Folklore tells us that terrifying creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster lurk on the outskirts of civilisation. But can science explain the harrowing historic encounters humans have had with them?
The human brain is hard-wired to make sense of the world around it. When events occur that we can’t explain with logic, fear often takes over and our imaginations run riot. In ancient times, ships that became lost at sea must have been attacked by sea monsters, fossilised bones were thought to have belonged to ferocious mystical beasts and natural disasters were the acts of evil spirits.
Over the last thousand years or so of recorded history worldwide, people have conjured up their own explanations for frightful sightings with little or no scientific process. This information was spread through stories, and over time, through their telling and retelling down generations, the more fantastic details became exaggerated. Before long, large communities shared a common fear of the colossal creatures that hid beneath their local lakes or the bloodthirsty beasts that only revealed themselves at night. But even some relatively new myths of younger civilisations still have traction.
How can science start to debunk monster myths that have endured millennia to separate a genuine sighting from a misconception or hoax? Much of the longstanding belief in mythical monsters is justified in the minds of the believers by the fact that there are no photographs for proof, or the photos cannot be explained. When powerful and misunderstood forces are at play, monster believers state that the absence of evidence can’t be classed as evidence of absence.
Only recently have video cameras, radar and infrared imaging and deep-sea exploration been able to provide answers to the world’s most famous monster mysteries. The study of animals that may or may not exist is called cryptozoology: those who specialise in this may hold the best chance of discovering evidence of new species or debunking long-held myths.
ATTACK OF THE KRAKEN
Some tales of this Nordic sea monster describe it the size of an island. With giant, tentacle-like extensions, the kraken appears under ships, making the water appear shallow and brown, and is capable of attacking any large vessel that may cross its path. Since the 1100s, many sailors have told stories of their encounters with a kraken in the seas of Iceland, Greenland and Norway. It became known as a beast that could swallow any ship in the giant whirlpool it whipped the sea surrounding it into. The earliest references to the kraken date back to
