1417~1431: Serpent found in Solid Marble

In a translation published in 1649 of older manuscripts by Ambroise Paré [1510-1590], chief surgeon to Henry III of France, Paré states that he had seen an account by a man named Baptista Leo recording that in the time of Pope Martin the Fifth [1369-1431], a serpent was discovered, alive, encased in a large, solid chunk of marble stone. There was no visible crack or hole that could allow the serpent either entry or air within the rock.

        Since Pope Martin V was in power under that name between 1417 and 1431, I've set this as the time range for the incident. Of course, we are taking someone's word that they saw someone else's account of the matter around 100 years after it would have been written... so I'm marking this brief account as 'Unreliable' as proof of anything actually strange or paranormal. It does act, however, as evidence of what the belief regarding weird things were around the 16th Century when Paré wrote it.