|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:03 pm
Description:
Probably no legendary sea monster was as horrifying as the Kraken. According to stories this huge, many armed, creature could reach as high as the top of a sailing ship's main mast. Kraken's would attack a ship, wrap their arms around the hull and capsize it. The crew would drown or be eaten by the monster. What's amazing about the Kraken stories is that, of all the sea monster tales we have, we have the best evidence that these are real. Early stories about Kraken, from Norway in the twelfth century, refer to a creature the size of an island. Even in 1752, when the Bishop of Bergen, Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan, wrote his The Natural History of Norway he described the Kraken as a "floating island" one and a half miles across. He also noted: "It seems these are the creatures's arms, and, it is said, if they were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom." Later Kraken stories bring the creature down to a smaller, but still monstrous, size.
The Kraken of legend is probably what we know today as the giant squid. While a colossal octopus might also fit the description, the squid is thought to be much more aggressive and more likely to come to the surface where it might be seen by man. Though giant squids are considerably less then a mile and a half across, they are large enough to wrestle with a sperm whale. On at least three occasions in the 1930's they attacked a ship. While the squids got the worst of these encounters when they slid into the ship's propellers, the fact that they attacked at all shows that it is possible for these creatures to mistake a vessel for a whale.What if a large squid, say a hundred feet long and weighing two or three tons, attacked a small sailing ship? (Remember many early vessels, even those that crossed the Atlantic, measured much less than one hundred feet in length) It might well have been able to turn it over.
Giant squids
I believe that previous to motorized boats, giant squids or colossal octopi would have had no threat to their existence, allowing them to reach their full potential size or even larger. Allowing them to, when say something larger say a boat crossed its territory they would be aggresive and attack them, allowing the legend of the kraken to be born.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:04 pm
This is where my pictures will go when I get them from photobucket
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:05 pm
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Sep 04, 2006 8:54 pm
The dead bodies of the giant squids have had scars on them that are believed to have been from fighting with sperm whales. The eyes of a giant squid has also been said that they are as large as dinner plates. I don't know about anyone else's, but my dinner plates are huge. Oo.
Just a little tidbit from somehow whom had no clue how to reply. XD
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Sep 05, 2006 2:54 pm
An interesting tidbit though that relates. 3nodding
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2006 6:19 pm
I watched a documentary on the giant squid at some point over the summer. Surprisingly, no one had ever managed for a long time to get a picture of a live one. But a scientist finally managed it in the depths of hte ocean, with special camera equipment. The only real evidence they had of them until then was the scarring on whales, bits of the squid floating to the surface (possibly from battling an enemy like a sperm whale), and other such things.
But who is to say what's in the depths of the ocean? Yes, man has covered the general surface of the earth...but there's still so much that hasn't been explored below the sea level. So who's to say right? I personally see a lot of truth in the existence of the kraken.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2006 8:04 pm
Man knows more of the deep reaches of our galaxy then the depths of the midnight ocean. Interesting thought considering how little we know of our galaxy.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:45 am
Yami_Cerial Description: Probably no legendary sea monster was as horrifying as the Kraken. According to stories this huge, many armed, creature could reach as high as the top of a sailing ship's main mast. Kraken's would attack a ship, wrap their arms around the hull and capsize it. The crew would drown or be eaten by the monster. What's amazing about the Kraken stories is that, of all the sea monster tales we have, we have the best evidence that these are real. Early stories about Kraken, from Norway in the twelfth century, refer to a creature the size of an island. Even in 1752, when the Bishop of Bergen, Erik Ludvigsen Pontoppidan, wrote his The Natural History of Norway he described the Kraken as a "floating island" one and a half miles across. He also noted: "It seems these are the creatures's arms, and, it is said, if they were to lay hold of the largest man-of-war, they would pull it down to the bottom." Later Kraken stories bring the creature down to a smaller, but still monstrous, size. The Kraken of legend is probably what we know today as the giant squid. While a colossal octopus might also fit the description, the squid is thought to be much more aggressive and more likely to come to the surface where it might be seen by man. Though giant squids are considerably less then a mile and a half across, they are large enough to wrestle with a sperm whale. On at least three occasions in the 1930's they attacked a ship. While the squids got the worst of these encounters when they slid into the ship's propellers, the fact that they attacked at all shows that it is possible for these creatures to mistake a vessel for a whale.What if a large squid, say a hundred feet long and weighing two or three tons, attacked a small sailing ship? (Remember many early vessels, even those that crossed the Atlantic, measured much less than one hundred feet in length) It might well have been able to turn it over. Giant squids I believe that previous to motorized boats, giant squids or colossal octopi would have had no threat to their existence, allowing them to reach their full potential size or even larger. Allowing them to, when say something larger say a boat crossed its territory they would be aggresive and attack them, allowing the legend of the kraken to be born.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 06, 2006 10:19 am
From the recent (or not so recent by now) research and discovery of giant octupi, I think it's extremely likely that the once legendary Kraken was truly a giant octupi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 12:00 pm
Shee. Humans know very little (and that includes us kin in many ways), I mean, only a few years ago they discovered a new bass in southern United States. You'd think if anything was throughly discovered, it would be a bass in southern United States.Anyway, I had been hearing rumors from around the web about sperm whales having sucker scars the size of dinnerplates, and this is what they conclude the approximate size of the giant squid/kraken would have to be to leave such scars:  However, its only a rumor and I'm not entirely sure on the subject or its sources for that matter.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:26 pm
HOLY CRAP! THAT VIDEO IS SCARY!!! eek
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
