The Dragon Hunter

Who caught these dragons ?, you might want to know.
(Of corpse you want, otherwise you would have passed by).

Julius (5th) Georg Friebe

J.G. Friebe I was born in 1963 in Lower Austria, but I grew up at the other, the western end of Austria, in Vorarlberg. After school, I studied palaeontology and geology in Graz (Styria). Realy, I am one of that crazy folks knocking with a hammer on every stone they find in search of fossils. However, I am not interested in dinosaurs (I just wonder, how much beer a scientist needs to reconstruct the appearance and especially the color of a dinosaur). Since 1993 I am curator of the palaeontological collections at the "inatura - Erlebnis Naturschau Dornbirn", the local museum of natural history in Dornbirn.

I read very much, and I like listening to good music (everything from ancient music to jazz and minimalism).
I collect ancient postcards (especially from my home village Rankweil and the nearby town Feldkirch; views of bridges; and working scenes).
I like to travel and to take pictures of the places I visit. And I enter nearly every museum I find.
I will never ignore a good meal and a glass (only one ?) of wine or beer (depending on the meal and the situation).
And of course I am not only interested in dragons, but in mythology and mythological beasts in general.

Musee Rolin - Autun (France).
Taureau marin (fragment de la mosaique de Neptune)
Autun, epoque gallo-romaine.

Der Drachenfänger in der Zeitung

My (scientific) Publications

A short explanation about these pages

I first came in contact with dragons preparing an exhibition on fossils in folk lore at the museum. I realized that quite a lot of fossils are associated with dragons. When I entered the WWW I watched out for dragons. And found plenty of them. But I soon got a little disappointed. I had expected folk lore and local legends about dragons. Instead all I found was role playing inspired by phantasy stories. It is these stories, which define what a "real dragon" should look like. Nearly all dragons I found on the web follow these cliches.

Thus I decided to create my own pages. Here you find different dragons. The old latin word "draco" originally denominated a (giant) serpent. Consequently I include snakes as well as Lindwürmer, Tatzelwürmer and other mythological beasts. Some texts are in german, but in most cases there is an english explanation.

Impressum / Disclaimer

You wonder about the spelling "of corpse" ?

Well, its a citation. One of my favorit authors is Wilkie Collins. He did not write about dragons, but was one of the first to write criminal and detective stories (e.g. "The Lady in White"; "The Moonstone"). He often used "of corpse" instead of "of course". I like his work, and therefore (and because I am somthing like a detective too, searching for extinct and mythologic animals) I use his spelling.

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