Basilisk

It was a semi-legendary animal, approximately 30 centimeters long. Chroniclers most often described it as a snake-like, winged creature with a shiny white spot on its head. In the late Middle Ages, the basilisk was described as a bird with a body resembling a rooster's and a snake's tail. Although these descriptions seem rather unreliable, there are many accounts that may confirm the basilisk's existence.

According to one such account, a basilisk killed two children playing in an abandoned cellar in Warsaw in 1587. The maid who discovered the children's bodies was also killed. The cellar's owner, a Warsaw swordsmith, was initially accused of the murder, but when he soon brought back a snake he had found in the cellar, royal officials declared the snake guilty.

Of the various theories, the most likely seems to be that the basilisk was a representative of a species of rattlesnake. The horned rattlesnake (which has two protrusions above its eyes) most closely matches the basilisk description, but it is not found in Europe. Another theory suggests that the basilisk may have belonged to an unknown species of lizard