Giant Reptile in New Mexico

This one off report appears to describe a giant lizard, providing those claws are clawed  feet.  It is not heavily built as we expect from larger reptiles and appears to travel quite well and can be out and about in the midday sun.  ( a lot of those gross bodies comes from reconstructions from fossil bones and are seriously suspect as it included an inherent assumption of tepidness which is unlikely - arclein)

Certainly, the country is particularly conducive to the plausible preservation of relict populations of large creatures smart enough to rarely been encountered at all.  The creature described does not appear particularly strange either and it must be well adapted to desert sub-tropical conditions.  I would not have been surprised by it during the age of reptiles and here we have potential refugia from that age and a likely slow living lifeway allowing it to survive catastrophe.

If we have learned anything, ours is not the only niche able to support large intelligent populations.

A Monster Serpent!

The Creature's Abode in an Extinct Crater of New Mexico

http://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2013/10/reptilian-monster-dwells-in-jornada-del.html

SAN MARCIAL, N.M., January 1. – This section of the country has been considerably aroused from time to time by the conflicting reports of Mexicans, who say that the extinct crater to the east of the plain, known as the “Jornada del Muerto,” about twenty-five miles from this place, is the abode of a monster serpent, second in size only to that huge reptile of the seas that has so often been spoken of by mariners and others. It is reported by some to be fully 100 feet in length and about two feet in circumference, but probably the most trustworthy information is that given by a Mr. Alexander, who possesses some mining property in the San Andreas mountains, which lie to the east of the broad plain. Mr. Alexander says that he saw the serpent once while crossing the Jornada on the way to his mines. He was about half way across the plain, jogging leisurely along behind his burro, dreaming of the immense wealth that he hoped to realize from his property, when suddenly the burro stopped, erected his long ears, wheeled quickly around and made a mad stampede in the opposite direction. Mr. Alexander was at a loss to account for this strange freak of the burro, and was about to start in pursuit of the runaway when he chanced to look ahead. Then his eyes gazed upon the monster. He was so beside himself with fear at first, he says, that his nerves were completely paralyzed, his hair stood on end, and move he could not; he was rooted to the spot, and his eyes were fixed upon the serpent. It was about a quarter of a mile from him, and was traveling in the opposite direction — toward the crater. He says it appeared to be about 60 feet in length; but what surprised him most was the queer proportions of the creature. The fore parts were of enormous size, its head being fully as large as a barrel. A few feet behind the creature’s head two large scales were visible which glittered in the sun like polished shields; further back were two huge claws on either side, about two feet apart, which were all the monster had in the shape of feet. The rest of the body was comparatively small and tapering to the end of the tail, it traveled at a rapid gait, sometimes rearing its whole body from the ground, and walked on its four claws. He watched it till it disappeared over a little hill, and then he started to look after his burro.

The Mexicans have the most deadly fear of the crater, and will not venture within miles of it, there being a popular tradition among them that it is the abode of some terrible serpent. The Mexicans assert that on one occasion a descent of the crater was made by their men, and as none of them returned, it was generally believed they were devoured by the monster.

NOTE: since the beginning of the Atomic Age, and because the 'Trinity Site' is located in Jornada del Muerto, there have beenreports of mutated giant reptiles in the area. Lon