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Creatures from beyond, Mysteries

Creatures from beyond part XII, Orang Pendek (Hobbit)

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agogwe
 

Next creature is like Bigfoot, but smaller and could be the “Real Hobbit”. Here we go:

Orang Pendek (Indonesian for “short person”) is the most common name given to a cryptid, or cryptozoological animal, that reportedly inhabits remote, mountainous forests on the island of Sumatra.

The animal has allegedly been seen and documented for at least one hundred years by forest tribes, local villagers, Dutch colonists and Western scientists and travellers. Consensus among witnesses is that the animal is a ground-dwelling, bipedalprimate that is covered in short fur and stands between 80 and 150 cm (30 and 60 in) tall.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Location

While Orang Pendek or similar animals have historically been reported throughout Sumatra and Southeast Asia, recent sightings have occurred largely within the Kerinci regency of central Sumatra and especially within the borders of Taman Nasional Kerinci Seblat (Kerinci Seblat National Park) (TNKS).[1][2][8] The park, 2° south of the equator, is located within the Bukit Barisan mountain range and features some of the most remote primary rainforest in the world. Habitat types within the park include lowland dipterocarp rainforest, montane forests, and volcanic alpine formations on Mt. Kerinci, the second highest peak in Indonesia.[8] Because of its inaccessibility, the park has been largely spared from the rampant logging occurring throughout Sumatra and provides one of the last homes for the endangered Sumatran Tiger.

The animal

Orang Pendek has yet to be fully documented and no authoritative account of its behavior or physical characteristics exists. However, witnesses report some characteristics consistently, so a likely picture of the animal can be conjectured.

Physical description

Frequently reported

Other reports

  • blackish-brown,[7] red-brown,[5] golden-brown,[7] yellow,[7] or orange[4] fur
  • short-legged with long, powerful arms[3][7]
  • seen in trees[1][7]
  • inverted feet, to hide direction of travel[7]

From Debbie Martyr

Debbie Martyr – a prominent Orang Pendek researcher who has worked in the area for over 15 years, has interviewed hundreds of witnesses, and alleges to have seen the animal personally on several occasions—gives the following description:

…usually no more than 85 or 90cm in height — although occasionally as large as 1m 20cm. The body is covered in a coat of dark grey or black flecked with grey hair. But it is the sheer physical power of the orang pendek that most impresses the Kerinci villagers. They speak in awe, of its broad shoulders, huge chest and upper abdomen and powerful arms. The animal is so strong, the villagers would whisper that it can uproot small trees and even break rattan vines. The legs, in comparison, are short and slim, the feet neat and small, usually turned out at an angle of up to 45 degrees. The head slopes back to a distinct crest — similar to the gorilla — and there appears to be a bony ridge above the eyes. But the mouth is small and neat, the eyes are set wide apart and the nose is distinctly humanoid. When frightened, the animal exposes its teeth — revealing oddly broad incisors and prominent, long canine teeth.[3]

Reported dietary habits

Sightings by locals often take place in farmland on the edge of the forest, where Orang Pendek is allegedly seen walking through fields and raiding crops (especially corn, potatoes, and fruit).[5] Locals with experience in the forests claim that Orang Pendek seeks out ginger roots,[9] a plant known locally as “pahur” or “lolo”, young shoots, insects in rotting logs, and river crabs.[7] The Durian fruit is also thought to be a favourite of the Orang Pendek.[10]

Names

Orang Pendek and similar cryptids from this area of the world are also referred to as Uhang Pandak (local Kerinci dialect), Sedapa,[1]Batutut,[3]Ebu Gogo, Umang,[2] Orang Gugu,[6] Orang Letjo, Atoe Pandak, Atoe Rimbo, Ijaoe, Sedabo, and Goegoeh.[11]

Sources

Witnesses from many different backgrounds have reported seeing Orang Pendek over the last hundred years.

Suku Anak Dalam

The Suku Anak Dalam (“Children of the Inner-forest”)–also known as Orang Kubu, Orang Batin Simbilan, or Orang Rimba–are groups of nomadic people who have traditionally lived throughout the lowland forests of Jambi and South Sumatra. According to their legends, Orang Pendek has been a part of their world and a co-inhabitant of the forest for centuries. Benedict Allen, author of Hunting the Gugu, writes that these groups frequently leave offerings of tobacco to keep the Orang Pendek happy.[6]

In Bukit Duabelas, the Orang Rimba speak of a creature, known as Hantu Pendek (short ghost), whose description closely matches that of Orang Pendek. However, Hantu Pendek is thought of as a ghost or demon rather than an animal.[12] According to the Orang Rimba, the Hantu Pendek travel in groups of five or six, subsisting off wild yams and hunting animals with small axes. Accounts of the creature claim it ambushes unfortunate Orang Rimba hunters traveling alone in the forest. Along the Makekal River on the western edge of Bukit Duabelas, people recount a legend of how their ancestors outsmarted these cunning yet dim-witted creatures during a hunting trip. The legend is often used to boast of the intellect and reason of people who live along the Makekal.

Local villagers

Local Indonesian villagers provide the largest source of lore and information on Orang Pendek. Hundreds of locals claim to have either seen the animal personally or can relate stories of others who have. While the conjectured physical description listed above is consistently reported by this group, other, less credible characteristics such as inverted feet or magical- or ghost-like behavior are also reported.[3]

Dutch colonists

Dutch settlers in the early 20th century provided Westerners with their modern introduction to Orang Pendek-like animals in Sumatra. Two accounts in particular are widely reported:

  • Mr. van Heerwarden, who described an encounter he had while surveying land in 1923:

I discovered a dark and hairy creature on a branch… The sedapa was also hairy on the front of its body; the colour there was a little lighter than on the back. The very dark hair on its head fell to just below the shoulder-blades or even almost to the waist… Had it been standing, its arms would have reached to a little above its knees; they were therefore long, but its legs seemed to me rather short. I did not see its feet, but I did see some toes which were shaped in a very normal manner… There was nothing repulsive or ugly about its face, nor was it at all apelike.[1]

  • Mr. Oostingh, who saw a strange creature while walking in the forest:

I saw that he had short hair, cut short, I thought; and I suddenly realized that his neck was oddly leathery and extremely filthy. “That chap’s got a very dirty and wrinkled neck!” I said to myself. His body was as large as a medium-sized native’s and he had thick square shoulders, not sloping at all… he seemed to be quite as tall as I. Then I saw that it was not a man. It was not an orang-utan. I had seen one of these large apes a short time before. It was more like a monstrously large siamang, but a siamang has long hair, and there was no doubt that it had short hair.[2]

Western researchers

The most widely-known Western researcher to have attempted to document Orang Pendek is a British woman named Debbie Martyr. Along with British photographer Jeremy Holden, she engaged in a 15-year project beginning in the early 1990s and funded by Fauna and Flora International. The scope of the project was to systematically document eye-witness accounts of the animal and to obtain photographic proof of its existence via camera-trapping methods. Debbie and Jeremy did not succeed in proving its existence (Martyr has since moved on to head TNKS’s Tiger Protection and Conservation Unit), but they collected several foot print casts that appear to be from Orang Pendek and claim to have personally seen the animal on several occasions while working in the forest.[3]

From 2001 to 2003, scientists analyzed hairs and casts of a foot print found by three British men—Adam Davies, Andrew Sanderson and Keith Townley—while traveling in Kerinci.[13]Dr. David Chivers, a primate biologist from the University of Cambridge, compared the cast with those from other known primates and local animals and stated:

…the cast of the footprint taken was definitely an ape with a unique blend of features from gibbon, orangutan, chimpanzee, and human. From further examination the print did not match any known primate species and I can conclude that this points towards there being a large unknown primate in the forests of Sumatra.[14]

Hans Brunner, an Australian hair analyst, compared the hairs to those of other primates and local animals and suggested that they originated from a previously undocumented species of primate.[14]Dr. Todd Disotell, a biological anthropologist from New York University, performed DNA analysis on the hairs and found nothing but human DNA in the sample. He cautioned, however, that contamination by people who handled the hairs could have introduced this DNA or that the original DNA could have decomposed.[15]

Beginning in 2005, National Geographic funded a camera-trapping project in TNKS led by Dr. Peter Tse of Dartmouth College that attempted to provide photographic documentation of Orang Pendek. The project ended in 2009 without success.[15]

An episode of the Animal Planet series Finding Bigfoot featured the Orang Pendek, with members of the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization traveling to Sumatra to investigate the creature.

Possible explanations

Three possible explanations of Orang Pendek’s identity are prominent: that all sightings can be explained as the mistaken identification of local animals; that witnesses of Orang Pendek are describing a previously undocumented species of primate; and that a species of early hominid still lives in the Sumatran jungle.[3][7]

Mistaken identity

Many locals say Orang Pendek’s feet look like those of a child, evidenced by foot prints they have found while walking through the forest. However, another local animal, the Sun Bear, is a possible source of these sightings. Bears in general are known for having feet that look quite human-like, and the size of a Sun Bear’s are similar to those of a child. In addition, gibbons populate the forests in this area and are known to occasionally descend to the ground and walk for a few seconds at a time on two legs. Witnesses could possibly be seeing orangutans; however: 1) this species has long been thought to have died out in all but the northern regions of Sumatra and 2) witnesses almost never describe the animal as having orange fur.[3]

Undocumented primate

Orang Pendek’s reported physical characteristics differentiate it from any other species of animal known to inhabit the area. All witnesses describe it as an ape- or human-like animal. Its bipedality, fur coloring, and southerly location on the island make orangutans an unlikely explanation, and its bipedality, size, and other physical characteristics make gibbons, the only apes known to inhabit the area, unlikely as well. Many[who?] therefore propose that Orang Pendek could represent a new genus of primate or a new species or subspecies of orangutan or gibbon.[3]

Surviving hominid

As far back as Mr. van Heerwarden’s account of Orang Pendek, people have speculated that the animal may in fact be a hominid. In October 2004, scientists published claims of the discovery of skeletal remains of a new species of human (Homo floresiensis) in caves on Flores (another island in the Indonesian archipelago) dating from as recently as 12,000 years ago. The species was described as being roughly one meter tall. The recency of Homo floresiensis’ continued existence and the similarities between its physical description and the accounts of Orang Pendek have led to renewed speculation in this respect.[1]

Source

Here is the History Channel’s documentary about Orang Pendek:

 

 

So do we have Hobbits running around in our forests? It’s up to you, again. Stay tuned for more CREATURES FROM BEYOND!!!

Creatures from beyond, Mysteries

Creatures from beyond part XI, The Ropen

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Now some new episodes in the Creatures from beyond series. First one is a large bird, lost dinosaur or demon called The Ropen. Here we go again:

The Ropen is a flying cryptid[1] alleged to live in the vicinity of Papua New Guinea.[2] According to the book Searching for Ropens, it is “any featherless creature that flies in the Southwest Pacific, and has a tail-length more than 25% of its wingspan.” On Umboi Island the word “ropen” refers to a large nocturnal creature that glows briefly as it flies.[3] The ropen is the subject of folklore (like a man but also like a spirit) but it’s believed by some natives to be a real animal.[4] Descriptions vary, but it is often said to be batlike,[5] and sometimes, Pterosaur-like;[6] although pterosaurs are generally accepted to have been extinct.[7][8] The ropen is believed to be nocturnal and to exhibit bioluminescence.[9][10] Purportedly it lives on a diet of fish,[11] though there have been some reports of the creature feasting on human flesh, especially grave robbery.[12][13][14]

Investigations

As an attempt to discredit mainstream scientific views on universal common descent or the age of the Earth, several American creationists, including Carl Baugh, Paul Nation, Jonathan Whitcomb,[15] David Woetzel, and Garth Guessman have embarked on expeditions[16] in Papua New Guinea.

In late 2006, Paul Nation, of Texas, explored a remote mountainous area on the mainland of Papua New Guinea.[17] He videotaped two lights that the local natives called “indava.” Nation believed the lights were from the bioluminescence of creatures similar to the ropen of Umboi Island. The video was analyzed by a missile defense physicist who reported that the two lights on the video were not from any fires, meteors, airplanes or camera artifacts. He also reported that the image of the two lights was authentic and was not manipulated or hoaxed.[18]

In 2007, cryptid investigator Joshua Gates went to Papua New Guinea in search of the Ropen for his TV show Destination Truth. He and his team also witnessed strange lights at night and could not confirm what they were.

In 2009, the television show Monster Quest conducted an expedition in search of the “demon flyer” but found no evidence of the creature. Later, they had a forensic video analyst examine the Paul Nation video. The analyst could not definitely conclude what was causing the lights, but ruled out vehicles and campfires believing the footage was of a pair of bioluminescent creatures perched in a tree that later take flight.

Identity

As is often the case with cryptids, the Ropen’s true identity is subject to debate. Some believe it to be a rhamphorhynchoid-like creature (a long-tailed pterosaur, which went extinct in the late Jurassic), while others suggest that the Ropen is a misidentified bat (e.g. flying foxes, which are large fruit bats than can have wingspans up to 2 metres (6.6 feet), or frigatebird. Flying lights in Papua New Guinea have been reported by not only natives but by Western visitors. Evelyn Cheesman, an entomologist, mentions them in her book The Two Roads of Papua (published in 1935): “baffling” lights that lasted “about four or five seconds.” The book Searching for Ropens says that the “ropen” light of Umboi Island lasts for about “five seconds.” There is also said to be a creature called “Duah” that is said to be another kind of ropen, but according to Searching for Ropens the correct word is actually “duwas,” and it is just another name, in a different language, for the same creature.

Source

Here’s a the History Channel’s documentary:

 

 

So do we have dinosaurs among us? You decide. Stay tuned for more CREATURES FROM BEYOND!!!

Creatures from beyond, Forbidden Technology

Human-Animal Hybrids: Sick And Twisted Chimeras Are Being Created In Labs All Over The Planet

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World is a sick place when you investigate gene manipulation and the fact that we the people are trying to be a God. Now when we know how to manipulate genes it seems that we have lost the control absolutely. We are like a child with a new toy, because it is possible, we do it. I post now some sickening gene manipulations, that you have not heard in mainstream media. Would you eat a rice which contains human genes? Here’s the article:

Human-Animal Hybrids: Sick And Twisted Chimeras Are Being Created In Labs All Over The Planet

Human Animal Hybrid?

Did you know that scientists all over the globe are creating extremely bizarre human-animal chimeras?  Over the past decade, there have been some absolutely stunning advances in the field of genetic modification.  Today, it is literally possible for college students to create new lifeforms in their basements.  Unfortunately, laws have not kept pace with these advancements, and in many countries there are very few limits on what scientists are allowed to do.  As you will read about below, extremely creepy human-animal hybrids are now being created in laboratories all over the planet.  And this is just the stuff that is publicly admitted.  Can you imagine what kind of sick and twisted experiments are taking place in the dark corners of secret labs that nobody knows about?  And what happens if these creatures get out into the wild and starting mating?  At that point, it would be nearly impossible to “put the genie back into the bottle”.  Scientists seem very eager to test the limits of what is possible, but what they are unleashing may have consequences that none of us ever dreamed possible.

Just the other day, we learned that scientists have created mice that have an artificial human chromosome “in every cell of their bodies”.

So what should we call such creatures?  They are definitely not fully mice anymore.

Scientists are hailing this as a “breakthrough” which could lead to all sorts of new treatments for disease.  The following is from an article entitled “Mice with human chromosomes – the genetic breakthrough that could revolutionise medicine“…

Scientists have created genetically-engineered mice with artificial human chromosomes in every cell of their bodies, as part of a series of studies showing that it may be possible to treat genetic diseases with a radically new form of gene therapy.

In one of the unpublished studies, researchers made a human artificial chromosome in the laboratory from chemical building blocks rather than chipping away at an existing human chromosome, indicating the increasingly powerful technology behind the new field of synthetic biology.

This is quite bizarre.

But creating mice with artificial human chromosomes is one thing.

Creating mice with partly human brains is a whole different ball of wax.

According to LifeNews.com, researchers at the University of Wisconsin have successfully transferred cells from human embryos into the brains of mice.  Those cells began to grow and develop, and they actually made the mice smarter…

Yet experiments like these are going forward just the same. In just the past few months, scientists at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Rochester have published data on their human-animal neural chimeras. For the Wisconsin study, researchers injected mice with an immunotoxin to destroy a part of their brains–the hippocampus–that’s associated with learning, memory, and spatial reasoning. Then the researchers replaced those damaged cells with cells derived from human embryos. The cells proliferated and the lab chimeras recovered their ability to navigate a water maze.

For the Rochester study, researchers implanted newborn mice with nascent human glial cells, which help support and nourish neurons in the brain. Six months later, the human parts had elbowed out the mouse equivalents, and the animals had enhanced ability to solve a simple maze and learn conditioned cues. These protocols might run afoul of the anti-hybrid laws, and perhaps they should arouse some questions. These chimeric mice may not be human, or even really human, but they’re certainly one step further down the path to Algernon. It may not be so long before we’re faced with some hairy bioethics: What rights should we assign to mice with human brains?

Is this really a good idea?

Do we really want to start creating entities that are part-human?

Apparently, it is now even possible to grow entire human organs inside animals.  In fact, scientists in Japan plan to start systematically growing human organs inside of pigs within 12 months.  The goal is to increase the number of organs available for medical transplants as a recent Infowars.com article explained…

A panel of scientists and legal experts appointed by the Japanese government will be gathering together to begin drafting guidelines governing Japan’s historic embryonic research. If all goes according to plan, scientists hope to begin growing human organs in animals within the next 12 months.

The research sounds like something out of a science fiction novel. Scientists place a human stem cell into the embryo of an animal to create a “chimeric embryo” that can be implanted into the animal’s womb. According to the Telegraph, the animal in question will most likely be a pig.

Once the embryo is implanted it will grow into a perfect human organ – a heart, a kidney, a pancreas, and so on. Then, when the adult pig is slaughtered, the organ will be harvested and transplanted into someone who needs a new one.

But once a human organ is grown inside a pig, that pig is no longer fully a pig.

And without a doubt, that organ will no longer be a fully human organ after it is grown inside the pig.  Those receiving those organs will be allowing human-animal hybrid organs to be implanted into them.

One can only imagine what the consequences of doing such a thing would be.

You would think that there should be strict limits on this kind of a thing.  And in a few areas around the globe, there are some limits.  But most of the time the ethical decisions are left up to the scientists…

Two years ago, the UK Academy of Medical Sciences released a groundbreaking report on “animals containing human material”. It concluded that most research on chimeras is permitted by existing UK laws. But it also identified some experiments that should not (yet) be done because of strong ethical objections. One is to breed an animal that has human sperm or eggs. Another is to create a non-human primate with a humanised brain.

Most people would be absolutely shocked to learn some of the things that are currently being done in the name of science.

For example, did you know that rice that contains actual human genes is being grown right now in Kansas?…

Unless the rice you buy is certified organic, or comes specifically from a farm that tests its rice crops for genetically modified (GM) traits, you could be eating rice tainted with actual human genes. The only known GMO with inbred human traits in cultivation today, a GM rice product made by biotechnology company Ventria Bioscience is currently being grown on 3,200 acres in Junction City, Kansas — and possibly elsewhere — and most people have no idea about it.

Since about 2006,Ventria has been quietly cultivating rice that has been genetically modified (GM) with genes from the human liver for the purpose of taking the artificial proteins produced by this “Frankenrice” and using them in pharmaceuticals.

We are corrupting nature, and yet very few people seem alarmed.  When the Daily Mail reported back in 2011 that scientists in the UK had created “more than 150″ human-animal hybrid embryos, hardly anyone got upset about it…

Last night a campaigner against the excesses of medical research said he was disgusted that scientists were ‘dabbling in the grotesque’.

Figures seen by the Daily Mail show that 155 ‘admixed’ embryos, containing both human and animal genetic material, have been created since the introduction of the 2008 Human Fertilisation Embryology Act.

This legalised the creation of a variety of hybrids, including an animal egg fertilised by a human sperm; ‘cybrids’, in which a human nucleus is implanted into an animal cell; and ‘chimeras’, in which human cells are mixed with animal embryos.

Sadly, this kind of thing is being done all over the planet.  Just check out some of the truly bizarre human-animal hybrid experiments that have been taking place all over the globe according to a recent Slate article…

Not long ago, Chinese scientists embedded genes for human milk proteins into a mouse’s genome and have since created herds of humanized-milk-producing goats. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Michigan have a method for putting a human anal sphincter into a mouse as a means of finding better treatments for fecal incontinence, and doctors are building animals with humanized immune systems to serve as subjects for new HIV vaccines.

Are you disgusted by those examples?

You should be.

Here are some other ways that humans and animals are being combined…

–Rabbit Eggs with Human Cells

–Pigs with Human Blood

–Sheep with Human Livers

–Cow Eggs with Human Cells

–Cat-Human Hybrid Proteins

And these are just the things that we know about.

What kind of sick and twisted experiments are going on around the globe that we don’t know about?

Like I mentioned at the top, we live at a time when the possibilities in the field of genetic modification seem endless.

But just because we can do something does not mean that we should actually do it.

The movie “Splice” demonstrated the danger of creating an entirely new lifeform that is only partially human.  When we create something that is neither fully human or fully animal, what kind of spirit enters that being?  What would the consequences be if such beings started mating with other animals?  Could we end up creating creatures that are far beyond our capacity to control?

Unfortunately, Pandora’s box has already been opened and it is going to be extremely difficult to control the creation of human-animal hybrids.  This technology is racing ahead all over the planet, and at this point even college students can create new lifeforms in their own basements.

We are entering a strange new world, and nobody is quite sure what comes next.

About the author: Michael T. Snyder is a former Washington D.C. attorney who now publishes The Truth.  His new novel entitled “The Beginning Of The End” is now available on Amazon.com.

Source

Here’s couple of videos about this shit:

 


Pretty fucked up if you ask me. Sometimes I think that human race deserves to die.

Creatures from beyond, Mysteries

Creatures from beyond part X, The Kraken or Leviathan

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Colossal_octopus_by_Pierre_Denys_de_Montfort6a00d8341bf67c53ef017ee93a5dd5970d-800wi

Now is time for the last post of the series called “Creatures From Beyond”, but don’t worry World is full of creatures and I will return to this topic when I have enough footage. But for now this is the last post and it belongs to creature called The Kraken:

Kraken (pron.:/ˈkreɪkən/ or /ˈkrɑːkən/ or /ˈkrækən/)[1] are legendary sea monsters of giant proportions said to dwell off the coasts of Norway and Greenland.

The legend may have originated from sightings of giant squid that are estimated to grow to 13–15 m (40–50 ft) in length, including the tentacles.These creatures normally live at great depths, but have been sighted at the surface and have reportedly attacked ships.

The sheer size and fearsome appearance attributed to the kraken have made it a common ocean-dwelling monster in various fictional works.

History

The 13th century Old IcelandicsagaÖrvar-Odds saga tells of two massive sea-monsters called Hafgufa (“sea mist”) and Lyngbakr (“heather-back”). The hafgufa is believed to be a reference to the kraken:

Now I will tell you that there are two sea-monsters. One is called the hafgufa (sea-mist), another lyngbakr (heather-back). Whales are the biggest of everything in the world, but the hafgufa is the greatest monster occurring in the water. It is its nature that it swallows both men and ships and whales and everything that it can reach. It is submerged both by day and night together, and when it strikes up its head and nose above the surface, then it stays at least until the turn of the tide. Now, that sound we sailed through? We sailed between its jaws, and its nose and lower jaw were those rocks that appeared to you in the ocean, while the lyngbakr was the island we saw sinking down. However, Ǫgmundur Floki has sent these creatures to you by means of his secret arts for to cause the death of you and all your men. He thought that more men should have gone the same way as those that had already drowned, and he expected that the hafgufa would have swallowed us all. Today I sailed through its mouth because I knew that it had recently surfaced.[5]

After returning from Greenland, the anonymous author of the Old Norwegian scientific work Konungs skuggsjá (circa 1250) described in detail the physical characteristics and feeding behavior of these beasts. The narrator proposed there must only be two in existence, stemming from the observation that the beasts have always been sighted in the same parts of the Greenland Sea, and that each seemed incapable of reproduction, as there was no increase in their numbers.

There is a fish that is still unmentioned, which it is scarcely advisable to speak about on account of its size, because it will seem to most people incredible. There are only a very few who can speak upon it clearly, because it is seldom near land nor appears where it may be seen by fishermen, and I suppose there are not many of this sort of fish in the sea. Most often in our tongue we call it hafgufa. Nor can I conclusively speak about its length in ells, because the times he has shown before men, he has appeared more like land than like a fish. Neither have I heard that one had been caught or found dead; and it seems to me as though there must be no more than two in the oceans, and I deem that each is unable to reproduce itself, for I believe that they are always the same ones. Then too, neither would it do for other fish if the hafgufa were of such a number as other whales, on account of their vastness, and how much subsistence that they need. It is said to be the nature of these fish that when one shall desire to eat, then it stretches up its neck with a great belching, and following this belching comes forth much food, so that all kinds of fish that are near to hand will come to present location, then will gather together, both small and large, believing they shall obtain there food and good eating; but this great fish lets its mouth stand open the while, and the gap is no less wide than that of a great sound or fjord, And nor may the fish avoid running together there in their great numbers. But as soon as its stomach and mouth is full, then it locks together its jaws and has the fish all caught and enclosed, that before greedily came there looking for food.[6]

Carolus Linnaeus classified the kraken as a cephalopod, designating the scientific name Microcosmus marinus in the first edition of his Systema Naturae (1735), a taxonomic classification of living organisms. The creature was excluded from later editions.Linnaeus’s later work, Fauna Suecica (1746) calls the creature singulare monstrum, “a unique monster”, and says of it Habitare fertur in mari Norwegico, ipse non dum animal vidi, “It is said to inhabit the seas of Norway, but I have not seen this animal”.

Kraken were also extensively described by Erik Pontoppidan, bishop of Bergen, in his Det Forste Forsorg paa Norges Naturlige Historie “Natural History of Norway” (Copenhagen, 1752–3).Pontoppidan made several claims regarding kraken, including the notion that the creature was sometimes mistaken for an islandand that the real danger to sailors was not the creature itself but rather the whirlpool left in its wake.However, Pontoppidan also described the destructive potential of the giant beast: “it is said that if [the creature’s arms] were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom”.According to Pontoppidan, Norwegian fishermen often took the risk of trying to fish over kraken, since the catch was so plentiful(hence the saying “You must have fished on Kraken”). Pontoppidan also proposed that a specimen of the monster, “perhaps a young and careless one”, was washed ashore and died at Alstahaug in 1680.By 1755, Pontoppidan’s description of the kraken had been translated into English.

Swedish author Jacob Wallenberg described the kraken in the 1781 work Min son på galejan (“My son on the galley”):

… Kraken, also called the Crab-fish, which is not that huge, for heads and tails counted, he is no larger than our Öland is wide [i.e., less than 16 km] … He stays at the sea floor, constantly surrounded by innumerable small fishes, who serve as his food and are fed by him in return: for his meal, (if I remember correctly what E. Pontoppidan writes,) lasts no longer than three months, and another three are then needed to digest it. His excrements nurture in the following an army of lesser fish, and for this reason, fishermen plumb after his resting place … Gradually, Kraken ascends to the surface, and when he is at ten to twelve fathoms, the boats had better move out of his vicinity, as he will shortly thereafter burst up, like a floating island, spurting water from his dreadful nostrils and making ring waves around him, which can reach many miles. Could one doubt that this is the Leviathan of Job?

Pierre Dénys de Montfort‘s “Poulpe Colossal” attacks a merchant ship (1810)

In 1802, the French malacologistPierre Dénys de Montfort recognized the existence of two kinds of giant octopus in Histoire Naturelle Générale et Particulière des Mollusques, an encyclopedic description of mollusks. Montfort claimed that the first type, the kraken octopus, had been described by Norwegian sailors and American whalers, as well as ancient writers such as Pliny the Elder. The much larger second type, the colossal octopus, was reported to have attacked a sailing vessel from Saint-Malo, off the coast of Angola.

Montfort later dared more sensational claims. He proposed that ten British warships, including the captured French ship of the lineVille de Paris, which had mysteriously disappeared one night in 1782, must have been attacked and sunk by giant octopuses. The British, however, knew—courtesy of a survivor from the Ville de Paris—that the ships had been lost in a hurricane off the coast of Newfoundland in September 1782, resulting in a disgraceful revelation for Montfort.

Appearance and origins

Since the late 18th century, kraken have been depicted in a number of ways, primarily as large octopus-like creatures, and it has often been alleged that Pontoppidan’s kraken might have been based on sailors’ observations of the giant squid. In the earliest descriptions, however, the creatures were more crab-likethan octopus-like, and generally possessed traits that are associated with large whales rather than with giant squid. Some traits of kraken resemble undersea volcanic activity occurring in the Iceland region, including bubbles of water; sudden, dangerous currents; and appearance of new islets.

Etymology

The English word kraken is taken from Norwegian but its origins are otherwise obscure.In Norwegian, Kraken is the definite form of krake, a word designating an unhealthy animal or something twisted (cognate with the English crook and crank).In modern German, Krake (plural and declined singular: Kraken) means octopus, but can also refer to the legendary Kraken.

Legacy

Although fictional and the subject of myth, the legend of the kraken continues to the present day, with numerous references existing in popular culture, including film, literature, television, video games and other miscellaneous examples (e.g. postage stamps, a rollercoaster ride, and a rum product).

In 1830 Alfred Tennyson published the irregular sonnetThe Kraken,which described a massive creature that dwelled at the bottom of the sea:

Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
Unnumber’d and enormous polypi
Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green.
There hath he lain for ages, and will lie
Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep,
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.

Pontoppidan’s description influenced Jules Verne‘s depiction of the famous giant squid in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea from 1870.

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And now for the first time they have filmed this giant beast in the depths of the ocean:

After decades of searching for the giant squid, scientists have finally found and filmed the legendary creature in its native habitat. Their journey and discovery will be featured Sunday, January 27, at 8/7c in Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real, the two-hour season finale of the Curiosity series.

We recently sat down with Leslie Schwerin, director/producer of Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real for Discovery Channel, to talk about the expedition, the incredible discovery and all things giant squid. Here are the top 10 things we learned about Architeuthis.

#10. We still know very little about the giant squid, including how it hunts.

“There’s a difference of opinion about how they catch their prey,” Leslie Schwerin told us. “Dr. Tsunemi Kubodera, as I understand it, believes that giant squid catch their prey with their tentacles. So they’re going along and they see something yummy, and their tentacles go out and grab it and bring it in. Dr. Steve O’Shea believes the giant squid’s going along and its tentacles are hanging down at 45 degrees. It’ll catch its prey, and then the body will go to it instead of bringing it in.”

VIDEO: The Giant Squid Discoverers

#9. Humans have been aware of the giant squid for centuries.

Although no one has ever seen a giant squid alive in its natural habitat until now, humans have been clued into its existence for centuries, perhaps even longer. Giant squid carcasses will occasionally wash ashore, and there have been sightings of giant squid at the ocean’s surface. The ancient Greeks may have first described the creature in the fourth century B.C. In the first century B.C., Pliny the Elder wrote of an enormous squid in his Natural History. The animal he described had 30-foot-long arms, weighed 700 pounds and had a head “as big as a cask.”

#8. There’s an even larger squid than the giant squid.

The colossal squid, which still has not been seen alive in its natural habitat, is thought to be even larger than the giant squid (although its tentacles are shorter). The largest known colossal squid was hauled to the surface by fishermen off New Zealand in 2007. It weighed around 1,000 pounds.

#7. The giant squid has a sharp beak.

“Giant squid have a big old beak that is supposedly really sharp,” said Leslie Schwerin. Shaped like a parrot’s beak, the giant squid’s beak is incredibly hard and resistant to fractures and bending. It likely uses its beak to dismember and perhaps paraylze its prey, although no one has ever seen a giant squid feeding.

BLOG: Are We in the Midst of a Squid Invasion?

#6. Giant squid battle sperm whales.

“It’s pretty clear that sperm whales eat giant squid, and giant squid don’t go down without a fight,” said Leslie Schwerin. “Scientists, and just anyone walking on the beach seeing a beached sperm whale, will often see these sucker marks and bite marks from a giant squid. If they open up the stomach of a sperm whale, they’ll often see remains of a giant squid – especially the beaks, because the beaks don’t get broken down. Scientists speculate that the battles giant squid and sperm whales engage in are pretty vicious.”

#5. Giant squid regenerate their tentacles.

“The giant squid that we found didn’t have its tentacles,” said Leslie Schwerin. “We don’t know why exactly. It could be that it lost them in a fight with a sperm whale, or they could’ve been hooked on a fisherman’s line, and that severed their tentacles. But the tentacles regenerate.”

Not all squid regenerate their tentacles, but certain deep sea squid like Architeuthis can sacrifice them as a defense mechanism, allowing them to quickly escape to safety.

#4. The giant squid is as long as a whale.

“What’s fascinating about the giant squid is its size,” Leslie Schwerin told us. “It’s just really big. They can get up to maybe 50 or 60 feet long,” which rivals the length of most large whales (other than fin and blue whales). Tentacles make up the lion’s share of their length. Tentacles aside, the giant squid’s body is the length of a large, adult great white shark.

NEWS: Giant Squid: Still a Deep Mystery

#3. The giant squid’s eye is as big as your head.

“Its eyes are supposedly the largest in the animal kingdom,” said Leslie Schwerin. “As big as a basketball perhaps. I mean bigger than my head, which is amazing to think about. And that’s so they can see in the dark. We can’t see down 2,000 feet — it’s all dark to us — but they see things. They see light trickling through, and that’s because their eyes are so big.”

#2. As gigantic as they are, giant squid are really hard to find.

“It’s really hard to find a giant squid in its natural habitat,” said Leslie Schwerin. “They’re really deep. 2,000 to 3,000 feet down. That’s not a hospitable environment for us, so we have to go down in submersibles, which are loud and have lights and scare them away.

“I imagine that it’s probably really hard to find a giant squid because we don’t know how to behave or survive in their environment, so we need all this equipment that’s loud, bright and it all scares them away. I think they’re shy creatures. They’re solitary creatures, so they don’t swim in schools. Even though there may be millions of them, they’re spread out throughout the seas, and it is like a needle in a haystack.”

#1. The giant squid is actually a gentle giant.

“It’s huge. It’s weird-looking. We know that,” said Leslie Schwerin. “And I think people are fascinated with ‘monsters.’ It does fit the description, in a way, of a monster even if it’s a gentle monster. But our imaginations take off and we think it’s this crazy monster of the sea that’ll take down ships and sailors. There were certainly stories about it doing that in the past. It really does excite people, and people love their monsters — especially ones they haven’t seen.”

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And here is the video footage:

 

Then I just have to post a video from progressive Metal group called Mastodon, because they have an album called Leviathan and this is a song called “Seabeast”:

 

 

I hope you enjoyed the series and keep on searching. So now it is time to move on to another topics, but in the future there will be more… CREATURES FROM BEYOND!