FINDING THE FEATHERED LIONS OF LARRY HAGMAN – AGAIN!

 DidAmerican actor Larry Hagman see something like this during his 'trip'?

My memory has always been akin to anexceedingly eclectic but generally well-organised, well-maintained filingcabinet whose innumerable drawers contain all of the myriad facts that I'veacquired throughout my life, including the 40 years that I've spent researchingand writing about cryptids, mythological beasts, and fantastical fauna (flora too)of every imaginable, and unimaginable, kind. Occasionally, however, a fact filesomehow becomes misplaced, misfiled, or just plain missing. And so it was withthe slim but stimulating file of the feathered lions.

Quite a few years ago now, I distinctlyremember reading about some celebrity's autobiography in which he'd referred inpassing to some feathered lions – enough in itself to attract my attention andthereupon file away this intriguing snippet for some future use. As the yearspassed by, however, and it remained unused and unreturned to by me, its detailsbegan to fade from my mind. Still, not to worry, I thought, I have it filedsafely away in my physical archives as well as in my cerebral ones – until,that is, the subject came to mind again earlier this week, prompting me to seekout the relevant information in my archives and write it up at long last forShukerNature. But could I find it? Not a chance!

Moreover, by now no longer able even torecall who the celebrity was in whose autobiography these ethereal entities hadappeared, there seemed no chance of tracking anything down (online searches drewa blank). So I finally abandoned the subject, and started looking up a totally differentone instead – at which point the Library Angel, aka the Seraph of Serendipity,clearly took pity on me, as has happened so many times in the past, to my undyinggratitude.

  Ifsuch an exotic creature as a feathered lion existed, what a spectacular sight itwould be!

Opening on my laptop acryptozoology-themed folder of chronologically-arranged files consisting of reports,articles, and other info downloaded by me from the Net during the year 2016, Istarted looking for the file that I needed for my new investigation, but therewere a very sizeable number of files in it, and I had no idea of the specificdate on which I'd downloaded the file in question. So I automaticallyrearranged all of that folder's files into alphabetical order instead, by filetitle, hoping to spot the file quickly by way of its title's subject. Thetitles were organised into columns, and while casually casting my eyes across anddown a few of these columns before beginning the full painstaking scrutiny ofeach file title in each column, my eyes alighted upon one particular filetitle, and opened wide as they did so – 'Larry Hagman sees feathered lions'! Ofcourse – Larry Hagman! Even before opening the long-overlooked file, its titlealone was sufficient to usher forth the basic information that it contained,but obviously I still opened it anyway. And here is what I read.

The relevant information had appeared ina posthumously-published newspaper article recalling some of the wild eventsfrom Hagman's life that he'd documented back in his 2001 autobiography HelloDarlin': Tall (and Absolutely True) Tales About My Life. Hagman had ofcourse been an American actor best known for his role as astronaut Tony Nelsonin the 1960s fantasy comedy TV show IDream of Jeannie; and, above all else, for his globally-acclaimed tour de forceas ultra-villainous oil baron J.R. Ewing in the glossy mega-successful Americansoap Dallas, originally running fromthe late 1970s to the late 1980s, then revived in various spin-offs that begana decade later.

  A multicolouredmonarch of all that he surveys!

The newspaper article had been publishedback in 2012 (thus explaining why I'd not thought to look for it in the 2016folder, the reason why it was in there and not in the 2012 folder being thatI'd only learnt about this article and downloaded it on 7 June 2016, but I'dlong since forgotten that small yet crucial fact!), by London's Daily Mail, on, of all days, 9 December(my birthday!), which was just over a fortnight after Hagman had passed away,on 23 November 2012.

Anyway, reading through this article ittranspired that some time prior to 2001, feeling very stressed after alwayshaving been a total workaholic and perfectionist had eventually taken asizeable toll upon his emotional well-being (a situation exacerbated after he hadperhaps unwisely also decided to give up two longstanding vices – smoking and slimmingpills – on the very same day), Hagman had sought aid, advice, and assistancefrom all quarters. Two years after his issues had begun, however, one of thosehe'd consulted now suggested that perhaps he should "drop some acid",i.e. try taking some tabs of the potent hallucinogenic drug LSD.

Although Hagman initially dismissed thisidea, it became firmly lodged in his mind, until eventually he gave intotemptation, and obtained some pure LSD tabs from none other than the lateAmerican rock singer/songwriter David Crosby, of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame,after he'd attended one of their concerts and had gone backstage to meet them afterwards.Even so, it still took Hagman a month before he finally summoned up the nerveto take one, and thereby experience his first trip. Here is how he describedit:

Just a few moments after I'dswallowed a tab, part of the room I was in became a cave that was guarded bytwo feathered lions as well as octopus-like creatures with long, writhing tentacles.

So there it is, such that it is – the onlysource of information regarding feathered lions that I've ever encountered, froma most unlikely source, and generated in a very unexpected fashion. Although itmay not contribute greatly to our shared global lore on fantasy beasts, it is nothingif not interesting, and memorable – which is why it has compelled me to track itdown almost a decade later, and document here on ShukerNature the exotic creaturesmentioned in it.

  Cave-dwellingctopus-like creatures also featured in Hagman's drug-induced hallucination

Finally: all of the very eyecatching illustrationsof feathered lions and cave-dwelling octopuses included here were created by mespecially for this article yesterday, utilizing the MagicStudio image-generationprogram.