Recently a commenter mentioned the Kraken in connection to humans being attacked.
This caused me to think about cephalopod (The family group classification for all squid, octopuses, cuttlefish, and nautiluses), attacks on humans.
Their are accounts of cephalopod attacks on humans which have been reported since the 13th century, and the term Kraken comes from the Norse sagas, which state that the Kraken dwells off the coasts of Norway and Greenland and terrorizes any nearby sailors.
It is speculated that this myth comes from sightings of giant squid by Viking sailors and traders. In the late-13th-century Icelandic saga Örvar-Oddr is an episode of a journey bound for Helluland (Baffin Island) which takes the protagonists through the Greenland Sea, and here they spot two massive sea-monsters called 'Hafgufa' ("sea mist") and 'Lyngbakr' ("heather-back"). The 'hafgufa' is believed to be a reference to the Kraken.
But sadly reality doesn't match the legend. Octopus attacks are rare, and never fatal .... for instance an 8 feet (2.4 m) Pacific octopus, "lunged" at a diver and "wrangled" over his camera. Another diver recorded the encounter on video in 2014. In fact in the 1960s, octopus wrestling, was a popular sport in the United States.
Humboldt squid aggression is traditionally reported in Mexico as fact, but many divers report that when not feeding or being hunted they seemed more curious than aggressive. Giant squid are rarely seen by humans, and apart from the Scandinavian medieval 'Kraken' reports, there are virtually no other references to attacks.
However in 2003, the crew of a yacht competing to win the round-the-world Jules Verne Trophy reported being attacked by a giant squid several hours after departing from Brittany, France. The squid purportedly latched onto the ship and blocked the rudder with two tentacles. Yacht Captain, Olivier de Kersauson then stopped the boat, causing the squid to lose interest. "We didn't have anything to scare off this beast, so I don't know what we would have done if it hadn't let go," Kersauson said.
And that's about it. In a way I am disappointed, as my imagination had been fired up by 'The Kraken' in the Jules Verne movie 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'
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| Kraken Attack |
This caused me to think about cephalopod (The family group classification for all squid, octopuses, cuttlefish, and nautiluses), attacks on humans.
Their are accounts of cephalopod attacks on humans which have been reported since the 13th century, and the term Kraken comes from the Norse sagas, which state that the Kraken dwells off the coasts of Norway and Greenland and terrorizes any nearby sailors.
It is speculated that this myth comes from sightings of giant squid by Viking sailors and traders. In the late-13th-century Icelandic saga Örvar-Oddr is an episode of a journey bound for Helluland (Baffin Island) which takes the protagonists through the Greenland Sea, and here they spot two massive sea-monsters called 'Hafgufa' ("sea mist") and 'Lyngbakr' ("heather-back"). The 'hafgufa' is believed to be a reference to the Kraken.
But sadly reality doesn't match the legend. Octopus attacks are rare, and never fatal .... for instance an 8 feet (2.4 m) Pacific octopus, "lunged" at a diver and "wrangled" over his camera. Another diver recorded the encounter on video in 2014. In fact in the 1960s, octopus wrestling, was a popular sport in the United States.
Humboldt squid aggression is traditionally reported in Mexico as fact, but many divers report that when not feeding or being hunted they seemed more curious than aggressive. Giant squid are rarely seen by humans, and apart from the Scandinavian medieval 'Kraken' reports, there are virtually no other references to attacks.
However in 2003, the crew of a yacht competing to win the round-the-world Jules Verne Trophy reported being attacked by a giant squid several hours after departing from Brittany, France. The squid purportedly latched onto the ship and blocked the rudder with two tentacles. Yacht Captain, Olivier de Kersauson then stopped the boat, causing the squid to lose interest. "We didn't have anything to scare off this beast, so I don't know what we would have done if it hadn't let go," Kersauson said.
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| Kirk Douglas Shows How To Deal With Cephalopod Attacks ... |
And that's about it. In a way I am disappointed, as my imagination had been fired up by 'The Kraken' in the Jules Verne movie 'Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea'
This story has legs...
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