The Oklahoma Dragons

There weren’t always dragons in the Valley. Before the first dragon arrived, Tuxedo Valley, Oklahoma was a quiet community of 227 residents: mostly families and good working folk. In Tuxedo Valley, people said, “My door is always open,” and they meant it. In fact, few residents locked their doors at all. Children preferred to play outside, and there was always someone to lend a hand. Occasionally, residents moved on to bigger cities like Tulsa, but most were content to remain in the valley their entire lives.

From outsiders’ perspectives, Tuxedo Valley was just a “dot on a map” they drove past to get to their final destinations. However, if anyone did stop for visit, they were greeted with the town’s single billboard: Welcome to Tuxedo Valley—The Most Comfortable Place on Earth. Yes, our Tuxedo Valley was a very comfortable, unassuming place, where neighbors considered each other family and change was rare—that is, until May 16, 1992.

On that day, a dragon appeared in Dottie Grubb’s backyard.

The Author

I am Dottie’s daughter, Jane Grubb Gilles. The Oklahoma Historical Society asked me to write this official narrative of how dragons came to the Valley, and sadly, why they left.

For the past thirty years, stories about “The Oklahoma Dragons” have been told all over this part of the country, but few people believe they’re true. Usually, the stories are so embellished they sound more like myths or campfire tales. That’s why we want you to know what really happened. I don’t know if anyone will believe what you’re about to read, but if this story gets published, please forgive any grammatical and spelling mistakes. A good editor might help, too. I’m a retired dental hygienist—not a writer—and it’s been a long time since I’ve been tasked with something this challenging. With that said, I will do my best to present the most accurate story of The Oklahoma Dragons.

Everything you’re about to read is true.

The First Dragon

The first dragon arrived in the middle of a lightning storm on May 16, 1992. That evening, my 12-year-old son Noah was visiting my mother, Dottie. (I’ll call her “Dot” for the rest of this story.) Dot only lived a block from us, and her backyard had an in-ground pool where Noah kept his pet iguana, Duke. Dot doted over Noah, and Noah doted over Duke.

Oh, before I forget—there is one thing you must know. Lightning storms were very common in Tuxedo Valley; it had more lightning storms than any other place in Oklahoma. As a result, the town also had a high number of things getting struck by lightning, especially people. It seemed that everyone in the Valley had either been struck by lightning or knew someone who had.

The Weather Prediction

On the evening of May 16, 1992, weatherman Dan Harmon announced an imminent and severe dry lightning storm was headed for the Valley. (Tulsa TV channels predicted the same, but we thought Dan’s forecasts were more reliable.) His family had lived in Tuxedo Valley for three generations. Dan’s father and grandfather were our weathermen before Dan. Weather was in the Harmon family’s blood, and each man had a way of “feeling” storms before they arrived. So, when Dan used the words “imminent and severe,” Dot knew it was time get everyone and everything inside. Dan also said the storm would be “dry.” That meant the lightning and thunder would occur with no rain, making the chance of lightning fires even more dangerous.

Duke, the Pet Iguana

“It’s time to bring Duke inside,” Dot told Noah as she looked through the kitchen window. Dot saw lightning in the distance, and thunder boomed a few seconds later. “The storm is close, Noah. Hurry!”

Noah went to the backyard to fetch his iguana from its favorite spot next to the pool, over which Dot had installed a heating lamp to warm Duke on cold nights. Noah could usually find Duke bathing under the lamp or in the shallow end of the pool.

That evening, however, Duke was gone.

“Duke! Where are you?”

Noah had taught Duke to “come” when Noah yelled Duke’s name. Noah yelled Duke’s name several times, hoping the iguana would respond, but nothing happened. Noah ran back to the house and turned on the patio lights. “Grandma! I can’t find Duke!”

Dot went to the patio door and looked at the sky. Lightning flashed over the nearby elementary school, followed by another rip of thunder. “Noah, I’m sure Duke is somewhere safe. You need to come in now. Didn’t you see that giant streak of lightning over the school?”

“I need to find him, Grandma,” Noah pleaded. “What if Duke gets struck by lightning?” Noah ran around the pool and through the yard yelling for Duke again, but Duke wasn’t there.

“Noah come inside right now,” Dot replied. “Duke will be fine. You can go back outside after the storm passes.”

Noah obeyed, and once inside, he placed a chair by the patio door so he could keep looking for Duke.

Dot went to Noah and squeezed his shoulders. “He’ll come back, kiddo. In the meantime, let’s watch the lightning show like we always do!”

Noah usually liked watching the colors of lightning storms with his grandma, but not today. Not until he found Duke.

“Look over there,” Dot said, pointing to the neighborhood next to hers. “Doesn’t it look like lightning is dancing all over the sky?”

“Grandma, that lightning is super close and it’s hitting the ground. Duke could be struck if he goes in the pool!”

Dot knew he was right. Lightning strikes everything it touches, and the most dangerous places were outside and near water. But Dot didn’t want to scare her grandson. “Your iguana has old dinosaur blood, and dinosaurs were very good at staying out of storms. They could sense storms just like Dan Harmon. I bet Duke sensed the storm and went into hiding. Why don’t you put on your pajamas, get comfortable, and we’ll watch Blue’s Clues until the storm passes?”

Noah looked at his grandma curiously. “Grandma, dinosaurs don’t exist anymore, and no one ever talked to them, so how do you know they could sense storms?”

He had a point. Her response: “Grandparents always know about old things like dinosaurs.” That usually worked.

Noah rolled his eyes and half chuckled. “Anyway Grandma, I don’t watch Blue’s Clues anymore. My favorite show is The Incredible Hulk.” Noah looked at the clock. “Tonight’s episode just started.”

“Alright. Go change clothes and I’ll turn on the TV.”

Before he ran upstairs, Noah grabbed a leaf of lettuce, Duke’s favorite food, from the fridge and took it to the patio. “Your food is here when you want it, Duke!”

“Noah Dean Gilles! What did I just tell you?! Leave that door closed and go change your clothes!”

“Sorry Grandma. I wanted to try one more thing.” Suddenly, more lightning appeared through the window, and thunder exploded. Noah jumped. “That was a big one.”

“No pauses between the lightning and thunder,” Dot said. Dot always counted the seconds between lighting and thunder to determine a storm’s location, “Sounds like the storm has arrived. Now hurry up and change so you can protect me on this sofa!”

The Incredible Hulk

A few minutes later, Noah was in his pajamas on the sofa with Dot, and they were watching The Incredible Hulk. Dot pulled Noah next to her and patted his leg. “Now, tell me all about this Incredible Hulk.”

“Well, that person is Bruce Banner,” Noah said, pointing to the TV. “Whenever someone makes him mad, he turns into the Incredible Hulk and fights the bad guys.”

More lightning appeared through the living room window, and thunder boomed on its tails. Then, even more lightning and thunder slammed. The second time, the lightning was so bright it temporarily blinded Dot and Noah.

“Woah!” said Noah as he scooted toward Dot. “That one made the sky look like it was daytime!” He and Dot snuggled together on the sofa and continued watching The Incredible Hulk while the night’s light show surrounded them.

Noah tried to stay focused, but all he could think about was Duke. Each streak of lightning worried him more. Dot tried to distract her grandson: “Hey kiddo, when is Bruce Banner going to turn into the Hulk?” Noah didn’t reply.

A bit later, Dot poked Noah in the ribs at his most ticklish spot.

“Hey, stop it!” he laughed, swatting her hand.

“I just wanted to see if you’re still awake,” Dot said, poking again.

“Grandmaaaa! Stopppp!” Noah moved to the edge of the sofa and pointed at the TV to distract her this time. “See that guy? He’s making Bruce Banner mad. Get ready for it, Grandma. Bruce is about to turn into the Hulk. See how his eyes are changing color!”

“Oh, that looks scary!” Dot said, pulling Noah back to her side. As Bruce Banner morphed into the Hulk, his body turned green, he ripped off his shirt, veins popped out all over his muscular arms and chest, and the Hulk flexed his arm muscles.

Just as the Hulk began to let out a roar, Dot and Noah heard the biggest thunderclap of the night along with the unmistakable boom of lightning striking something in the backyard.

The Lightning Strike

“Oh no,” said Dot. “We’ve been hit.” Dot ran to the patio door to view the damage. Noah followed. Outside, a giant cloud of smoke and flames rose from where Duke usually lounged near the heating lamp.

“Duke!” Noah started opening the door.

“Wait, Noah,” Dot said, holding back her grandson. “It’s dangerous out there. Stay here while I put out the fire.” Dot grabbed a bucket from the washroom, slipped on her work boots, went outside, and ran for the pool. Please, please, please don’t let Duke have been struck, she thought. Dot filled the bucket with water. When she threw it on the flames, an even larger cloud of smoke billowed into the air and around the pool.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek came from under the smoke, causing Dot to jolt backward. She regrouped and quickly filled the bucket with water again.

Right before she tossed it, she saw movement under the smoke. She stopped. “Duke?”

Noah had been listening and yelled from the open patio door, “Is it him? Is he OK?”

Dot didn’t know yet. She walked closer to the movement. The fire was out, but there was still a lot of smoke. Dot could only vaguely make out something smooth. And flat. It looked like part of a bird’s wing. It certainly wasn’t part of Duke, Dot thought, as she thanked heavens the lightning struck something other than Noah's pet.

As a bit more smoke cleared, Dot moved in for a closer look.

That’s when she saw it—the unmistakable red markings of Duke’s right front claw. Before she could look farther, a strong wind blew a gust of smoke directly at her face. Coughing, she stepped back to regain her breath. This is more smoke than normal, Dot thought, wondering what could be causing such heat. Dot peered to the location of Duke’s claw. It was still there. Was it moving? No.

“Oh Duke,” she said. “This is going to break Noah’s heart.”

“Did you find Duke?” Noah yelled.

Dot didn’t reply; she was pondering how to tell her grandson that Duke was dead. She looked at the claw a bit longer, and still no movement.

Noah yelled, “Is Duke OK?”

No, my sweet Noah, he’s not.

Dot couldn’t face her grandson, so she kept staring at the claw. Lightning colored the sky in the distance. When the thunder followed many seconds later, Dot knew the storm was ending.

Noah yelled louder, “Duke! Can you hear me?” Dot's eyes started to tear listening to Noah’s pleadings. You must tell him now, Dot thought. As she was turning to Noah, she heard him yell even louder: “DUUUKKKEEE!”

Dot took one last glance at the claw and yelled back, “Noah, I’ve got something to tell—” She stopped.

The claw was moving!

The Claw

As if life had just been breathed into it, the claw started slowly creeping toward Noah’s voice. There was still a lot of smoke, so Dot couldn’t see anything more than the claw, but there was no mistake that it was Duke’s claw, and it was moving. Duke was alive!

Dot took a deep breath. “As soon as this smoke clears,” she said to the claw, “I’m taking you inside, big guy. So don’t go too far.”

Dot kept one eye on the claw and wondered about that wing she saw under the cloud of smoke. Maybe the lightning struck a bird, and the bird fell on Duke. But what made that horrible shrieking sound? She moved near a smoke-free area to get a better view of the winged figure.

The closer she got, the more she realized it wasn’t a bird at all.

It was something larger. Much larger.

Meanwhile, Duke's claw was moving toward another cloud of smoke. “Duke, I cannot rescue you if I can’t see you. Stop moving!” Duke wasn’t listening. Well, sheezzzz, Dot thought. She had to rescue Duke before he breathed too much smoke.

Dot closed her eyes and covered her nose and mouth with one hand and walked into the smoky area where Duke’s claw moved. With her free hand, she felt around for the claw. Got it. She pulled Duke by its claw. He was much stronger than she remembered, but she kept pulling until she hoped they were out of the smoke.

Before opening her eyes, Dot said a prayer of thanks that Duke was safe. Opening her eyes, she was delighted to see the smoke finally dissipating.

Dot looked down at Duke and shrieked.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” she said, dropping the claw.

Connected to Duke’s claw, where his leg should have been, was something long and dark. It didn’t look like an animal or a person, but it was pushing Duke’s claw forward.

“Dear God!” Dot didn’t want to look at the rest of the creature, so she closed her eyes tightly and prayed this was all her imagination.

Dot took a deep breath, counted to three and opened her eyes.

The creature was directly in front of her, its face less than ten inches from her own.

Dot screamed.

The Creature

Hearing his grandma’s screams, Noah bolted out back door. “What’s wrong, Grandma?!”

“Stay back, Noah.”

“Why?! I see Duke’s claw!”

“It’s not Duke.”

Dot tried to hold Noah back, but it was too late. Noah’s mouth fell open when he saw Duke’s claws attached to huge feet and long muscular legs. He saw a new, barbed tail where Duke’s old one used to be. He saw Duke’s little, unmistakable eyes and nose now resting on a large, narrow head with big teeth. The head was attached to a long, curved neck. Noah saw giant bat wings attached to Duke’s shoulders, which were now ten times their original size.

Noah looked into the creature’s eyes. “Duke?”

The creature turned its entire body toward Noah and opened its wings to half their spans.

Those eyes belong to Duke, Noah thought. “Duke, is that you?”

The creature inhaled deeply through its nostrils, opened its mouth, and breathed a line of fire into the pool next to Dot and Noah.

Dot screamed again and tried to shield Noah’s face from the smoke and flame. The water sizzled and smoked as it extinguished the fire.

“This all needs to stop now!” Dot had enough of whatever practical joke someone was pulling. “We’re calling the police.” She grabbed Noah’s hand to return to the house, but Noah refused to budge and remained staring at the creature.

“Duke, are you a dr—”

Before Noah could finish his question, the creature let out the same piercing shriek they heard earlier. The creature then closed its wings, knelt on its back legs, and locked its eyes with Noah’s.

Noah loosened himself from Dot’s grasp and inched closer to the creature. At first Noah hesitated, but the more he looked into the creature’s eyes, the less frightened Noah became.

“Noah, don’t go any closer to that thing!”

Dot looked at Noah’s face. Was she imagining it, or was Noah starting to smile? No, she wasn’t imagining it. Noah was smiling. And within moments, he was laughing. “I can’t believe it!” Noah cheered. “My Duke is a dr—”

Dot interrupted, “What in God’s name is going on?!”

“Grandma, don’t you know what this is?” Noah said, as he reached his hand toward the creature’s claw. The creature allowed it.

“Grandma, this is a DRAGON!”

The Dragon

“A what? Dragons aren’t real—”

“Look at him. He looks exactly like the ones in the movies. He also breathes fire and has wings. I bet he can fly, too!”

Noah continued. “Grandma, I know a lot about dragons – probably more than you know about dinosaurs, and this is definitely a dragon!”

“What has gotten into you, Noah?" said Dot. "Dragons don’t exist. This is someone’s cruel practical joke. Just wait until I find out who’s responsible.”

“Grandma, if you believe dinosaurs existed, why can’t you believe dragons exist?”

“Because dragons are not real!”

The creature let out another shriek and sprayed fire into the swimming pool again.

“Duke just said he is very real,” Noah replied.

“Stop this nonsense!” Dot yelled. My grandson thinks his pet iguana is now a dragon. Meanwhile, someone orchestrated this elaborate hoax to hide the real Duke, start a fire in my backyard, and put on a life-size dragon costume to play party tricks in my backyard during a lightning storm, risking all our lives in the process.

“This is unbelievable!” Dot gasped.

“It is, isn’t it,” Noah replied. “But it’s actually happening!”

Dot looked closely at the creature. It did have Duke’s eyes, and they were still locked on Noah. Creating those eyes must have taken someone a lot of work, she thought.

“I can’t believe how cool this is!” Noah cried. “The lightning turned Duke into a dragon! Just like Bruce Banner turned into the Incredible Hulk, Duke turned into a real-life dragon! Duke, we’re going to have so much fun!”

The creature then stood on all fours and stretched his neck to its full height. What used to be a one-foot iguana was now a ten-foot dragon. The dragon turned its head toward the sky, and then looked down to Noah.

The Dragon’s Flight

Noah smiled. “Grandma, I think I know what he wants to do. I can sense it. He wants to fly.”

He will be flying directly to the police station when this hoax is over, Dot thought.

Noah looked up at the dragon. “You can do it, Duke!”

The dragon was still looking at Noah. “Fly!” Noah yelled.

Suddenly, Dot and Noah heard and felt a loud swoosh of air as the dragon expanded its wings to their full lengths, which almost spanned the entire backyard.

“Woah! That’s awesome!” yelled Noah.

The dragon flapped his wings once and rose into the air.

“Cool! Keep going, Duke!” Noah encouraged.

Another flap, and the dragon started flying across the yard.

“Yes! You’re flying, Duke!”

As the wings flapped again, the dragon flew a bit higher into the sky. The dragon turned its head back to Noah.

“It’s OK, Duke. Go fly! I’ll be here when you get back.”

Dot watched in confused disbelief, and Noah watched in glee as the dragon flew higher and farther into the remaining storm. They watched the dragon fly until it was so far away, the only thing left to see was the night sky and a single streak of lightning in the distance.