is strange for a close up photo
You can see termite mounds around the pictures. Terming mounds are actually pretty large in the Congo
how can you really tell if they’re termite mounds vs small pebbles/piles of dirt though?
It’s a juvenile snake in a sandy spot in the yard of some random guy who took a photo of it in 1958.
Amazing video! Interesting pieces of lost media and the backstory of this image is wild! I always thought it was a normal sized snake that people thought was way bigger
Back during that time, and the location, I can believe a snake getting up to 50 ft or longer.
I’m certainly no cartographer, but I would think you should be able to use Belgian military topographical maps and match them relatively accurately with the contours easily visible in the original photograph. The general area is known so it shouldn’t be too terribly difficult. 🤷♂️
No comment on the size but I just wanted to say that as a keeper of pythons, boas, and ratsnakes, I disagree that it would be odd for a snake to raise part of its body up as described. It's commonly called telescoping.
I've always been intrigued by this story. The witnesses sounded credible. However something about the reflections off the snakes back has always seemed a bit off.
How so
@loverofyurigagarin1149 I don't have the geometry skills to explain it adequately. Some of the reflections, glare and angles don't match up. The sun is supposedly behind the chopper. Which makes some of the reflections appear legitimate. However then you have a totally different angled surface facing another direction entirely that also has a reflection. 🤔
@@loverofyurigagarin1149 snakes esepically reptiles arent that shiny lol, it looks like it was covered in oil, especially considering the cameras of those times, they had a hard time capturing light and no hdr tech, so often photos would be overexposed, but yet here the snake is perfectly visible and unaffected by the strong lighting which is visible on the surrounding environment
I first heard this story in the 1990's and it has never changed. I also saw the video about the trees in the picture and someone proved the scale to be exactly the same as the pilot reported it to be.
Great stuff, you mentioned a lot of sources and bits of info I haven’t heard brought up before when this photo is discussed.
I've watched this video many times across multiple channels here on RUclips and I am in the believer camp not because of the photo but the pilot himself and his determination to present his find to the wider world.... and there are few places on earth as remote from civilization as the Congo...
Even if the people are credible humans are notorious for mistaking the size of animals
my Dad talked about giant snakes they could see from airplanes that could be seen from the trees when he was in the air force flying all over the jungle.
Wow, which country was this?
Yes, I'm curious as well the whereabouts 👀
why is always military men who come with these grand stories from "exotic" or "mysterious" lands? if such did exist, how come the people who actually live there never encounter or report such
After reading through the comments I find it shocking no one else commented that the snake looks totally superimposed on the photo. It has an animation quality to it
But you have to remember this photo was taken in 1959 so doing that sort of thing to manipulate a photo was much more difficult back then.
@@Shadowman820
So what if it was more difficult? If it can happen, it can still happen.
@@citizenvulpes4562 I'm not even sure they could have done this at all in 1959 .
@@Shadowman820 they can, heck bored teens can pull off better hoaxes with less, a military photographer probably had the best camera available back then, you'd be surprise how often stories like these come from westerners, especially those who wanna retire soon, gotta leave a bit of legacy to your name
50-foot snake is stretching it.
I can believe 35ft.
You may check the new species of snake fossil found in India it's interesting.
@@RawyuIt's a fossil. Stop it.
I think reticulated pythons already get up to 50 feet
@@bitty_beastly47No I believe the max we’ve seen is about 23 with a couple rumored 24-25ft. I do believe that there are probably some out there that are or are a tiny bit past 25ft but only a couple and those guys are the giants of the giants. Same thing with Anacondas too but I think they have the potential to be much bigger imo due to more land and a bigger river.
@@bitty_beastly47 ridiculous pythons do
The B&W photo is a real snake on what looks like a model built landscape
Guy talks like a 25ft snake isn't huge...!!! However, i'd wager this snake was easily 40ft max. That is a monstrosity for sure.
Thanks for doing this video…it provided valuable context that gave the photo a bit more credibility than I had remembered it having. I always thought it was a fake; now I’m not sure.
Since the satellite image perfectly matches the terrain, why don't any zoologists or wild life enthusiasts visit this location and investigate?
Van Lierde said that this snake emerged out of a hole in the ground. This terrain looks unchanged even after 70 years nearly. They can investigate both the locations.
There are streams in the area and the snake can probably hunt there. I believe that this snake rarely emerges out. But whenever it does, I think it eats big and hibernates in underground caverns. I really believe that this snake is real. I wish that its mystery will be solved before I die. It really keeps me up at nights. Wish I had the means to reach this location. I would investigate it myself!
Lack of funding, proof of where the photo took place, and it’s probably very hard to get out there are very big factors. I’m sure some scientists want to but they would have to be fairly confident and location and getting someone to fund this expedition would be nearly impossible. It’s a cryptid so most people in the scientific world probably just laugh it off someone like Mr beast would have to fund an expedition.
Because smart people know it's all bs
Your video is getting better and better!
Much appreciated!
I do think pythons can reach 9 meters, especially in these older days. I mean invasive Burmese, rock and reticulated pythons have all reached 7 meters+ in modern day when our impact has been the worst. A couple more meters and few dozen more kilos in their hayday doesn't seem too unlikely. 15 is kinda a stretch. That's bigger than Titanoboa, which was absolutely an aquatic snake and dined mostly on large lungfish.
Woah, I didnt expect to see you here. Cool!
wow that satellite image very closely resembles the snake photo's area, it's just not shown very good in this video.
if you click on 5:59 and let the video play for a second and click on 5:59 again,
you'll see that the path/river bed on the satellite image (upper twisting part) is the exact same as in the snake picture.
so, maybe it is a gigantic snake. always thought this was just a bad joke, but the satellite image changed my mind
This photo was verified by Kodak to be true. Analysis was done and the giant snake is between 40 to 50 feet.
I can't find the source
@@marc0lin00 asking for source isn't something you do around here. it kinda kills the topic.
@@valhallasrevenge You can't claim it's real when there 0 source stating that
@@marc0lin00 yes, that is the joke i just made. we are on the same page here bud.
(also, i never claimed anything was real. the other dude did)
@@valhallasrevenge sorry then, I find hard to actually understand the tone behind a screen
Thought they were in an airplane?!
If they'd been riding a helicopter, why flybys and not just hover??
They were doing passes in the area apparently, they got concerned over the snake moving around apparently
Because it's a hoax
The look on the guy's face at 2:45, "Da hell do you want?"
I love finding old artwork to use in videos, that one came from the book The Young Llanero
Why am getting to know about congo colasus wildlifes only in 2024.?
Well, I held up a ruler to my screen and it was about 8.5 inches long on my 51 inch tv screen. I bet you all feel silly now thinking it was a 100 foot snake.
I believe that this is a Gigantophis Garstini snake or a very close relative of it. I believe that it hasn't gone extinct to date.
They say that about Hitler too
Ok i commented on the 7th minute of your video! a big mistake of the journalist when interviewing colonel remy van learde, on a documentary made by sir athur clarke, regarding the giant congo snake, the journalist who interviewed the colonel, did not ask the question, where is the actual location point of the sighting of the giant congo snake. when colonel remy van learde with his 3 crew in the helicopter, reporters also did not ask questions, when the colonel returned from patrol where is the location of the forest, and how far is the actual location of the sighting of the giant snake from kamina air base. this case happened in the province of katanga region, but colonel remy did not state the exact location point of the sighting of the giant snake, many assumptions say the distance of the sighting of the congo giant snake, about 60 miles northwest of kamina air base, and this means the location of the forest the sighting of the Congo giant snake approximately 96.5 kilometers northwest of Kamina Air Base,
a year after the sighting George vonnivaer had come to the wrong place to take photos and record a color video of the situation at the sighting location, vonnivaer had gone to a place 100 kilometers northwest of Kamina air base, vonnivaer's location was also inaccurate
This is a cryptid I truly think exists. More logical than something like sasquatch.
I hate to break it to you but Sasquach is very real, too. Take 5 minutes to look up "Bigfoot evidence" here on RUclips. See what you find...
To me it seems likely that it’s misidentifying a rock python
So why didnt they take alot more photos,
Coz it's not a wedding photo shoot.
@@mahasohona966 Lmao
@@mahasohona966this is way more worthy of a photoshoot then a wedding.
@@darklordsauron3415 Say your wedding
@@mahasohona966 I don’t want a wedding.
It is very clear that there is a big tree at the bottom right of the picture , pause the video at 9:41 . and the snake appears much larger than this tree. It is certain that this snake is no less than 30 meters long and 2 meters thick.
No it's a grass
Smh
Looks like a worm on some dirt
I’ve been to Congo and they have pythons in the wild of abnormal size they get too big to move around and hunt so they stick to muddy and wet regions where it’s easier to move their colossal bodies by sliding on the terrain and only move at night. For them to see one so far out and visible from a helicopter in broad daylight seems far fetched but there are large snakes out there
Very much enjoyed this. Nice work!
Thank you very much!
Fascinating analysis, I do think it’s very possible an unknown undocumented species of giant snake distinct from the African rock python does exist in the Congo, you did bring up a good point about how snakes at such largest sizes are generally more aquatic and seeing one this far from water is peculiar, and perplexing. Also there have also been reports of giant crocodile species growing over 30 feet Called the mahamba, and western reports of very large giant crocodile reported in the region as well. Also I’ve heard of a very interesting report from bill gibbons that a crocodile skeleton was discovered by Pierre Sima a Cameroonian national and also other local people in the Congo. They put the bones together and measured it out at 30 feet. I do wish they would have took a photograph of the bones or even at least collect samples for dna analysis. The Congo region definitely holds a host of unknown and undocumented species in the region. On a final note, I have heard of other giant snake reports from other parts of Africa, I believe it was in Ethiopia, could have been a new species, it’s been a while since I’ve read up on it though.
Could you tell me more about the Gibbons croc skeleton story? Was it from his book about the Mokele and Missionaries? I've heard stories of giant crocodiles and giant spiders from people from Cameroon.
I remember the Grootslang of Southern Africa is supposedly a giant snake (seems more like folklore to me though). There's a story of romans killing a giant snake if I remember right
Yes, I originally heard about this story from bill gibbons crypto hunt RUclips channel, though I forgot which video in particular mentioned this crocodile skeleton discovery, but I did ask bill, and told me about its discovery, really wish they had some photos or material to bring back. As for bill gibbons book on Mokele mbembe and missionaries, I’m honestly not sure, bill could very well have mentioned it in one of his books, I still need to get a copy of one. Also that’s really cool, I’ve heard about a Mokele mbembe battling with a giant crocodile in the Cameroon, or maybe it was the Congo? But from what bill said, the Mokele mbembe was using its tail against the giant crocodile. I believe that particular story with a Mokele mbembe clashing with a giant crocodile is mentioned in an interview with bill gibbons, the channel is called Beastly Theories and it’s EP. 74 Mokele mbembe. Also what have you heard about these giant Cameroon crocodile reports, stories ? Sounds intriguing, Also that another very fascinating one, giant spiders, I’ve heard about them reported in the Congo, and as for Cameroon giant spiders that’s really interesting, it’s been awhile since I’ve heard about giant spiders or ones in that area, ones that would rival a full grown coconut crab or larger in size would definitely be quite an extraordinary and perplexing find. And they would have to have a different method of breathing to be able to grow to such sizes, unlike there smaller contemporary species. Also what do you know about these giant Cameroonian spiders? Are they also reported in other countries besides the Cameroon and Congo? Also regarding undocumented species, I’ve heard of an unknown monitor lizard locals reported in the Congo, different from the ornate monitor. Also heard reports of crocodiles in the lower Congo by local people that sound like oversized dwarf crocodile species, and reports of its breeding Behaviour being compared to the the Central African slender snouted crocodile which is more closer genetically to dwarf crocodiles osteolaemus than to true crocodiles, crocodylus. And 4 or maybe 5 other unknown crocodile species reported in Africa I’ve heard about.
@@jointcerulean3350 Thank you for the information. I'd heard two about the crocodiles in Cameroon. The first involved one siezing a man who was drawing water from a well and eating him. The locals completely abandoned the well as a water source and eventually filled it in and left the area for fear of the animal, which they said was different from a normal crocodile by it's length and bulk, darker colouration and it having small protuberences or "horns" around/over the eye area. The second one involved one of these animals swimming along side, underneath and bumping a fuel vessel (I'm not sure if they have official terms, but the boat had a cargo of various fuels) along the length of the river it inhabited. The animal was almost the same size as the vessel, which was 50 feet. All I know about the giant spiders in Cameroon is that they are very poisonous and the bite causes localized necrosis of the limb resulting in tissue damage and amputation. They live underground in holes kind of like trapdoor spiders, but are much larger. The persons I spoke to said it's considered unlucky to talk about them. Perhaps there's been a great deal of sightings missed due to this.
@KingFluffs Indeed, and thank you for very much for this very fascinating and tantalizing information. This is very intriguing and quite astonishing amount of detail, I have not heard of this type of crocodile before in the Cameroon, and really taken aback by how much has been described in great detail about this croc. Having a much larger size than other normal crocodiles, and a more bulky build and darker coloration. This crocodile reported in the Cameroon sounds like a truly undocumented new species of giant crocodile of some kind, very detailed description of this mystery crocodile, very likely some kind of osteolaemine crocodile by the sound of it, related to species such as dwarf crocodiles, rimasuchus, kinyang, and voay robustus. And one very interesting detail mentioned about this croc was it’s horn like protuberances above its eyes, sounds a lot like or similarly to what is seen in spectacled caimans of South America, and which is also present in dwarf crocodiles which have bony eyelids, though it’s not often expressed, flared out or pointed like a spectacled caiman. If these horn like structure above the eyes were noticed by the local people, they would be much more predominant and larger than modern known crocodilian horn like eyelid protuberances it would seem. That is a really fascinating report croc report, Sighting. Also that second report is Wild, sounds like a 40 foot crocodile, must have been incredible to see while on the cargo boat, that’s a really mind boggling one, and it’s interesting it collided with cargo boat, something that sized would be preying on hippos and other large megafauna no problem. Also those giant spider reports are interesting, living like trap door spiders wow, very cool info, wonder if they occasionally forage for prey like some tarantula species, and that sound pretty gnarly about its venom. On the last bit of information, that does sound likely to be the case, unfortunate if true, it would make a lot of sense if that is the reason why it is not reported more frequently, sounds like a similar situation with the Mokele mbembe living in the Congo region, such as in the lac tele locality.
The photo is not real, it has been verified a recreation as the original photo was supposed to have been lost. This is a verified fact, the photo is fake !
But the snake is real.
@@Msrandumbhow can be real if the photo Is Snake and no one ever find It? Not even the skeleton.
Are you really that delusional to believe that? No one, not even the indigenous people, ever saw a snake as big as a whale.
Go touch some grass
@@MsrandumbWhat would a snake that large even be eating?
that's not true, the photo is 100% real
@@chucky19710 Yes, the photo is real: but it's not a snake.
I’m pretty sure that’s a black and white picture of a worm on a marble table
Who would build a marble table large enough to hold a 50 foot worm?
Exactly
Could it be that somewhere, somehow, the titanoboa could still exist? Just much smaller of course. 🤔🤔
Reminds me of a fun video I saw back in like 2008-2010 RUclips era. Allegedly a huge snake filmed from the air in the Amazon rainforest. It was a color video and there was this real big snake in the water almost crossing the whole river. RUclips used to be so good for urban legend kind of videos like that its such a shame. Hard to look for now it seems
that is still a huge snake in an odd enviroment.
I regularly relocate large Phythones, and I can tell u they rear up and snap when pestered to much.
8.05 is another picture from the Arthur C Clarke episode & is ment to show a picture of a 130 foot dead snake from Bolivia
It's camera angle dude 130 is fake must be around 15 feet
@tauseefahmad999 Well then you are obviously an expert in Giant Snakes : "it's just the camera angle" of course.. Why didn't I think of that !
You are real Genius ha ha
I think this is a baby snake, made a photo from a standing position, you can tel by the gras on the upper halve of the picture
That's interesting, I always thought of that "grass" you see as tree tops. Another aspect of this image up to interpretation I guess.
Well, the worlds longest snake that currently exists is the Reticulated Python. The longest one ever measured (which counts for the longest snake that’s currently known to still be alive) was around 37ft I think. The longest snake ever to be known to exist though was the Titanaboa which, from as far we know, is currently extinct. If the longest current record for a snake is 37ft (if my memory for that is correct) then this snake would only be 13ft longer-if it is 50ft that is. It’s possible this could be a surviving Titanaboa as they could get up to 47ft long I think (making this snake only a few feet longer supposedly) but it’s also possible that this could be an entirely unknown species of snake that still hasn’t been documented by science. The Congo is a big place so anything could be possible and thinking that a huge snake being around 50ft long also isn’t COMPLETELY out of the realm of possibility, especially if we’re dealing with a unknown species of snake (and considering what else I’ve mentioned about already-known known snake lengths) but I’ve also heard claims of this snake being 195ft long-that’s much more unlikely and probably isn’t the case. That’s just too long but 50ft or around that? Yeah, I could see that being possible.
Or it could be a snake with gigantism ostracized by his community for being different, hence why it's sitting alone depressed.
No Snake has ever been confirmed at thirty feet or greater. Every single one has either proven to be much smaller or never verified. There are several long-standing rewards in the million dollar range that have never been claimed. There are also currently an inestimable number of retics, anacondas and Burmese pythons in captivity eating far better than any wild counterpart and no one is raising them up that big. If they got that big we would have a few. 23-25’ is about as big as you will find.
In nature, they have unlimited space in some places like Congo, Rainforest, etc....and many species of things grow to the size of their habitat. Goldfish can grow to huge sizes, if put into a lake and they survive. Snakes that can get big don't always get as big as possible if in an enclosure that limits those levels of growth. Stuck away, isolated, plenty of prey, rare human intrusion...can get some incredible things with time added.
Catfish and carp, above the gates of dams, can get to be 5 ft - 6 ft big! People and animals that drown get swept there eventually if not retrieved, and are eaten by those scavenger fish. A catfish. I know for a fact this is true...I've heard it firsthand from divers at Arizona lakes/dams who go check the gates when someone is missing from the lake...they estimate when they disappeared, the lake flow to the dam, etc. and go down that time period. Gross, yes, but that is what happens. I absolutely believe there are various species of cryptid critters roaming this planet...those we still do not have viable, physical proof of. Just because some might be large, doesn't mean they can't hide...if they are around that long, they are smart to have survived rarely seen, so long. So yeah...I believe airborne, ground dwelling, and ocean dwelling critters...probably underground as well...are still to be discovered by humans.
Its just the fact that the congo has the same environment and resources as the amazon and the rainforest of south east asia
Both home to monster proportions snakes leaving the congo a viable area for a massive python/anaconda like species but its.just a thought experiment
The African Rock Python already lives there and is quite large.
I remember when I saw claims online that said that the original estimate for the snakes length were over 100 feet / 30 meters in length, lol!
It's a Biggus Dickus. Native to Congo.
Are you the snake expert, Prof. Monty Python?
@@aquariandawn4750 Yes indeed
With 6 passes and a photographer on board (among others), why only one single photo?
So... they made several fly-bys, and still only one usable picture was taken? Sounds awfully like those UFO encounters where the guy would have a ton of oppotunities to take pictures, still can only produce one, extremely grainy photo taken from a mile...
One single image of something obviously rare and inexplicable is always a huge red flag.
Hey! I thought it was a law that if you see something supernatural. You could only use a blurry camera to photograph it!
@@davidme9698 Well, maybe it is and I just didn't know about that ;)
@@bioLarzen it sure seems like it sometimes! Lol
Looks like an earthworm to me.
Giant earthworms ! RUN!
I really appreciate that you take the time to use both measuring systems. As an Australian whos got no concept of imperial it is such an immersion breaker. Sometimes to the point I have to Google to the differences
I try to switch the order I use em in based on the country. Like if it takes place in Australia I go Metric first then imperial, and the opposite if it takes place in America
This photo was verfied real by experts and the size was 50 feet but the head size is hard to believe!
Only a giant snake would try to attack a helicopter.
You forgot Taliban
The fact that all 3 of then confirmed it as a snake and the common legends it makes sense.
They must have been saving their film for something more important.
Yeah , I bet that's what happened !! 😂😂
"A snake that big would struggle to move around"
Nope. Reticulated pythons are a perfect example. And even the largest of them move quite effortlessly.
Do they raise up to attack prey? Physically definitely capable of that, it's just that it doesn't usually happen. How do I know?
One of them is sitting right behind me *right now* and literally as I'm typing I feel her head on my shoulder 😜
And I've seen *countless* times what they're capable of. It's not siding with those who told the story/told the photo, just clearing up some things here and there as a snake keeper and breeder.
This snake was supposed to be more than double the size of the longest reticulated python ever recorded.
The giant snake photo. There's nothing in the photo for scale. The supposed trees could be any weed or bush. For all we know the photo could have been taken by some guy on a path, and the snake could be less than a meter long. The image superimposed over the satellite photo doesn't match, there are no landmarks clearly visible in either photo. It's a case of people seeing what they want to see. Whoever did it must have skipped every GIS course available, though, because there's no road on the planet that you couldn't lay that photo over in order to claim a match.
When I first got into photography as a kid, I'd stage pictures like this for fun. Maybe if I turned them black and white I could convince someone that there really are a bunch of anatomically incorrect dinosaurs roaming the forests.
There always seems to be a grainy photo with no scale and a bundle of eyewitness accounts and stories and estimates. People want to believe gigantic prehistoric type animals exist out there. Maybe what they saw was big but trying to say it was 50ft etc. is very difficult from a helicopter.
Theirs a scientist that had a prehistoric model of the snake made based off of a vertebrae that was discovered a The snake was 60 foot.. you can Google model prehistoric snake and watch it being built..
Col Percy Fawcett was ridiculed for reporting the shooting of a 90ft snake in Amazonia, a small dinosaur type creature and a two-nosed dog. The two-nosed dog appears to me the most laughable.
They laughed at him. Years later, they found the two-nosed dog, it still exists today.
I'm a snake expert including road observations which can be extremely fleeting and difficult from a moving vehicle, but are necessary to herpetology. Three of the things I look for are in this photo. One is glossiness (scales aren't as shiny as metal but aren't dull like rubber), another is dead or injured snakes often show their bellies, and a third is their liquid shape unlike a stiff branch or root. Photos often capture unusual moments or movements however. I think a helicopter pilot is an excellent witness that adds credibility to the photo. There's another story told by an ex-soldier in Central America about a snake that eats cows, and I noticed there was nothing in the description that suggests it was an anaconda or a boid. It could be an entirely different kind of snake.
To be honest sir I personally think that's a 'supposedly extinct' Titanoboa somehow lived for many years and got photographed for the first time
@@MasterMF9751 I was just looking up the range of Titanoboa fossils. Unfortunately the fossil record tells us something different from what a person would actually see, but it could very well be Titanoboa.
Big snakes can eat cows at least some this isnt something new.
Should be very true. Because anaconda and crocodile never stop growing in their entire life so as long as they live.
It's a Vasuki indicus. They have recently found a vertebrae of this giant snake. And it's a giant cobra. There are so many legends about this mighty beast in ancient Indian text. They were kept in Hindu temples for worshiping. Humans were fed to them as sacrifice
lol no species of cobra have never reached that size.
@@user-xy6wu3xg2c Ancient Indians knew about this snake; there are references to it in many Hindu and Buddhist texts. According to legend, one of these snakes provided shelter to Buddha while he was meditating. They coexisted with ancient Indians at some point. I believe a small number of this snake population lived in ancient India and were worshiper as gods. Stuff you read in Conan books. History is sometime more terrifying than fiction.
Why does it just look like a earthworm in a road
It was the snake called Laurumtumbrlulli Rembembel!
I really doubt that the snake was 20 meters long. I don’t think that the man lied, but I am pretty sure that he was just mistaken.
RUBISH!
If there was a photographer, on the helicopter, who had nothing else to do, whilst flying over the “snake” for a while, then why is this single, low quality photo, the only photo he took?
Imagine how much food, a snake that size would need.
With the size claimed, the snake would be way too heavy/slow to hunt anything.
A snake that size, would struggle to hide, so how comes none, of the locals ever saw it?
A spices? Hardly possible that there would be talk of an entire spices, able to hide that well, whilst of such size, that none of them have ever been seen alive or found dead.
Congo is a large forest you idiot and the photo is taken in 1959 they didn't have 100x zoom smartphone 😂
And the ww2 pilot is a credible source
I’m sorry but trying to identify the area on google maps from a decades old picture was a really stupid idea
Real proof of giant snake available in Bharat India in gujrat Named VASUKI
Pilot: "SIR with this amazing F24-Camera we got that can shoot multiple photos per minute, how many pictures of this amazing never-before-seen creature do you wanna take, to document this unique moment?!"
Remy Van Lierde: "Nah, one is enough." 😊📷
I see no reason for this man to have lied or misrepresented his observations. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose regarding his reputation.
The snake looks big if the picture is even real and if it is it looks like sand and big trees usually dont grow in sand so it would probably just be bushes all around it making it look bigger
I actually did my own analysis of the different size estimates and their probabilities a few months back. I’ll leave it below…
Congo snake size analysis
Extremely unlikely (due to estimates of proportions and eye witness accounts)
3 foot tall tree = 12 foot snake (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate)
Highly unlikely (due to estimates of proportions and eye witness accounts)
5 foot tall tree = 20 foot snake (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate), plausible for rock pythons in the region although their phenotypes are fairly dissimilar
Unlikely (due to estimates of proportions and eye witness accounts)
24 feet (estimate of largest ever somewhat verified report of a rock python, although slightly larger specimen are thought to be potentially possible)
Plausible?
8 foot tall tree = 32 foot snake, commonly reported but unverified (aka cryptids) Green Anaconda and reticulated python snake sizes (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate)
Plausible?
~33 feet (world record for reticulated python - matches description but not native to region)
Less plausible due to size
38 feet (minimum estimated length of ‘Pumina’ in Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, 2 Volume Set by George M. Eberhart)
Less plausible due to size
12m (~39 feet) length (minimum estimated length by wildlife photographer Ray Tercafs)
Less plausible
10 foot tall tree = 40 foot snake (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate, also Mysterious World's estimate)
Unlikely due to novelty of the size of snake
14m (~46 feet) length (maximum estimated length by wildlife photographer Ray Tercafs, also maximum estimated length of ‘Pumina’ in Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, 2 Volume Set by George M. Eberhart)
Highly unlikely due to size of snake
12 foot tall tree = 48 foot snake (Reddit user AutumnOctavia’s very rough estimate)
Highly unlikely due to size of snake
Probably a living undiscovered relative of the recently discovered Vasuki Indicus
The photo is for real back then there is no fake news.
I would refer you to the fake picture of the Loch Ness Monster that turned out to be a model.. All periods in history have had fake news.
You don't think people hoaxes stuff? Okay lol.
A big rock python subspecies could exist.
Like zoologist Forrest Galante said the congo is the only rainforest without giant snakes. Granted African rock pythons are the fourth largest snake but its definitely too small compared to other snakes that resides in rainforests especially in rainforests with so much large animals.
The biggest thing wrong with this photo is that the snake doesn't seem close to water and giant snakes are often semi aquatic.
This size of snake would likely act as an anaconda but the body shape is definitely a python.
Snakes dont stop growing so it could also be an old specimen but a rock python would never get that big in such a competitive area.
The only way of knowing is making contact with the tribes or villages there to find out what the biggest snake is
I'm gonna get flamed, but...I think the photo is an obvious fake. The snake image looks like it was cut from one picture and pasted on another. The snake image looks like it was taken with a different camera at a different resolution. the snake is in focus more than it's surroundings and it's obvious (to me) that the photo is a composition of 2 images taken by 2 different cameras using different settings.
Yeah its fairly obvious. I don't understand how people don't see it lmao.
Kodak thinks otherwise
@@bryanergau6682 then Kodak is wrong
@@jamescromer550 I think so too.
@@jamescromer550 clearly you know more about photos than one of the oldest and largest camera and film companies in the world
If this thing was real, it was 15-20ft longer than the average school bus