1 00:00:05,542 --> 00:00:08,333 [intense music] 2 00:00:08,333 --> 00:00:11,875 - Tonight, the search for one of the most terrifying creatures 3 00:00:11,875 --> 00:00:14,667 said to prowl the open seas. 4 00:00:14,667 --> 00:00:16,542 - Stories of the Kraken have been around 5 00:00:16,542 --> 00:00:17,917 for centuries. 6 00:00:17,917 --> 00:00:20,208 - It was the size of an island 7 00:00:20,208 --> 00:00:25,042 and its sole purpose was to feast on human flesh. 8 00:00:25,042 --> 00:00:27,167 - There are countless alleged encounters 9 00:00:27,167 --> 00:00:29,458 between sailors and the Kraken, 10 00:00:29,458 --> 00:00:33,542 but descriptions of this creature vary wildly. 11 00:00:33,542 --> 00:00:35,583 - There were tentacles coming out of the water, 12 00:00:35,583 --> 00:00:36,625 wrapping around people, 13 00:00:36,625 --> 00:00:39,167 pulling them back into the ocean. 14 00:00:39,167 --> 00:00:42,333 - All they saw was rapidly moving water, 15 00:00:42,333 --> 00:00:45,042 a vortex that was getting bigger, 16 00:00:45,042 --> 00:00:47,458 and that adds to the mystery. 17 00:00:47,458 --> 00:00:50,042 - Now, we explore the top theories 18 00:00:50,042 --> 00:00:52,750 surrounding this fearsome creature. 19 00:00:52,750 --> 00:00:56,583 - He says, "I have found proof that the Kraken is a real beast 20 00:00:56,583 --> 00:00:59,708 and did exist about 200 million years ago." 21 00:00:59,708 --> 00:01:02,000 - Every time we go exploring in the deep sea, 22 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,042 we find new creatures, and some of them are big. 23 00:01:05,042 --> 00:01:07,917 - With that much isolation and open ocean, 24 00:01:07,917 --> 00:01:09,500 you can imagine that 25 00:01:09,500 --> 00:01:12,292 sailors would start to kind of lose their grip on reality. 26 00:01:14,375 --> 00:01:17,792 - Could the legendary Kraken possibly be real? 27 00:01:17,792 --> 00:01:20,125 [epic music] 28 00:01:34,250 --> 00:01:37,042 - [Laurence] As long as people have sailed the open seas, 29 00:01:37,042 --> 00:01:38,375 [thunder crashes] 30 00:01:38,375 --> 00:01:40,708 they've told tales of encounters 31 00:01:40,708 --> 00:01:44,042 with deadly, man-eating sea creatures. 32 00:01:45,542 --> 00:01:48,000 - Both Jewish and Christian texts reference the leviathan, 33 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,792 which is a giant sea creature that was incredibly dangerous 34 00:01:52,792 --> 00:01:54,875 and eventually killed by God 35 00:01:54,875 --> 00:01:57,000 so that they would not reproduce. 36 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,208 - In the epic poem "The Odyssey," 37 00:01:59,208 --> 00:02:02,583 Homer describes a deep-sea beast with six heads 38 00:02:02,583 --> 00:02:06,208 and triple rows of teeth that devours passing sailors, 39 00:02:06,208 --> 00:02:08,625 including half of Odysseus's men. 40 00:02:09,542 --> 00:02:11,708 - All cultures that have grown up 41 00:02:11,708 --> 00:02:13,208 along the oceans or the seas 42 00:02:13,208 --> 00:02:15,917 have tales of massive sea animals. 43 00:02:15,917 --> 00:02:18,708 That's why from the 10th century to the 17th century, 44 00:02:18,708 --> 00:02:22,042 maps had all of these sea monsters drawn 45 00:02:22,042 --> 00:02:23,917 and written around the sides. 46 00:02:23,917 --> 00:02:26,458 If you stay within this, you're going to probably be okay, 47 00:02:26,458 --> 00:02:29,625 but if you go out, you could run into something 48 00:02:29,625 --> 00:02:31,750 that could literally swallow your boat whole 49 00:02:31,750 --> 00:02:33,708 and drag you to the bottom of the ocean. 50 00:02:35,375 --> 00:02:37,250 - [Laurence] But over the centuries, 51 00:02:37,250 --> 00:02:40,417 arguably the most feared sea monster of all 52 00:02:40,417 --> 00:02:43,208 becomes known as the Kraken. 53 00:02:46,042 --> 00:02:49,625 In 1180, writings from a Norwegian ruler 54 00:02:49,625 --> 00:02:52,458 placed the beast in Scandinavia. 55 00:02:52,458 --> 00:02:56,250 - King Sverre specifically warned people 56 00:02:56,250 --> 00:02:59,125 against this monster that was menacing ships 57 00:02:59,125 --> 00:03:00,750 between Norway and Iceland, 58 00:03:00,750 --> 00:03:04,375 and he tells us it was the size of an island, 59 00:03:04,375 --> 00:03:08,750 and its sole purpose was to feast on human flesh. 60 00:03:10,875 --> 00:03:12,542 - Later on in the 1500s, 61 00:03:12,542 --> 00:03:14,542 an archbishop named Olaus Magnus 62 00:03:14,542 --> 00:03:17,667 describes the Kraken as having long horns 63 00:03:17,667 --> 00:03:20,750 and built thick like a tree with fiery red eyes. 64 00:03:22,083 --> 00:03:24,042 And this is based on accounts 65 00:03:24,042 --> 00:03:26,167 that he's heard from sailors 66 00:03:26,167 --> 00:03:28,375 whose ships have been attacked at sea. 67 00:03:28,375 --> 00:03:31,167 This is an animal that will sink your ship. 68 00:03:32,792 --> 00:03:34,708 - After the invention of the printing press , 69 00:03:34,708 --> 00:03:37,917 this description gets distributed far and wide 70 00:03:37,917 --> 00:03:39,542 and is taken aboard ships 71 00:03:39,542 --> 00:03:41,417 that are bound for destinations 72 00:03:41,417 --> 00:03:43,667 like China or even the West Indies. 73 00:03:45,708 --> 00:03:47,958 - [Ryan] Naturalist Pierre Denys' illustration 74 00:03:47,958 --> 00:03:51,542 of the Kraken is arguably the best one of all time 75 00:03:51,542 --> 00:03:53,792 because you have a British warship 76 00:03:53,792 --> 00:03:57,875 being attacked by this massive beast 77 00:03:57,875 --> 00:03:59,542 with all of these tentacles 78 00:03:59,542 --> 00:04:01,542 and it appears to be winning, 79 00:04:01,542 --> 00:04:02,792 so you have to go out there knowing 80 00:04:02,792 --> 00:04:06,542 that this thing could, at any point, take you 81 00:04:06,542 --> 00:04:07,958 to the bottom of the ocean. 82 00:04:09,375 --> 00:04:10,500 - [Laurence] These stories aren't just 83 00:04:10,500 --> 00:04:12,542 centuries-old fables. 84 00:04:12,542 --> 00:04:15,875 Such alleged attacks also occur in modern times, 85 00:04:15,875 --> 00:04:20,292 including one harrowing encounter during World War II. 86 00:04:21,292 --> 00:04:23,583 - [Kavitha] In 1941, the Germans attacked 87 00:04:23,583 --> 00:04:25,917 a British steam liner, the SS Britannia, 88 00:04:25,917 --> 00:04:29,542 just about 750 miles off the coast of Sierra Leone. 89 00:04:30,542 --> 00:04:33,583 Hundreds of passengers are forced to abandon ship 90 00:04:33,583 --> 00:04:36,542 in just a handful of lifeboats, and they're cast adrift 91 00:04:36,542 --> 00:04:38,833 for several weeks, if not months. 92 00:04:40,042 --> 00:04:41,750 - [Ryan] So you have people hanging over the side 93 00:04:41,750 --> 00:04:43,875 of these lifeboas, waiting to be rescued. 94 00:04:43,875 --> 00:04:45,542 Now during this journey, 95 00:04:45,542 --> 00:04:48,000 one of the men on the boat says they were attacked. 96 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:49,792 There were tentacles coming out of the water, 97 00:04:49,792 --> 00:04:52,208 wrapping around people, injuring them, 98 00:04:52,208 --> 00:04:54,292 or pulling them back into the ocean. 99 00:04:54,292 --> 00:04:56,667 He says, "I was attacked as well," 100 00:04:56,667 --> 00:05:00,375 and he actually watched an Indian servant be pulled down 101 00:05:00,375 --> 00:05:02,750 with these thick tentacles and devoured. 102 00:05:03,667 --> 00:05:05,417 - This sounds like a tall tale, 103 00:05:05,417 --> 00:05:06,875 but 15 years later, 104 00:05:06,875 --> 00:05:10,042 the eyewitness shows the circular scars on his leg 105 00:05:10,042 --> 00:05:11,375 to a marine naturalist, 106 00:05:11,375 --> 00:05:13,875 who confirms that it was caused by the suckers 107 00:05:13,875 --> 00:05:17,292 of an animal more than 20 feet long, just like the Kraken. 108 00:05:18,583 --> 00:05:20,375 - [Laurence] More than a thousand years 109 00:05:20,375 --> 00:05:23,000 after it first appears in written records, 110 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:26,542 the Kraken remains a mystery. 111 00:05:26,542 --> 00:05:30,750 What could this terrifying monster really be? 112 00:05:30,750 --> 00:05:33,417 - The thing that the Kraken is most known for 113 00:05:33,417 --> 00:05:35,708 is its massive tentacles. 114 00:05:35,708 --> 00:05:38,000 And there are animals in the sea today 115 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:41,958 that have tentacles, and they're called cephalopods. 116 00:05:41,958 --> 00:05:44,875 - [Lynne] Typical kinds of cephalopods in the ocean 117 00:05:44,875 --> 00:05:49,292 are just not nearly on the scale of the Kraken, 118 00:05:49,292 --> 00:05:53,542 and in fact, there's really only one potential sea creature 119 00:05:53,542 --> 00:05:56,375 that would even come close to that size. 120 00:05:56,375 --> 00:05:58,667 [tense music] 121 00:06:02,125 --> 00:06:04,792 In the 1850s, a Danish zoologist 122 00:06:04,792 --> 00:06:07,750 by the name of Japetus Steenstrup 123 00:06:07,750 --> 00:06:11,375 is gathering information about these different types 124 00:06:11,375 --> 00:06:13,625 of documented giant creatures, 125 00:06:13,625 --> 00:06:17,042 one of which is the sea monk, which is this large creature 126 00:06:17,042 --> 00:06:19,583 purportedly resembling a monk or a friar, 127 00:06:19,583 --> 00:06:22,417 and these red, flowing robes 128 00:06:22,417 --> 00:06:25,875 that sort of hang in sheets off of his body. 129 00:06:25,875 --> 00:06:27,917 - And as he continued to look at these accounts, 130 00:06:27,917 --> 00:06:31,125 he came up with a scientific description of this monster, 131 00:06:31,125 --> 00:06:34,625 which he called Architeuthis Dux, the giant squid. 132 00:06:34,625 --> 00:06:36,125 This is the first time 133 00:06:36,125 --> 00:06:39,625 where we have a scientist formalizing a description 134 00:06:39,625 --> 00:06:41,958 based on these historical accounts of the Kraken. 135 00:06:46,125 --> 00:06:47,875 - [Laurence] Later in the 1800s, 136 00:06:47,875 --> 00:06:50,875 evidence supporting his theory begins to emerge. 137 00:06:52,417 --> 00:06:55,917 - [Peter] In 1875 in St. John's Newfoundland, 138 00:06:55,917 --> 00:07:00,417 there is an attack of a small boat by a giant squid. 139 00:07:00,417 --> 00:07:02,333 And what's really stunning 140 00:07:02,333 --> 00:07:04,917 isn't just the description of the attack, 141 00:07:04,917 --> 00:07:08,500 but that the sailors, in an effort to save themselves, 142 00:07:08,500 --> 00:07:11,208 grabbed an ax and hacked off a limb. 143 00:07:11,208 --> 00:07:14,708 - The creature slides off into the water and disappears, 144 00:07:14,708 --> 00:07:16,708 but now they have evidence. 145 00:07:16,708 --> 00:07:19,042 One of the tentacles that they have in their boat 146 00:07:19,042 --> 00:07:21,417 is 19 feet long. 147 00:07:22,292 --> 00:07:23,583 - If you were a sailor 148 00:07:23,583 --> 00:07:25,875 and you didn't know the proportions, 149 00:07:25,875 --> 00:07:29,083 you could easily imagine that this was only a tiny fragment 150 00:07:29,083 --> 00:07:31,542 of an even more massive beast. 151 00:07:31,542 --> 00:07:34,708 - Around the time of this encounter in 1875, 152 00:07:34,708 --> 00:07:36,833 full giant squid carcasses 153 00:07:36,833 --> 00:07:39,833 begin washing up off the shores of Newfoundland. 154 00:07:40,917 --> 00:07:43,625 This is the first time that zoologists have an opportunity 155 00:07:43,625 --> 00:07:46,625 to study an intact giant squid. 156 00:07:46,625 --> 00:07:49,708 It features a body which is also called a mantle, 157 00:07:49,708 --> 00:07:53,083 eight shorter arms, two very long feeding tentacles, 158 00:07:53,083 --> 00:07:56,917 and what might be the most fearsome part of this creature, 159 00:07:56,917 --> 00:07:58,417 its mouth or beak. 160 00:07:59,542 --> 00:08:02,167 - By the early 1900s, the scientific community 161 00:08:02,167 --> 00:08:04,750 finally has to admit that Steenstrup was right, 162 00:08:04,750 --> 00:08:08,667 that there is a giant sea beast at the bottom of the ocean 163 00:08:08,667 --> 00:08:11,667 that could be the Kraken that everybody's talking about. 164 00:08:13,625 --> 00:08:16,667 - [Laurence] Unfortunately, live giant squid 165 00:08:16,667 --> 00:08:19,375 prove to be elusive creatures. 166 00:08:19,375 --> 00:08:23,583 Decade after decade goes by without any sightings. 167 00:08:23,583 --> 00:08:26,792 - It's not until 2004 that a living giant squid 168 00:08:26,792 --> 00:08:28,958 is spotted in its natural habitat, 169 00:08:28,958 --> 00:08:32,708 and this happens about 600 miles off the coast of Tokyo. 170 00:08:32,708 --> 00:08:34,833 A marine team has been tracking 171 00:08:34,833 --> 00:08:36,792 what they believe to be a giant squid 172 00:08:36,792 --> 00:08:40,375 using a baited line to try to lure it to the surface, 173 00:08:40,375 --> 00:08:41,708 and on their hundredth dive, 174 00:08:41,708 --> 00:08:43,500 they finally capture it on camera. 175 00:08:45,083 --> 00:08:47,500 - [Ashley] And now, because it's 2004, 176 00:08:47,500 --> 00:08:48,542 we're not talking about the world 177 00:08:48,542 --> 00:08:50,833 of ancient mariners in Denmark 178 00:08:50,833 --> 00:08:52,750 writing letters to each other. 179 00:08:52,750 --> 00:08:54,875 This became a worldwide sensation. 180 00:08:54,875 --> 00:08:58,583 - The world has the first image of a living giant squid. 181 00:08:58,583 --> 00:09:01,167 And watching the animal in its natural environment 182 00:09:01,167 --> 00:09:04,667 answers at least some questions about the Kraken legend. 183 00:09:04,667 --> 00:09:06,833 First of all, the creature's deep-sea habitat 184 00:09:06,833 --> 00:09:09,375 helps explain why encounters with it 185 00:09:09,375 --> 00:09:10,750 have been extremely rare 186 00:09:10,750 --> 00:09:13,958 and the power of its large black beak, 187 00:09:13,958 --> 00:09:16,667 now seen in action by scientists, 188 00:09:16,667 --> 00:09:20,708 jives with descriptions of the flesh-eating monster. 189 00:09:20,708 --> 00:09:22,375 - [Ashley] That beak, which of course has evolved 190 00:09:22,375 --> 00:09:24,542 for catching prey in the deep sea, 191 00:09:24,542 --> 00:09:27,000 is strong enough to sever a steel cable. 192 00:09:28,375 --> 00:09:29,667 - [Laurence] The question remains 193 00:09:29,667 --> 00:09:31,833 whether giant squid grow large enough 194 00:09:31,833 --> 00:09:35,292 to take down ships or devour humans, 195 00:09:35,292 --> 00:09:38,042 as in the Kraken legends. 196 00:09:38,042 --> 00:09:40,542 - [Peter] The squid that was seen off the coast of Japan 197 00:09:40,542 --> 00:09:41,708 was a juvenile, 198 00:09:41,708 --> 00:09:43,208 and while it gave us a sense 199 00:09:43,208 --> 00:09:45,417 of what these squid looked like when they're swimming 200 00:09:45,417 --> 00:09:47,125 and how they position themselves, 201 00:09:47,125 --> 00:09:51,542 there's still a lot that we do not know about the adults. 202 00:09:51,542 --> 00:09:53,750 - If the complete length of a giant squid 203 00:09:53,750 --> 00:09:55,875 is something like 50, 60 feet, 204 00:09:55,875 --> 00:09:59,250 compared to even the largest things in the ocean, 205 00:09:59,250 --> 00:10:01,583 in terms of length and almost in terms of weight, 206 00:10:01,583 --> 00:10:03,667 these are truly large animals. 207 00:10:04,542 --> 00:10:05,833 - [Laurence] But is it possible 208 00:10:05,833 --> 00:10:08,000 for giant squid to grow much larger, 209 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:11,333 to mammoth sizes we've yet to document? 210 00:10:11,333 --> 00:10:13,833 Some marine biologists say yes. 211 00:10:15,125 --> 00:10:17,667 - There has been this idea of deep sea gigantism 212 00:10:17,667 --> 00:10:20,750 that sometimes at deep depths in the ocean, 213 00:10:20,750 --> 00:10:22,875 things are able to achieve a larger size 214 00:10:22,875 --> 00:10:25,875 than they do at more shallow depths. 215 00:10:25,875 --> 00:10:28,708 - Scientists have studied this phenomenon for decades 216 00:10:28,708 --> 00:10:30,542 and we know that as we look at creatures 217 00:10:30,542 --> 00:10:32,208 that live in the deep dark ocean, 218 00:10:32,208 --> 00:10:35,833 some of them reach extraordinary sizes 219 00:10:35,833 --> 00:10:38,042 because it helps them get around the deep sea 220 00:10:38,042 --> 00:10:39,958 and find what little food there is. 221 00:10:41,250 --> 00:10:43,167 - One reason that we postulate 222 00:10:43,167 --> 00:10:45,708 that the giant squid don't come to the surface very often 223 00:10:45,708 --> 00:10:47,875 is because the amount of energy it would take 224 00:10:47,875 --> 00:10:50,708 to rise up from those deep, cold depths 225 00:10:50,708 --> 00:10:52,917 would be too much of a caloric intake. 226 00:10:52,917 --> 00:10:54,708 - These creatures are certainly not going 227 00:10:54,708 --> 00:10:58,083 to be comfortable living at a higher level, 228 00:10:58,083 --> 00:10:59,250 so it makes sense 229 00:10:59,250 --> 00:11:02,750 that sightings would be incredibly rare. 230 00:11:02,750 --> 00:11:04,542 - [Peter] We know that there are giant squid 231 00:11:04,542 --> 00:11:06,083 that are close to 60 feet, 232 00:11:06,083 --> 00:11:08,042 but could they actually get to be 233 00:11:08,042 --> 00:11:08,083 but could they actually get to be 234 00:11:08,708 --> 00:11:09,875 100 feet, 120 feet? 235 00:11:09,875 --> 00:11:11,458 We don't yet have the answers, 236 00:11:11,458 --> 00:11:14,042 but I think the more we look, the more likely we're going 237 00:11:14,042 --> 00:11:17,292 to encounter these giant creatures lurking in the deep. 238 00:11:22,208 --> 00:11:24,083 - For centuries, sailors in and around Scandinavia 239 00:11:24,083 --> 00:11:26,583 talk about deadly encounters with a Kraken, 240 00:11:26,583 --> 00:11:31,417 a sea creature some experts believe matches the giant squid. 241 00:11:31,417 --> 00:11:33,417 But is that the only possibility? 242 00:11:34,417 --> 00:11:38,042 - Some stories of the Kraken actually have features 243 00:11:38,042 --> 00:11:41,458 that don't match well with the features of cephalopods. 244 00:11:41,458 --> 00:11:46,708 Some have enormous size but are relatively flat in shape, 245 00:11:46,708 --> 00:11:49,208 and it leads us to ask the question, 246 00:11:49,208 --> 00:11:52,042 what other things might have been referred to as the Kraken? 247 00:11:53,250 --> 00:11:57,542 - In 1765, one sailor describes seeing a Kraken 248 00:11:57,542 --> 00:12:02,500 as an enormous fish, but with tiny eyes and fins, 249 00:12:02,500 --> 00:12:05,125 so we're not always talking 250 00:12:05,125 --> 00:12:06,875 about something that can be explained 251 00:12:06,875 --> 00:12:09,042 by the existence of the giant squid. 252 00:12:09,042 --> 00:12:13,417 And some scholars have actually suggested that it might instead 253 00:12:13,417 --> 00:12:14,875 share more characteristics 254 00:12:14,875 --> 00:12:17,208 with a different type of marine animal. 255 00:12:17,208 --> 00:12:19,333 [tense music] 256 00:12:21,917 --> 00:12:23,708 - Whales are enormous 257 00:12:23,708 --> 00:12:26,708 and it's hard to fathom how big they are 258 00:12:26,708 --> 00:12:28,375 until you're alongside them. 259 00:12:28,375 --> 00:12:31,583 When those whales feed, it's loud and boisterous 260 00:12:31,583 --> 00:12:33,750 and it is a sight to behold. 261 00:12:33,750 --> 00:12:36,000 And the cool waters of Scandinavia 262 00:12:36,000 --> 00:12:38,292 are home to many whales 263 00:12:38,292 --> 00:12:40,208 because that's where their food is. 264 00:12:41,292 --> 00:12:43,042 - These whales existing in that environment 265 00:12:43,042 --> 00:12:44,667 tend to be a little bit larger. 266 00:12:44,667 --> 00:12:46,875 I mean, you have humpback whales at almost 60 feet. 267 00:12:46,875 --> 00:12:48,833 You have sperm whales, almost 70 feet. 268 00:12:48,833 --> 00:12:51,042 You can see how these sea animals 269 00:12:51,042 --> 00:12:54,208 could inspire the Kraken mythology. 270 00:12:54,208 --> 00:12:57,542 - Whales are the largest creatures that have ever lived. 271 00:12:57,542 --> 00:12:59,375 Imagine that you're out at sea 272 00:12:59,375 --> 00:13:02,917 and something strange rolls across the surface 273 00:13:02,917 --> 00:13:06,292 and all you see is a dinner-plate-sized eyeball. 274 00:13:07,375 --> 00:13:10,000 That looks like a sea monster to you. 275 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,833 - So there's a real instinctive fear 276 00:13:12,833 --> 00:13:17,292 simply encountering that size of creature, 277 00:13:17,292 --> 00:13:20,458 who, for the most part, is really not interested in us. 278 00:13:20,458 --> 00:13:24,375 But there was one instance off the coast of Ecuador in 1820 279 00:13:24,375 --> 00:13:29,583 when the whaling ship, the Essex, was attacked by a whale 280 00:13:29,583 --> 00:13:32,042 that it had been attempting to harpoon, 281 00:13:32,042 --> 00:13:33,708 and the whale rammed into 282 00:13:33,708 --> 00:13:36,167 the side of the ship and split it into two. 283 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:39,958 - The story of the Essex was widely reported 284 00:13:39,958 --> 00:13:42,708 after the few survivors came to shore 285 00:13:42,708 --> 00:13:44,792 and was a major influence, we believe, 286 00:13:44,792 --> 00:13:47,708 in Herman Melville's writing of "Moby-Dick." 287 00:13:47,708 --> 00:13:49,625 - After the destruction of the Essex, 288 00:13:49,625 --> 00:13:53,542 that kind of helped stir the lure of giant sea creatures 289 00:13:53,542 --> 00:13:54,958 that are powerful enough 290 00:13:54,958 --> 00:13:57,375 and mean enough to take out an entire ship. 291 00:13:58,917 --> 00:14:02,458 - [Laurence] In 2024, a much smaller fishing boat 292 00:14:02,458 --> 00:14:04,000 off the coast of New Hampshire 293 00:14:04,000 --> 00:14:07,792 is slammed by a breaching sperm whale. 294 00:14:07,792 --> 00:14:11,000 - The sperm whale body checked a small boat. 295 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:12,542 The whale didn't pursue the boat 296 00:14:12,542 --> 00:14:14,208 or try to damage it any further. 297 00:14:14,208 --> 00:14:17,875 I think it probably was just as confused as the sailors. 298 00:14:17,875 --> 00:14:20,667 - Nobody dies in this case, thankfully. 299 00:14:20,667 --> 00:14:23,833 The ship is flipped, the people take a dive off of it 300 00:14:23,833 --> 00:14:27,208 and are rescued by two other fishermen. 301 00:14:27,208 --> 00:14:30,583 - [Laurence] There is one whale species so enormous 302 00:14:30,583 --> 00:14:34,042 that any encounter could easily destroy a fishing boat 303 00:14:34,042 --> 00:14:37,375 and kill everyone on board. 304 00:14:37,375 --> 00:14:39,875 - Blue whales are unbelievably huge organisms. 305 00:14:39,875 --> 00:14:42,708 They can grow to over 100 feet long 306 00:14:42,708 --> 00:14:45,583 and weigh more than 200 tons. 307 00:14:45,583 --> 00:14:47,042 To put that in perspective, 308 00:14:47,042 --> 00:14:52,208 the largest dinosaurs ever weighed about 65 tons. 309 00:14:52,208 --> 00:14:54,208 - If you had not yet seen a whale, 310 00:14:54,208 --> 00:14:56,875 or even if you had seen a whale and not seen a blue whale, 311 00:14:56,875 --> 00:14:58,708 the scale difference there 312 00:14:58,708 --> 00:15:02,375 is enough to really make you question what you had seen. 313 00:15:02,375 --> 00:15:05,208 - Even though blue whales feed on krill, 314 00:15:05,208 --> 00:15:07,208 which, tiny little marine animals, 315 00:15:07,208 --> 00:15:08,833 the odds of them swallowing a human 316 00:15:08,833 --> 00:15:12,042 or going after humans is almost zero. 317 00:15:12,042 --> 00:15:14,542 But somebody could have just happened 318 00:15:14,542 --> 00:15:16,625 to be in the wrong place at the wrong time 319 00:15:16,625 --> 00:15:19,292 and, boom, swallowed completely. 320 00:15:20,333 --> 00:15:21,792 - [Laurence] It's hard to imagine 321 00:15:21,792 --> 00:15:23,583 this happening in real life, 322 00:15:23,583 --> 00:15:27,958 until a marine biologist claims he was swallowed by a whale 323 00:15:27,958 --> 00:15:30,375 and has the pictures to prove it. 324 00:15:30,375 --> 00:15:33,042 - [Ashley] In 2019, Rainer Schimpf was taking photos 325 00:15:33,042 --> 00:15:34,500 on the coast of South Africa 326 00:15:34,500 --> 00:15:37,458 when he was swallowed by a massive whale. 327 00:15:37,458 --> 00:15:39,750 He spent about 30 seconds in the mouth of this whale 328 00:15:39,750 --> 00:15:43,833 before being spit back out, but he made it through unharmed. 329 00:15:43,833 --> 00:15:45,042 - No one would've ever believed him. 330 00:15:45,042 --> 00:15:46,667 It would've been just a big fish tale 331 00:15:46,667 --> 00:15:47,875 if it wasn't for his wife, 332 00:15:47,875 --> 00:15:49,250 who was standing nearby 333 00:15:49,250 --> 00:15:52,042 and snapping photos of the whole incident. 334 00:15:52,042 --> 00:15:54,042 - If that story weren't enough, 335 00:15:54,042 --> 00:15:55,333 we have further accounts. 336 00:15:55,333 --> 00:15:58,042 In 2025, off the coast of Chile, 337 00:15:58,042 --> 00:16:01,458 a man kayaking is caught on camera 338 00:16:01,458 --> 00:16:05,083 in the moment that a whale rises up from beneath him 339 00:16:05,083 --> 00:16:07,792 and scoops him up entirely. 340 00:16:07,792 --> 00:16:09,833 - He was quickly spat back out 341 00:16:09,833 --> 00:16:12,167 because whales do not eat people. 342 00:16:12,167 --> 00:16:13,542 But if you're in the wrong spot, 343 00:16:13,542 --> 00:16:16,042 even if you're in something as large as a kayak, 344 00:16:16,042 --> 00:16:18,042 you might get swallowed by a whale. 345 00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,208 - Even if these encounters with whales 346 00:16:21,208 --> 00:16:24,542 that led to them being engulfed are harmless, 347 00:16:24,542 --> 00:16:27,042 witnessing or experiencing something like that 348 00:16:27,042 --> 00:16:28,375 could easily contribute 349 00:16:28,375 --> 00:16:30,625 to the myth of the man-eating Kraken. 350 00:16:32,042 --> 00:16:33,375 - [Laurence] Is it possible a whale 351 00:16:33,375 --> 00:16:35,708 might be mistaken for a Kraken, 352 00:16:35,708 --> 00:16:40,042 not just at sea, but on dry land as well? 353 00:16:40,042 --> 00:16:41,500 - Unless you understand anatomy, 354 00:16:41,500 --> 00:16:43,958 if you encounter a decomposing animal, 355 00:16:43,958 --> 00:16:46,292 particularly a sea creature on the beach 356 00:16:46,292 --> 00:16:49,500 that's getting reworked by the elements, 357 00:16:49,500 --> 00:16:52,625 it might be very hard to identify what that creature is. 358 00:16:54,000 --> 00:16:57,167 - In 2017, a strange, misshapen carcass 359 00:16:57,167 --> 00:17:00,667 washes up off the shores of the Indonesian island, Seram. 360 00:17:00,667 --> 00:17:01,625 Photos of it 361 00:17:01,625 --> 00:17:03,750 immediately go viral worldwide. 362 00:17:03,750 --> 00:17:05,500 It's 50-feet long, bloated, 363 00:17:05,500 --> 00:17:09,042 and unlike anything that's ever been seen before, 364 00:17:09,042 --> 00:17:11,542 - People are talking about weird fur on it 365 00:17:11,542 --> 00:17:14,750 and that there's this red liquid nearby 366 00:17:14,750 --> 00:17:16,542 and they're just baffled. 367 00:17:16,542 --> 00:17:18,917 So it's easy to understand how they could have thought, 368 00:17:18,917 --> 00:17:20,250 "This is the Kraken." 369 00:17:21,292 --> 00:17:23,583 - Many cases of unexplained animals 370 00:17:23,583 --> 00:17:25,333 or unexplained carcasses 371 00:17:25,333 --> 00:17:27,833 have very poor quality documentation, 372 00:17:27,833 --> 00:17:32,292 but eventual testing of this revealed from DNA 373 00:17:32,292 --> 00:17:34,792 that it actually was part of a baleen whale. 374 00:17:36,042 --> 00:17:37,708 What was initially thought to be fur 375 00:17:37,708 --> 00:17:40,458 was actually the structures within the whale's skin 376 00:17:40,458 --> 00:17:41,875 as it falls apart. 377 00:17:41,875 --> 00:17:44,542 The red fluid was eventually identified as whale blood. 378 00:17:49,750 --> 00:17:51,625 - [Laurence] For centuries, people have been searching 379 00:17:51,625 --> 00:17:56,042 for evidence of the giant sea monster known as the Kraken. 380 00:17:56,042 --> 00:17:57,792 Marine biologists have compared it 381 00:17:57,792 --> 00:18:00,208 to whales and giant squid, 382 00:18:00,208 --> 00:18:03,375 but neither seems to be a perfect match. 383 00:18:03,375 --> 00:18:05,333 - What if there is something else out there, 384 00:18:05,333 --> 00:18:07,542 an unknown sea animal that 385 00:18:07,542 --> 00:18:10,083 we just haven't been able to capture yet? 386 00:18:10,083 --> 00:18:12,333 - Scientists pretty much dismiss this idea 387 00:18:12,333 --> 00:18:15,875 that it could be its entirely unique species 388 00:18:15,875 --> 00:18:18,958 until a group of fishermen in the 1970s 389 00:18:18,958 --> 00:18:21,583 haul in something truly unexpected. 390 00:18:22,875 --> 00:18:27,208 - In 1977, a Japanese fishing trawler 391 00:18:27,208 --> 00:18:30,417 was able to pull in this massive carcass. 392 00:18:30,417 --> 00:18:33,417 This thing was 30 feet long and 4,000 pounds. 393 00:18:34,750 --> 00:18:37,625 - This is truly something they have never seen before 394 00:18:37,625 --> 00:18:39,375 and cannot account for. 395 00:18:39,375 --> 00:18:42,417 It appears to have an incredibly long backbone. 396 00:18:42,417 --> 00:18:46,125 It has these four sort of strange fins on it, 397 00:18:46,125 --> 00:18:49,125 but because it smells so atrocious, 398 00:18:49,125 --> 00:18:52,083 they all decide to toss it back in the ocean. 399 00:18:53,333 --> 00:18:55,250 - Luckily, somebody snapped a couple of photos of it 400 00:18:55,250 --> 00:18:56,625 and actually took a sample, 401 00:18:56,625 --> 00:18:59,875 and they sent that sample away to get it tested. 402 00:18:59,875 --> 00:19:01,958 Now what's interesting is, 403 00:19:01,958 --> 00:19:03,625 normally a sample comes back 404 00:19:03,625 --> 00:19:05,792 and you're like, "Oh, blue whale." 405 00:19:05,792 --> 00:19:08,208 This came back inconclusive . 406 00:19:08,208 --> 00:19:10,625 - Based on photos, based on the description 407 00:19:10,625 --> 00:19:12,583 that the fishermen were able to give, 408 00:19:12,583 --> 00:19:15,417 the official interpretation that the government makes 409 00:19:15,417 --> 00:19:19,208 is that this was likely a decomposing basking shark, 410 00:19:19,208 --> 00:19:21,375 so it's one of the largest creatures there is. 411 00:19:21,375 --> 00:19:23,500 They grow up to about 30 feet long. 412 00:19:24,542 --> 00:19:26,500 - [Laurence] But another Japanese scientist 413 00:19:26,500 --> 00:19:29,708 has a much more controversial theory. 414 00:19:29,708 --> 00:19:33,708 - Professor Tokio Shikama of Yokohama National University 415 00:19:33,708 --> 00:19:34,750 believes that the carcass 416 00:19:34,750 --> 00:19:37,250 is actually the remains of a dinosaur, 417 00:19:37,250 --> 00:19:39,375 specifically the plesiosaur, 418 00:19:39,375 --> 00:19:43,292 which was one of the deadliest beasts to ever roam the seas. 419 00:19:43,292 --> 00:19:44,875 Some descriptions of the Kraken 420 00:19:44,875 --> 00:19:47,833 do fit with certain aspects of the plesiosaur. 421 00:19:47,833 --> 00:19:52,083 So if the dinosaur had managed to survive to modern times, 422 00:19:52,083 --> 00:19:53,750 as Shikama maintains, 423 00:19:53,750 --> 00:19:55,708 that would mean that the origin of the Kraken 424 00:19:55,708 --> 00:19:57,917 actually goes back millions of years. 425 00:19:59,708 --> 00:20:01,708 [tense music] 426 00:20:04,042 --> 00:20:06,792 - Plesiosaurs are large, aquatic reptiles 427 00:20:06,792 --> 00:20:08,375 that lived during the time of the dinosaurs. 428 00:20:08,375 --> 00:20:10,292 They lived in the Cretaceous Period. 429 00:20:11,292 --> 00:20:14,542 - These creatures are the T. rex's of the ocean, 430 00:20:14,542 --> 00:20:17,792 big giant animals with extraordinary teeth 431 00:20:17,792 --> 00:20:19,625 that were voracious hunters. 432 00:20:19,625 --> 00:20:21,750 And they've been extinct for some time. 433 00:20:21,750 --> 00:20:22,875 But this professor said, 434 00:20:22,875 --> 00:20:24,375 "Well, this could well be a plesiosaur 435 00:20:24,375 --> 00:20:26,708 that we just have never caught before." 436 00:20:26,708 --> 00:20:28,458 - [Laurence] If this creature is a survivor 437 00:20:28,458 --> 00:20:32,542 from the age of dinosaurs, then it rewrites everything 438 00:20:32,542 --> 00:20:34,958 we thought we knew about their demise. 439 00:20:36,958 --> 00:20:38,542 - Most scientists agree that 440 00:20:38,542 --> 00:20:40,083 there was a mass extinction event 441 00:20:40,083 --> 00:20:42,250 about 66 million years ago 442 00:20:42,250 --> 00:20:45,417 when this asteroid, six to nine miles wide, 443 00:20:45,417 --> 00:20:49,583 slams into the Yucatan Peninsula with such power 444 00:20:49,583 --> 00:20:53,667 that it drives itself 14 miles into the Earth. 445 00:20:53,667 --> 00:20:56,167 - When you have an asteroid that is this size, 446 00:20:56,167 --> 00:20:57,500 you have boiling oceans, 447 00:20:57,500 --> 00:20:59,875 you have pure darkness that takes place, 448 00:20:59,875 --> 00:21:02,458 and also displacement of a lot of water, 449 00:21:02,458 --> 00:21:06,417 so it wiped out 75% of the Earth's species. 450 00:21:06,417 --> 00:21:08,833 And for the animals that dwell in the water, 451 00:21:08,833 --> 00:21:09,958 this was the apocalypse. 452 00:21:11,167 --> 00:21:13,292 - [Laurence] Yet some theorists counter 453 00:21:13,292 --> 00:21:16,042 that an asteroid strike in the Yucatan, 454 00:21:16,042 --> 00:21:17,958 no matter how destructive, 455 00:21:17,958 --> 00:21:21,917 wouldn't wipe out all the dinosaurs around the world. 456 00:21:21,917 --> 00:21:25,333 Some, they contend, could survive the cataclysm. 457 00:21:26,333 --> 00:21:29,500 - The Loch Ness Monster is arguably the most famous 458 00:21:29,500 --> 00:21:31,750 possible plesiosaur in the world, 459 00:21:31,750 --> 00:21:34,875 and Loch Ness is connected to the ocean, 460 00:21:34,875 --> 00:21:38,500 but so far away that you could theorize 461 00:21:38,500 --> 00:21:40,583 that if they were inland when this happened, 462 00:21:40,583 --> 00:21:43,167 they would've been saved from this catastrophe. 463 00:21:43,167 --> 00:21:44,458 - [Kavitha] It's interesting to note 464 00:21:44,458 --> 00:21:47,000 that Loch Ness does connect to the open ocean, 465 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,375 the North Sea, which then connects to the sea of Norway, 466 00:21:50,375 --> 00:21:53,583 and all of these waters surround Scandinavia. 467 00:21:53,583 --> 00:21:56,083 - [Ryan] The Loch Ness Monster has gathered 468 00:21:56,083 --> 00:21:59,917 decades of attention, but until they find a body, 469 00:21:59,917 --> 00:22:01,458 there is no way to prove 470 00:22:01,458 --> 00:22:04,958 that the Loch Ness Monster or a plesiosaur 471 00:22:04,958 --> 00:22:07,000 is what is actually the Kraken. 472 00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,292 - [Laurence] There are other formidable predators 473 00:22:10,292 --> 00:22:12,375 thought to be long extinct 474 00:22:12,375 --> 00:22:15,583 that share similarities with the Kraken. 475 00:22:15,583 --> 00:22:17,500 One is a giant fish 476 00:22:17,500 --> 00:22:21,375 that cruised the seas for a million years. 477 00:22:21,375 --> 00:22:22,958 - There are some Kraken descriptions 478 00:22:22,958 --> 00:22:26,542 that talk about a long, sleek fish with massive teeth, 479 00:22:26,542 --> 00:22:29,417 and this has led many to think that maybe, 480 00:22:29,417 --> 00:22:31,958 that's evidence that megalodon still lives. 481 00:22:34,958 --> 00:22:37,000 [tense music] 482 00:22:39,833 --> 00:22:41,375 - [Ryan] We have great white sharks 483 00:22:41,375 --> 00:22:43,917 which can grow up to about 20 feet in length, 484 00:22:43,917 --> 00:22:47,833 and the megalodon was two times the size of the great white 485 00:22:47,833 --> 00:22:49,042 or maybe bigger, 486 00:22:49,042 --> 00:22:51,500 the largest fish ever to exist. 487 00:22:52,542 --> 00:22:54,250 - [Lynne] It is believed to have gone extinct 488 00:22:54,250 --> 00:22:56,708 about 3.6 million years ago, 489 00:22:56,708 --> 00:22:59,958 but of course, similar to the plesiosaur, 490 00:22:59,958 --> 00:23:01,250 there could have been 491 00:23:01,250 --> 00:23:04,208 some that survived down in deeper water, 492 00:23:04,208 --> 00:23:06,708 still living in the oceans today. 493 00:23:06,708 --> 00:23:09,208 - Most scientists think this is highly unlikely 494 00:23:09,208 --> 00:23:11,750 because no bones or teeth of a megalodon 495 00:23:11,750 --> 00:23:13,667 have ever been found on the ocean floor 496 00:23:13,667 --> 00:23:15,167 that weren't fossilized. 497 00:23:15,167 --> 00:23:18,000 But some theorists wonder if maybe a few megalodons 498 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:21,750 actually did manage to survive into the modern era. 499 00:23:22,958 --> 00:23:24,708 - [Laurence] It might seem farfetched, 500 00:23:24,708 --> 00:23:26,500 but there are other examples 501 00:23:26,500 --> 00:23:30,417 of prehistoric beasts surviving the asteroid impact 502 00:23:30,417 --> 00:23:33,292 that have been verified by scientists. 503 00:23:33,292 --> 00:23:36,875 - [Ryan] In 1938, a South African fisherman catches 504 00:23:36,875 --> 00:23:39,708 something that he's never seen before. 505 00:23:39,708 --> 00:23:42,958 It has these armored, blue scales 506 00:23:42,958 --> 00:23:45,375 and its fins aren't normal like fish fins. 507 00:23:45,375 --> 00:23:47,083 They're actually fleshy. 508 00:23:48,042 --> 00:23:50,917 - So he sends this off to a marine biologist 509 00:23:50,917 --> 00:23:54,333 who absolutely cannot believe what she's seeing. 510 00:23:54,333 --> 00:23:56,208 It's called the coelacanth, 511 00:23:56,208 --> 00:24:00,417 but the most recent one was from 66 million years ago. 512 00:24:01,875 --> 00:24:04,917 - The news of this is so startling, it's a bizarre animal 513 00:24:04,917 --> 00:24:06,750 and maybe one people hadn't thought of before, 514 00:24:06,750 --> 00:24:08,792 but the resurrection story of it 515 00:24:08,792 --> 00:24:12,250 led to a worldwide recognition of an animal 516 00:24:12,250 --> 00:24:15,542 that was thought to be from the age of the dinosaurs. 517 00:24:16,833 --> 00:24:18,417 - [Laurence] Evolutionary biologists 518 00:24:18,417 --> 00:24:20,833 are faced with a new mystery: 519 00:24:20,833 --> 00:24:24,333 If this prehistoric fish survived the great extinction, 520 00:24:24,333 --> 00:24:27,208 is it possible a beast like the Kraken did as well? 521 00:24:28,375 --> 00:24:29,750 - Perhaps the coelacanth fish survived 522 00:24:29,750 --> 00:24:31,958 because it's relatively small. 523 00:24:31,958 --> 00:24:33,458 It's only six feet long 524 00:24:33,458 --> 00:24:35,375 and weighs about 200 pounds, 525 00:24:35,375 --> 00:24:37,667 so it doesn't require a ton of food. 526 00:24:37,667 --> 00:24:39,708 But for a species the size of the Kraken 527 00:24:39,708 --> 00:24:41,750 to endure an extinction event, 528 00:24:41,750 --> 00:24:43,750 it would've had to have somehow been protected 529 00:24:43,750 --> 00:24:45,500 from all the destruction. 530 00:24:45,500 --> 00:24:48,875 Some wonder if maybe there were sealed pockets 531 00:24:48,875 --> 00:24:51,250 in the ocean floor that acted as safe zones 532 00:24:51,250 --> 00:24:53,958 for colossal prehistoric beasts, 533 00:24:53,958 --> 00:24:55,083 and something later happened to open these pockets 534 00:24:55,625 --> 00:24:57,042 and something later happened to open these pockets 535 00:24:57,042 --> 00:24:59,833 to release one of these beasts into the ocean. 536 00:25:05,833 --> 00:25:07,833 - Could the Kraken be more than a mariner's myth? 537 00:25:07,833 --> 00:25:09,792 Scientists are still trying to find out 538 00:25:09,792 --> 00:25:13,583 whether or not this infamous sea creature is real. 539 00:25:13,583 --> 00:25:18,042 If it is, could it be a survivor from prehistoric times, 540 00:25:18,042 --> 00:25:21,125 something that could grow three stories tall 541 00:25:21,125 --> 00:25:24,500 and crush the skeleton of even the largest predator? 542 00:25:26,042 --> 00:25:29,708 - In 2011, at a meeting of the Geological Society of America, 543 00:25:29,708 --> 00:25:32,542 paleontologist Mark McMenamin presents 544 00:25:32,542 --> 00:25:37,250 a really interesting and controversial idea. 545 00:25:37,250 --> 00:25:40,500 - He says, "I have found something that I believe 546 00:25:40,500 --> 00:25:43,417 is proof that the Kraken is a real beast 547 00:25:43,417 --> 00:25:46,125 and did exist about 200 million years ago." 548 00:25:46,125 --> 00:25:47,750 He was unearthing fossils 549 00:25:47,750 --> 00:25:51,000 in a ghost town called Berlin in Nevada, 550 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,042 and he came across an ichthyosaur, 551 00:25:54,042 --> 00:25:55,875 which we know existed. 552 00:25:55,875 --> 00:25:57,875 - These are almost dolphin-like in shape, 553 00:25:57,875 --> 00:26:00,875 many sharp, pointed teeth in a long snout, 554 00:26:00,875 --> 00:26:03,125 very highly adapted to ocean life, 555 00:26:03,125 --> 00:26:06,250 and the fossils that were found in Nevada 556 00:26:06,250 --> 00:26:08,542 are actually whale-sized. 557 00:26:09,958 --> 00:26:11,542 - What's strange to McMenamin 558 00:26:11,542 --> 00:26:14,417 isn't the existence of the ichthyosaur, 559 00:26:14,417 --> 00:26:16,542 but that when he finds these bones, 560 00:26:16,542 --> 00:26:18,542 he doesn't find just one set. 561 00:26:18,542 --> 00:26:20,750 He finds nine of them, and they're all arranged 562 00:26:20,750 --> 00:26:22,917 in a distinct pattern. 563 00:26:22,917 --> 00:26:25,333 These piles are not the result of nature. 564 00:26:25,333 --> 00:26:28,125 Some other creature had to have placed them there. 565 00:26:29,125 --> 00:26:31,417 - [Lynne] The ichthyosaur would've existed 566 00:26:31,417 --> 00:26:33,417 near the surface of the ocean. 567 00:26:33,417 --> 00:26:34,667 Of course, this is a time 568 00:26:34,667 --> 00:26:37,833 when Nevada was entirely underwater, 569 00:26:37,833 --> 00:26:39,042 so whatever killed them 570 00:26:39,042 --> 00:26:41,042 traveled to the surface of the water, 571 00:26:41,042 --> 00:26:43,708 hunted them, and then brought them down, all the way 572 00:26:43,708 --> 00:26:46,917 to the floor of the ocean to stack their bones. 573 00:26:47,708 --> 00:26:49,708 - If you then take the markings 574 00:26:49,708 --> 00:26:51,875 on the actual bones themselves, 575 00:26:51,875 --> 00:26:53,792 they don't look like teeth marks. 576 00:26:53,792 --> 00:26:56,125 They look like something that a beak would do. 577 00:26:56,125 --> 00:26:59,417 And to pull something of that size down into the depths 578 00:26:59,417 --> 00:27:00,625 and hold it down and eat it, 579 00:27:00,625 --> 00:27:03,333 you would have to be enormous. 580 00:27:03,333 --> 00:27:07,708 So he postulates that this is an ancient giant cephalopod. 581 00:27:07,708 --> 00:27:10,875 - McMenamin is convinced and he keeps digging, 582 00:27:10,875 --> 00:27:13,250 and he finds what he thinks is the jackpot: 583 00:27:13,250 --> 00:27:16,958 a beak, the kind of beak that would have come 584 00:27:16,958 --> 00:27:20,083 from a creature about 100 feet long. 585 00:27:21,292 --> 00:27:23,917 - [Laurence] The giant squid is not the only creature 586 00:27:23,917 --> 00:27:27,417 that uses a beak to tear apart its prey. 587 00:27:27,417 --> 00:27:32,750 In this case, the evidence points more toward an octopus. 588 00:27:32,750 --> 00:27:34,458 - [Ryan] What we know about octopus 589 00:27:34,458 --> 00:27:36,042 is they attack with twin beaks 590 00:27:36,042 --> 00:27:39,250 and they pile the bones of their victims 591 00:27:39,250 --> 00:27:40,583 in front of their lairs. 592 00:27:40,583 --> 00:27:42,167 You know, they use this. 593 00:27:42,167 --> 00:27:45,875 These are traits we know and we have witnessed in nature. 594 00:27:45,875 --> 00:27:49,083 - Today, the largest octopus that we have is 595 00:27:49,083 --> 00:27:52,542 a lot smaller than the largest giant squid that we have, 596 00:27:52,542 --> 00:27:56,000 but it's entirely possible that in the prehistoric eras, 597 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,208 there was an enormous octopus species 598 00:27:59,208 --> 00:28:02,667 that could have survived into modern day 599 00:28:02,667 --> 00:28:06,167 and become what people saw and called the Kraken. 600 00:28:07,458 --> 00:28:09,792 [tense music] 601 00:28:12,875 --> 00:28:14,667 - [Kavitha] During the great extinction, 602 00:28:14,667 --> 00:28:16,708 earthquakes caused massive craters 603 00:28:16,708 --> 00:28:19,750 on the sea floor some many miles deep. 604 00:28:19,750 --> 00:28:23,167 Some species, including octopus, which prefer to live 605 00:28:23,167 --> 00:28:25,167 on the sea floor in spaces like these, 606 00:28:25,167 --> 00:28:26,750 could have found sanctuary in them 607 00:28:26,750 --> 00:28:29,917 and survived the apocalypse happening above. 608 00:28:29,917 --> 00:28:33,125 - Imagine if you had the size, the stealth, 609 00:28:33,125 --> 00:28:37,167 and the intelligence to hunt and stay unnoticed 610 00:28:37,167 --> 00:28:38,625 by not only the predators in the sea, 611 00:28:38,625 --> 00:28:40,250 but the predators from above. 612 00:28:40,250 --> 00:28:42,292 And the one thing we know about octopus 613 00:28:42,292 --> 00:28:44,208 is that they are arguably 614 00:28:44,208 --> 00:28:47,458 the most intelligent species in the entire ocean. 615 00:28:47,458 --> 00:28:50,833 - We know very little about what lives on the sea floor. 616 00:28:50,833 --> 00:28:52,583 You'll hear people say that, you know, 617 00:28:52,583 --> 00:28:54,208 we know the surface of Mars 618 00:28:54,208 --> 00:28:57,542 better than we know the floor of our own ocean, 619 00:28:57,542 --> 00:28:59,792 and that is literally true. 620 00:29:01,375 --> 00:29:04,458 - In 2024 in Norway, scientists have been 621 00:29:04,458 --> 00:29:06,542 discovering these sites called hydrothermal vents 622 00:29:06,542 --> 00:29:10,292 on the sea floor that are just booming with life. 623 00:29:10,292 --> 00:29:13,583 A secret to success are the bacteria 624 00:29:13,583 --> 00:29:15,875 that are able to take the chemicals 625 00:29:15,875 --> 00:29:18,208 that come out of there, really noxious chemicals, 626 00:29:18,208 --> 00:29:20,750 and to eat and to grow off of it, and you end up 627 00:29:20,750 --> 00:29:23,917 with these really lush communities of creatures 628 00:29:23,917 --> 00:29:26,250 all basically living off the energy 629 00:29:26,250 --> 00:29:28,833 that comes out of the inside of the Earth. 630 00:29:30,292 --> 00:29:32,042 - This totally changed the way that we thought about 631 00:29:32,042 --> 00:29:34,042 the domains in which life could exist. 632 00:29:34,042 --> 00:29:36,708 The animals at these deep sea vents 633 00:29:36,708 --> 00:29:39,042 don't necessarily even need sunlight. 634 00:29:39,042 --> 00:29:42,208 If the sun blinked out, the animals at the deep sea 635 00:29:42,208 --> 00:29:44,500 might not know about it for millions of years. 636 00:29:45,667 --> 00:29:47,750 - [Kavitha] Many marine biologists dismiss the theory 637 00:29:47,750 --> 00:29:49,500 of the Kraken emerging 638 00:29:49,500 --> 00:29:51,333 from these deep sea holes 639 00:29:51,333 --> 00:29:54,208 as something out of a Jules Verne novel. 640 00:29:54,208 --> 00:29:57,250 Just because a giant prehistoric cephalopod 641 00:29:57,250 --> 00:30:00,083 might have existed many millions of years ago 642 00:30:00,083 --> 00:30:02,292 doesn't necessarily mean that it survived 643 00:30:02,292 --> 00:30:05,292 into the days of seafaring humans. 644 00:30:06,583 --> 00:30:10,375 - [Laurence] But others say it's not so far fetched. 645 00:30:10,375 --> 00:30:12,083 It's estimated that 2/3rds 646 00:30:12,083 --> 00:30:14,750 of the marine species in our oceans 647 00:30:14,750 --> 00:30:16,708 have yet to be discovered, 648 00:30:16,708 --> 00:30:19,750 and some argue that among them 649 00:30:19,750 --> 00:30:23,208 could be survivors of the great extinction. 650 00:30:23,208 --> 00:30:25,875 - Every time we go exploring in the deep sea, 651 00:30:25,875 --> 00:30:28,958 we find creatures that we had not previously known, 652 00:30:28,958 --> 00:30:30,292 and some of them are big/ 653 00:30:30,292 --> 00:30:33,042 So are there monsters lurking in the deep 654 00:30:33,042 --> 00:30:34,708 that we don't know about? 655 00:30:34,708 --> 00:30:35,917 It's possible. 656 00:30:41,500 --> 00:30:43,750 - [Laurence] For centuries, people have been trying 657 00:30:43,750 --> 00:30:45,625 to identify the Kraken 658 00:30:45,625 --> 00:30:50,333 by comparing it to other marine life, real or imagined. 659 00:30:50,333 --> 00:30:52,250 Now, some are asking 660 00:30:52,250 --> 00:30:56,083 if other factors fueled the imaginations of sailors, 661 00:30:56,083 --> 00:30:59,542 especially those heading into the treacherous waters 662 00:30:59,542 --> 00:31:01,875 of the Scandinavian seas. 663 00:31:01,875 --> 00:31:04,042 - One of the descriptions of a Kraken attack 664 00:31:04,042 --> 00:31:08,042 is that suddenly the ocean begins to spin 665 00:31:08,042 --> 00:31:11,042 and it creates this massive whirlpool 666 00:31:11,042 --> 00:31:13,458 that sucks ships down to their graves. 667 00:31:14,417 --> 00:31:18,958 - The churning waters off the coast of Norway do just that. 668 00:31:18,958 --> 00:31:21,542 Their force inspires writers like Edgar Allen Poe, 669 00:31:21,542 --> 00:31:25,208 who wrote a short story about a man who survives a shipwreck 670 00:31:25,208 --> 00:31:28,167 and a whirlpool that he calls a "maelstrom." 671 00:31:29,125 --> 00:31:32,542 - The legends of the maelstroms could well be based in fact. 672 00:31:32,542 --> 00:31:35,375 The Saltstraumen Channel on the Norwegian coast 673 00:31:35,375 --> 00:31:39,333 has terrifying opposing tidal currents. 674 00:31:39,333 --> 00:31:42,375 They can capsize boats, and when that happens, 675 00:31:42,375 --> 00:31:43,917 people can drown and people have drowned there. 676 00:31:43,917 --> 00:31:45,375 It's taken many lives. 677 00:31:47,333 --> 00:31:51,667 - Sailors back then, all they saw was rapidly moving water, 678 00:31:51,667 --> 00:31:55,833 a vortex that was being created and getting bigger. 679 00:31:55,833 --> 00:31:57,833 You might perceive that as a beast 680 00:31:57,833 --> 00:32:00,333 because they didn't know what we know now. 681 00:32:01,333 --> 00:32:03,375 - [Laurence] Could it be that generations of sailors 682 00:32:03,375 --> 00:32:05,542 have been blaming ship disasters 683 00:32:05,542 --> 00:32:10,833 on an imaginary creature, when the sea itself is to blame? 684 00:32:10,833 --> 00:32:13,125 [tense music] 685 00:32:16,208 --> 00:32:18,875 - Most long-lasting maelstroms are not the consequence, 686 00:32:18,875 --> 00:32:20,708 like a tornado, of wind masses, 687 00:32:20,708 --> 00:32:24,542 but actually of convergent currents in the ocean itself 688 00:32:24,542 --> 00:32:28,708 that when they meet at different angles, produce a vortex. 689 00:32:28,708 --> 00:32:30,792 - [Karlene] These vortexes that are being created, 690 00:32:30,792 --> 00:32:34,500 they're moving at a pace of about 23 miles per hour. 691 00:32:34,500 --> 00:32:37,833 They could be about 33 feet in diameter, 692 00:32:37,833 --> 00:32:40,667 and that creates the illusion. 693 00:32:40,667 --> 00:32:44,083 Not only are you out there thinking about a mythical beast, 694 00:32:44,083 --> 00:32:46,917 but you're also seeing some movement in the water. 695 00:32:46,917 --> 00:32:49,208 - [Laurence] It's rare that these whirlpools 696 00:32:49,208 --> 00:32:52,250 are strong enough to pull in entire boats, 697 00:32:52,250 --> 00:32:56,375 unless the circumstances are just right. 698 00:32:56,375 --> 00:32:58,333 - Maelstroms are especially dangerous 699 00:32:58,333 --> 00:33:01,333 when they have a deep hole at the bottom of the water 700 00:33:01,333 --> 00:33:04,875 that acts like a drain speeding up the flow. 701 00:33:04,875 --> 00:33:06,958 - One incredible example of this 702 00:33:06,958 --> 00:33:08,750 is something that happened in 1980 703 00:33:08,750 --> 00:33:11,208 in Louisiana's Lake Peigneur. 704 00:33:11,208 --> 00:33:14,167 In this lake, there's two activities going on. 705 00:33:14,167 --> 00:33:17,500 One is a salt mine being dug out underneath the lake, 706 00:33:17,500 --> 00:33:19,375 and one is an oil rig. 707 00:33:19,375 --> 00:33:22,125 And due to an accident of calculations, 708 00:33:22,125 --> 00:33:23,583 they end up drilling 709 00:33:23,583 --> 00:33:27,750 into one of the lower shafts of the salt mine. 710 00:33:27,750 --> 00:33:31,292 - And as they're drilling, they hear a couple of loud noises 711 00:33:31,292 --> 00:33:34,125 and then the water begins to spin around the rig. 712 00:33:34,125 --> 00:33:35,875 The lake is only 10-feet deep, 713 00:33:35,875 --> 00:33:39,292 but what happens is they created 714 00:33:39,292 --> 00:33:42,375 the hole needed for the water to go into the salt mine, 715 00:33:42,375 --> 00:33:45,417 multiple levels, thousands of feet down. 716 00:33:45,417 --> 00:33:48,833 In seconds, it sucks a tugboat, 11 barges, 717 00:33:48,833 --> 00:33:51,708 an entire island with a botanical garden on it, 718 00:33:51,708 --> 00:33:55,208 into the whirlpool, gone. 719 00:33:55,208 --> 00:33:56,667 Maybe the most incredible thing about it 720 00:33:56,667 --> 00:33:58,875 is that nobody was hurt. 721 00:33:58,875 --> 00:34:00,667 - That was human error. 722 00:34:00,667 --> 00:34:02,208 You're talking about an oil rig 723 00:34:02,208 --> 00:34:04,375 that went right into a salt mine. 724 00:34:04,375 --> 00:34:05,500 That's something that definitely 725 00:34:05,500 --> 00:34:08,083 does not happen every single day, 726 00:34:08,083 --> 00:34:09,833 but we also see these whirlpools 727 00:34:09,833 --> 00:34:11,542 that are created out in the open water 728 00:34:11,542 --> 00:34:14,375 just from naturally occurring events like earthquakes. 729 00:34:16,375 --> 00:34:19,625 - [Lynne] In 2004, off the coast of Thailand, 730 00:34:19,625 --> 00:34:23,958 an underwater earthquake caused a tsunami so large 731 00:34:23,958 --> 00:34:28,083 that the loss of life topped 200,000 people. 732 00:34:28,083 --> 00:34:30,417 And in 2011 in Japan, 733 00:34:30,417 --> 00:34:34,333 a similar tsunami took out 19,000 people 734 00:34:34,333 --> 00:34:36,708 and the entire Fukushima Nuclear Plant. 735 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:40,208 - In both instances, the first to succumb 736 00:34:40,208 --> 00:34:43,042 are people sailing near the quake's epicenter. 737 00:34:43,042 --> 00:34:46,500 Before a tsunami rises up from the displaced tectonic plates 738 00:34:46,500 --> 00:34:49,000 and hits the coast, there are several moments 739 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,125 when water fills inside the enormous cavity, 740 00:34:52,125 --> 00:34:54,375 and in that case, boats as far as 10 miles out 741 00:34:54,375 --> 00:34:56,583 can be sucked into this giant whirlpool 742 00:34:56,583 --> 00:34:59,333 that's been created by the cracks in the sea floor. 743 00:35:00,375 --> 00:35:02,042 - [Laurence] In such events, 744 00:35:02,042 --> 00:35:04,708 it's possible sailors might have confused 745 00:35:04,708 --> 00:35:08,583 a natural maelstrom with the Kraken's attack. 746 00:35:08,583 --> 00:35:09,792 - You have to ask, 747 00:35:09,792 --> 00:35:12,375 how many times could this mistake have been made? 748 00:35:12,375 --> 00:35:14,375 How many times could someone have seen 749 00:35:14,375 --> 00:35:16,042 a natural phenomenon like this 750 00:35:16,042 --> 00:35:18,250 and attributed it to this monster? 751 00:35:18,250 --> 00:35:20,208 - [Karlene] If you're already going out there 752 00:35:20,208 --> 00:35:22,792 with the notion that there is a beast in the water 753 00:35:22,792 --> 00:35:25,875 and you continue to see the whirlpool getting bigger, 754 00:35:25,875 --> 00:35:27,375 you're gonna think that the beast is 755 00:35:27,375 --> 00:35:29,000 about to jump out of that wate, 756 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,625 and you're about to be face to face with the Kraken. 757 00:35:37,125 --> 00:35:38,875 - [Laurence] Many theorists have turned away 758 00:35:38,875 --> 00:35:42,250 from trying to link the Kraken to a living creature. 759 00:35:42,250 --> 00:35:43,542 Some now wonder if 760 00:35:43,542 --> 00:35:45,625 the psychological effects of sea travel 761 00:35:45,625 --> 00:35:48,250 gave rise to this legendary beast. 762 00:35:49,792 --> 00:35:51,708 - You have to think about the conditions that 763 00:35:51,708 --> 00:35:54,917 sailors live with, especially hundreds of years ago. 764 00:35:54,917 --> 00:35:56,042 A lot of sailing voyages 765 00:35:56,042 --> 00:35:58,458 could be up to three years at a time, 766 00:35:58,458 --> 00:36:01,792 and with that much isolation and open ocean, 767 00:36:01,792 --> 00:36:03,625 you can imagine that sailors 768 00:36:03,625 --> 00:36:05,667 would start to lose their grip on reality. 769 00:36:06,875 --> 00:36:08,750 - We walk on land, we live on land. 770 00:36:08,750 --> 00:36:10,375 To remove you from that 771 00:36:10,375 --> 00:36:13,583 is something that you have to experience to understand. 772 00:36:13,583 --> 00:36:17,208 It begins to immediately play with your mind. 773 00:36:17,208 --> 00:36:18,708 - Some experts have theorized 774 00:36:18,708 --> 00:36:20,917 that the stories that are told about the Kraken 775 00:36:20,917 --> 00:36:24,708 aren't the result of any actual creature in the ocean, 776 00:36:24,708 --> 00:36:28,042 but instead are a sign of the psychological impact 777 00:36:28,042 --> 00:36:30,542 that being on the ocean has on the crew. 778 00:36:31,875 --> 00:36:34,167 [tense music] 779 00:36:37,708 --> 00:36:40,083 - You can imagine how terrifying it is 780 00:36:40,083 --> 00:36:43,667 to go to sea in an old, rickety sailing ship 781 00:36:43,667 --> 00:36:47,708 with no GPS, no weather forecast, 782 00:36:47,708 --> 00:36:49,875 and you probably don't have much of an education, 783 00:36:49,875 --> 00:36:52,500 certainly not in zoology. 784 00:36:52,500 --> 00:36:55,917 - Many sailors in the past couldn't even swim, 785 00:36:55,917 --> 00:36:57,583 and so anything that happened 786 00:36:57,583 --> 00:37:00,083 beyond the bulkheads of a ship 787 00:37:00,083 --> 00:37:02,250 was often misunderstood. 788 00:37:03,375 --> 00:37:06,208 - These sailors are dealing with stress and storms, 789 00:37:06,208 --> 00:37:08,875 cabin fever, and obviously heavy drinking, 790 00:37:08,875 --> 00:37:11,167 and all of these things can actually affect 791 00:37:11,167 --> 00:37:13,083 whole crews at the same time. 792 00:37:13,083 --> 00:37:14,792 It's called mass hysteria, 793 00:37:14,792 --> 00:37:16,833 a phenomenon where a group of people 794 00:37:16,833 --> 00:37:20,500 can experience similar physical or psychological symptoms 795 00:37:20,500 --> 00:37:24,458 without a singular, identifiable medical cause. 796 00:37:24,458 --> 00:37:28,375 - In 2024, the U.S. Navy did a really interesting study 797 00:37:28,375 --> 00:37:31,667 and found that 41% of sailors going to sea 798 00:37:31,667 --> 00:37:35,500 suffer a form of high stress before getting on the boat. 799 00:37:35,500 --> 00:37:37,167 Let's go back hundreds of years ago 800 00:37:37,167 --> 00:37:38,708 and you're about to head off into sea, 801 00:37:38,708 --> 00:37:40,625 and the only thing you know is that there is 802 00:37:40,625 --> 00:37:42,667 a Kraken out there waiting for you. 803 00:37:42,667 --> 00:37:45,375 Tell me that your stress levels wouldn't be through the roof. 804 00:37:45,375 --> 00:37:48,333 So these sailors weren't just battling sea monsters 805 00:37:48,333 --> 00:37:50,542 and crazy environmental problems, 806 00:37:50,542 --> 00:37:52,875 they were also battling themselves. 807 00:37:54,208 --> 00:37:58,000 - [Laurence] Diseases at sea can also induce hallucinations. 808 00:37:58,375 --> 00:38:01,458 - Another big component back then was scurvy. 809 00:38:01,458 --> 00:38:04,208 And so scurvy is a lack of vitamin C, 810 00:38:04,208 --> 00:38:07,625 and that deficiency is a horrible way to go. 811 00:38:07,625 --> 00:38:09,542 You're talking about your arms 812 00:38:09,542 --> 00:38:12,708 as well as your legs being sore and then stiff, 813 00:38:12,708 --> 00:38:16,083 you have your teeth falling out, your gums are bleeding, 814 00:38:16,083 --> 00:38:19,292 and then eventually it makes its way into your brain 815 00:38:19,292 --> 00:38:20,667 and causes damage. 816 00:38:21,708 --> 00:38:23,625 - Under the stresses of scurvy, 817 00:38:23,625 --> 00:38:26,458 sometimes the senses become changed, 818 00:38:26,458 --> 00:38:28,542 and in the 1740s, an entire squadron 819 00:38:28,542 --> 00:38:31,750 of British sailing vessels was overcome with scurvy 820 00:38:31,750 --> 00:38:35,375 and their sailors reported strange sounds, 821 00:38:35,375 --> 00:38:39,333 exaggerated sights, and one famous report 822 00:38:39,333 --> 00:38:41,875 was of a man who the simple smell of a flower 823 00:38:41,875 --> 00:38:44,458 was enough to make him scream in agony. 824 00:38:44,458 --> 00:38:46,333 - According to one historian, 825 00:38:46,333 --> 00:38:49,042 scurvy is responsible for more deaths at sea 826 00:38:49,042 --> 00:38:53,208 than storms, shipwrecks, and other diseases combined. 827 00:38:53,208 --> 00:38:55,292 And it was not a quick death. 828 00:38:55,292 --> 00:38:57,708 It could take weeks for people to die of scurvy. 829 00:38:58,833 --> 00:39:01,375 - You're in this mental state because of scurvy, 830 00:39:01,375 --> 00:39:03,083 your brain is deteriorating, 831 00:39:03,083 --> 00:39:04,875 so what you think you saw 832 00:39:04,875 --> 00:39:07,292 might not actually be what is out there. 833 00:39:08,375 --> 00:39:10,208 - [Laurence] Hallucination brought on by 834 00:39:10,208 --> 00:39:13,417 psychological stress, fear, and disease 835 00:39:13,417 --> 00:39:15,458 might be a convincing explanation 836 00:39:15,458 --> 00:39:17,875 for stories of the Kraken, 837 00:39:17,875 --> 00:39:19,958 but it's not the only way the brain might trick us 838 00:39:19,958 --> 00:39:24,500 into believing there are strange creatures nearby. 839 00:39:24,500 --> 00:39:26,208 - For folks who spend time at sea, 840 00:39:26,208 --> 00:39:29,750 you realize very quickly that your eyes can deceive you. 841 00:39:29,750 --> 00:39:32,333 The fact that you don't have a frame of reference 842 00:39:32,333 --> 00:39:34,333 when you look out across the ocean 843 00:39:34,333 --> 00:39:36,417 means that things can seem grander 844 00:39:36,417 --> 00:39:38,500 and larger than they appear. 845 00:39:38,500 --> 00:39:40,750 [tense music] 846 00:39:43,542 --> 00:39:45,792 - [Karlene] Atmospheric factors play into this. 847 00:39:45,792 --> 00:39:48,333 You have the cold air that's closer towards the sea level, 848 00:39:48,333 --> 00:39:50,208 the warm air that's rising over it. 849 00:39:50,208 --> 00:39:53,583 Once that light moves from cold air into warm air, it bends, 850 00:39:53,583 --> 00:39:55,042 and so that changes 851 00:39:55,042 --> 00:39:58,208 what you are physically seeing out in the distance. 852 00:39:58,208 --> 00:40:00,000 The flying mirage illusion 853 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:02,375 can make it look like a boat is in the air 854 00:40:02,375 --> 00:40:04,250 because of the way that the light is bending, 855 00:40:04,250 --> 00:40:06,167 so your perception is off, 856 00:40:06,167 --> 00:40:07,417 and that creates a bigger story 857 00:40:07,417 --> 00:40:09,208 when it comes to creatures 858 00:40:09,208 --> 00:40:11,542 that are out there on the open water. 859 00:40:11,542 --> 00:40:13,708 - Even real objects perceived 860 00:40:13,708 --> 00:40:15,917 with these atmospheric conditions 861 00:40:15,917 --> 00:40:18,875 can be elongated, stretched, or bent 862 00:40:18,875 --> 00:40:21,625 in ways that might make them appear monstrous. 863 00:40:23,000 --> 00:40:24,917 - [Laurence] Could phenomena like these 864 00:40:24,917 --> 00:40:27,792 have contributed to Kraken sightings? 865 00:40:27,792 --> 00:40:30,750 - At the end of the day, the oceans are not our home. 866 00:40:30,750 --> 00:40:32,875 That is not our natural environment. 867 00:40:32,875 --> 00:40:34,875 So I don't care how brave you are 868 00:40:34,875 --> 00:40:38,083 or how prepared you are, you're going to step off 869 00:40:38,083 --> 00:40:41,125 into that adventure with a little bit of apprehension. 870 00:40:41,125 --> 00:40:44,208 - Stories of the Kraken have been around for centuries, 871 00:40:44,208 --> 00:40:45,875 and even modern discoveries 872 00:40:45,875 --> 00:40:48,625 don't fully explain where they came from. 873 00:40:48,625 --> 00:40:50,667 - [Peter] History is replete with stories 874 00:40:50,667 --> 00:40:54,458 of sailors talking about creatures trying to kill them, 875 00:40:54,458 --> 00:40:56,375 and if you take a look at them, 876 00:40:56,375 --> 00:40:58,792 you begin to see that those monsters 877 00:40:58,792 --> 00:41:01,667 probably tell us more about us than anything else. 878 00:41:03,500 --> 00:41:05,708 - It may be tempting to dismiss the Kraken 879 00:41:05,708 --> 00:41:08,667 as the world's oldest maritime legend, 880 00:41:08,667 --> 00:41:11,917 or the product of sailors' minds playing tricks on them. 881 00:41:11,917 --> 00:41:16,083 But if so, then why does the Kraken still fill us 882 00:41:16,083 --> 00:41:18,875 with fascination and fear? 883 00:41:18,875 --> 00:41:22,667 With as much as 80% of the ocean still unexplored, 884 00:41:22,667 --> 00:41:24,458 discovering a sea monster 885 00:41:24,458 --> 00:41:27,250 that truly lives up to the Kraken lore 886 00:41:27,250 --> 00:41:30,125 may just be a matter of time. 887 00:41:30,125 --> 00:41:31,708 I'm Laurence Fishburne. 888 00:41:31,708 --> 00:41:35,875 Thank you for watching History's Greatest Mysteries. 889 00:41:35,875 --> 00:41:38,000 [dramatic music]