What Made Sherlock Holmes Very Popular over the Decades?



Very few fictional characters created long ago have remained popular to this day. Tintin, a cartoon character created by Georges Prosper Remi in 1929, has remained popular since its creation (10). One of his Tintin books has been turned into a feature-length Hollywood movie (The Adventures of Tintin [2011]). Superman, Batman, and other comic book heroes have also made it to the big screen, but literary characters that have remained widely popular for more than a hundred years are rare. One such character has gained much cinematic attention over the years, and more recently with the release of Guy Ritchie’s popular mystery/action film, Sherlock Holmes (2009), and with expectation for the theatrical release of the second film in the series, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011). The question is, “What makes Sherlock Holmes so popular?”

Sherlock Holmes is unique, widely appealing, intriguing, and eccentric, unlike many other characters that have appeared in books in the nineteenth century and later. What set Holmes apart from other literary characters is that he is highly intelligent, almost inhumanly so. He could discern facts that most people overlooked or were not aware of. In many of the Sherlock Holmes stories, he would look at a person or a client and guess by what means of transportation they had arrived at his door and what occupation they had. With such perceptive skills, using inductive and deductive reasoning, he was able make generalizations that were almost always correct. The only time he was actually outsmarted occurred in the story “A Scandal in Bohemia” when Irene Adler evades and escapes from Holmes. She was the only person to outsmart him.
Besides having a high degree of intelligence, Holmes was eccentric. In “A Study in Scarlet”, he was not aware that the Earth orbited around the Sun, to Watson’s amazement. Through the character of Watson, Doyle wrote:
Upon my quoting Thomas Carlyle, he [Holmes] inquired in the naivest way who he might be and what he had done. My surprise reached a climax, however, when I found incidentally that he was ignorant of the Copernican Theory and of the composition of the Solar System. That any civilized human being in this nineteenth century should not be aware that the earth travelled round the sun appeared to me to be such an extraordinary fact that I could hardly realize it [sic]. (5)
 
Other eccentricities of Sherlock Holmes include his addiction to cocaine, which he injected by a needle (3). When Holmes was between cases, he would often get restless as his active mind sought some kind of thing to engage itself with. To calm his mind, Holmes took cocaine, a substance which was not illegal at the time (3). Another oddity of the eccentric detective is the way he stored and collected certain objects. Unlike most people who smoked, Holmes kept his pipe tobacco in the toe of a Persian slipper (9). His papers from different cases were stuffed in various nooks and crannies of his living room because he hated to get rid of them. If that wasn’t enough, Holmes had a strange and irritating habit of playing the violin late at night, to his landlady’s displeasure (9).

Sherlock Holmes and Watson’s unique personalities and Holmes quirkiness came from Arthur Conan Doyle’s life experience. While pursuing a medical degree at the University of Edinburgh, Arthur Conan Doyle quickly got bored and began to find that his teachers were more interesting than the subjects they taught. One particular teacher made an impression on Doyle that led to the development of his famous character, Sherlock Holmes. Dr. Joseph Bell, one of Doyle’s professors, stressed using a method where one is to pay close attention to small details, and then arrive at a general conclusion (1). He liked to impress students by guessing a person’s profession (1). Much like Holmes, Bell liked to use all his senses to observe and make accurate diagnoses. Using a real person as an inspiration for his protagonist and livening Holmes up with a distinct personality made Doyle’s character highly unique and interesting. The medical training Arthur Conan Doyle received also gave him the experience to accurately portray Dr. John Watson, Holmes’ friend and associate. This training also lent to Doyle a desire to create a character that stuck rigidly to a scientific process of solving crimes, which has greatly influenced detective fiction and has inspired many writers and film makers. One example is found in David Shore who is the executive producer and creator of the TV show House. Shore said, in an interview for Zap2It, that Dr. Gregory House, the main character of House was inspired by Sherlock Holmes (2).

While solving cases, the Sherlock Holmes stories brought the reader into the story so that the reader could feel as if he or she were part of the investigation. Watson, who had ordinary powers of observation, kept the story interesting and understandable, serving as a character the average person could identify with. In the period of history in which the Sherlock Holmes adventures take place, forensics was in its infancy (7). Holmes was using methods similar to what police and detectives would use decades later. People in the late nineteenth century were curious about such new, “cutting edge” methods of crime solving, since forensics was still mostly a novelty (7). The “novelty” of crime solving in the Sherlock Holmes cases came from Holmes’ ability to solve the presumably unsolvable by his sheer brilliance and acute observations, along with some contributions from Watson. Holmes often asked Watson what he thought of something, and after hearing Watson’s observation, Holmes would lead the reader to wonder if it wasn’t something more than what met the eyes--something completely different than what Watson (or the reader) had assumed. This made the mystery solving much more interesting than if Holmes had just spelled out all he thought or observed without leaving time for the reader to guess.

Besides being interesting and “novel” during their time, Sherlock Holmes stories were convenient. The stories were short enough so that people riding a train could read an entire mystery before reaching their destination (4). If they happened to miss some of the previous stories, there was no worry. Being brief, the Sherlock Holmes cases were published in their entirety and could be read separately. If a reader’s budget was tight, there was no need to be concerned. Most of the Sherlock Holmes cases were first published in a periodical, The Strand Magazine. In this medium, the stories were quite affordable and readily available. With an emerging class of literate people, the Sherlock Holmes stories were devoured by a growing readership (8). There was such a demand for the stories that when Arthur Conan Doyle had Sherlock Holmes fall to his death in one story (“The Final Problem”), the outcry from his fans caused him to resurrect his famous detective of Baker Street, and Holmes appeared in several more short stories and novels. No other fictional character has gained and continued to hold such popularity for so long.

In conclusion, Holmes is unique and eccentric, having wide appeal and popularity, even to this day. Part of this may be due to the influence of one of Arthur Conan Doyle’s professors, Dr. Joseph Bell, who was an inspiration for the character of Sherlock Holmes. The medical training Doyle received at the University of Edinburgh also gave him the background needed to create Watson. With Watson serving as a representative for the reader and a balance to the eccentric Holmes, Doyle was able to bring his fans into the story to make them feel as if they were present with Watson, trying to help Holmes solve each case. Readers could peruse a Sherlock Holmes story at their convenience, for a low price, and in one sitting. The numerous movies made over the years have also done their part to make Holmes more widely known. All these facts mentioned above, together, have contributed to the enduring popularity of Sherlock Holmes.
 
 
 

 
 
 
Works Cited

(1) "Arthur Conan Doyle." Sherlock Holmes. Stanford University, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.

(2) "Connections Between House and Holmes." housemd-guide.com. MIS, Inc, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

(3) Dalby, J. Thomas, PhD. "Sherlock Holmes’s Cocaine Habit." bakerstreetdozen.com. Charles Prepolec, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

(4) Dowd, Vincent. "Sherlock Holmes' enduring popularity." BBC.co.uk. BBC, 23 May 2009. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.

(5) Doyle, Arthur Conan. A Study in Scarlet. New York: Penguin Press, 1982. Print.

(6) Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Original illustrated 'Strand' Sherlock Holmes. Ware, England: Wordsworth Editions, 2001. Print.

(7) Leadbetter, Claire. "Why were the Sherlock Holmes stories so popular when they were first published and why do they remain so popular now? What evidence is there to support these views?" kspot.org. quantpsy.org, n.d. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.

(8) "Mystery Time Line." MysteryNet.com. MysteryNet and Newfront Productions, Inc, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

(9) “Sherlock Holmes Biography.” sherlock-holmes.co.uk. sherlock-holmes.co.uk, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.

(10) "Tintin in the Land of the Soviets." Tintinologist.org. Tintinologist.org, n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.
 
 
 

The Way We Were (1976)

November 28, 1976
(1976) Dry Bones cartoon: Winter, kerosene, Jerusalem, Shuldig, Inflation, 1976
Today's Golden Oldie is from the winter of 1976. Thirty Five years ago!!

I lived in Jerusalem back then and there is nothing that seemed as bone-chillingly cold as those winters in Jerusalem. Part of the problem was that Jerusalem's stone buildings were built to be cool in the summer heat, but when a snowy Jerusalem winter blew in, they were even cooler. Another part of the problem was that we all kept warm with small heaters that burned what we, in our local English dialect called "neft". It wasn't until years later that I learned that "neft"was actually kerosene!

They way we got our "neft"was to shlep a "jerry can" to a gas station or to wait for the neft delivery truck which had a tank from which patrons would fill their jerry cans, jugs, and bottles.

In the cartoon a frigid Mr. Shuldig is trudging home buttoned up against the cold, and musing on the inflation that was ravaging the country at the time.

Holiday Spirits 2011

Christmas,  Holidays, Economy, Crisis, Shopping, Consumers  : Dry Bones cartoon.
When I was a kid in Brooklyn, Christmas started with Santa coming to town in the Macy's parade on Thanksgivings Day. Now it apparently begins with something called Black Friday. I don't know anything about that, I've lived in Israel for forty years. The Christmas season seems, from a distance, at least, to have turned into the shopping season.

And this year, with the economic crisis, Dickens' three ghosts ("The Spirit of Christmas Past", "The Spirit of Christmas Present", and "The Spirit of Christmas Future") have morphed into the three shopping spirits; "Buy", "Save", and "Charge it".

In any case, my best wishes go to our readers who are, or who will soon be, out there Christmas-shopping.

White Powder (2001)

November 19, 2001
(2001) Dry Bones cartoon: anthrax, Poison, Terrorism, 911, terror,
This Golden Oldie is from 2001.

Ten years ago America was caught in a massive anthrax scare. Everyone seemed to be on the lookout for anthrax-laden mail. According to the BBC of Wednesday, November 7 , 2001:

"In media offices, abortion clinics, and government offices around the United States, mail handlers are donning white gloves for fear of the dreaded white powder - anthrax.

But still the FBI has no conclusive evidence as to whether the recent attacks have been state-sponsored, or the work of America's own radicals.

It is a complex investigation made worse by the fact that more than 2,500 anthrax scares in the United States have turned out to be false alarms."-more

* * *
This year Hanukkah begins at sunset on Tuesday, December 20, 2011, and ends at sunset on Wednesday, December 28, 2011.

How to Create a Fascinating Villain or Antagonist

In fairy tales, legends, myths, books, movies, comic books, and video games villains play a very important role. The most popular stories often have the most notorious villains. Since villains play such an important role, what exactly makes a villain or antagonist memorable or exceptional?

 The villain or antagonist in most good stories has certain characteristics distinguishing him or her from other villains. Many stories have arrogant, egotistic villains seeking more power or control. Scar, from the Disney movie The Lion King (1994), wanted to be the sole ruler and he sought to kill Simba and Mufasa to obtain the kingship. But, his lust for power, deception, and evil schemes became his undoing. Scar, in assuming his nephew, Simba, was dead, had made an oversight that would cost him his newly obtained kingdom. Power-hungry foes tend to be highly intelligent, but almost always end up making a mistake that costs them either their life or their potential victory. One prime example of such a character is Professor Moriarty from “The Final Problem”, a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis, Moriarty was a clever crime boss who manipulated his hired thugs to do his dirty work. Sherlock Holmes, though he was highly intelligent, could not outsmart Moriarty.

Intelligence and extreme egotism are not the only characteristics of notorious villains. Eccentric, psychopathic antagonists have appeared in many popular movies and books. One of the more infamous, psychopathic characters to hit the big screen was Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight (2008). Ledger’s Joker has become an internet sensation following the theatrical release of the movie. His untimely death shortly after the filming of The Dark Knight had ended has contributed to the mystery and popularity of his character, but his acting was considered to be one of the most realistic portrayals of a psychopath in film history.

Besides being psychopathic, memorable antagonists also, in many cases, personally know the protagonist (or main character). Darth Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father. Scar was Simba’s uncle. Harry Obsourne from Spider-Man 3 (2007) was Peter Parker’s best friend who turned against him, seeking to kill him. As with the case of Harry Obsourne, these villains often have personal vendettas against the main character. In Tron: Legacy (2010), CLU wanted to destroy his maker, Kevin Flynn--a computer programmer. Harvey Dent from The Dark Knight (2008) wanted to kill Batman (Bruce Wayne) who had been a friend. Creating an antagonist who personally knows the protagonist makes the story more interesting and gives the conflict a distinct, personal element. 

For a story to be interesting from the cover to cover, the main antagonist must be someone who presents a real threat to the existence or well being of the protagonist. If the protagonist is undefeatable, the story loses its appeal. In most stories, realistic villains should be capable of defeating the main character in some way and even come close to accomplishing that. In Sherlock Holmes (2009), Sherlock Holmes was within moments of being defeated by a powerful and evil nobleman, Lord Blackwood, who was close to killing off all who opposed his plan for a new government. Memorable and exceptional villains usually cause physical harm to the main character or the main character’s friends and loved ones. A villain who only gives threats or who only plans and schemes but does not execute his plans cannot be taken seriously and a story with such a character likely would have little or no plot.

Plot is everything. Without plot, a story would not exist. A good plot depends on the characters, and particularly on the antagonist. An interesting antagonist has certain characteristics that distinguish him or her from other characters. Some of these are hubris, psychopathy, and great intelligence. Antagonists also often know the main characters, have personal vendettas, and cause real harm to the protagonists or the protagonists’ love ones. Villains that fit these descriptions make stories good in that they provide a way for main characters to overcome challenges, conflicts, and oppositions in order to come out clearly victorious. The greater the challenge, the greater the victory.

2012

End of Days, Prophecy, 2012, Mayan calendar, Iran, Arab Spring, demonstrations,  : Dry Bones cartoon.
You've probably heard the ridiculous idea that because the Mayan calendar supposedly ends in 2012, some people believe that the world will end in 2012.

If not: check this idiocy out by clicking here.

a trip to 2011

Time Travel, 2011, Riots, Arab Spring, OWS, Occupy Wall Street, Egypt,   : Dry Bones cartoon.
When I was a kid the future was a wonderful place. Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, streamlined personal rocket ships, gleaming cities.

So now I'm living in the actual future!!

I love to do Time Traveler cartoons. I think of myself as the guy who got sent into the future and has come back to 1958 with his report. (and it's always a shock to the scientists who are running the operation back in the fifties).

Peace With Egypt (1973)

November 16, 1973
(1973) Dry Bones cartoon: Shuldig, Egypt, Egyptians Riots, Arab Spring, Peace Agreement, Peace, 1973,
This Golden Oldie is from November 1973. We were about to begin peace talks with Egypt.

Current riots and unrest in post-Mubarak Egypt prompted me to post this thirty-eight year-old cartoon today.

This cartoon was done when the strip was less than a year old (I had begun drawing Dry Bones on January 1, 1973).

Mistake Dept: Back in 1973 most Israelis were smokers, as was Mr. Shuldig. I usually drew him speaking with a cigarette dangling on his lips. I just noticed that in panel three of the cartoon I forgot to draw in the cigarette.
Too late to fix the error.
Yikes!

Thanksgiving Day

Turkey, pork, Pig, Kosher, Thanksgiving, Holiday, Holidays, American Jews, America, Pilgrims  : Dry Bones cartoon.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Note: The American Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November, but there's also a Canadian Thanksgiving Day which is held on the second Monday of October.

This year, Canadian Thanksgiving fell on Monday, Oct 10, 2011 ...so a belated Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends too.

We Beat Inflation (1986)

November 07, 1986 Crisis, Economy, economic crisis, Inflation, Dollar, Shuldig, Dry Bones cartoon 1986

Today's Golden Oldie is a cartoon that I drew 25 years ago this month. It's from November 7, 1986. At the time, I was doing a special cartoon for the Jerusalem Post every Friday. It was, appropriately, called the Friday Dry Bones.

Back then we suddenly discovered that we Israelis had apperently beaten our runaway inflation into submission. We didn't, as the cartoon shows, know how we did it, but we had done it. And the Israeli Shekel has remained a strong currency to this very day.

My alter ego, Mr. Shuldig, who had been running a comic "anti-inflation" campaign at the time, appears in this cartoon in his "Spirit of the New Israel" caped superhero costume. Notice the "S" for Shuldig on his forehead.

Did Ancient People Believe that Dinosaurs Were Contemporaries of Humankind?


Like cultures today, ancient people created artwork based on real-life subjects. Many cave paintings (pictographs) and petroglyphs (shallow rock carvings) depict scenes from battles (24), ancient people performing various rituals (36), (and fauna, such as buffalo, seen by the native peoples. Sculptures, mosaics, figurines, and carvings made by people hundreds or thousands of years ago also depict some strange creatures that seem to closely resemble what we might call dinosaurs. This leads to a fascinating question: Did ancient cultures believe that dinosaurs were contemporaries of humankind and did they claim to see such creatures?

The Acambaro Figurines

In the summer of 1944, a German merchant, Waldemar Julsrud, made a discovery that has caused a stir in the scientific community (35). It was July 1944 and Waldemar Julsrud was riding his horse along the lower slope of El Toro Mountain near the town of Acambaro, Mexico, when he noticed something unusual poking out of the dirt (35). Dismounting, he tore into the ground and unearthed a few ceramic objects unlike anything he had ever seen before (35). His discovery led to the excavation of over 33,500 ceramic, stone, and jade figurines and artifacts (35).

Charles Hapgood, a professor of anthropology and history at Keene State College, learned about the figurines and decided that he would see them for himself (35). After investigating and researching the figurines for 18 years, and after seeing more of the objects turn up when workers dug in certain locations he determined, Hapgood, a self-confessed skeptic (35), authored a book on the Acambaro figurines: Mystery in Acambaro: Did Dinosaurs Survive Until Recently? No longer a skeptic about the origin and authenticity of the ancient figurines, Charles Hapgood believes that they were made by an ancient culture. At the same place where the artifacts were discovered, the teeth of an extinct horse, the skeleton of a mammoth, and human skulls were also unearthed (35). The fact that many of these unique figurines resemble dinosaurs has been a reason the majority of the scientific community has ignored the discovery, passing it off as a hoax.

Shang Dynasty "Saurolophus"

Besides the major discovery in Acambaro, a number of other figurines from other ancient cultures have sparked debate or been ignored by the majority of the scientific community. An artifact from the Shang Dynasty is described by Genesis Park website as a creature that "displays relief lines in a scale-like pattern, a broad beak, a dermal frill, and a headcrest that is strikingly like the dinosaur Saurolophus ..." (1). According to Genesis Park, the dinosaur-like figure "was advertised on the Chinese antiquities market as a dinosaur depiction" (1). Concerning it's authenticity, Genesis Park declares that: "This jade statute, now in the Genesis Park collection, is made of white colored nephrite with differential weathering, cleaving veins and earth penetration, demonstrating authenticity …" (1).
Besides the Acambaro figurines and the Shang Dynasty saurolophus, there are more examples of possible dinosaur-like figurines from ancient cultures that could be mentioned such as the figurine of a Dogon tribesman, from Africa, riding a strange, "prehistoric" creature or the painted pots and vases from the Moche tribe of South America. According to Genesis Park, the Moche tribe ceramics display "with singular realism medical acts, combative events, musical instruments, plants and animals" (1). Some of these painted vases and pots have what appear to be realistic dinosaurs painted on their clay surfaces (1). The Moche tribe pottery collection is currently located in the Larco Herrera Museum in Peru (1).

The Ica Stones

Besides clay, ancient humans used stone and metal to artistically record objects, events, or animals they had witnessed. They also carved images into individual rocks. An example of this can be found in the controversial Ica Stones discovered by Dr. Javier Cabrera outside of the town of Ica. Over the years, Dr. Cabrera had amassed a huge collection of stones with strange carvings in their surfaces depicting people and dinosaur-like creatures living together. Referring to Dr. Cabrera's collection, Josef F. Blumrich, a NASA scientist, said, "I am deeply impressed by what I have seen here, and I am happy to have found so much direct evidence of what I began to feel and understand before. There is not doubt in my mind about the authenticity of these stones" (10). Unfortunately, there is no way of scientifically determining whether or not the stones are ancient. Because of their controversial nature, Dr. Cabrera has received a lot of condescension by the scientific community (4).

The Granby Idol

A discovery made in 1920 by a rancher outside the town of Granby, Colorado bears the unique appellation "the Granby Idol". Bud Chalmers was removing rocks from his ranch one day when he lifted one that weighed more than he expected. Curious, he decided to wash it off. After the coating of dust and dirt had been removed, a set of grooves appeared in the rock. A crude, smiling face surrounded by strange symbols appeared on one side of the rock (22). On the reverse side of the stone, to Bud Chalmers amazement, the distinct carvings of a long-necked dinosaur and a woolly mammoth appeared (22). As an interesting note, Dr. Cyclone Covey, who wrote a book about the possibility that the ancient Chinese had come to America, studied photographs of the stone and identified the symbols carved into the stone as belonging to the ancient Chinese (22).

Mesopotamian Cylinder Seal

Another ancient artifact, created by carving into a stone chunk, that provides a clue that the ancients believed dinosaurs existed with them is a Mesopotamian cylinder seal, estimated to come from the year 3,300 B.C. (13). The seal displays two long-necked animals--that strikingly resemble modern renderings of a sauropod dinosaur--entwining their necks and tails. The shape of the muscles and length of the necks and tails of the creatures are remarkably realistic. One can only logically conclude that the artists who created the seal would have had to have seen either a representation of a dinosaur or a living specimen to make such an accurate depiction. The imagination alone could not produce such accuracy.

The Anasazi Dinosaur Petroglyph

Depictions of dinosaurs are not limited to figurines, stones, or cylindrical seals. Ancient dinosaur artwork has been found on cliff sides, on walls, and in buildings. Petroglyphs and pictographs made by ancient tribes depict strange creatures that do not match up with any that are known to exist today. In Natural Bridges National Monument, Utah, a very interesting petroglyph that resembles a sauropod (long-neck dinosaur) has raised eyebrows and questions. The petroglyph is attributed to the Anasazi Indians who lived in that area during the 1300s A.D. (15). Like the creators of the other relics mentioned above, the Anasazi Indians' ability to create such rock art could only be explained if the Anasazi Indians had actually seen a living dinosaur. The first complete dinosaur skeleton was discovered by William Parker Foulke in 1858, in Haddonfield, New Jersey (17). That is more than five-hundred years after the Anasazi Indian tribe left the area in which the dinosaur petroglyph was discovered.

The Water Panther Pictograms

Found on different cliff faces near the Great Lakes, another interesting native representation of a dinosaur-like creature draws the attention of curious hikers. The creature is called the water panther. The Sioux Indians believe that this creature inhabits the Missouri River. Vine Deloria, author of Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact, reports in his book what members of the Sioux tribe have said about the legendary creature. The creature had a backbone "just like a crosscut saw" and "in the middle of its forehead was one horn" (7). The pictograms of this creature show an animal with a jagged back similar to a dinosaur's back, and two horns protruding from its head. It looks strikingly like a triceratops, a member of the family Ceratopsidae, or a horned dinosaur of some kind.

Angkor Wat "Secret"

Representations of dinosaurs on large, flat surfaces are not limited to pictographs and petroglyphs on cliff sides. Some ancient buildings have eye-opening features either cut into or affixed to their walls and floors. One of the most clear examples of this can be found in the mysterious, ancient ruins of Angkor Wat. Richard Sobol, author of The Mysteries of Angkor Wat: Exploring Cambodia's Ancient Temple, wrote about his experience exploring the ancient temple. A group of kids he met wanted to show him a "secret" (29). They led him over to a rock wall filled with carvings. Richard Sobol writes, "I moved closer, and saw there, on the wall, carved inside a circle, a creature that could only be described as a dinosaur--a stegosaurus, in fact" (29). The image he took of the dinosaur, which is carved into a circle within the wall, resembles a stegosaurus. Whether or not it is a stegosaurus, it does have some of the distinct features of the family Stegosauridae: triangular plates on its back and tale, four muscular legs, a head attached to a short neck, a large body, and a thick tail.

The Tomb of Richard Bell

Another oddity is found in the tomb of a fifteenth-century bishop at Carlisle, Richard Bell. A brass fillet, dating back to the 1400s, runs around the perimeter of his tomb. Engraved into its metal surface are various animals such as a dog, a fish, an eel, a bird, a pig, etc (8). What is really intriguing is the engraving of what appear to be two long-necked creatures with long tails apparently struggling with each other. All the creatures in the tomb are fairly accurately portrayed, so it is most likely that these creatures were accurately portrayed as well (8). Having long necks, four legs, and thick, long tails, the creatures appear to be sauropods (8). No animal that we know of today fits that description.

The Nile Mosaic of Palestrina Mosaic

An incredible and yet very real mosaic from ancient Italy, the Nile Mosaic of Palestrina is a huge image that was originally set into the floor of the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia, which is located in Palestrina, Italy (9). Currently located in the Museo Nazionale Prenestino in Rome (20), the Nile Mosaic of Palestrina displays various scenes from the Nile River, showing life in Egypt during the Roman Empire. This mosaic is notable not only for its historical value but also for its depictions of strange creatures. One creature clearly looks like a large dinosaur resting on a rock, and the human figures standing beside it are small in comparison.

The "Hunt" Mosaic

A most intriguing mosaic from the same era was discovered in the ancient city of Pompeii, Italy. It was in the year 79 A.D., on the 24th of August, that Mount Vesuvius erupted, sending a hot cloud of vocanic ash through the city of Pompeii, preserving the ancient relics and artifacts within (9). It was from the house of a rich physician in this city that the "Hunt" mosaic was discovered. The mosaic shows people interacting with, or hunting, reptiles and large animals. The most unique aspect of this mosaic is the fact that the creatures are not normal animals one would expect to find. A man is riding atop a large reptile with vertical plates along the ridge of its back. The creature is not a poor fascimile of a crocodile because, elsewhere in the same mosaic, an accurately rendered crocodile is seen resting on a bank (9). Why more people are not aware of these amazing pieces of history appears to be due to an intentional suppression of the existence of these ancient Roman mosaics. If both these mosaics, all the abovementioned artifacts, engravings, and artwork were actually studied by unbiased scientists, historians, and other experts, and judged without any preconceived beliefs regarding the nature of the objects, then history books would likely have to be rewritten.
Considering the evidence above, a few questions emerge. Did ancient cultures believe that dinosaurs existed with humankind? Did ancient people actually see dinosaurs and encounter them? If so, did they tell their descendents what they witnessed?

Stories passed down by word of mouth--some of them originating apparently not that long ago--have come out of remote jungles and wilderness areas as western civilization has expanded to distant lands. Such information by word of mouth has come from the Australian Aboriginees, a people who have lived in the sub-continent for thousands of years. According to the Aboriginees, a number of large and powerful creatures once inhabited the vast expanse of Australia.

The Bunyip

In July 1845, and article appeared in the Geelong Advertiser of Victoria, Australia (12). It described the discovery of an un-fossilized bone of an unknown, giant animal. When the bone was shown to different, separate Aboriginal tribes, they all immediately identified it as a "bunyip" bone. The tribes were quite distant from each other and had no way of communicating with each other (12). According to their descriptions of the "bunyip", the animal was big, laid eggs, could walk on two feet, and was considered dangerous (Driver). According to the Aboriginees, the "bunyip" had "the characteristics of a bird and an alligator" (12). One native claimed that some deep scars in his skin were caused by a "bunyip" (12).

The Yarru

The Kuku Yalanji is a tribe located in rainforest of Far North Queensland, Australia (12). A missionary, Dennis Fields, learned from the elders of the Kuku Yalanji that a creature called the "Yarru" used to live in large waterholes in the rainforest (12). When Dennis Fields asked a tribal artist to paint the "Yarru" for him, the result was astonishing. The artist, who had no knowledge of what textbook dinosaurs or extinct creatures were supposed to look like, created a painting that was an accurate portrayal of what appeared to be a plesiosaurus (12). The painting was based entirely on the descriptions passed down to the tribal artist from ancient stories (12).

The Kultra

A creature that is described as a quadruped with a long neck and a long, pointed tail is said, by the Central Australian aboriginal tribes, to have lived in swamps which once covered the region. The Aborigines call this creature the "Kultra" (12). From the descriptions they give, it appears to be a type of sauropod.

The Mokele-mbembe

Thousands of miles away from the jungles of Australia, another rainforest spreads its leafy canopy over a vast area. The Congo Basin covers 1.5 million square miles with a swamp-filled jungle (3). Filling up a large portion of the Congo Basin, the Likouala Swamp is the largest swamp in the world (21). Covering roughly 55,000 square miles, an area larger than the state of Florida, the Likouala Swamp has been officially declared by the People's Republic of the Congo to be 80% unexplored (21). Over the years, starting in the year 1776 and up to the present time, people who have traveled to the Congo and talked to the native people have heard about a large creature that the natives call the "Mokele-mbembe" (21).

Various expeditions sent by different countries into the Congo have heard strange sounds coming from the jungle and have seen unusual footprints in the ground. A few have claimed to have actually seen the "Mokele-mbembe". In 1932, Gerald Russel, an animal trader, and Ivan T. Sanderson, a world famous zoologist at the time, were paddling up the Mainyu River in the Congo Basin. Suddenly, a large head, attached to a thick, "swan-like" neck, rose from the water (21). For a few seconds, the creature stared at the two men. Sanderson would later sum up his encounter with these startling words: "I don't know what we saw, but the animal, the monster, burned itself into my retinas. It looked like something that ought to have been dead millions of years ago. As a scientist, I should have been happy, of course, but this encounter was so frightening, so nasty that I never want to see it again" (21).

The natives describe the creature as being generally reddish-brown and about the size of an elephant, with a long neck and a long tail. It is known to devour plants and leave behind rounded tracts with three, prominent claws (21). Thus, it is a herbivore. These descriptions strongly suggest that the creature is a sauropod dinosaur (21).

The Thunderbird

Tribal people from Africa and Australia are not the only ones to have passed down stories about dinosaur-like creatures. Legends about large, scaly reptiles can be found in many ancient cultures. China, Europe, and the Middle East have tales about dragons. Though mythicized, the accounts of large reptiles capable of killing humans can hardly be the result of some highly imaginative people around the world who all happen to imagine very similar creatures. Though they do not have stories about dragons, Native American tribes, isolated from the rest of the world by giant oceans, have stories about dinosaur-like creatures. The Thunderbird is one such creature. The Thunderbird is claimed to have a huge wingspan and claws that it uses to pick up people. The belief is that the Thunderbird causes storms. Over the years many people have claimed to see a giant bird or pterodactyl flying through the air. As recently as the 2000s, people have claimed to have seen large, flying creatures. In the year 2001, several sightings of huge, "grayish-black", winged creatures were seen on June 13, July 6, and September 25, by various witnesses, in the state of Pennsylvania (32).


The Ogopogo

Besides the Thunderbird and the Water Panther (mentioned earlier), Native Americans also have another legend about a dinosaurian creature they called the "N'ha-A-Itk", which is commonly called the "Ogopogo". According to Native American legends about the N'ha-A-Itk, a "demon-possessed man" killed a tribal elder on the shores of a lake near his home (28). Completing his dastardly deed, he ran away, fearing retribution. Angered at the murderer, the gods captured the demon-possessed man, turned him into a "serpent", and cast him into the lake (which later was called Lake Okanagan) (28). He was to remain forever at the scene of the murder, as punishment. People who lived near the lake called the creature N'ha-A-Itk (28). It was later that the moniker Ogopogo was more commonly used, which was based on a line from an old song. To this day, sightings of a creature in Lake Okanagan have been reported (28). Besides Lake Okanagan, Lake Champlain, Lock Ness, and other lakes have had sightings of large creatures. Is it possible that some people actually have seen dinosaurian creatures in these lakes and have not been hallucinating or imagining what they have seen?

Ancient petroglyphs, pictographs, figurines, carvings, mosaics, stones, engravings, and legends on the subject of dinosaurian creatures are all interesting and intriguing pieces of possible evidence that dinosaurs may have (or possibly still do) lived as contemporaries of man. A question arises: If dinosaurs really had lived with humankind, explorers, scientists, or archeologists would most likely have found some remains or evidence to concretely prove it, correct?

Dakota

In 1999, Tyler Lyson, 16 at the time, was walking through the Hell Creek Formation badlands of North Dakota (25). His eyes locked onto a strange object protruding from a hill. As he looked at it longer, he realized it was a dinosaur bone. Five years later, excavation on the site began. On December 3, 2007, scientists announced to the world the discovery of a nearly intact, mummified hadrosaur, nicknamed "Dakota". According to an article from Wired.com, the dinosaur's "entire skin envelope appears to remain largely intact (25)." Phil Manning a paleontologist at University of Manchester (in England) who was leading the examination of "Dakota" said that the integrity of the skin envelope suggests that Dakota may have other "soft-tissue remnants" such as organs and muscles (25).

Leonardo

Discovered by a Judith River Dinosaur Institute expedition in the year 2000, and presented to the world in 2002, Leonardo is a duck-billed dinosaur (or a brachylophosaurus) that "will advance our science a quantum leap", according to Nate Murphy, curator of paleontology at the Phillips County Museum in Montana (18). The brachylophosaurus is estimated to have been either 3 or 4 years old when it died (37). Leonardo's muscles, skin, scales, foot pads, and a stomach are still intact. Skin scales and tissue have been found on less than a tenth of one percent of all the dinosaurs excavated over the years (18). Amazingly, 90 percent of Leonardo's skeleton is covered in soft tissue, such as a beak, nails, skin, and muscles (18). The actual tissue cells have been replaced by minerals, but the stomach contains a partially digested meal and scientists can actually see what exact plants the dinosaur had eaten (18). Ferns, magnolias, conifers, and the pollen of more than 40 different plants form the contents of the animal's stomach. It is likely that these all mineralized slowly over millions and millions of years without decaying?

B. rex

Discovered in the year 2000, the skeleton of a young, 18-year-old Tyranosaurus Rex (19) has drawn a lot of attention from scientists and laymen alike. The dinosaur skeleton was named "B. rex" after Bob Harmon, chief preparator of paleontology at the Museum of the Rockies, who discoverer it (2). Because the dinosaur was too large to take by helicopter, it had to be broken in pieces (19). As a result, a thighbone was cracked open and Mary Higby Schweitzer and her team were able to examine the interior of the bone (19). What they discovered has shaken the scientific community, causing scientists to reconsider their long-held beliefs about dinosaurs. Inside the bone were life-like tissues that should not have been inside a "65 million"-year-old Tyrannosaurus Rex (39). According to an article in Discover Magazine, Schweitzer found "supple bone cells, their three-dimensional shapes intact; and translucent blood vessels that looked as if they could have come straight from an ostrich at the zoo (39)." Hillary Mayell of National Geographic wrote about the discovery: "The vessels resemble blood vessels, cells, and the protein matrix that bodies generate when bones are being formed (19)." If the dinosaur was indeed 65 million years old, how could the actual cell tissues be preserved for so long? These tissues were not replaced by minerals and they were not mummified. Blood vessels, cells, and a protein matrix could hardly survive for a thousand years, much less a million. Is sixty-five million years with little decomposition possible?

The Age of B. rex

According to evolutionists, the earliest man (homo sapiens) existed in Africa nearly 200,000 years ago (23). The earliest form of civilization is considered, by evolutionists, to have come into existence 10,000 to 12,000 years ago (30). To get a picture of the length of time involved, imagine living to an old age of 100. Now, imagine, by some miracle, you keep going on and you make it to the age of 200. Say that scientists find a way to greatly extend human life spans and you get your life span extended so that you live a thousand of these 200-year-long life spans. You are now at an age equivalent to the time that has supposedly passed between the emergence of the earliest homo sapien and the present. You've live an incredibly long life. You've seen civilizations come and go, new buildings decompose into dust, animals become extinct, bodies die and rapidly decay into their constituent elements, and you've seen skeletons petrify. Now, imagine living 325 of these extremely long (200,000 year) life spans. You have finally reached the purported age of "B. rex". Think about all that time you spent and all the things you saw decay to dust. Does it make any sense at all that the cellular tissue within the bones of "B. rex" are millions and millions of years old? Is it possible that the methods evolutionists use to date dinosaur bones are erroneous?

When scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory used the Carbon dating method to find the age of some dinosaur bones, they came up with an age of only a few thousand years (31). Because this date did not fit their beliefs about the age of dinosaurs, they ignored their findings and decided to use other methods instead (31). Some of these results can differ from each other by as much as 150 million years (31).
Soft tissues normally decompose quickly after an organism dies (6).
Therefore, is it likely that blood vessels and soft tissues could continue to exist inside a dinosaur bone for millions of years? Scientists with evolutionary beliefs have scrambled to come up with a plausible and realistic explanation for how the soft tissue found within the thighbone of "B. rex" was preserved for what they assume to be 65 million years. So far, they have no explanation they all can agree on.

Conclusion

If one believes that dinosaurs died out millions of years ago, long before mankind came into existence, why does such an abundance of artifacts and legends on the subject of large, dinosaurian creatures, coming from ancient cultures around the world, exist? Is it possible that the figurines, stones, petroglyphs, pictographs, engravings, carvings, mosaics, and legends depicting and describing large reptile-like creatures are based on animals that ancient humans actually saw alive? Is it possible that our ancestors saw living dinosaurs and told stories about their encounters with the dinosaurs, passing down the tales by word of mouth? Could our methods for determining the age of dinosaurs be flawed? These are questions we need to ponder. The implications for the Theory of Evolution are numerous and profound. One such implication leads to an important question: Did humankind and dinosaurs live together instead of millions of years apart, as evolutionists claim? I leave my readers to come to their own conclusions based on the information presented in this article.







Works Cited
 
(1) "Ancient Dinosaur Depictions." Genesis Park. genesispark.org, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(2) Boswell, Evelyn. "Eastern Montana dinosaur now yields protein that's 68 million years old." MSU News. Montana State University, 12 April 2007. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.

(3) Butler, Rhett A. "The Congo." Mongabay.com. Mongabay.com, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.

(4) Cabrera, Javier. "The Message of the Engraved Stones of Ica." Labyrinthina.com. Labyrinthina.com, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(5) Clark, Ella E. Indian Legends from the Northern Rockies (Civilization of the American Indian Series). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1988.

(6) Criswell, Daniel, Ph.D. “How Soon Will Jurassic Park Open?” Icr.org. Institute for Creation Research, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.

(7) Deloria, Vine, Jr. Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact. Golden: Fulcrum Publishing, 1997. Print.

(8) "Dinosaurs Engraved: Creatures Of Curiosity." TrueAuthority.com. TrueAuthority.com, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(9) "Dinosaurs In Literature, History and Art: Denial Is Not Just A River In Egypt: Suppressed Evidence of Human, Dinosaur and Other 'Extinct' Fauna Interaction in First Century Roman, Nilotic Art." s8int.com. s8int.com, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(10) Doore, Kathy. "Legendary Ica Stones Researcher, Dr. Javier Cabrera, Passes On." rense.com. labyrinthina.com, 14 Jan. 2002. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(11) "Dragons Across Cultures." Draconika Dragons. Kevin Owens, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(12) Driver, Rebecca. "Australia’s Aborigines ... Did They See Dinosaurs?" answersingenesis.org. Answers in Genesis, 1 Dec. 1998. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(13) Gilmer, James Edward, Ph.D. 100 Year Cover-Up Revealed: We Lived with Dinosaurs! Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2011.

(14) Ho, Oliver. Mysteries Unwrapped: Mutants & Monsters. New York: Sterling, 2008.

(15) Johnson, Adam. "Walking With Dinosaurs (and Humans)?" Mysterious Anomalies. Mysterious Anomalies, 1 Aug. 2007. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(16) “Jurassic Art.” BC Video. BC Video Inc, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(17) Levins, Hoag. "Finding the World's First Dinosaur Skeleton: Hadrosaurus foulkii." levins.com. Hoag Levins, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2011.

(18) Mayell, Hillary. "'Mummified' Dinosaur Discovered In Montana." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 11 Oct. 2002. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.

(19) Mayell, Hillary. “T. Rex Soft Tissue Found Preserved.” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 24 March, 2005. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

(20) Meyboom, P.G.P. Nile mosaic of Palestrina: early evidence of Egyptian religion in Italy. Boston: Brill Academic Pub, 1997. Print.

(21) "Mokele-mbembe." TrueAuthority.com. TrueAuthority.com, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

(22) Murphy, Jan. Mysteries and Legends of Colorado: True Stories of the Unsolved and Unexplained. Two Dot: Two Dot Publishing, 2007. Print.

(23) O'Neil, Dennis. "Early Modern Homo sapiens." anthro.palomar.edu. Dennis O'Neil, 9 Nov. 2011. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

(24) "Pictographs and Petroglyphs." The Canadian Encyclopedia. The Historica-Dominion Institute, n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2011.

(25) Ratliff, Evan. "Rare Mummified Dinosaur Unearthed: Contains Skin, and Maybe Organs, Muscle." Wired.com. Wired.com, 3 Dec. 2007. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

(26) "Research on Montana T. rex makes Discover magazine's list of year's top science." MSU News. Montana State University, 13 Dec. 2005. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

(27) Roach, John. "'Dinosaur Mummy' Found; Has Intact Skin, Tissue." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 3 Dec. 2007. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

(28) Schlosser, S. E. “Ogopogo, the Lake Monster.” American Folklore. S.E. Schlosser, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

(29) Sobol, Richard. The Mysteries of Angkor Wat: Exploring Cambodia's Ancient Temple. Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2011.

(30) Symmes, Patrick. "History in the Remaking." The Daily Beast. The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC, 18 Feb. 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2011.

(31) "The Bible and Radiometric dating (The Problem with Carbon 14 and other dating methods)." TaylorMadeFossils.com. angelfire.com, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2011.

(32) “The Giant Thunderbird Returns.” About.com. About.com, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(33) "The Legend of Smok Wawelski (the Dragon from Wawel)." kresy.co.uk. Paul Havers, n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

(34) Thomas, W. Jenkyn. "Merlin the Magician Rescues King Vortigern." Pitt.edu. University of Pittsburgh, 24 Jan. 2010. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

(35) Thompson, Bert, Ph.D., and Brad Harrub, Ph.D. "Walking Amidst the Dinosaurs." Apologetics Press. Apologetics Press, Inc, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(36) Whitley, David S. Following the shaman's path: A walking guide to Little Petroglyph Canyon, Coso Range, California (Maturango Museum publication). Ridgecrest: Maturango Press, 1998.

(37) Wilson, Tracy V. "What's so special about a dinosaur named Leonardo?" howstuffworks.com. HowStuffWorks, Inc, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.

(38) "World Dragon Mythology." The Dragon Stone. Polenth Blake, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

(39) Yeoman, Barry. "Schweitzer's Dangerous Discovery." Discover Magazine. Kalmbach Publishing Co., 27 April 2006. Web. 11 Nov. 2011.

a Simple Dry Bones plan

Israel,  Egypt,  plan, Gaza,  west bank, Judea, Samaria, Palestine,  Jordan,  Peace,  Settlements,  : Dry Bones cartoon.
The idea of declaring Judea and Samaria as an independent Palestinian state has not worked.

So we are proud to present our simple and obvious plan.

An agreement between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Israel to jointly administer the area called the "West Bank". Palestinians resident in the Hashemite kingdom can return to the jointly administered area. Jewish settlements remain. Right of return for Palestinians living abroad is carried out in the unified for peace Palestinian entity. Local control is given to Palestinian and Jewish municipalities. International affairs in the hands of the Jordanian/Israeli partnership.

Jordan, with Syria on one side and Iraq, in danger of falling to Iran, on another ...with a growing Palestinian presence in their country should find the idea attractive.

Comments?

the Devil Explains

Devil. Occupy, OWS, demonstrations, human nature : Dry Bones cartoon.
I'm playing with a new set of characters. The Devil teaching his young students about human beings and how they behave.

your reaction?

Bin Laden (2001)

November 30, 2001
(2001) Dry Bones cartoon: Bin Laden, Terrorism,  Suicide, Afghanistan, Osama
This Golden Oldie is from 2001.

Ten years have gone by and it turned out he wasn't in a cave in Afghanistan.

MAD or Crazy

Mad ,  m.a.d., Israel,  Iran, 12th Imam, Ahmadinejad, Nukes,   : Dry Bones cartoon.
The Telegraph reported on Ahmadinejad in a piece entitled "Divine mission' driving Iran's new leader" in a report which began:
"When an aircraft crashed in Teheran last month, killing 108 people, Mr Ahmadinejad promised an investigation. But he also thanked the dead, saying: "What is important is that they have shown the way to martyrdom which we must follow."

and goes on to cover Ahmadinejad's UN appearance:

"World leaders had expected a conciliatory proposal to defuse the nuclear crisis after Teheran had restarted another part of its nuclear programme in August.

Instead, they heard the president speak in apocalyptic terms of Iran struggling against an evil West that sought to promote "state terrorism", impose "the logic of the dark ages" and divide the world into "light and dark countries".

The speech ended with the messianic appeal to God to "hasten the emergence of your last repository, the Promised One, that perfect and pure human being, the one that will fill this world with justice and peace".

In a video distributed by an Iranian web site in November, Mr Ahmadinejad described how one of his Iranian colleagues had claimed to have seen a glow of light around the president as he began his speech to the UN.

"I felt it myself too," Mr Ahmadinejad recounts. "I felt that all of a sudden the atmosphere changed there. And for 27-28 minutes all the leaders did not blink…It's not an exaggeration, because I was looking.

"They were astonished, as if a hand held them there and made them sit. It had opened their eyes and ears for the message of the Islamic Republic."

Western officials said the real reason for any open-eyed stares from delegates was that "they couldn't believe what they were hearing from Ahmadinejad".

Their sneaking suspicion is that Iran's president actually relishes a clash with the West in the conviction that it would rekindle the spirit of the Islamic revolution and - who knows - speed up the arrival of the Hidden Imam." -more

TV News (1981)

November 20, 1981
TV, News,  Media, Soviet Union, Germany, weapons, America, Israel, 1981,  (1981) Dry Bones cartoon: TV News.
For today's Golden Oldie, I thought I'd rummage around and see what I was up to thirty years ago this month. I found this cartoon which had been published on November 20, 1981.

The Israel that Mr. Shuldig lived in (back in 1981) had only one TV Channel!

Yikes!