Oddity Shop
This podcast examines the oddities of the world...Cryptids to Conspiracies, Cults to Curiosities, Myths to Mysteries, and so much more! Stop by the shop, where the bizarre is always on sale... Each week your curators, Kara Perakovic and Zach Palmer will be opening the shop and sharing stories with you.
Oddity Shop
Fear The Kraken: Sea Monsters That Lurk Beneath
Welcome To The Oddity Shop, Where The Bizarre is Always on Sale. This week, your Curator Zach is Krack-in' open the Lore of Sea Monsters.
The Kraken has haunted sailors' dreams for centuries – a colossal tentacled beast capable of dragging entire ships beneath the waves. From its origins in 13th century Norse sagas to scientific discoveries in our modern era, we track the evolution of this legendary sea monster and uncover some startling truths.
Join us as we separate fact from fiction and discover how sometimes, the most incredible legends contain more truth than we ever imagined.
What other legendary creatures might actually exist? Share your thoughts with us – we'd love to hear your favorite cryptid theories!
References:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_corvette_Alecton
- https://www.gathertales.com/en/story/the-legend-of-the-kraken/sid-276
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraken
- https://liboatingworld.com/beware-of-the-krake
- https://www.scielo.br/j/hcsm/a/3f7pGvQSBQNC4kkC8MXsbQQ/#:~:text=This%20was%20the%20point%20at,Canary%20Islands%20(Figure%203).
- https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kraken-sea-monster-antarctica_n_57675220e4b015db1bc9b731
- https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/invertebrates/giant-squid
- https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/130107-giant-squid-video-japan-science
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I want to dance with the mothman At the IA shop, bathed in the moonlight At the IA shop. Creep through the graveyard To the IA shop. The door's always open At the IA shop. Welcome back to the Oddity Shop, you oddballs.
Speaker 2:This is the podcast where we tell you creepy, odd, weird, strange and bizarre stories, sometimes with cryptids and monsters, sometimes with a bunch of other stuff that you know we just really like from around the globe.
Speaker 1:I'm your curator, Kara. This is your curator, Zachary.
Speaker 2:And obviously curator Kara has no patience for my shenanigans today.
Speaker 1:No, you were going too long. How are you? I thought you were going to take my line. I'm good. How are you?
Speaker 2:Oh no, I took your line.
Speaker 1:Oh no, you took my line.
Speaker 2:I'm doing good. I feel like I've had a really productive week and I've been waking up early every day and I've been having a lot of caffeine because I finally figured out how to use Julia's bean grinder, so I no longer have to wait for her for coffee.
Speaker 1:Wow, it only took you how long.
Speaker 2:Long enough. Let's just say that Two years. Well, it took me a long time to even figure out that she was grinding beans.
Speaker 1:So All right, so good job.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thank you you did something. What's new in your life?
Speaker 1:My back hurts so bad, I have blisters all over my hands and every muscle in my body aches because I did so much yard work because I had off. Because I did so much yard work, because I had off, I haven't even really talked to you. I had off Monday, tuesday. Why are we the same person? We had those two 80. Oh yeah, we have blisters everywhere we had blisters in the same spot from the raking.
Speaker 1:Two days that were like 80 degrees, so all day what I did was like yard work and planting flowers and mulch. If anyone has mulch you know that, like every year, you have to turn the mulch and I have a very big yard with a lot of mulch and I did all by myself what color mulch do you do?
Speaker 2:black, I do the same and I hate that, even if, like you, had a year where a lot of it retained, it loses so much color like you have to redo, no matter what color you have to do every year. It's so stupid.
Speaker 1:I almost bought the rubber mulch this year, but you, I think, should have, because you don't have a lot. So it's nice, we priced it out.
Speaker 2:Oh, I couldn't even imagine.
Speaker 1:I couldn't afford it, for how much mulch I have. So anyway, that's that.
Speaker 2:That's honestly the first thing on my list to talk about, too, is my back hurts and everything from yard work but this weather is just bringing me back to life Like I'm through the worst of the allergy part of it now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, me too. Me too, I don't feel as foggy.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, two weeks ago was so bad Like I got like a legit head cold and I know it's from everything blooming.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's crazy. You and I were like down for a couple of days. This is the first time we're recording since our event. Technically, we had an event. It was great.
Speaker 2:It was great. It was really fun, real quick. Before we go into the event, though, in the yard work, your husband will be so proud of me. Okay, I on that front area that has been needing grass redone for years, I turned over, added soil, aerated, overseeded and fertilized, and I've been waking up early every morning watering it's watered.
Speaker 1:Good job, that's awesome it makes such a difference. It's gonna look.
Speaker 2:I know I feel bad for the pollinators though I know, I know okay, but the event so yeah, guys, um we had an event it was so much fun hanging out with everyone, like we met a bunch of new people we got to hang out with a bunch of friends already but yeah, no, we and everyone had the same consensus, which I think you and I could agree we need to do more oh, and I finally got to meet danny.
Speaker 1:yay, I was very, very excited about that part.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it only took like three years. I still can't believe that's the first time you guys met.
Speaker 1:I know you forgot I know, Like even when I was like, wait, I need to hug Danny. I've never met Danny. You're like, oh my God, I forgot, you always forget.
Speaker 2:Well, now you don't have to, because we did you met, so we'll go back to me forgetting and it'll be justified, okay. Speaking of the event, and by the time this episode comes out, you probably have already heard the new ad that's coming, but I've got to talk about. So there's an event that you and I are considering going to because we found the coolest fucking paranormal group of all time. It is called haunters against hate, which is a super pro lgbt paranormal group and they're trying to give like voices to the lgbt community within and outside of paranormal and I just think it's like it's so cool are they more paranormal or horror?
Speaker 1:I think they're kind of both. Yeah, it's a little bit of everything, because I was reading it and they do a lot of horror stuff, um, like with a lot of like shows, movies and things like that. Their merch is very, very cute. There's a shirt that I think I'm going to order actually pretty soon. It's very cute.
Speaker 2:I know whoever is doing their merch is really freaking good.
Speaker 1:But basically, when Zach says we're thinking about going, we're actually really we're probably going. We just have to make sure that we can like with our work and our schedules, but we're probably going. It's like a five hour drive from us like a road trip baby.
Speaker 2:Let's do it. But just in case you guys are interested, we're going to have that ad running about the event. But they also are a nonprofit. They run mostly by donation. So check out their website, donate if you want to, if it calls you, but you know, I think it's a great thing.
Speaker 1:I think it's a really great thing and it also I have goosebumps because I just love stuff like this. I think it always speaks volumes to when you reach out to companies or foundations or things like this. The email that we got back was just so wonderful and it's really nice when you want to work with somebody that it's just like a really great person and you can tell even through email that they're just so amazing. I'm very excited.
Speaker 2:I am too Okay, so we'll have to be there, you guys, you, like I said, you've already heard that it's been running a couple of weeks.
Speaker 1:Yes, come with us All of our Kentucky. Is it Kentucky?
Speaker 2:Kentucky. What Kentucky, kentucky, kentucky?
Speaker 1:sounds weird, but I like it. Okay, do you have a question for me, hold?
Speaker 2:on. I'm not done what? Because I got my custom spirit board finally.
Speaker 1:Oh, you did. Where did you get that?
Speaker 2:My mystical.
Speaker 1:My is M-I.
Speaker 2:My mystical forest, but it is a local to us. Woodworker PS. My dad, who also makes the most amazing. Just he's my dad too, dad too creepy metaphysical wood. Good yeah, no carrot claims him. Okay, that's all I've got. What else do you have?
Speaker 1:oh, that just. I have one last thing, because this just made me um think of it. At the event our parents were there, so they got to meet like my mom got to meet your mom and dad. And your mom is so cute. She's like she tells my mom I could actually cry. It was so precious she goes.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for sharing your daughter and I was like oh my god, like I actually could cry.
Speaker 1:It was so cute, I totally missed that whole. Thing because y'all that event was so much fun.
Speaker 2:But Zach and I had no brains, we were listen. It was our first time okay, but oh no, that was so sweet and I just loved it and I had no brains.
Speaker 1:We were Listen, it was our first time, ok but no, that was so sweet and I just loved it. And I was like, oh my God, they'll go get all teary eyed. I said I'm like, you guys, don't do this to me. It's our first event. We're already emotional about it, and then y'all are going to get up.
Speaker 2:Before you get teary eyed, then let's open the. I'll ask you a question At any point in your life, did you?
Speaker 1:ever want to be a pirate or Viking and take out to the open seas. So I've always wanted to be a pirate. My brother wants to be a Viking and when he dies I have to give him a Viking funeral, and I have a disease that I just found out that's called Viking disease. So I could either go either way, baby.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you're hold on. You're going to give him a Viking funeral, but when I wanted the my gay death at 30, nobody would give me a viking funeral.
Speaker 1:No matter how much I begged bullshit, why would I do what ignorant?
Speaker 2:continue on whatever, okay, so I do.
Speaker 1:I have to pick one no, no, no, no, that's good, I want to be a pirate. I've always wanted to be a pirate.
Speaker 2:What would be your biggest fear?
Speaker 1:If I was a Viking or a pirate or just in general.
Speaker 2:If you were a bike Viking? If you were a Viking or a pirate, what would be your biggest fear about that life?
Speaker 1:Is this a shipwreck? No, oh, okay, um, I don't know. Should this be obvious to me?
Speaker 2:No, that's okay. I'm actually kind of glad it is shipwrecks technically, but specific types Okay. So ready to go. Are we talking about Blackbeard? Nope.
Speaker 1:Stop guessing. Okay, are you ready?
Speaker 2:Yes, okay. Long before air travel was possible and we had the seafaring tech we do now, the first navigators took out to the seas, which was known to be treacherous, unstable, dangerous, even cara, okay. However, for those brave enough to set sail, there was the promise of new lands, wealth and trade. Okay, but stories started to come up, cara, time and time again, the story of a monster in the waters this is not where I thought we were going who particularly like to latch on to ships and their crew, dragging them down to the murky depths.
Speaker 2:Okay, often described as a colossal creature with massive thrashing tentacles, sailors throughout history claimed it would drag entire ships beneath the waves, leaving behind only splintered wood, terrified whispers. Its body so vast it was sometimes mistaken for an island rising from the sea. What the fuck are we talking about, kara?
Speaker 1:Well, isn't it just called the Kraken?
Speaker 2:The Kraken.
Speaker 1:Okay, I was like oh God, I didn't want to be wrong.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm so excited. I am too, I will say, though it might be a shorter episode, so there's a little less on the Kraken out there than I anticipated, but we also might talk about how this one is rooted in reality a little bit. So let's start off with a story 19th century France. Well, in the waters near France at least.
Speaker 2:OK 1861, the French Corvette, which is actually a type of ship I learned. Okay, so a Corvette is a ship, not a car, Named the Electon is on its way to Cayenne, which is also more than just a spice it's an island. I learned so much already.
Speaker 2:Three sentences, oh my god, so near the Tenerife Islands. The ship itself is about 150 feet long, it's made of wood and it carries a crew of 62, captained by Frédéric Boyer oh, I like that name. I know French names are just so fun, frédéric. On November 30th, the ship is nearing the island when the crew member on lookout begins to shout a large body partly submerged on the surface. So the captain, having heard the legend of the kraken, he looks down and sees what appears to be a massive creature, squid like in nature. He had heard of it and he also knew that nobody was able to prove the existence of the kraken. So he wanted to capture it to prove it to the world. Oh, god, right, so, uh, he was fearful at first, knowing that they might be dragged below, but the body never moved.
Speaker 2:Oh, so he signals to the crew to fire muskets, large harpoons and nets to ensnare the creature. The bullets just kind of bounced off its rubbery body. That's so amazing, I know I wish. But what they were able to do was kind of like get a net around it and lasso and pull the thing up onto the ship. But as they pulled it it kind of pulled apart. Oh, because it was so massive and had so much weight to it and was obviously unalive. It kind of split as they were pulling it from the water, and only the tip of the tail remained on board, and the rest of the monster went right beneath the surface. So this is, though, the first time the creature had actually been snagged and became not just a creature of legend, but they had a piece of it.
Speaker 1:Okay, are we 100% sure slash certain that it was dead, or does it like regenerate, like once things get cut off it?
Speaker 2:was dead. Okay, because that's the whole thing. They were able to lasso it and shoot it and all that stuff, because it was just not moving. Okay, though the question gets asked is this a Kraken or something else?
Speaker 1:They just got the tail.
Speaker 2:Just the tail.
Speaker 1:Okay, do we?
Speaker 2:have pictures? Or are the kraken and something else one of the same? No, this was 1861, homie.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, no pictures.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'll tell you. You can ponder it. We're going to talk about it later. Oh, okay, all right, let's kind of get into the origin of where the legend came from, because even in 1861 it was already like legend, legend, okay. So it goes all the way back to norse mythology, and the oldest references to kraken like creatures appear in. By the way, I am not eastern european, I'm gonna do my best. Orvar order saga o rr-v-a-r, dash, o-d-e-o-d-d-r. Okay, what are our odor? That's what we're going with, because sounds better than odor adore, yeah, okay, okay so this is a book that came out in like the 13th century.
Speaker 2:It's a saga that describes two sea monsters one is the half gufa, or sea mist, and the other is the lingbacker, or the leatherback. Okay, so the half gufa is widely considered to be like the earliest version of a kraken, and they describe a beast so big that, like sailors, would regularly mistake it for an island. That's wild.
Speaker 1:Wild.
Speaker 2:Now remember a lot of these people sailors, fishermen. We know stories get exaggerated, but Well, they'd be drinking. Right. These sagas do say I mean, I would be too if I had to live on the seas at that time. But the sagas do say that the creatures lived off of Norway, Greenland and Iceland. Okay, and they only surfaced rarely, but when they did they brought about destructive whirlpools and doom for any ship that got too close.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, Then we get the term Kraken right. So this is thought to have evolved from the word Krake, which is referred to as an unhealthy animal or something twisted and curled.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:I like that. It kind of makes me think of like, like a, a witchy hand for some reason.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it kind of makes sense, though, if it's saying it has tentacles, you know those kind of curl. They kind of like do weird things. So that's like a very what. What was the original word?
Speaker 2:basically kraken without an n krake krake.
Speaker 2:So that would be, now like the Greek nomenclature, part of it, right. So we have the Norse, we have the Greek and it kind of starts to come together later in Norse mythology where tales of the Kraken really start to emerge, as their stories include, like a myriad of sea creatures that haunted the minds of the seafaring Vikings, that haunted the minds of the seafaring Vikings. So this is when it starts to. They pull from the island, part of it, or looking as big as an island, they pull from the whirlpools, they kind of pull from the Greek twisted creature and that's where the stories of this colossal squid-like creature comes from that has the ability to just pull entire ships down under the water with its tentacles, has the ability to just pull entire ships down under the water with its tentacles, okay. So over time the legends of these beasts start to spread to other Scandinavian countries and fishermen of all sorts are on the watch for the beast.
Speaker 1:The beast.
Speaker 2:So how do we know about the Kraken? Because a lot of this wasn't written histories, except for these like really early books.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:This we kind of have to credit to Bishop Eric Pantopidan Pidan. Listen, I'm doing the best with these names, okay. P-o-n-t-o-p-i-d-d-a-n. Pantopidan, pantopidan, pantopidan.
Speaker 1:Nobody come for us.
Speaker 2:No, sorry, bishop, we're just going to refer to him as Bishop.
Speaker 1:Bishop.
Speaker 2:All right, so 1752. This is when, like, the legend went from being kind of like passed down stories to more formal records. When Bishop Eric writes about the creature in his work the Natural History of Norway, so now it's like legitimately in history books.
Speaker 1:Is anybody else picturing Bishop Eric like Prince Eric? Is anybody else picturing Bishop Eric like Prince Eric? Because I feel like it makes sense, because then Ursula took down the ship with her octopus stuff and he's Prince Eric. It's like Bishop Eric.
Speaker 2:I see where you're going with this.
Speaker 1:That's how I'm going to envision my Bishop Eric.
Speaker 2:Okay, okay, as long as he's not peeing on anything.
Speaker 1:You're right.
Speaker 2:Okay. So he writes, though the Kraken was round, flat and full of arms, about a mile and a half wide. It continues. When it descends it creates a massive whirlpool that could suck down ships, but fishermen supposedly benefited from its presence because all these schools of fish would gather near it. It kind of drew in the fishermen to their death, not on purpose, it was just they were chasing the fish, the fish were chasing the Kraken. Boom Circle of life, baby Right. So he actually treats this as like a legitimate, though really seen like part of the marine ecosystem. Like he thinks this is not a creature of legend, like, hey, this is real shit we have to deal with.
Speaker 1:Which is smart, right?
Speaker 2:no-transcript, you know, not many people survive it and nobody was able to capture it, right. So what I kind of want to do was touch on some of, like, the more famous sightings of it. Okay, now, there's a lot, and most of them were just like super boring. Oh my God, we saw this Kraken and they explain it. So I tried to find some that were a little bit more in depth. We saw this Kraken, right, but like it's just like the stories over the years are like oh yeah, we saw it. Oh yeah, we saw it too. A couple tentacles, right, whoa I. I think it really like, truly at its core, is sort of a fisherman story that just gets embellished upon and embellished upon at least through some of the people who tell it, but I'll let you know my thought when you say I can perfect we're gonna start, though, with one of the ones who tell it, but I'll let you know my thought when you say I can.
Speaker 2:Perfect, we're going to start, though, with one of the ones that showed up. The story is in the Orvar Order, the saga from the 13th century. Ok, so the location of these sightings like we said earlier, a little bit off the coast of Norway, iceland, greenland, so what happened is the Håfgófa. Basically, this is that thing that's described as, the thing that's as big as an island, right, and a lot of sailors would start to catch fish near these random islands, and more and more fishermen would go there. So sailors would mistakenly try to dock on this island or near it, and then the island would start to shudder and move, and then a foul smell would emit from it. Oh, Then next, the sailors would say that the entire school of fish would disappear, as if they were just gulped by the island.
Speaker 1:So these are accounts of people that have survived. Then when do we get these stories?
Speaker 2:This story is in that saga, the orvar order. Oh right, okay, so it was like a collection of stories. This is where the legend was really born this is like how it came about so it was. People would be fishing near the island. The island would start to move. Oh shit, it just swallowed the fish. Oh shit, now it's trying to uh swallow us and they'd come back or they'd watch their buddy ships get destroyed or eaten or sucked down below okay so not too many like terrible, like great details of this, but the significance of this story is that it's really the foundation of the legend.
Speaker 2:The interesting thing here, though, compared to some of the other stories, is that it doesn't really treat the beast as like the aggressor right, but it's more that something that's just like massive and lurking and deadly if disturbed, which is kind of contradictory to like, I feel, like the pop culture things we see of like you're just merrily going along in your boat and that's how. That's how I live my life what randomly attacking people who walk by you?
Speaker 1:That disturbed me. Don't disturb me. I don't randomly attack you.
Speaker 2:Especially before your caffeine in the morning. Right. Quick side note the last time I saw you early in the morning, you appeared at my door and said I have things to do. I'm going to lock myself in my room. Don't even come near me. I'm like, I'm good.
Speaker 1:No, first off, give more context, that was we were getting ready for the event. I had very bad anxiety and I said I need to do my hair and makeup. It's going to take me a while because I'm going to be self-conscious. I just can't be bothered.
Speaker 2:I just love it. It was like so stern and I had already planned to just leave you alone. I know this. I'm like doing my own thing already. I just had to let you know, because if I wouldn't have let you know, I would have had anxiety that you're just going to come and interrupt me.
Speaker 1:Okay, fair, all right, kraken.
Speaker 2:We're ready for story number two. Kraken, kara, kara, kraken no more, kurator Kara. All right, so now this one is more what you're looking for. So this is a French naval encounter from the 1800s. Our source is sail sailor testimony, but it is not officially reported with a name. Okay, the location this time is the north atlantic ocean, and this french naval vessel was reportedly attacked by a giant tentacled creature that was so large that it, like, started to grab the underside of its ship, and it was able to wrap its tentacles all the way around to the top of the ship's mast which I feel like those are the pictures that you see.
Speaker 1:Is that absolutely?
Speaker 2:this is like your typical. This is in the 1800s. Okay, a lot of this. I don't have significant dates for it and I was just curious so I picked this story from the like 1700s to the 1900s.
Speaker 2:This story happens over and over and over again. So the sailors claimed that they were trying to like hack at the tentacles with their axes. They were trying to free themselves as the ends of it were wrapping around their ankles. But the reason we actually have this story physically reported is because they were able to do enough damage to him that all of a sudden all the tentacles released, pulled back under the water and went beneath the waves and just left them. Now the crew was obviously shaken, but one of them ran to the belly of the boat I can't think of what the underdecks are called and was able to look through a porthole and see the beast as it was coming away, and he kind of gave it that squid-like description, more than the island we've had from the older legends. Okay, he was able to get a really good look at the tentacles and said that the thinnest of its arms were thicker than any man's legs he'd ever seen.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So, but that's the thinnest, so we know it's like. Yeah so if you start to think about that, let's say the biggest legs you've ever seen. Let's just use Arnold Schwarzenegger, for example.
Speaker 1:Right Like probably close to a dinner plate, but are we talking about the thighs or the? What are these things called?
Speaker 2:Your calves, your upper legs and lower. That is a reference.
Speaker 1:If you know, if you know you know actually, if you know comment yes, please, uh, because I will never not laugh at that.
Speaker 2:Okay, so the significance of this story though. Oh, that also so, as he went down below the deck and he saw this right, some of them are still wrapped on. So, as the thing is pulling away, it starts to pull the ship pretty hard and just pulls it absolutely sideways across the water. Ok, so significance here While officially undocumented because we don't know the names, this is like the story that becomes the sailor legend. This one's often kind of referred to as like one of the clearest Kraken attack stories. Now, some have argued that it sounds like an actual creature, but we're going to, we're going to touch base on that again later.
Speaker 2:OK, so I did try really, really hard to find a good Reddit story. There's almost none. Like most people don't have recent run-ins.
Speaker 1:I was just scouring Reddit, literally right now, as you were telling me you were looking for Kraken encounters.
Speaker 2:Like you cannot find modern day Kraken ones.
Speaker 1:No, it's all like how do you hunt one? What do you do if you encounter one?
Speaker 2:There were so much less like encounter stories than I thought, but in 2003, okay, the antarctic kraken no internet legend story was born, so this comes from internet forums and conspiracy websites, unfortunately, but I think it's worth noting. Okay, so it's near antarctica and this viral story starts to go around, along with a grainy video that claimed to show that during a deep sea expedition, this enormous, unidentified creature was found swimming beneath the ice, and the video showed what looked like immense arms behind it. People were going on and on like okay, this is like actually a kraken video. That's where it gets us in the antarctic kraken, right? Okay, a lot of people don't think this was a hoax, and then, of course, anytime we're getting to conspiracy, well it's, it's. They want you to think it's a hoax because it's actually a cover-up by the oceanic researchers.
Speaker 2:So this one's just like hotly debated. So, anyways, though, a lot of people were saying that this one in the video, like if they were able to describe how big it was your favorite thing, that it would be over 75 feet across, not long across, and about three times as long, oh, and then it would cause disturbances in the water that were several hundred feet wide. Wow, it's a suspect story, but its significance and the reason why we're talking about this one is because it was, like like we said earlier, the only modern really like cryptid phenomena sighting of this. But because it's Antarctica, people also try to say it was either a megalodon or deep sea alien. So take that one with a grain of salt as you will.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'm just looking up how big the biggest whale is, because you, um, okay, so the blue whale is the largest animal on earth, capable of reaching lengths up to 100 feet and weighing 200 tons, and you said this was 75 feet 225 feet long. What was that? Oh, what did I just say?
Speaker 2:75 feet wide and I said three times as long. I was doing the head math for you.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, so it's pretty massive. Yeah, the biggest whale is lengthwise 100 feet. I can't even comprehend that. Yeah, no, but then double that. That's crazy. Now the thing is.
Speaker 2:This one has a high chance of being a fake, but I still think it's cool to have like the modern sighting now. So we had a lot of like 1800s and before ones we had a more recent one. Here's one from the 1930s that I thought was pretty, pretty decent. This story comes off of the coast of Newfoundland, canada, which would be about directly across the ocean from, like Norway, greenland, where the story originated, and this group of fishermen described being followed by a massive tentacled creature.
Speaker 2:Oh, some of the boats were actually reported to have been violently rocked or pulled. At first they couldn't see from what, and then they would start to see the tentacles like creeping up their boat, oh, and then they noticed these like large shadows just beneath the surface of the water. Oh, that's creepy. Few said that they saw some long, snake-like arms reach above the water trying to grab the boats. Okay, reach above the water trying to grab the boats. Okay. Now, these stories are significant because one it's actually like, written. It's not handed down, it's not, oh, this one-off, but we're not giving our names. These were actually pretty well respected fishermen and they got away and they, they got away okay.
Speaker 2:plus, it emerged during a time when certain carcasses were washing ashore. Hmm, so this is kind of the story that started to fuel the Kraken fears into the 20th century, because those carcasses that were coming up on the shore actually looked like very, very large squids.
Speaker 2:Yeah were coming up on the shore actually looked like very, very large squids, yeah. So the mention of the giant squid really kind of leads us into the next bit, where I want to. I've teased the fact that there there might be some rooted in reality portions to the kraken story. But before we do that, where are you at? What are your thoughts? I have a question, feels on the crack. Oh, you have a question, for you're supposed to do that on your episode that you've been failing at okay, so we said 1930s, right?
Speaker 1:was this last? Do we know? Based off of not, and if you didn't look into this is fine, not based off the crack and all that. Do we know why they think all of these carcasses were being washed up?
Speaker 2:yeah, um, not so much the why, but we're, we're gonna get into that a bit okay, what did you ask me, though, what my thoughts were on this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just what your thoughts are on kraken's sofa here's the thing there are so many, I was gonna say, undiagnosed. There are so many undiscovered things, creatures lurking in the deep blue sea, deep dark, it's not even blue down there no, no, there's just no light there's just no way for me to, matter of factly, be like yeah, no, this didn't exist. Here's the thing. If we're saying like a kraken is a cryptid which I think they technically would land in, like they could fall into cryptid territory, but also, I think most people think that they're a cryptid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I know that there's debates versus it being a cryptid or an animal. I, first off, don't really give a shit. If it's a cryptid or an animal, what the fuck does it matter? Because, to be completely honest, cryptids really could be animals, depending on which cryptid I think most cryptids right.
Speaker 2:If any of the cryptids that we talked about do exist, they are real animals.
Speaker 1:We just haven't found them exactly, and I think you and I have talked about that a couple times for different things, so I don't really care which one it lands into. But I do know that there's heavily, heavily debated things on, like whether it's this or that, and people go back and forth on that. I don't really care about that much. I definitely it's real, do I think it's the extent of maybe some of these stories large wise, I don't know. But then again, maybe because why not look at dinosaur bones and how big they were way back in the day. So is it? Is it that it was that large?
Speaker 2:Perfect, I'm going to stop you because you you're getting where you just said. I'm not going to get into the debate, I really don't care. I'm going to make you care about it because we're going to talk about that whole debate, but we're going exactly where you're stating. So I don't mean to cut you off, but it was perfectly done. Obviously, I think we can all see where this is going. Right, we mentioned the giant squid, but actual science have found and identified some real creatures that could be the culprits here, both being the giant squid and its larger brother, the colossal squid. Just like you had literally asked this, this is perfect.
Speaker 2:About the same time as the French vessel story that we were talking about, those washed up carcasses started showing on beaches. So that story was 1930. They started really about 1860 and all of a sudden, these like large, large squids now not as big as the story start to show. Now is it that they showed up on beaches or we just started looking for them? I don't know, but one of the first ones to really dig their hands into it was a Danish zoologist named Jefeth Steenstrup these names who named it the Architeethis d'Or, or the giant squid. So parts of seemingly huge squids, never the full thing, but the tentacles and the tails are falling onto beaches, particularly in Newfoundland and Iceland and Scandinavian countries where the legend of the Kraken started.
Speaker 2:Late 1800s to the 1900s, we start to get more and more kind of evidence of these things being real, because then a full specimen actually does wash up on a beach. They're able to see the entire thing. Okay, it's not half eaten, it's not just the tail, and this is now 1873. And scientists are like, okay, we got to take this a little bit more seriously. So the full specimen comes up in Newfoundland and local Reverend Movis Harvey kept it draped in his bathtub and kept it moist so that scientists could study it, which I think that's so funny. It's like a preacher is like yeah, I'm going to take it home and put it in my bathtub. And you know, here's the thing this can't quite be the creature of our legend if it can fit in a preacher's bathtub Right, bathtub right. But what it does prove is that in the ocean there are squid much larger than we previously thought them, capable of growing.
Speaker 2:Studies go on about these guys for over 100 years in the 2000s actually, we start to get way, way, way more answers. So some marine researchers were doing a deep sea expedition. They were using cameras to try, were using cameras and bait to try to pull out these larger squid, and they tried for decades. They had no luck. But in 2004, japanese scientists Tsunami Kubadera and Kyoichi Imori captured the first photos of a live giant squid in the wild at 3 000 feet deep. Okay, in 2006 they captured the first video of one because it was wounded and had come up to the surface. So then they start to get more photos and videos as they learn, kind of like how they live and where they live, and it turns out like the ocean is actually really really full of these things.
Speaker 2:They're just really deep and right which makes sense now giant squid, however, can only get up to about 43 feet long and 600 pounds yeah, I was just gonna say.
Speaker 1:I just looked up colossal squid and it said like 23 feet. That doesn't make sense to me that's a.
Speaker 2:You have to be looking at giant squid because colossals get even bigger. Uh, so colossal squid, for giant is 43 feet, but then you're getting ahead of it, right? So the next discovery was made in 2007. Colossal squid enters the chat. Um, and this thing is heavier and larger. This one, the first bits of it, were actually found in 1925, where they found two tentacle clubs in a sperm whale's stomach. Oh, then in 2007, the first full adult specialman was captured alive and frozen by a New Zealand fishing crew. Again, same origin of our legend.
Speaker 2:Now, this one was and here's where I think you might be looking at stats differently. And here's where I think you might be looking at stats differently Its body was 10 feet long, but with all of its arms and tentacles it was well over 50 feet, and this one weighs 1,000 pounds. So now we have at least a 43-foot, really skinny, kind of tiny one at 600 pounds, and then one just over 50 feet at right, about twice the weight. These are literally the largest invertebrate that were ever discovered. They're horrifying yeah absolutely, absolutely horrifying.
Speaker 2:So their suckers are just these giant teeth, like razor sharp suckers. They have a giant beak instead of a mouth that can just like crush its prey. They're basically, like you know how strong octopus are Octopi, octopi, like it's that same level of strength, and these things are huge. The weird thing is where you were talking about whales earlier. Whales actually helped us discover them, because that's how we found where to video and shoot them, because sperm whales that were coming to the surface. They were trailing whale ships, and people were trailing the whales, trailing ships, to protect them from being whaled and hunted. They would start to tag the whales, but they would notice that they'd have these massive circular scars up to 18 inches in diameter. Okay, that were consistent that we'd see on smaller wildlife that had been attacked by squid.
Speaker 2:So now we know like these squid are attacking things way larger than them, right, right, so these whales, and some of them, succumb to their injuries from it. So I couldn't even imagine how the squid with his beak would eat a whale, but we do know that they attack things larger than themselves. Right now. We have, though, is proof that at least two types of squid exist that are way bigger than we ever thought. They attack things much larger than themselves and is like the ocean's apex predator. So with that and I think this is sort of where you were going earlier is the kraken legend, lore, not existent? Is it cryptid or is it an animal we haven't discovered yet? I kind of tend to think like if we know a couple larger squid exist and we just started finding them within the last 20 years and we've only explored so much of the ocean, who is to say that this giant kraken of lore didn't exist and maybe has died off or still exists and it's just way down deep in there?
Speaker 1:right. But I guess in my head, it doesn't matter if we categorize it as real or a cryptid, because to me cryptids are real. They're technically undiscovered, right? Animals? Yeah, so that's why I'm saying, that's why I say I don't care which way, because it's like whatever. I believe that, yeah, it's definitely deep, deep down there. Maybe it ain't as big as it used to be, but it's definitely down there and it's large.
Speaker 2:Other thing I kind of think too is maybe they were just talking about these kind of squid and it's like the typical fisherman story where it's just like as the hand on the lure grows and grows. Because I don't I don't honestly think I personally believe in the original story of it like this thing that's big enough to be a mile wide island. I just don't see the world being able to support something that large. What is so funny about that?
Speaker 2:I just don't see the world being able to support something that large, no, like literally, from an ecological standpoint, if there's multiple of these things over a mile large there probably isn't schools of fish in the ocean like that. Our planet can't sustain those.
Speaker 1:Right, but there probably isn't that many of them.
Speaker 2:I don't know. I feel like by now though, like if they still existed, we would hedge.
Speaker 1:I just don't think that something that well, that's what I'm saying it probably could have existed, but just like dinosaurs, they don't exist no more.
Speaker 2:They could have existed that largely, and then evolution they've Okay, let me say this I don't think something existed that big in the 13th century alongside human beings. That's more where I'm going with it, of it being exaggerated. So I don't know when are you at with it? Like I, I kind of think that the Kraken was just a bigger squid than we've been able to record yet.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I 100% agree that it's definitely was real and it was obviously just fabricated to the length or the size of it. Or, yeah, it just it was that large and there just wasn't that many. And now they're not. But, like, even if you look at a squid now next to a human, like these giant squids, next to like a human size, it's very easy for your brain to see it in real life and exaggerate it. Yeah, because even if you, if you and I were to see a whale, like a real huge ass, fucking whale, the biggest whale you would, your brain wouldn't even know how to compute the size of it. So it would be so easy for us to say that it was 300 feet long or whatever. And it's really only what did I say? 100 or something. So it's like, yeah, it was probably we're just bad, exaggerated, and we've gone over this over and over again in all these episodes when people size things and it's like, how do you know how big that was? By looking at you just.
Speaker 2:I do tend to think, though, with as many stories as we have, like there had to be something at least big enough to attack these ships whoa right?
Speaker 1:no, no, I'm not saying that, I'm not discrediting that. Oh no, large as hell. But again, if you're in a panic mode and you're seeing a creature that is five times larger than you are and it's attacking your ship down, like yeah, in your brain, I just feel like you calculate it bigger.
Speaker 2:Okay, total side note, but talking about, like, calculating things bigger than they are, have you been following your dick? Yeah, have you been following my dick? No, first of all, fuck you uh. Second, though, the the story of the angler fish that recently came to the surface no, but I kind of know about it because everyone's talking about angler fishes did you see how small it?
Speaker 1:actually is. Oh yeah, no, I'm sorry I didn't I, but I knew that they were that small well, I didn't.
Speaker 2:I always assumed I, I think I like got stuck on like the finding nemo where, like a clown fish could just swim right inside the anglerfish's mouth.
Speaker 1:This thing is like palm sized yeah, everybody thought that they were so large. You know everyone's obsessed with little anglerfishes.
Speaker 2:They are, so I think they're cute I mean, I wouldn't be mad if I had one in an aquarium. Okay, so end of the side note. I kind of lied to you earlier. I do have a little bit of a reddit story now. I had to dig through posts and posts and posts. I don't know if it's totally cracking, but it is still fucking weird. So okay let's hear it. This is a story from winder potts and he says you know how long ago um, it was a couple years ago and that it was posted well, oh that it was posted.
Speaker 2:So it starts off with. This incident happened in march 1962. Oh, thank you. Very clear for you, good question. Uh, four boys were visiting a sunken ship and only one, named Brian McCleary, survived. The bodies of one of the other boys, brad Rice, washed ashore, but there was never any sign of the other two teenagers. Mccleary was almost dead when he was found and it was hallucinating. He claimed something resembling a sea serpent with many arms had eaten his friends oh he was probably mistaken.
Speaker 2:No, but in that location, bodies always wash ashore and it's strange that there was never any signs of his two companions, so like people who what that's saying is people who died like drowning or whatever their bodies wash up, so something had to have taken them. Did we try to look up this story? Is it legit? I didn't look it up more than that, honestly, but that was literally the only Reddit story I could find that may have been a first-hand Kraken encounter.
Speaker 1:What was his name?
Speaker 2:Brian McCleary.
Speaker 1:He's a rugby player in new zealand.
Speaker 2:I I feel like brian mccleary is a pretty common freaking name. Uh, so yeah, I mean, that's really it. The stories I went over are the most documented ones. Not many details, but I think it's a mixture of legend being handed down fishermen's story and real creatures that possibly we just haven't discovered yet. So I don't know. I think the kraken is absolutely real and I think it's not like she real so many cryptids have like a mystical thing about them, right like the chupacabra sucks out all the blood and the mothman has the glowing eyes, and this is just like the exact description of creatures we know exist, just way freaking bigger.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's true too, but also it's just like leave it be and it'll leave you be, and it's kind of like a lot of things. Just stop fucking with them.
Speaker 2:So on that note I ask you again would you still be a pirate or a viking? Yeah, what if you get crackened, though?
Speaker 1:Here's the thing I think I could befriend the cracken.
Speaker 2:You can't just befriend every cryptid, kara. Well, I can. I can't wait to one day be the person who has to tell them what to put on your tombstone.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, if you can stop a burglary in that shirt, I can befriend whatever cryptid I want.
Speaker 2:Okay, you know what the funny thing is is only our patrons are going to get that outtake from this episode, so they get in on the joke. But I almost stopped crime today until Kara shamed me out of it. The blinking light has stopped, though, so the robbery already happened. The robbery is done and that's the story of the Kraken. There we go. Oh, I bet it was a Kraken breaking in next door.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'll just tell her. For right before we started recording I don't know what it was, but this blinking light was going on next door and I was telling Kara we couldn't record yet because I had to go stop robbery because it looks like an alarm.
Speaker 1:And she shamed me and told me I couldn't stop. No, you asked me. You said do you think I could stop a robbery? And I said no. And then he got upset and I said how do you think you're gonna stop a robbery? And then he just I said in that shirt how you gonna stop a robbery?
Speaker 2:it's a fun shirt they'd be like those of you if you didn't see the clips.
Speaker 1:It's a very loud alien it definitely gives me like Cartoon Network, old Cartoon Network. Yes.
Speaker 2:Hanna-Barbera.
Speaker 1:No, what's the Rocky Rocko's Modern Life? Something like that? Oh yeah, yeah, Vibes like something All right.
Speaker 2:Let's get out of here.
Speaker 2:Okay, emoji for this episode a boat and an octopus or a squid I think there's a squid. I think there's a squid, one Squid and a boat. That's what I want, okay, okay. So, like we asked you, uh, if you get the upper legs reference, write in and let us know. But also, if you have stories, write in or call in. All the information for that is below in the show notes. We've got almost enough for another bonus episode for y'all. Uh, what else do these fine folks need to do while we kick them out and close up the shop?
Speaker 1:I had something in my head and then you said the upper legs thing and it took me out again. Oh shit, I don't know, It'll come to me way too late. Oh, what I was going to say is yeah, we do have a Patreon. If you don't know that, we have a Patreon.
Speaker 2:Hey, get some Monday motivation. You get some behind the scenes episodes a whole day early.
Speaker 1:You don't have to. You can be on the free tier to get Zach's Monday motivation. You don't have to pay any of us, you just have to go and follow us on Patreon.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Just want to put that out there.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's really all I need from you guys is love and support, always, always. Thank you, tell Kara she's pretty support, always, always.
Speaker 2:Thank you, tell Kara, she's pretty we haven't said that one in a minute.
Speaker 1:Oh, my cop says hello gorgeous.
Speaker 2:Oh okay, she told herself she's pretty, she doesn't need you anymore.
Speaker 1:Shout out to. I cannot remember who it is, but I don't know who it is, but I don't remember your name. I'm sorry, but you commented on something like a week ago that said, Kara, you're so pretty, and I was like I'm like yo, Some people listen. That's somebody that is like probably backlogged because I haven't said that in a long time it's been a hot minute. Thanks, girl. Okay, anyway, we appreciate you, Love you. The most important thing you can do for us is to creep a real yard balls.
Speaker 2:Goodbye, bye, we'll be right back. Outro Music.
