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Historys Greatest Mysteries - Season 7 - Episode 05: The Hunt for the Kraken
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00:26Transcription by CastingWords
00:30But descriptions of this creature vary wildly
00:32There were tentacles coming out of the water
00:35Wrapping around people
00:36Pulling them back into the ocean
00:38All they saw was rapidly moving water
00:42A vortex that was getting bigger
00:44And that adds to the mystery
00:46Now, we explore the top theories
00:50Surrounding this fearsome creature
00:52He says, I have found proof
00:54That the Kraken is a real beast
00:56And did exist about 200 million years ago
00:59Every time we go exploring in the deep sea
01:01We find new creatures
01:03And some of them are big
01:05With that much isolation and open ocean
01:07You can imagine that sailors would start
01:10To kind of lose their grip on reality
01:13Could the legendary Kraken possibly be real?
01:33As long as people have sailed the open seas
01:38They've told tales of encounters
01:40With deadly man-eating sea creatures
01:44Both Jewish and Christian texts reference
01:47The Leviathan
01:48Which is a giant sea creature
01:50That was incredibly dangerous
01:52Eventually killed by God
01:54So that they would not reproduce
01:56In the epic poem, The Odyssey
01:59Homer describes a deep sea beast
02:01With six heads and triple rows of teeth
02:04That devours passing sailors
02:06Including half of Odysseus' men
02:09All cultures that have grown up
02:11Along the oceans or the seas
02:13Have tales of massive sea animals
02:15That's why from the 10th century
02:18To the 17th century
02:19Maps had all of these sea monsters
02:21Drawn and written around the sides
02:23If you stay within this
02:25You're going to probably be okay
02:26But if you go out
02:27You could run into something
02:29That could literally swallow your boat whole
02:32And drag you to the bottom of the ocean
02:35But over the centuries
02:36Arguably the most feared sea monster of all
02:40Becomes known as the Kraken
02:45In 1180
02:47Writings from a Norwegian ruler
02:49Placed the beast in Scandinavia
02:52King Severa
02:53Specifically warned people
02:56Against this monster
02:58That was menacing ships
02:59Between Norway and Iceland
03:00And he tells us
03:01It was the size of an island
03:04And its sole purpose
03:06Was to feast on human flesh
03:10Later on
03:11In the 1500s
03:12An archbishop
03:13Named Olus Magnus
03:14Describes the Kraken
03:16As having long horns
03:17And built thick like a tree
03:19With fiery red eyes
03:22And this is based on accounts
03:24That he's heard
03:25From sailors
03:25Whose ships have been attacked at sea
03:27This is an animal
03:29That will sink your ship
03:32After the invention of the printing press
03:34This description gets distributed
03:36Far and wide
03:37And is taken aboard ships
03:39That are bound for destinations
03:41Like China
03:42Or even the West Indies
03:46Naturalist Pierre Denny's
03:47Illustration of the Kraken
03:49Is arguably the best one of all time
03:51Because you have a British warship
03:53Being attacked
03:55By this massive beast
03:57With all of these tentacles
03:59And it appears to be winning
04:01So you have to go out there
04:02Knowing that this thing
04:04Could at any point
04:06Take you to the bottom of the ocean
04:09These stories aren't just
04:10Centuries old fables
04:12Such alleged attacks
04:14Also occur in modern times
04:16Including one harrowing encounter
04:18During World War II
04:21In 1941
04:22The Germans attacked
04:23A British steamliner
04:24The SS Britannia
04:26Just about 750 miles
04:28Off the coast of Sierra Leone
04:30Hundreds of passengers
04:31Are forced to abandon ship
04:33In just a handful of lifeboats
04:35And they're cast adrift
04:36For several weeks
04:38If not months
04:39So you have people
04:40Hanging over the side
04:41Of these lifeboats
04:42Waiting to be rescued
04:43Now during this journey
04:45One of the men on the boat
04:47Says they were attacked
04:48They were tentacles
04:49Coming out of the water
04:50Wrapping around people
04:51Injuring them
04:52Or pulling them back
04:53Into the ocean
04:54He says
04:55I was attacked as well
04:56And he actually watched
04:57An Indian servant
04:59Be pulled down
05:00With these thick tentacles
05:02And devoured
05:03This sounds like a tall tale
05:05But 15 years later
05:06The eyewitness shows
05:08The circular scars
05:09On his leg
05:10To a marine naturalist
05:11Who confirms
05:12That it was caused
05:13By the suckers of an animal
05:14More than 20 feet long
05:16Just like the kraken
05:18More than a thousand years
05:20After it first appears
05:21In written records
05:22The kraken remains
05:24A mystery
05:25What could this terrifying monster
05:28Really be?
05:30The thing that the kraken
05:32Is most known for
05:33Is its massive tentacles
05:35And there are animals
05:37In the sea today
05:38That have tentacles
05:39And they are called cephalopods
05:41Typical kinds of cephalopods
05:44In the ocean
05:44Are just not nearly
05:46On the scale
05:47Of the kraken
05:49And in fact
05:50There's really
05:50Only one potential sea creature
05:53That would even come close
05:55To that size
06:00In the 1850s
06:03A Danish zoologist
06:05By the name of
06:06Japetus Steenstrup
06:07Is gathering information
06:09About these different types
06:11Of documented giant creatures
06:13One of which is the sea monk
06:15Which is this large creature
06:17Purportedly resembling a monk
06:19Or a friar
06:19And these red flowing robes
06:22That sort of hang
06:23In sheets off of his body
06:25And as he continued
06:27To look at these accounts
06:28He came up with
06:28A scientific description
06:30Of this monster
06:31Which he called
06:32Architeuthis ducks
06:33The giant squid
06:34This is the first time
06:35Where we have
06:36A scientist
06:38Formalizing a description
06:39Based on these historical accounts
06:41Of the kraken
06:46Later in the 1800s
06:48Evidence supporting his theory
06:50Begins to emerge
06:52In 1875
06:53In St. John's, Newfoundland
06:55There is an attack
06:57Of a small boat
06:58By a giant squid
07:00And what's really stunning
07:02Isn't just the description
07:03Of the attack
07:04But that the sailors
07:06In an effort
07:07To save themselves
07:08Grabbed an axe
07:09And hacked off a limb
07:11The creature
07:12Slides off into the water
07:13And disappears
07:14But now they have evidence
07:16One of the tentacles
07:18That they have in their boat
07:19Is 19 feet long
07:22If you were a sailor
07:23And you didn't know
07:24The proportions
07:25You could easily imagine
07:27That this was only
07:28A tiny fragment
07:29Of an even more massive beast
07:31Around the time
07:32Of this encounter
07:33In 1875
07:34Full giant squid carcasses
07:36Begin washing up
07:38Off the shores
07:38Of Newfoundland
07:40This is the first time
07:41That zoologists
07:42Have an opportunity
07:43To study an intact
07:45Giant squid
07:46It features a body
07:48Which is also called
07:48A mantle
07:49Eight shorter arms
07:51Two very long
07:52Feeding tentacles
07:53And what might be
07:54The most fearsome
07:56Part of this creature
07:57It's mouth or beak
07:59By the early 1900s
08:01The scientific community
08:02Finally has to admit
08:03That Steenstrop
08:04Was right
08:04That there is
08:05A giant sea beast
08:07At the bottom
08:08Of the ocean
08:08That could be
08:09The cracking
08:10That everybody's
08:11Talking about
08:13Unfortunately
08:14Live giant squid
08:16Prove to be
08:17Elusive creatures
08:19Decade after decade
08:21Goes by
08:21Without any sightings
08:23It's not until 2004
08:25That a living giant squid
08:27Is spotted
08:27In its natural habitat
08:28And this happens
08:30About 600 miles
08:31Off the coast of Tokyo
08:32A marine team
08:33Has been tracking
08:34What they believe
08:35To be a giant squid
08:36Using a baited line
08:38To try to lure it
08:39To the surface
08:39And on their 100th dive
08:41They finally capture it
08:43On camera
08:45And now because it's 2004
08:47We're not talking about
08:48The world of ancient mariners
08:50In Denmark
08:51Writing letters to each other
08:52This became a worldwide sensation
08:54The world has the first image
08:56Of a living giant squid
08:58And watching the animal
08:59In its natural environment
09:01Answers at least some questions
09:03About the kraken legend
09:04First of all
09:05The creature's deep sea habitat
09:07Helps explain why
09:08Encounters with it
09:09Have been extremely rare
09:10And the power of its large black beak
09:14Now seen in action
09:15By scientists
09:16Jibes with descriptions
09:18Of the flesh-eating monster
09:20That beak
09:21Which of course has evolved
09:22For catching prey
09:23In the deep sea
09:24Is strong enough
09:25To sever a steel cable
09:28The question remains
09:29Whether giant squid
09:30Grow large enough
09:31To take down ships
09:33Or devour humans
09:35As in the kraken legends
09:37The squid that was seen
09:39Off the coast of Japan
09:40Was a juvenile
09:41And while it gave us a sense
09:43Of what these squid look like
09:45When they're swimming
09:45And how they position themselves
09:47There's still a lot
09:48That we do not know
09:49About the adults
09:51If the complete length
09:53Of a giant squid
09:54Is something like
09:5450, 60 feet
09:55Compared to
09:57Even the largest things
09:58In the ocean
09:59In terms of length
10:00And almost in terms of weight
10:01These are truly large animals
10:04But is it possible
10:05For giant squid
10:06To grow much larger
10:07To mammoth sizes
10:09We've yet to document
10:11Some marine biologists
10:13Say yes
10:15There has been this idea
10:16Of deep sea gigantism
10:17That sometimes
10:18At deep depths
10:20In the ocean
10:20Things are able
10:21To achieve a larger size
10:23Than they do
10:23At more shallow depths
10:25Scientists have studied
10:27This phenomenon
10:27For decades
10:28And we know that
10:29As we look at creatures
10:30That live in the deep
10:31Dark ocean
10:32Some of them
10:33Reach extraordinary sizes
10:35Because it helps them
10:36Get around the deep sea
10:38And find what little food
10:39There is
10:41One reason
10:42That we postulate
10:43That the giant squid
10:44Don't come to the surface
10:45Very often
10:45Is because the amount
10:46Of energy it would take
10:47To rise up
10:49From those deep cold depths
10:50Would be too much
10:51Of a caloric intake
10:52These creatures
10:53Are certainly not going
10:54To be comfortable
10:55Living at a higher level
10:58So it makes sense
10:59That sightings
11:00Would be incredibly rare
11:02We know that there
11:03Are giant squid
11:04That are close to 60 feet
11:06But could they actually
11:07Get to be 100 feet
11:09120 feet
11:10We don't yet have the answers
11:11But I think the more
11:12We look
11:13The more likely
11:13We're going to encounter
11:14These giant creatures
11:16Lurking in the deep
11:20For centuries
11:21Sailors in and around
11:23Scandinavia
11:24Talk about deadly encounters
11:25With a kraken
11:26A sea creature
11:27Some experts believe
11:29Matches the giant squid
11:30But is that the only possibility
11:34Some stories of the kraken
11:36Actually have features
11:38That don't match well
11:39With the features
11:40Of cephalopods
11:41Some have enormous size
11:43But are relatively flat in shape
11:46And it leads us
11:48To ask the question
11:48What other things
11:50Might have been referred to
11:51As the kraken
11:52In 1765
11:54One sailor describes
11:55Seeing a kraken
11:57As an enormous fish
11:59But with tiny eyes
12:01And fins
12:02So we're not always
12:04Talking about something
12:06That can be explained
12:07By the existence
12:07Of the giant squid
12:08And some scholars
12:10Have actually suggested
12:11That it might instead
12:13Share more characteristics
12:15With a different type
12:15Of marine animal
12:22Whales are enormous
12:23And it's hard to fathom
12:25How big they are
12:26Until you're alongside them
12:28When those whales feed
12:29It's loud and boisterous
12:31And it is a sight to behold
12:33And the cool waters
12:35Of Scandinavia
12:36Are home to many whales
12:38Because that's where
12:39Their food is
12:41These whales existing
12:42In that environment
12:43Tend to be a little bit larger
12:44I mean you have humpback whales
12:46At almost 60 feet
12:47You have sperm whales
12:47At almost 70 feet
12:48You can see how
12:50These sea animals
12:51Could inspire
12:52The kraken mythology
12:53Whales are the largest
12:55Creatures that have
12:56Ever lived
12:57Imagine that you're
12:58Out at sea
12:59And something strange
13:01Rolls across the surface
13:03And all you see
13:04Is a dinner plate
13:05Sized eyeball
13:07That looks like
13:08A sea monster to you
13:09So there's a real
13:11Instinctive fear
13:12Simply encountering
13:14That size of creature
13:17Who for the most part
13:18Is really not interested
13:19In us
13:20But there was
13:21One instance
13:22Off the coast of Ecuador
13:23In 1821
13:24The whaling ship
13:25The Essex
13:26Was attacked
13:28By a whale
13:29That it had been
13:30Attempting to harpoon
13:32And the whale
13:32Rammed into the side
13:34Of the ship
13:34And split it into two
13:37The story of the Essex
13:39Was widely reported
13:40After the few survivors
13:41Came to shore
13:42And was a major
13:43Influence we believe
13:44In Herman Melville's
13:45Writing of Moby Dick
13:47After the destruction
13:48Of the Essex
13:49That kind of
13:50Helped stir the lure
13:52Of giant sea creatures
13:53That are powerful enough
13:55And mean enough
13:56To take out
13:56An entire ship
13:59In 2024
14:00A much smaller
14:01Fishing boat
14:02Off the coast
14:03Of New Hampshire
14:03Is slammed
14:05By a breaching
14:06Sperm whale
14:07The sperm whale
14:08Body checked
14:09A small boat
14:10The whale didn't
14:11Pursue the boat
14:12Or try to damage it
14:13Any further
14:14I think it probably
14:15Was just as confused
14:16As the sailors
14:17Nobody dies
14:18In this case
14:19Thankfully
14:20The ship is flipped
14:21The people
14:22Take a dive
14:23Off of it
14:24And are rescued
14:24By two other fishermen
14:26There is one whale species
14:28So enormous
14:30That any encounter
14:32Could easily destroy
14:33A fishing boat
14:33And kill everyone
14:35On board
14:36Blue whales
14:37Are unbelievably
14:38Huge organisms
14:39They can grow
14:40To over 100 feet long
14:42And weigh more
14:43Than 200 tons
14:45To put that in perspective
14:46The largest dinosaurs
14:48Ever
14:49Weighed about 65 tons
14:52If you had not yet
14:53Seen a whale
14:54Or even if you had
14:55Seen a whale
14:55And not seen a blue whale
14:56The scale difference there
14:58Is enough to
14:59Really make you question
15:01What you had seen
15:02Even though blue whales
15:03Feed on krill
15:05Tiny little marine animals
15:07The odds of them
15:08Swallowing a human
15:09Or going after humans
15:10Is almost zero
15:12But
15:12Somebody could have
15:14Just happened to be
15:15In the wrong place
15:15At the wrong time
15:16And boom
15:17Swallowed
15:18Completely
15:20It's hard to imagine
15:21This happening
15:22In real life
15:23Until a marine biologist
15:25Claims he was
15:26Swallowed by a whale
15:27And has the pictures
15:29To prove it
15:30In 2019
15:31Reiner Schimpf
15:32Was taking photos
15:33On the coast of south africa
15:34When he was swallowed
15:35By a massive whale
15:37He spent about 30 seconds
15:39In the mouth of this whale
15:40Before being spit back out
15:41But he made it through
15:42Unharmed
15:43No one would have
15:44Ever believed him
15:45It would have been
15:45Just a big fish tail
15:46If it wasn't for his wife
15:48Who was standing nearby
15:49And snapping photos
15:50Of the whole incident
15:51If that story
15:53Weren't enough
15:53We have further accounts
15:55In 2025
15:56Off the coast of Chile
15:58A man kayaking
15:59Is caught on camera
16:01In the moment
16:02That a whale
16:03Rises up from beneath him
16:05And scoops him up entirely
16:07He was quickly
16:08Spat back out
16:09Because whales
16:10Do not eat people
16:11But if you're
16:13In the wrong spot
16:13Even if you're
16:14In something as large
16:15As a kayak
16:15You might get
16:16Swallowed by a whale
16:18Even if
16:19These encounters
16:20With whales
16:21That led to
16:22Them being engulfed
16:23Were harmless
16:24Witnessing or experiencing
16:26Something like that
16:27Could easily contribute
16:28To the myth
16:29Of the man-eating kraken
16:32Is it possible
16:33A whale might be mistaken
16:34For a kraken
16:35Not just at sea
16:37But on dry land as well?
16:40Unless you understand anatomy
16:41If you encounter
16:42A decomposing animal
16:44Particularly a sea creature
16:45On the beach
16:46That's getting reworked
16:47By the elements
16:49It might be very hard
16:50To identify
16:51What that creature is
16:53In 2017
16:54A strange
16:55Misshapen carcass
16:57Washes up off the shores
16:58Of the Indonesian island
17:00Saram
17:00Photos of it immediately
17:02Go viral worldwide
17:03It's 50 feet long
17:05Bloated
17:05And unlike anything
17:07That's ever been seen before
17:08People are talking
17:10About weird fur on it
17:11And that there's this
17:12Red liquid nearby
17:14And they're just baffled
17:16So it's easy to understand
17:18How they could have thought
17:19This is the kraken
17:21Many cases
17:22Of unexplained animals
17:23Or unexplained carcasses
17:25Have very poor quality
17:26Documentation
17:27But eventual testing
17:29Of this revealed
17:31From DNA
17:32That it actually was
17:33Part of a baleen whale
17:35What was initially
17:36Thought to be fur
17:37Was actually the structures
17:39Within the whale's skin
17:40As it falls apart
17:41The red fluid
17:42Was eventually identified
17:43As whale blood
17:49For centuries
17:50People have been searching
17:51For evidence
17:52Of the giant sea monster
17:54Known as the kraken
17:55Marine biologists
17:57Have compared it
17:58To whales
17:58And giant squid
18:00But neither seems
18:01To be a perfect match
18:02What if there is
18:04Something else out there
18:05An unknown sea animal
18:07That we just haven't
18:08Been able to capture yet
18:09Scientists pretty much
18:11Dismissed this idea
18:12That it could be
18:13It's entirely unique species
18:15Until a group of fishermen
18:17In the 1970s
18:19Haul in something
18:20Truly unexpected
18:23In 1977
18:24A Japanese fishing trawler
18:27Was able to pull in
18:29This massive carcass
18:30This thing was 30 feet long
18:32And 4,000 pounds
18:34This is truly something
18:35They have never seen before
18:37And cannot account for
18:39It appears to have
18:40An incredibly long backbone
18:42It has these four
18:43Sort of strange fins on it
18:46But because it smells
18:47So atrocious
18:48They all decide
18:50To toss it back
18:51In the ocean
18:52Luckily
18:53Somebody snapped
18:54A couple of photos
18:55Of it
18:55And actually took a sample
18:56And they sent that sample
18:58Away to get it tested
18:59Now what's interesting
19:01Is normally
19:02A sample comes back
19:03And you're like
19:04Oh, blue whale
19:05This came back inconclusive
19:07Based on photos
19:09Based on the description
19:10That the fishermen
19:11Were able to give
19:12The official interpretation
19:14That the government makes
19:15Is that this was likely
19:16A decomposing
19:17Basking shark
19:19So it's one of the
19:20Largest creatures there is
19:21They grow up to
19:22About 30 feet long
19:23But another Japanese scientist
19:26Has a much more
19:27Controversial theory
19:29Professor Tokyo Shikama
19:31Of Yokohama National University
19:33Believes that the carcass
19:35Is actually the remains
19:36Of a dinosaur
19:37Specifically the plesiosaur
19:39Which is one of the
19:40Deadliest beasts
19:41To ever roam the seas
19:43Some descriptions of the kraken
19:45Do fit with certain aspects
19:46Of the plesiosaur
19:47So if this dinosaur
19:49Had managed to survive
19:51To modern times
19:52As Shikama maintains
19:53That would mean
19:54That the origin of the kraken
19:56Actually goes back
19:56Millions of years
20:04Plesiosaurs are large
20:05Aquatic reptiles
20:07That lived during
20:07The time of the dinosaurs
20:08They lived in the
20:09Cretaceous period
20:10These creatures are
20:12The T-Rexes of the ocean
20:14Big giant animals
20:16With extraordinary teeth
20:17That were voracious hunters
20:19And they've been extinct
20:20For some time
20:21But this professor said
20:22Well this could well
20:23Be a plesiosaur
20:24That we just have
20:25Never caught before
20:26If this creature
20:27Is a survivor
20:28From the age of dinosaurs
20:30Then it rewrites
20:32Everything we thought
20:33We knew
20:33About their demise
20:36Most scientists agree
20:38That there was
20:39A mass extinction
20:39Event about 66 million
20:41Years ago
20:42When this asteroid
20:43Six to nine miles wide
20:45Slams into the
20:46Yucatan peninsula
20:47With such power
20:49That it drives itself
20:5114 miles into the earth
20:53When you have an asteroid
20:54That is this size
20:56You have boiling oceans
20:57You have pure darkness
20:59That takes place
21:00And also displacement
21:01Of a lot of water
21:02So it wiped out
21:0475% of the earth's species
21:06And for the animals
21:07That dwell in the water
21:08This was the apocalypse
21:09Yet some theorists
21:12Counter that an asteroid
21:14Strike in the Yucatan
21:15No matter how destructive
21:17Wouldn't wipe out
21:19All the dinosaurs
21:20Around the world
21:21Some they contend
21:23Could survive the cataclysm
21:25The Loch Ness monster
21:27Is arguably the most famous
21:29Possible plesiosaur
21:31In the world
21:31And Loch Ness
21:33Is connected to the ocean
21:34But so far away
21:36That you could theorize
21:38That if they were inland
21:39When this happened
21:40They would have been saved
21:41From this catastrophe
21:42It's interesting to note
21:44That Loch Ness
21:45Does connect to the open ocean
21:47The North Sea
21:48Which then connects
21:49To the Sea of Norway
21:50And all of these waters
21:51Surround Scandinavia
21:53The Loch Ness monster
21:54Has gathered decades
21:56Of attention
21:57But until they find a body
21:59There is no way to prove
22:01That the Loch Ness monster
22:03Or a plesiosaur
22:04Is what is actually the kraken
22:07There are other
22:09Formidable predators
22:10Thought to be long extinct
22:12That share similarities
22:13With the kraken
22:15One is a giant fish
22:17That cruised the seas
22:19For a million years
22:20There are some kraken descriptions
22:23That talk about
22:23A long sleek fish
22:25With massive teeth
22:26And this has led many
22:28To think that
22:29Maybe that's evidence
22:30That Megalodon still lives
22:39We have great white sharks
22:41Which can grow up
22:42To about 20 feet in length
22:43And the Megalodon
22:45Was two times the size
22:47Of the great white
22:47Or maybe bigger
22:48The largest fish
22:50Ever to exist
22:52It is believed
22:53To have gone extinct
22:54About 3.6 million years ago
22:56But of course
22:57Similar to the plesiosaur
22:59There could have been
23:01Some that survived
23:02Down in deeper water
23:04Still living in the oceans today
23:06Most scientists think
23:07This is highly unlikely
23:09Because no bones
23:10Or teeth of a Megalodon
23:12Have ever been found
23:12On the ocean floor
23:13That weren't fossilized
23:15But some theorists wonder
23:16If maybe a few Megalodons
23:18Actually did manage to survive
23:19Into the modern era
23:22It might seem far-fetched
23:24But there are other examples
23:26Of prehistoric beasts
23:27Surviving the asteroid impact
23:30That have been verified
23:31By scientists
23:32In 1938
23:34A South African fisherman
23:36Catches something
23:37That he's never seen before
23:39It has these
23:40Armored blue scales
23:42And its fins
23:44Aren't normal
23:45Like fish fins
23:45They're actually fleshy
23:47So he sends this off
23:49To a marine biologist
23:50Who absolutely
23:52Cannot believe
23:53What she's seeing
23:54It's called
23:55The coelacanth
23:56But the most recent one
23:57Was from 66 million years ago
24:01The news of this
24:02Is so startling
24:03It's a bizarre animal
24:05And maybe one
24:05People hadn't thought of before
24:06But the resurrection story
24:08Of it led to
24:09A worldwide recognition
24:11Of an animal
24:12That was thought to be
24:13From the age of the dinosaurs
24:17Evolutionary biologists
24:18Are faced with
24:19A new mystery
24:20If this prehistoric fish
24:22Survived the great extinction
24:23Is it possible
24:25A beast like the kraken
24:26Did as well?
24:28Perhaps the coelacanth fish
24:29Survived because
24:30It's relatively small
24:31It's only six feet long
24:33And weighs about 200 pounds
24:35So it doesn't require
24:36A ton of food
24:37But for a species
24:38The size of the kraken
24:39To endure
24:40An extinction event
24:42It would have had to
24:42Have somehow been protected
24:44From all the destruction
24:45Some wonder if
24:46Maybe there were
24:47Sealed pockets
24:49In the ocean floor
24:50That acted as safe zones
24:51For colossal prehistoric beasts
24:53And something later happened
24:55To open these pockets
24:57To release one of these beasts
24:59Into the ocean
25:04Could the kraken be more than
25:06A mariner's myth?
25:07Scientists are still trying
25:09To find out
25:09Whether or not
25:10This infamous sea creature
25:12Is real
25:13If it is
25:14Could it be a survivor
25:16From prehistoric times?
25:18Something that could grow
25:19Three stories tall
25:21And crush the skeleton
25:22Of even the largest predator
25:25In 2011
25:26At a meeting
25:27Of the Geological Society
25:29Of America
25:29Paleontologist
25:30Mark McMiniman
25:32Presents a really
25:33Interesting
25:34And controversial idea
25:36He says
25:38He says
25:38I have found something
25:39That I believe
25:40Is proof
25:41That the kraken
25:42Is a real beast
25:43And did exist
25:44About 200 million years ago
25:45He was unearthing fossils
25:47In a ghost town
25:49Called Berlin
25:49In Nevada
25:50And he came across
25:52An ichthyosaur
25:54Which we know existed
25:55These are almost
25:56Dolphin-like in shape
25:57Mini sharp pointed teeth
25:59In a long snout
26:00Very highly adapted
26:02To ocean life
26:03And the fossils
26:04That were found
26:05In Nevada
26:06Are actually
26:07Whale-sized
26:10What's strange
26:11To McMiniman
26:11Isn't the existence
26:13Of the ichthyosaur
26:14But that
26:15When he finds
26:16These bones
26:16He doesn't find
26:17Just one set
26:18He finds nine of them
26:19And they're all arranged
26:21In a distinct pattern
26:22These piles are not
26:24The result of nature
26:25Some other creature
26:26Had to have placed them there
26:28The ichthyosaur
26:30Would have existed
26:31Near the surface
26:32Of the ocean
26:33Of course this is a time
26:34When Nevada
26:35Was entirely underwater
26:37So whatever killed them
26:39Traveled to the surface
26:40Of the water
26:41Hunted them
26:41And then brought them down
26:43All the way to the floor
26:44Of the ocean
26:45To stack their bones
26:47If you then take
26:49The markings
26:49On the actual
26:50Bones themselves
26:51They don't look
26:52Like teeth marks
26:53They look like
26:54Something that a beak
26:55Would do
26:56And to pull something
26:57Of that size
26:58Down into the depths
26:59And hold it down
27:00And eat it
27:01You would have
27:01To be enormous
27:03So he postulates
27:04That this is
27:05An ancient giant cephalopod
27:07McMiniman is convinced
27:09And he keeps digging
27:10And he finds
27:11What he thinks
27:12Is the jackpot
27:13A beak
27:14The kind of beak
27:15That would have come
27:17From a creature
27:18About a hundred feet long
27:21The giant squid
27:22Is not the only creature
27:23That uses a beak
27:25To tear apart
27:26Its prey
27:27In this case
27:28The evidence
27:29Points more toward
27:31An octopus
27:32What we know
27:33About octopuses
27:34Is they attack
27:35With twin beaks
27:36And they pile
27:37The bones
27:38Of their victims
27:39In front of their lairs
27:40You know
27:41They use this
27:42These are traits
27:42We know
27:43And we have
27:43Witnessed
27:44In nature
27:45Today
27:46The largest octopus
27:48That we have
27:49Is a lot smaller
27:50Than the largest
27:51Giant squid
27:52That we have
27:52But it's entirely
27:53Possible
27:54That in the prehistoric eras
27:55There was
27:56An enormous
27:57Octopus species
27:59That could have survived
28:00Into modern day
28:02And become
28:03What people saw
28:04And called
28:05The kraken
28:12During the great extinction
28:14Earthquakes caused
28:15Massive craters
28:16On the seafloor
28:17Some many miles deep
28:19Some species
28:20Including octopus
28:21Which prefer to live
28:23On the seafloor
28:24In spaces like these
28:25Could have found
28:26Sanctuary in them
28:27And survived
28:27The apocalypse
28:28Happening above
28:30Imagine if you had
28:31The size
28:31The stealth
28:33And the intelligence
28:35To hunt
28:36And stay unnoticed
28:37By not only
28:38The predators
28:38In the sea
28:39But the predators
28:39From above
28:40And the one thing
28:41We know about octopus
28:42Is that they are
28:43Arguably
28:44The most intelligent
28:45Species in the entire ocean
28:47We know very little
28:48About what lives
28:50On the seafloor
28:51You'll hear people say
28:52That you know
28:52We know the surface
28:53Of Mars better
28:54Than we know
28:55The floor
28:56Of our own ocean
28:57And that is
28:58Literally true
29:01In 2024
29:02In Norway
29:03Scientists have been
29:04Discovering these sites
29:05Called hydrothermal vents
29:06On the seafloor
29:07That are just
29:08Booming with life
29:10A secret to success
29:11Are the bacteria
29:13That are able to take
29:15The chemicals
29:15That come out of there
29:16Really noxious chemicals
29:18And to eat
29:19And to grow off of it
29:20And you end up
29:20With these really
29:21Lush communities
29:22Of creatures
29:24All basically living
29:25Off the energy
29:26That comes out
29:27Of the inside
29:28Of the earth
29:30This totally changed
29:31The way that we thought
29:32About the domains
29:32In which life could exist
29:34The animals
29:35At these deep sea vents
29:36Don't necessarily
29:37Even need sunlight
29:38If the sun blinked out
29:40The animals
29:41At the deep sea
29:42Might not know about it
29:43For millions of years
29:45Many marine biologists
29:46Dismissed the theory
29:47Of the kraken
29:48Emerging from these
29:50Deep sea holes
29:51As something out
29:52Of a Jules Verne novel
29:53Just because
29:54A giant prehistoric
29:56Cephalopod
29:57Might have existed
29:58Many millions of years ago
29:59Doesn't necessarily mean
30:01That it survived
30:02Into the days
30:03Of seafaring humans
30:06But others say
30:07It's not so far fetched
30:09It's estimated
30:11That two thirds
30:12Of the marine species
30:13In our oceans
30:14Have yet to be discovered
30:16And some argue
30:18That among them
30:19Could be survivors
30:21Of the great extinction
30:22Every time we go
30:24Exploring in the deep sea
30:25We find creatures
30:27That we had not
30:28Previously known
30:29And some of them
30:29Are big
30:30So
30:30Are there monsters
30:32Lurking in the deep
30:33That we don't know about
30:34It's possible
30:40For centuries
30:42People have been
30:43Trying to identify
30:44The kraken
30:45By comparing it
30:46To other marine life
30:48Real
30:48Or imagined
30:49Now
30:50Some are asking
30:52If other factors
30:53Fueled the imaginations
30:54Of sailors
30:55Especially those
30:57Heading into
30:58The treacherous waters
30:59Of the Scandinavian seas
31:01One of the descriptions
31:03Of a kraken attack
31:04Is that suddenly
31:05The ocean
31:06Begins to spin
31:07And it creates
31:09This massive whirlpool
31:11That sucks ships
31:12Down to their graves
31:13The churning waters
31:15Off the coast of Norway
31:16Do just that
31:18Their force
31:19Inspires writers
31:20Like Edgar Allan Poe
31:21Who wrote a short story
31:23About a man
31:23Who survives
31:24A shipwreck
31:25And a whirlpool
31:26That he calls
31:27A maelstrom
31:28Legends of the maelstroms
31:31Could well be based
31:31In fact
31:32The Saltstruman channel
31:33On the Norwegian coast
31:35Has terrifying
31:37Opposing tidal currents
31:39They can capsize boats
31:40And when that happens
31:42People can drown
31:42And people have drowned there
31:44It's taken many lives
31:47Sailors back then
31:48All they saw was
31:49Rapidly moving water
31:51A vortex that was
31:53Being created
31:53And getting bigger
31:55You might perceive that
31:57As a beast
31:57Because they didn't know
31:59What we know now
32:00Could it be that
32:02Generations of sailors
32:03Have been blaming
32:04Ship disasters
32:05On an imaginary creature
32:07When the sea itself
32:09Is to blame
32:16Most long lasting maelstroms
32:17Are not the consequence
32:18Like a tornado
32:19Of wind masses
32:20But actually
32:21Of convergent currents
32:23In the ocean itself
32:24That when they meet
32:25At different angles
32:26Produce a vortex
32:28These vortexes
32:30That are being created
32:31They're moving
32:31At a pace
32:32Of about 23 miles per hour
32:34They could be about
32:3533 feet in diameter
32:37And that creates
32:39The illusion
32:40Not only are you out there
32:42Thinking about
32:42A mythical beast
32:43But you're also seeing
32:45Some movement in the water
32:46It's rare that
32:48These whirlpools
32:49Are strong enough
32:50To pull in entire boats
32:51Unless the circumstances
32:54Are just right
32:56Maelstroms are
32:57Especially dangerous
32:58When they have
32:59A deep hole
33:00At the bottom of the water
33:01That acts like a drain
33:03Speeding up the flow
33:04One incredible example
33:06Of this
33:06Is something that happened
33:08In 1980
33:08In Louisiana's
33:09Lake Peñour
33:10In this lake
33:12There's two activities
33:13Going on
33:13One is a salt mine
33:15Being dug out
33:16Underneath the lake
33:17And one is an oil rig
33:18And due to an accident
33:20Of calculations
33:21They end up drilling
33:23Into one of the lower shafts
33:26Of the salt mine
33:27And as they're drilling
33:29They hear a couple
33:29Of loud noises
33:30And then the water
33:32Begins to spin
33:33Around the rig
33:33The lake's only
33:35Ten feet deep
33:35But what happens
33:37Is they created
33:39The hole needed
33:40For the water
33:41To go into the salt mine
33:42Multiple levels
33:43Thousands of feet down
33:45In seconds
33:46It sucks a tugboat
33:47Eleven barges
33:49An entire island
33:50With a botanical garden
33:51On it
33:51Into the whirlpool
33:52Gone
33:55Maybe the most
33:56Incredible thing about it
33:56Is that nobody was hurt
33:58That was human error
34:00You're talking about
34:01An oil rig
34:02That went right
34:03Right into a salt mine
34:04That's something that definitely
34:05Does not happen
34:06Every single day
34:07But we also see
34:09These whirlpools
34:10That are created
34:10Out in the open water
34:11Just from naturally occurring events
34:13Like earthquakes
34:15In 2004
34:17Off the coast of Thailand
34:19An underwater earthquake
34:21Caused a tsunami
34:22So large
34:23That the loss of life
34:25Topped 200,000 people
34:27And in 2011
34:29In Japan
34:30A similar tsunami
34:31Took out 19,000 people
34:34And the entire
34:35Fukushima nuclear plant
34:36In both instances
34:38The first to succumb
34:40Are people sailing
34:41Near the quake's epicenter
34:42Before a tsunami
34:44Rises up
34:45From the displaced
34:45Tectonic plates
34:46And hits the coast
34:47There are several moments
34:49When water fills
34:50Inside the enormous cavity
34:51And in that case
34:53Boats as far as
34:54Ten miles out
34:54Can be sucked
34:55Into this giant whirlpool
34:56That's been created
34:57By the cracks
34:58In the seafloor
35:00In such events
35:01It's possible sailors
35:03Might have confused
35:04A natural maelstrom
35:06With the kraken's attack
35:08You have to ask
35:09How many times
35:10Could this mistake
35:12Have been made
35:12How many times
35:13Could someone have seen
35:14A natural phenomenon
35:15Like this
35:16And attributed it
35:17To this monster
35:17If you're already
35:19Going out there
35:20With the notion
35:21That there is a beast
35:22In the water
35:22And you continue
35:24To see the whirlpool
35:25Getting bigger
35:25You're going to think
35:26That the beast
35:27Is about to jump
35:28Out of that water
35:29And you're about
35:30To be face to face
35:31With the kraken
35:37Many theorists
35:38Have turned away
35:39From trying to link
35:40The kraken
35:40To a living creature
35:42Some now wonder
35:43If the psychological
35:44Effects of sea travel
35:45Gave rise
35:46To this legendary beast
35:49You have to think
35:50About the conditions
35:51That sailors live with
35:52Especially hundreds
35:53Hundreds of years ago
35:54A lot of sailing voyages
35:56Could be up to
35:57Three years at a time
35:58And with that much
35:59Isolation and open ocean
36:01You can imagine
36:02That sailors would start
36:04To lose their grip
36:05On reality
36:06We walk on land
36:08We live on land
36:08To remove you from that
36:10Is something
36:11That you have to experience
36:13To understand
36:13It begins to immediately
36:15Play with your mind
36:16Some experts have theorized
36:19That the stories
36:19That are told
36:20About the kraken
36:21Aren't the result
36:22Of any actual creature
36:23In the ocean
36:24But instead
36:25Are a sign
36:26Of the psychological impact
36:27That being on the ocean
36:29Has on the crew
36:37You can imagine
36:38How terrifying it is
36:40To go to sea
36:41In an old
36:42Rickety sailing ship
36:43With no GPS
36:45No weather forecast
36:47And you probably
36:48Don't have much
36:49Of an education
36:50Certainly not in zoology
36:51Many sailors
36:53In the past
36:54Couldn't even swim
36:55And so anything
36:57That happened
36:57Beyond the bulkheads
36:59Of a ship
37:00Was often misunderstood
37:03These sailors
37:04Are dealing with
37:04Stress and storms
37:06Cabin fever
37:07And obviously
37:08Heavy drinking
37:08And all of these things
37:10Can actually affect
37:11Whole crews
37:11At the same time
37:12It's called
37:13Mass hysteria
37:14A phenomenon
37:15Where a group of people
37:17Can experience
37:17Similar physical
37:18Or psychological symptoms
37:20Without a singular
37:21Identifiable medical cause
37:23In 2024
37:25The US Navy
37:26Did a really interesting study
37:28And found that
37:2941% of sailors
37:30Going to sea
37:31Suffer a form of
37:33High stress
37:33Before getting on the boat
37:35Let's go back
37:36Hundreds of years ago
37:37And you're about
37:37To head off into sea
37:38And the only thing
37:39You know is that
37:40There is a kraken
37:41Out there waiting for you
37:42Tell me that
37:43Your stress levels
37:44Wouldn't be through the roof
37:45So these sailors
37:46Weren't just battling
37:47Sea monsters
37:48And crazy environmental
37:50Problems
37:50They were also
37:51Battling themselves
37:54Diseases at sea
37:55Can also induce
37:56Hallucinations
37:57Another big component
38:00Back then
38:00Was scurvy
38:01And so scurvy
38:02Is a lack of vitamin C
38:04And that deficiency
38:05Is a horrible way to go
38:07You're talking about
38:08Your arms
38:09As well as your legs
38:10Being sore
38:11And then stiff
38:12You have your teeth
38:14Falling out
38:14Your gums are bleeding
38:16And then eventually
38:17It makes its way
38:18Into your brain
38:19And causes damage
38:21Under the stresses
38:22Of scurvy
38:23Sometimes the senses
38:25Become changed
38:26And in the 1740s
38:27An entire squadron
38:28Of british sailing vessels
38:30Was overcome with scurvy
38:31And their sailors
38:33Reported strange sounds
38:35Exaggerated sights
38:37And one famous report
38:39Was of a man
38:40Who the simple smell
38:41Of a flower
38:42Was enough to make him
38:43Scream in agony
38:44According to one historian
38:46Scurvy is responsible
38:47For more deaths at sea
38:49Than storms
38:50Shipwrecks
38:51And other diseases
38:52Combined
38:53And it was not
38:54A quick death
38:55It could take weeks
38:56For people to die of scurvy
38:58You're in this mental state
39:00Because of scurvy
39:01Your brain is deteriorating
39:03So what you think you saw
39:04Might not actually be
39:06What is out there
39:08Hallucination
39:09Brought on by
39:10Psychological stress
39:11Fear and disease
39:13Might be a convincing
39:14Explanation
39:15For stories of the kraken
39:17But it's not the only way
39:19The brain might trick us
39:20Into believing
39:20There are strange creatures
39:23Nearby
39:23For folks who spend time
39:25At sea
39:26You realize very quickly
39:28That your eyes
39:28Can deceive you
39:29The fact that you don't
39:30Have a frame of reference
39:32When you look out
39:33Across the ocean
39:33Means that things
39:35Can seem grander
39:36And larger than they appear
39:43Atmospheric factors
39:44Play into this
39:46You have the cold air
39:47That's closer towards
39:48The sea level
39:48The warm air
39:49That's rising over it
39:50Once that light moves
39:51From cold air
39:52Into warm air
39:53It bends
39:53And so that changes
39:54What you are physically
39:56Seeing out in the distance
39:58The flying mirage illusion
39:59Can make it look like
40:01A boat is in the air
40:02Because of the way
40:03That the light is bending
40:04So your perception
40:05Is off
40:06And that creates
40:06A bigger story
40:07When it comes to
40:08Creatures that are out there
40:10In the open water
40:10Even real objects
40:13Perceived with these
40:14Atmospheric conditions
40:15Can be elongated
40:17Stretched or bent
40:18In ways that might
40:19Make them appear
40:20Monstrous
40:22Could phenomena like these
40:24Have contributed
40:25To kraken sightings
40:27At the end of the day
40:28The oceans are not our home
40:30That is not our natural environment
40:32So I don't care
40:34How brave you are
40:35Or how prepared you are
40:36You're going to step off
40:38Into that adventure
40:39With a little bit of apprehension
40:40Stories of the kraken
40:42Have been around for centuries
40:44And even modern discoveries
40:46Don't fully explain
40:47Where they came from
40:48History is replete
40:50With stories of sailors
40:51Talking about creatures
40:53Trying to kill them
40:54And if you take a look at them
40:56You begin to see
40:57That those monsters
40:58Probably tell us more about us
41:00Than anything else
41:03It may be tempting
41:04To dismiss the kraken
41:05As the world's
41:06Oldest maritime legend
41:08Or the product of sailors' minds
41:10Playing tricks on them
41:11But if so
41:13Then why does the kraken
41:15Still fill us
41:16With fascination
41:17And fear
41:18With as much as 80%
41:20Of the ocean
41:21Still unexplored
41:23Discovering a sea monster
41:24That truly lives up
41:25To the kraken lore
41:26May just be a matter of time
41:29I'm Lawrence Fishburne
41:31Thank you for watching
41:33History's Greatest Mysteries
41:35See
41:35Is aarp
41:35Is aarp
41:39Gen
41:40Role
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