Supernatural Friday: A Great Day to Maybe See a Kaiju

"Below the thunders of the upper deep
Far, far beneath in the abysmal sea
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth...
There hath he lain for ages and will lie...
Until the latter fire shall heat the deep;
Then once by man and angels to be seen,
In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die."
--Alfred, Lord Tennyson, British poet (1809-1892)

 

Sea monsters are sea-dwelling mythical or legendary creatures, often believed to be of immense size. Marine monsters take many forms--sea dragons, sea serpents, or multi-armed beasts. They can be slimy or scaly, and often pictured threatening ships or spouting jets of water. The definition of a "monster" is subjective, and some sea monsters may have been no doubt based on scientifically accepted creatures such as whales and types of giant and colossal squid. Sea monsters have been seen in the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Southern Oceans. 

HIC SUNT DRACONES.” The phrase translates from the Latin as “here are dragons.” Etched on the Lenox Globe is the eastern coast of Asia. It is one of the oldest terrestrial globe maps, dating to 1510. The same phrase is also on one other historical artifact—a 1504 globe crafted on an ostrich egg—depictions of monsters and mythological beasts are common on early maps.

Types of Sea Monsters

The Japanese Daikaiju are beasts named by the Japanese that literally translates to "strange creature," and is used to refer to a genre of tokusatsu entertainment. Kaiju films usually showcase monsters of any form, usually attacking a major Japanese city or engaging another and more monsters in battle. Godzilla is an example of a daikaiju; produced by Toho Films, as was other giant monsters Gamera, Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah (who I suspect was inspired by the Eastern dragons of Asian mythology and the Hydra of Greek mythology), Mechagodzilla and Daimajin. Some like Godzilla can be called a sea monster, others, not. You can find kaiju films listed here: Toho Kaiju  More besides the Toho monsters can be found here: Giant Monster Movies

 

Several pictures of sea serpents on old maps appear to be based on sightings of the oarfish, or ribbon-fish (Regalecus glesne). A long, eel-shaped fish that grows to 11 meters (36 feet), the oarfish has a crest of bright red spines on its head and a spiny dorsal fin running down its entire back.

 

The kraken of myth may be the largest sea monster ever imagined. Described in Scandinavian stories dating back to about AD 1180, the kraken was said to live near Norway and Iceland. Some stories described it as more than 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) around with arms as large as ship's masts. This may have been based from sightings of tentacles of sea monsters proven real; giant squid and giant octopus. This multi-armed monster rarely attacked humans, preferring to stay in deep water where it feasted on fish. The chief dangers came from being too close when it surfaced--or drawing close when it sank, as a boat could be sucked down in the whirlpool created when it submerged. Stories were told that when a kraken surfaced, a shimmering cascade of fish could be seen tumbling down its back.

 

Giant Squid (proven real): As far back as five hundred years ago, maybe even farther back, sailors in northern Europe told of an amazing creature: A monster bigger than a man with numerous long, snakelike arms covered with suckers for grabbing prey. Evidence for this so-called devil-fish included bits of giant tentacles found in whale stomachs and vicious battle scars left on the skin of whales by its suckers and claws. Eventually, in the 1850s, scientists recognized the devil-fish as an authentic animal--the giant squid.

The largest eyes of any living creature: Each eye can be as large as a human head. Sharp, parrot-like "beaks" provided the first hard proof of their existence. In 1853, a giant squid washed ashore in Denmark and was cut up for bait, but its beak was saved, leading to recognition of the genus Architeuthis in 1857. A deep-ocean creature rarely seen near the surface; most sightings involve dying animals or corpses that wash up on shore. Suckers can leave scars on whales. After the success of Jaws, American author Peter Benchley frightened readers all over again in 1991 with his bestselling novel Beast, about a giant squid. In the novel, the squid attacks several people--something yet to occur in reality. An adult specimen had been found in one piece until 2007, when fishermen hauled one up near New Zealand. Dubbed the "colossal squid," it is thought to be the largest living creature without a backbone. Classified in its own genus, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni outweighs all of the eight giant squid species in the genus Architeuthis.

 

Gunakadeit (Goo-na'-ka-date) is a monster from a Tlingit legend who brought prosperity and good luck to a village in crisis, people starving in the home they made for themselves on the southeastern coast of Alaska.

 

Mythical Sea Monsters

The Aspidochelone, a giant turtle or whale that appeared to be an island, and lured sailors to their doom

Capricorn, Babylonian Water-Goat, in the Zodiac

Cetus

Charybdis of Homer, a monstrous whirlpool that sucked any ship nearby beneath the ocean

Cirein-cròin

Coinchenn, from whose bone the Gae Bulg is made in Celtic mythology

The Devil Whale, Extremely large demonic whale, the size of an island.

Hydra, Greece

Iku-Turso, reputedly a type of colossal octopus or walrus

Jörmungandr, the Norse Midgard Serpent.

Kraken, a gigantic octopus, squid or crab-like creature

Leviathan

Makara

Proteus

Scylla of Homer, a six-headed, twelve-legged serpentine that devoured six men from each ship that passed by

Sirens of Homer

Taniwha

The Rainbow Fish

Tiamat

Umibōzu

Yacumama, South America

Bakunawa, Philippines

Monsters reports in modern times include Ayia Napa Sea Monster, of Ayia Napa, Cyprus, Cadborosaurus of the Pacific Northwest, Champ of Lake Champlain, Chessie of the Chesapeake Bay and even seen in the Appomattox River near Hopewell, Virginia, Nessie of Loch Ness, Lusca,Morgawr, Shore Laddie Arnarfjörður, Westfjords, Iceland, Sea Horse Arnarfjörður, Westfjords, Iceland, The Shell monster Arnarfjörður, Westfjords, Iceland, and the Merman Arnarfjörður, Westfjords, Iceland.

Monsters that people claimed to have run-ins with maybe surviving specimens of giant marine reptiles, such as an ichthyosaur or plesiosaur, from the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods, or extinct whales like Basilosaurus. Again, who knows? For the prehistoric fish, coelacanth, first discovered still living in 1938, when a live specimen was caught in South Africa. Since then, more specimens have been seen and photographed, and a second coelacanth species was even found in Indonesia in 1999. Coelacanths are large predators, up to 2 meters (6′ 6″) long. They feed on smaller fish, including small sharks. Usually found in deep, dark waters, and rarely captured and consumed due to their horrible taste, coelacanths are still considered critically endangered nowadays.

 

Are there unknown creatures, dinosaurs, or else out there in the oceans of the world? Are are they just our imagination? It does not matter; they make great fodder for writers' stories and filmmakers' movies, but most of all, maybe, just maybe, some scientist will prove one of these myths to be really existing in the sea.  Just as long it doesn't decided to go on land to destroy New York City  or Tokyo--the cities need a rest from monster bashing! 

Supernatural Friday: Sea Monsters

Sea monsters have been seen by man since man has taken to sailing the seas or fishing it. Sea monsters are believed to be mythical or legendary beasts, usually of immense size.  Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or multi-armed beasts. Definition of a "monster" can mean many things, something that is frightening to humans, especially they never seen the animals before. Some sea monsters may have been based on scientifically accepted creatures such as whales and types of giant and colossal squid and octopus. Sometimes they can be slimy or scaly, often pictured threatening ships or spouting jets of water.

Historically, decorative drawings of heraldic dolphins and sea monsters were used to illustrate maps, such as the Carta marina. This practice died away with the advent of modern cartography.

There is a Tlingit legend about a sea monster named Gunakadeit/ This monster was thought to bring prosperity and good luck to a village in crisis, people starving in the home they made for themselves on the southeastern coast of Alaska.

Some sea monsters seen have been recorded from those in the past. Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed to have encountered a lion-like monster with "glaring eyes" on his return voyage after formally claiming St. John's, Newfoundland (1583) for England. Another account of an encounter with a sea monster comes from July 1734. Hans Egede, a Dano-Norwegian missionary, reported that on a voyage to Gothaab/Nuuk on the western coast of Greenland he observed. Here is partial of what Hans noted: “a most terrible creature, resembling nothing they saw before. The monster lifted its head so high that it seemed to be higher than the crow's nest on the mainmast. The head was small and the body short and wrinkled. The unknown creature was using giant fins which propelled it through the water. Later the sailors saw its tail as well. The monster was longer than our whole ship.” Some cryptologist was say this sounds like a plesiosaurus.  Interestingly, since this was 1734 and dinosaurs and prehistoric reptiles hadn’t been discovered and catalogued yet by experts. About plesiosaurus, it is often mistakenly referred to as a dinosaur, when in fact it is a prehistoric marine reptile which lived at the same time as the dinosaurs. It had a long neck, four paddle-like flippers and a tail. The long neck of Plesiosaurus is supported by approximately 40 individual vertebrae. For comparison, a human has only seven neck vertebrae.

Can a plesiosaurus have existed in 1734? Or had Hans mistaken some common whale or large fish or even a seal, for a sea monster? After all, when we think of sea-going ships back then, many were not as big as we see in the movies.  And I doubted a missionary would use a galleon.

Many marine animals and fish have been mistaken for sea monsters. One that is rarest among whales and that is the spade-toothed beaked whale. Scientists rarely seen it alive and until recently, only had limited skeletal evidence that they even existed. So rare is the species that when a pair of dead whales washed up on a New Zealand beach in late 2010, scientists didn't even know what they had. Testing, such as DNA, proved what it was. Scientists were ecstatic. That’s because only three partial specimens of the species were known to exist -- two collected in New Zealand in 1872 and in the 1950s and a third found on Robinson Crusoe Island off the coast of Chile in 1986. The spade-toothed beaked whale looks similar to a large black, white and gray dolphin with its long pointed snout. Scientists believe they grow to be about 17 feet long. Adult males have large exposed teeth as the name suggests. There is only guess work about other beaked whales, which are often boat-shy, spend little time at the surface and dive to depths of 6,600 feet. They probably dine on squid. So imagine one coming to the surface in the past and what a fisherman in a small fishing boat thought it was.

Oarfish can grow big and they mostly live in the deep ocean. One found in Catalina Island's Toyon Bay October 15, 2013 was so big -- 18 feet long -- that it required 15 people to hold it chest-high in a trophy photo taken by the Catalina Island Marine Institute. Being so long, it can be mistaken for a sea serpent.

I wrote about Chessie, a sea monster seen off the coast of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay and in the Appomattox River by Hopewell.

From a chapter in my nonfiction ghost book, Haunted Richmond II:

Most times when someone goes fishing, you expect to catch fish. There may even be frogs in the water, but a sea serpent? That’s what did swim the waters of the Appomattox River in Hopewell in the 80s.

Chessie was seen mostly in Chesapeake Bay. For years, people reported sightings of a serpent-like creature with flippers—not unlike Nessie of Loch Ness in that respect. It even made the news in the late 60s.

Witnesses say that the creature might be about twenty-five to forty feet in length, dark, with no limbs, fins, or distinguishable details on its oval head. It was also no more than a foot across in width.

It appeared at one time that Chessie decided to leave the bay and swim upriver to Hopewell. A woman caught sight of the creature one day. The witness had gone out to dinner with her husband at the Harbor Light Restaurant. When she got out of the car, she noticed something strange with a long, undulating body that swam closer and closer. It matched descriptions of the beast seen in Chesapeake Bay.

Of course, since then, it has not been seen, neither in the river nor in Chesapeake Bay. At least that I know of. So next time you go boating on the river or plan to go fishing, take care. Chessie might still be living beneath the water

Sea Monsters in Myths (I won’t talk abouteach one now—maybe one day on each one, but you can google and look each one up):

The Aspidochelone, a giant turtle or whale that appeared to be an island, and lured sailors to their doom

Capricorn, Babylonian Water-Goat, in the Zodiac

Cetus

Charybdis of Homer, a monstrous whirlpool that sucked any ship nearby beneath the ocean

Cirein-cròin

Coinchenn, from whose bone the Gae Bulg is made in Celtic mythology

The Devil Whale, Extremely large demonic whale, the size of an island.

Hydra, Greece

Iku-Turso, reputedly a type of colossal octopus or walrus

Jörmungandr, the Norse Midgard Serpent.

Kraken, a gigantic octopus, squid or crab-like creature

Leviathan

Makara

Proteus

Scylla of Homer, a six-headed, twelve-legged serpentine that devoured six men from each ship that passed by

Sirens of Homer

Taniwha

The Rainbow Fish

Tiamat

Umibōzu

Yacumama, South America

Sea Monsters in Fiction in Writing and Onscreen:

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

Monster From the Ocean Floor

Bacoon in Star Fox 64.

Creatures of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, including Cthulhu itself.

Creatures of The X-Files episodes Agua Mala.

Creatures in such sci-fi/horror films as Deepstar Six, The Rift, Deep Rising and Deep Shock.

Carcharodon Megalodon in Steve Alten's Meg series.

Cloverfield

Fictional portrayals of the Giant Squid.

Giant octopus in It Came from Beneath the Sea.

Giganto

Godzilla

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (giant octopus attacks the Nautilus)

Behemoth, the Sea Monster

Gorgo

Manda

Orca

Kraken as depicted in Clash of the Titans (both the 1981 and 2010 versions).

Kraken as depicted in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.—this was more Lovecraftian in nature.

Leviathan in the Gears of War series.

Ebirah

Titanosaurus

Zigra

Moby Dick

Nabooian sea monsters in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

Rhedosaurus

Sin

Ichthyosaur and plesiosaur in A Journey to the Center of the Earth.

The Terrible Dogfish

Title creature of Peter Benchley's White Shark.

The War God Goura

Mega Shark Versus Giant Octopus

      Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus

The Two-Headed Shark

Sharktopus

Pacific Rim

 Godzilla (2014)

Next time you decide to take a boat ride on the ocean or head to the beach, keep a eye on the sea, as you never know what you might see. Wait a minute…see that…do you think it might be….