Since ancient times, people have believed that there are mythical sea creatures that inhabit the depths of the seas and oceans. Our ancestors tried to explain all supernatural events by the will of the gods who were in charge of the depths of the sea. Among the ancient Greeks, Poseidon was the ruler of the underwater world; among the pagans, the king of the sea; among the ancient Romans, Neptune. The disappearance of fishermen, shipwrecks, mutations of fish and animals - all this gave rise to myths and legends. The ocean has been explored to 3%, so no one has yet been able to refute the theory of the existence of monsters.

Myths of the pagans

Since many Slavs inhabited the plains and were not seafarers, their myths did not have sufficient knowledge of monsters. Among those mythical creatures that live under water are:

• mermaids;
• miracle-yudo, water;
• whirlpool;
• lake girls;
• kikimora.

This devilry that harmed people. And the history of the emergence of such creatures was not very unpleasant than that of other peoples. Drowned maidens or children strangled by their mothers turned into mermaids.

In some ways, these female creatures resembled sirens who lured sailors with their incredibly beautiful voices. Slavic folklore characters are very well characterized by artists, poets, writers, filmmakers, actors and directors.

Myths of the peoples of the world

Peoples who were seafaring from the very beginning of their history had a more developed picture of mythical sea creatures.

1. The Kraken, or sea monster, became the subject of legends among Norwegian sailors as early as the 12th century. Danish bishop Erik Pontoppidan described the monster as being 1.5 miles wide. The first sketches of the octopus appeared much later - in the 18th century, when the French naturalist Pierre Denis de Montfort came across a giant monster. This was the giant octopus that terrorized the coast of Norway.
2. Umibozu - the devil from depths of the sea Japanese folklore. Depicted as a serpentine creature with a humanoid head.
3. In Mesopotamian mythology, Tiamat is the physical embodiment of the sea. As the god of salt water, Tiamat had sexual intercourse with Abzu, the goddess of fresh water, thereby giving birth to other gods. He is depicted as a dragon or sea hydra.
4. Jörmungand, a monster of northern mythology, was settled in the ocean by Odin and grew there to such a size that he could encircle the Earth.
5. Iku-Turso is a monster of Finnish mythology. It looked like a sea monster with the head of a bull, deer or walrus. According to another version, Iku-Turso is the god of war. This explains the name of the Finnish submarine of World War II in honor of the sea beast.
6. Kalupalik (Inuit name) is not as impressive in size as other sea creatures, but is endowed with an eerie appearance. Sloppy long hair, green skin and an ugly body with hooked fingers paints us a picture of a witcher from the sea. According to mythology, Kalupalik was called upon to catch naughty children and hide them in amauti. He dragged children into his domain, where they disappeared forever.
7. Hydra had 9 snake heads, this is a huge sea creature.
8. Charybdis is a Greek monster, first mentioned in Homer's Odyssey and Aesop's fables. The Greeks believed that this monster broke Greek ships as they crossed the Strait of Messina. In later mythology, Charybdis became the daughter of Poseidon and Gaia and was at enmity with Zeus. Captured as a monster with numerous teeth and eyes, small shoots on the skin. Its existence could be explained by a whirlpool in the sea.
9. Leviathan is a sea creature, which is mentioned in the Book of Job, Tanakh, Christian and Jewish teachings. Mentions in the books about Leviathan are different and differ depending on the region, but one general description can be traced - a serpentine monster that ruled the seas. Until the 17th century, the word "leviathan" was a common noun for large sea ​​creatures. This is the physical embodiment of the mouth of hell.
10. Scylla terrorized sailors on the other half of the Strait of Messina. Killed by Hercules, Scylla was described by Homer as a monster 12 miles high with 6 heads and a huge number of teeth. Classic description was less terrifying: half-woman, half-snake, with a fish tail and the encircling heads of dogs. Before she turned ugly, Scylla was a magnificent nymph, adored by the god Glaucus, but the jealous witch Cersei turned her into a monster.

Monsters of our times

Many enthusiasts and zoologists believe in the existence of many extinct fish, sharks and shellfish. This is due to the fact that there is irrefutable evidence of a layer of thick silt instead of the bottom of the Mariana Trench. It is believed that the bottom of Lake Baikal is covered with thick silt, and a whole ecosystem exists underneath it. So far, scientists have not been able to penetrate further, and therefore there may be new species of animals or extinct species that once inhabited the depths of the sea, for example, megalodon.

The world also knows almost existing sea monsters, which can include the Loch Ness Monster.

Over the more than 200-year history of this monster, there are 1,081 sightings of the creature. The idea of ​​its existence was smashed to smithereens, but enterprising local residents have already managed to acquire capital thanks to the Nessie Museum alone.

With the development of science and technology, sea monsters of the depths were described and studied in detail, and the disappearance of sailors and ships were in most cases accidents. Many monsters have gone down in history forever, which is reflected in the language as the aphorism “between Scylla and Charybdis,” i.e., choose the lesser of two evils. Science is moving forward, and humanity will definitely learn new data about supposedly fictional sea creatures.

Throughout history, people have created countless tales of mythical creatures, legendary monsters, and supernatural monsters. Despite their unclear origins, these mythical creatures are described in the folklore of various peoples and in many cases are part of the culture. It's amazing that there are people all over the world who are still convinced that these monsters exist, despite the lack of any meaningful evidence. So today we will look at a list of 25 legendary and mythical creatures that never existed.

Budak is present in many Czech fairy tales and legends. This monster is usually described as a creepy creature, reminiscent of a scarecrow. It can cry like an innocent child, thus luring its victims. On the night of the full moon, Budak allegedly weaves fabric from the souls of those people whom he killed. Sometimes Budak is described as evil version Santa Claus, who travels on Christmas Day in a cart pulled by black cats.

24. Ghoul

The ghoul is one of the most famous creatures in Arabian folklore and appears in the collection of tales One Thousand and One Nights. The ghoul is described as an undead creature that can also take the form of an immaterial spirit. He often visits cemeteries to eat the flesh of recently deceased people. This is probably main reason why is the word ghoul in Arab countries often used when addressing gravediggers or representatives of any profession directly related to death.

23. Yorogumo.

Loosely translated from Japanese, Yorogumo means “seductress spider,” and in our humble opinion, the name perfectly describes this monster. According to Japanese folklore, Yorogumo was a bloodthirsty monster. But in most fairy tales he is described as huge spider, which takes a very attractive and sexy woman, who seduces her male victims, captures them in a web, and then happily devours them.

22. Cerberus.

IN Greek mythology, Cerberus is the guardian of Hades and is usually described as a bizarre-looking monster that looks like a dog with three heads and a tail whose end is the head of a dragon. Cerberus was born from the union of two monsters, the giant Typhon and Echidna, and is himself the brother of the Lernaean Hydra. Cerberus is often described in myth as one of the most loyal guards in history and is often mentioned in Homer's epic.

21. Kraken

The legend of the Kraken came from the Northern Seas and its presence was initially limited to the shores of Norway and Iceland. Over time, however, its fame grew, thanks to the wild imagination of storytellers, which led subsequent generations to believe that it also lives in all the seas of the world.

Norwegian fishermen initially described the sea monster as a gigantic animal that was as large as an island and posed a danger to passing ships not from direct attack, but from giant waves and tsunamis caused by the movements of its body. However, later people began to spread stories about the monster's violent attacks on ships. Modern historians believe that the Kraken was nothing more than a giant squid and the rest of the stories are nothing more than the wild imagination of sailors.

20. Minotaur

The Minotaur is one of the first epic creatures we meet in human history, and takes us back to the heyday of the Minoan civilization. The Minotaur had the head of a bull on the body of a very large, muscular man and settled in the center of the Cretan labyrinth, which was built by Daedalus and his son Icarus at the request of King Minos. Anyone who entered the labyrinth became a victim of the Minotaur. The exception was the Athenian king Theseus, who killed the beast and came out of the labyrinth alive with the help of the thread of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos.

If Theseus were hunting the Minotaur these days, then a rifle with a collimator sight would be very useful to him, a huge and high-quality selection of which is on the portal http://www.meteomaster.com.ua/meteoitems_R473/.

19. Wendigo

Those familiar with psychology have probably heard the term “Wendigo psychopathy,” which describes the psychosis that compels a person to eat human flesh. The medical term takes its name from a mythical creature called the Wendigo, which, according to the myths of the Algonquin Indians. The Wendigo was an evil creature that looked like a cross between a human and a monster, something similar to a zombie. According to legend, only people who ate human flesh were able to become Wendigos themselves.

Of course, this creature never existed and was invented by Algonquin elders who were trying to stop people from engaging in cannibalism.

In ancient Japanese folklore, Kappa is a water demon who lives in rivers and lakes and devours naughty children. Kappa means "child of the river" in Japanese and has the body of a turtle, the limbs of a frog, and a head with a beak. In addition, there is a cavity with water on the top of the head. According to legend, Kappa's head must always be kept moist, otherwise he will lose his strength. Oddly enough, many Japanese consider the existence of Kappa to be a reality. Some lakes in Japan have posters and signs warning visitors that there is a serious risk of being attacked by this creature.

Greek mythology gave the world some of its most epic heroes, gods, and creatures, and Talos is one of them. A huge bronze giant supposedly lived in Crete, where he protected a woman named Europa (from whom the European continent took its name) from pirates and invaders. For this reason, Talos patrolled the shores of the island three times a day.

16. Menehune.

According to legend, the Menehune were an ancient race of gnomes who lived in the forests of Hawaii before the arrival of the Polynesians. Many scientists explain the existence of ancient statues on the Hawaiian Islands due to the presence of Menehune here. Others argue that the legends of the Menehune began with the arrival of Europeans in these areas and were created by human imagination. The myth goes back to the roots of Polynesian history. When the first Polynesians arrived in Hawaii, they found dams, roads, and even temples that had been built by the Menehune.

However, no one found the skeletons. Therefore, it still remains a big mystery what kind of race built all these amazing ancient structures in Hawaii before the arrival of the Polynesians.

15. Griffin.

The griffin was a legendary creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body and tail of a lion. The griffin is the king of the animal kingdom, a symbol of power and dominance. Griffins can be found in many depictions of Minoan Crete and later in the art and mythology of Ancient Greece. However, some believe that the creature symbolizes the fight against evil and witchcraft.

14. Medusa

According to one version, Medusa was a beautiful maiden destined for the goddess Athena, who was raped by Poseidon. Athena, furious that she could not confront Poseidon directly, turned Medusa into an unsightly, evil monster with a head full of snakes for hair. Medusa's ugliness was so disgusting that anyone who looked at her face turned to stone. Perseus eventually killed Medusa with the help of Athena.

Pihiu is another legendary monster hybrid native to China. Even though no part of its body resembled human organs, the mythological creature is often described as having the body of a lion with wings, long legs and the head of a Chinese dragon. Pihiu is considered the guardian and protector of those who practice Feng Shui. Another version of the pihiu, the Tian Lu, is also sometimes considered a sacred being that attracts and protects wealth. This is the reason why small statues of Tian Lu are often seen in Chinese homes or offices, as it is believed that this creature can help accumulate wealth.

12. Sukuyant

The soucouillant, according to Caribbean legends (especially in the Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Guadeloupe), is an exotic black version of the European vampire. By word of mouth, from generation to generation, Sukuyant has become part of local folklore. He is described as a hideous-looking old woman by day, who at night transforms into a magnificent-looking young black woman resembling a goddess. She seduces her victims in order to later suck their blood or make them her eternal slaves. It was also believed that she practiced black magic and voodoo, and could transform into ball lightning or enter the homes of her victims through any opening in the house, including cracks and keyholes.

11. Lamassu.

According to the mythology and legends of Mesopotamia, Lamassu was a protective deity, depicted with the body and wings of a bull, or with the body of a lion, the wings of an eagle and the head of a man. Some described him as a menacing-looking man, while others described him as a female deity with good intentions.

10. Tarasca

The tale of the Tarasca is reported in the history of Martha, which is included in Jacob's biography of the Christian saints. Tarasca was a dragon with a very scary appearance and bad intentions. According to legend, it had the head of a lion, six short legs like a bear, the body of a bull, was covered with the shell of a turtle and a scaly tail that ended with a scorpion sting. Tarasca terrorized the Nerluc region of France.

It all ended when a young devoted Christian named Martha arrived in the city to spread the gospel of Jesus and discovered that the people had been afraid of a fierce dragon for years. Then he found the dragon in the forest and sprinkled it with holy water. This action has tamed wildlife dragon. After this, Martha led the dragon back to the city of Nerluk, where the enraged locals stoned Tarascus to death.

On November 25, 2005, UNESCO included Tarasca in the list of masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.

9. Draugr.

The draugr, according to Scandinavian folklore and mythology, is a zombie that emits a surprisingly powerful putrid odor of the dead. It was believed that the Draugr eats people, drinks blood, and has power over the minds of people, driving them crazy at will. A typical Draugr was somewhat similar to Freddy Krueger, who, apparently, was created under the influence of fairy tales about the Scandinavian monster.

8. Lernaean Hydra.

The Lernaean Hydra was a mythical water monster with many heads that resembled large snakes. A ferocious monster lived in Lerna, a small village near Argos. According to legend, Hercules decided to kill the Hydra and when he cut off one head, two appeared. For this reason, Hercules' nephew Iolaus burned each head as soon as his uncle cut it off, only then did they stop reproducing.

7. Broxa.

According to Jewish legend, the Broxa is an aggressive monster, like a giant bird, that would attack goats or, in rare cases, drink human blood at night. The legend of Broxa spread in the Middle Ages in Europe, where it was believed that witches took the form of Broxa.

6. Baba Yaga

Baba Yaga is perhaps one of the most popular paranormal creatures in folklore Eastern Slavs and, according to legend, she had the appearance of a fierce and terrible old woman. However, Baba Yaga is a multifaceted figure capable of inspiring researchers, capable of turning into a cloud, snake, bird, black cat and symbolizing the Moon, death, winter or the Goddess of Mother Earth, the totemic ancestor of matriarchy.

Antaeus was a giant enormous power, which he inherited from his father, Poseidon (god of the sea), and mother Gaia (Earth). He was a hooligan who lived in the Libyan Desert and challenged any traveler in his lands to a fight. After defeating the stranger in a deadly wrestling match, he killed him. He collected the skulls of the people he defeated in order to one day build a temple dedicated to Poseidon from these “trophies.”

But one day one of the passersby turned out to be Hercules, who was making his way to the Garden of the Hesperides to complete his eleventh labor. Antaeus made a fatal mistake by challenging Hercules. The hero lifted Antaeus off the ground and crushed him in a bear hug.

4. Dullahan.

The fierce and powerful Dullahan is a headless horseman in Irish folklore and mythology. For centuries, the Irish described him as a harbinger of doom who traveled on a black, terrifying-looking horse.

According to Japanese legend, Kodama is a peaceful spirit that lives within certain types trees. Kodama is described as a small, white and peaceful ghost that is perfectly in sync with nature. However, according to legend, when someone tries to cut down the tree where Kodama lives, bad things and a series of misfortunes begin to happen to him.

2. Corrigan

The strange creatures called Corrigan come from Brittany, a cultural region in northwestern France with a very rich literary tradition and folklore. Some say Corrigan was a beautiful, good fairy, while other sources describe him as evil spirit, who looked like a dwarf and danced around the fountains. He seduced people with his charm to kill them or steal their children.

1. Fish-man Lyrgans.

The fish-man Lyrgans existed in the mythology of Cantabria, an autonomous community located in northern Spain.

According to legend, this is an amphibious creature that looks like a sullen man who was lost at sea. Many people believe that the fish-man was one of the four sons of Francisco de la Vega and Maria del Casar, a couple who lived in the area. It was believed that they drowned in the waters of the sea while swimming with their friends at the mouth of Bilbao.

The modern ocean is home to many incredible creatures, many of which we have no idea about. You never know what lies there - in the dark, cold depths. However, none of them can compare with the ancient monsters that dominated the world's oceans millions of years ago.

In this article we will tell you about lizards, carnivorous fish and predatory whales that terrorized marine life in prehistoric times.

1. Giant stingray

What is it: 5 meters in diameter, a poisonous spike 25 long on the tail and enough strength to drag a boat filled with people? In this case, it is an eerie-looking flat sea creature that, from prehistoric times to this day, lives in salty waters from the Mekong River to Australia itself.

Stingrays have lived quietly in Australian waters since the extinction of the dinosaurs and the huge predatory sharks from which they descended. They originated in prehistoric times, but they managed to survive all the ice ages, and even the terrible eruption of the Toba volcano. They are very dangerous and should not be approached. Even if you think they are not nearby, you could be wrong - they are excellent at camouflage.

They are dangerous because they can attack you with a poisonous spike containing a neurotoxin or simply damage their vital organs. The advantage is that these prehistoric monsters are not so aggressive and will not try to eat you.

2. Melville's Leviathan (Livyatan melvillei)

Earlier in this article we already talked about predatory whales. Melville's Leviathan is the most terrifying of them all. Imagine a huge hybrid of an orca and a sperm whale. This monster was not just a carnivore - it killed and ate other whales. It had the largest teeth of any animal known to us.

Their length sometimes reached 37 centimeters! They lived in the same oceans at the same time and ate the same food as megalodons, thus competing with the largest predatory shark of the time.

Their huge heads were equipped with the same echo-sounding devices as modern whales, which made them more successful in hunting muddy water. In case it wasn't clear to anyone from the start, this animal was named after Leviathan, a giant sea ​​monster from the Bible and Herman Melville, who wrote the famous “Moby Dick”. If Moby Dick had been one of the Leviathans, he would certainly have eaten the Pequod and its entire crew.

3. Helicoprion

This shark, 4.5 meters long, had a lower jaw that was a kind of curl, strewn with teeth. She looked like a hybrid of a shark and a buzz saw, and we all know that when dangerous power tools become part of the predator on top the food chain, the whole world is trembling.

Helicoprion's teeth were serrated, which clearly indicates the carnivory of this sea monster, but scientists still do not know for certain whether the jaw was pushed forward as in the photo, or moved slightly deeper into the mouth.

These creatures survived the Triassic mass extinction, which could indicate their high intelligence, however, their residence could also be the reason.

4. Kronosaurus

Kronosaurus is another short-necked lizard, similar in appearance to Liopleurosaurus. What is noteworthy is that its true length is also known only approximately. It is believed that it reached up to 10 meters, and its teeth reached up to 30 cm in length. That is why it was named after Kronos, the king of the ancient Greek titans.

Now guess where this monster lived. If your assumption was related to Australia, then you are absolutely right. Kronosaurus's head was about 3 meters long and it was capable of swallowing an entire adult human. In addition, after this there was room inside the animal for another half.

Also, due to the fact that the flippers of kronosaurs were similar in structure to the flippers of turtles, scientists concluded that they were very distantly related and assumed that kronosaurs also went to land to lay eggs. In any case, we can be sure that no one dared to destroy the nests of these sea monsters.

5. Dunkleosteus

Dunkleosteus was a ten-meter predatory monster. Huge sharks lived much longer than Dunkleosteus, but this did not mean that they were the best predators. Instead of teeth, dunkleosteus had bony growths, like some species of modern turtles. Scientists have calculated that their bite force was 1,500 kilograms per square centimeter, which put them on par with crocodiles and tyrannosaurs and made them one of the creatures with the strongest bite.

Based on facts about their jaw muscles, scientists concluded that Dunkleosteus could open its mouth in one fiftieth of a second, swallowing everything in its path. As the fish grew older, the single bony dental plate was replaced by a segmented one, which made it easier to obtain food and bite through the thick shells of other fish. In the arms race called the prehistoric ocean, Dunkleosteus was a real well-armored, heavy tank.

6. Mauisaurus haasti

Mauisaurus was named after ancient god The Maori Maui, who, according to legend, used a hook to pull out the skeletons of New Zealand from the bottom of the ocean, so just from the name you can understand that this animal was huge. The Mauisaurus's neck was about 15 meters long, which is quite a lot compared to its total length of 20 meters.

His incredible neck had many vertebrae, which gave it special flexibility. Imagine a turtle without a shell with amazing long neck– this is approximately what this creepy creature looked like.

He lived during the Cretaceous period, which meant that unfortunate creatures jumping into the water to escape velociraptors and tyrannosaurs were forced to come face to face with these sea monsters. Mauisaurs' habitats were limited to the waters of New Zealand, indicating that all inhabitants were in danger.

7. Rakoscorpions (Jaekelopterus rhenaniae)

Not surprisingly, the words “sea scorpion” only evoke negative emotions, however, this representative of the list was the creepiest of them. Jaekelopterus rhenaniae is special kind crayfish, which was the largest and most terrifying arthropod of that time: 2.5 meters of pure clawed horror under the shell.

Many of us are terrified of small ants or large spiders, but imagine the full spectrum of fear experienced by a person who would be unlucky enough to encounter this sea monster.

On the other hand, these creepy creatures went extinct even before the event that killed all the dinosaurs and 90% of life on Earth. Only a few species of crabs survived, which are not so scary. There is no evidence that ancient sea scorpions were poisonous, but the structure of their tails suggests that they may have been.

8. Basilosaurus

Despite the name and appearance, they are not reptiles, as it might seem at first glance. In fact, these are real whales (and not the most frightening ones in this world!). Basilosaurs were the predatory ancestors of modern whales and measured between 15 and 25 meters in length. It is described as a whale, somewhat resembling a snake due to its length and ability to wriggle.

It’s hard to imagine that, while swimming in the ocean, one could stumble upon a huge creature that looked like a snake, a whale and a crocodile at the same time, 20 meters long. The fear of the ocean would stick with you for a long time.

Physical evidence suggests that basilosaurs did not have the same cognitive abilities as modern whales. In addition, they did not have echolocation capabilities and could only move in two dimensions (this means that they could not actively dive or dive to great depths). Thus, this terrible predator was as stupid as a bag of prehistoric tools and would not be able to pursue you if you dived or came onto land.

9. Liopleurodon

If there was a water scene in the Jurassic Park movie that included some of the sea monsters of the time, Liopleurodon would definitely appear in it. Although scientists argue about the actual length of this animal (some say it was up to 15 meters), most agree that it was about 6 meters, with a fifth of the length being the pointed head of Liopleurodon.

Many people think that 6 meters is not so much, but the smallest representative of these monsters is capable of swallowing an adult. Scientists have recreated a model of Liopleurodon's fins and tested them.

During the research, they found that these prehistoric animals were not so fast, but they were not lacking in agility. They were also capable of making short, quick and sharp attacks, similar topics, which are performed by modern crocodiles, which makes them even more terrifying.

10. Megalodon

Megalodon may be the most famous creature on this list, but it's hard to imagine that the school-bus-sized shark ever actually existed. Nowadays, there are many different scientific films and programs about these amazing monsters.

Contrary to popular belief, megalodons did not live at the same time as dinosaurs. They dominated the seas from 25 to 1.5 million years ago, which means they missed the last dinosaur by 40 million years. In addition, this means that the first people found these sea monsters alive.

Megalodon's home was the warm ocean, which existed until the last ice age in the early Pleistocene, and it is believed that it was he who deprived these huge sharks of food and the ability to reproduce. Perhaps in this way nature protected modern humanity from terrible predators.

11. Dakosaurus

Traces of the existence of dacosaurs were first found in Germany. These predatory creatures, resembling a hybrid of reptiles and fish, dominated the oceans during Jurassic period. Their remains were found over a vast territory from Russia to England and Argentina.

Although this sea monster has been compared to modern crocodiles, its length averaged about 5 meters. Its huge and unique teeth have led scientists to conclude that Dacosaurs were at the top of the food chain in their time.

12. Nothosaurus

Despite the fact that the body length of nothosaurs was only 4 meters, they were aggressive hunters. Their mouth was full of sharp teeth and they fed mainly on fish and squid. It was believed that nothosaurs were experts in ambushes and their bodies were ideal for sneaking up on prey and taking them by surprise. It is generally accepted that nothosaurs are inextricably related to pliosaurs, another genus sea ​​predators. The remains found indicate that they lived in Triassic period more than 200 million years ago.

Material translated from the site: toptenz.net

Just as there is a grain of truth in every joke, there is a grain of truth in every myth. Unicorns, dragons and cyclops were not invented out of nowhere. They had very real prototypes, which, not without the help of human imagination, were transformed into those fairy-tale creatures that we know today.

Unicorn - Elasmotherium.

The unicorn is a famous mythical creature that is a horse with one horn coming out of its forehead. It usually symbolizes spiritual purity and chastity. Interestingly, unicorns are found in the legends and myths of many world cultures. The very first images of them were found in India and, according to research, they are more than four thousand years old. Later, unicorns began to appear in the myths of Western Asia, from there they “migrated” to Ancient Greece And Ancient Rome, where they were considered absolutely real animals. In the West, unicorns began to be mentioned in the 5th century BC.

The main “candidate” for the role of a real unicorn, or rather the prototype of these mythical creatures, is Elasmotherium - rhinoceroses of the Eurasian steppes, which lived during the Ice Age south of the range of the woolly rhinoceros; images of elasmotherium are found in cave paintings of that time. Elasmotherium somewhat resembled a horse with extremely long horn in the forehead. It went extinct around the same time as the rest of the Eurasian Ice Age megafauna. However, according to the Swedish encyclopedia “Nordisk familjebok” and the arguments of science popularizer Willie Ley, individual representatives of this species could well have existed for quite some time. for a long time, in order to get into the Evenki legends as a huge black bull with one horn in its forehead.

Dragons - Magalanya.

Dragons in folk art There are a huge variety of types and types. Starting from the classic European ones that live in the mountains and breathe fire, to the Chinese ones that look more like snakes. The mythological dragon symbolizes the test that must be passed in order to obtain the treasure. It is associated with immortality, which can be obtained by invading the body of a monster. The battle with the dragon is an initiation mystery with the symbolism of temporary death and rebirth.

In reality, myths about dragons most likely originated from crocodiles or dinosaur fossils that people might find and mistaken for dragons. But, without a doubt, there were also real animals that could well be called dragons. For example, megalania is the largest of known to science ground lizards. This species lived in Australia during the Pleistocene era, from 1.6 million years ago to approximately 40,000 years ago. Megalania preferred to settle in grassy savannas and sparse forests, where it hunted mammals, including very large ones. As in the case of Elasmotherium, some representatives of the species could well survive to meet humans. The length of megalania, according to various estimates, varied from 4.5 to 9 m, and its weight from 331 to 2200 kg.

Kraken - Huge squid.

Kraken - legendary mythical sea monster gigantic size, a cephalopod, known from descriptions of Icelandic sailors, from whose language its name comes. The first detailed summary of maritime folklore about the Kraken was compiled by the Danish naturalist Eric Pontoppidan, Bishop of Bergen (1698-1774). He wrote that the kraken is an animal “about the size of a floating island.” According to Pontoppidan, the kraken is able to grab with its tentacles and drag even the largest warship to the bottom. Even more dangerous for ships is the whirlpool that occurs when the kraken quickly sinks to the seabed.

Giant squids, which is essentially what the kraken is, may still exist today. Moreover, this has been confirmed more than once by the findings of fishermen and scientists. The only question is size. Not long ago in southern seas really managed to find huge clam about 14 meters long. In addition, unlike ordinary squids, in addition to suckers, this one also had jagged claws-teeth on its tentacles. Such an animal may well frighten even modern man. And if medieval fishermen had seen him, they would definitely have considered him a mythical monster.

Basilisk - Poisonous snakes.

Basilisk is a creature mentioned in various sources and most often as a monstrous poisonous snake. In Natural History, Pliny the Elder described the basilisk as a small snake up to 30 centimeters long, with a white spot on its head. This was in the 1st century AD. Guy Julius Solin wrote about the basilisk in approximately the same way in the 3rd century, but with minor differences: the length of the snake is up to 15 cm. Much later, only in the Middle Ages, the image of the basilisk began to be supplemented with new details. Thanks to the imagination of numerous authors, the “small snake” turned into “a rooster with dragon wings, tiger claws, a lizard’s tail, an eagle’s beak and green eyes, on whose head there is a red crown, and black bristles all over its body.” This is exactly what they said about the basilisk in Europe of the 13th century.

There is a completely logical version from a scientific point of view that the image of the basilisk is based on certain types of snakes. For example, a cobra fits its description. Its swollen hood could easily be mistaken for the body of a toad, and its ability to spit venom could be interpreted as killing at a distance. According to another version, the basilisk is a horned viper. Its image with horns was an Egyptian hieroglyph for the sound “f”, and could have been mistaken by Pliny the Elder for a snake with a crown, which gave rise to the Greek name for the snake “basilisk” - “king”.

Centaurs - Horse riders.

Centaurs in ancient greek mythology- wild mortal creatures with the head and torso of a man on the body of a horse. They lived mainly in the mountains and forest thickets and were distinguished by an extremely violent temperament and intemperance. It is also noteworthy that in heroic myths some centaurs are educators and mentors of heroes, while others are hostile to them.

The image of centaurs presumably arose as a figment of the imagination of representatives of civilized peoples who did not yet know horse riding, who first encountered the horse riders of certain northern nomadic tribes: Scythians, Kassites or Taurians. This explains both the ferocious nature of the centaurs and their connection with bulls - the basis of the nomadic economy was cattle breeding. According to the euhemeric interpretation of ancient times, it was the youths from the village of Tucha who invented horse riding and killed wild bulls; or people from the city of Pelephronium, where a way to tame horses was found.

Griffin - Protoceratops.

Griffins are mythological winged creatures with the body of a lion and the head of an eagle. They have sharp claws and snow-white (and sometimes even golden) wings. Griffins are extremely contradictory creatures, simultaneously uniting Heaven and Earth, Good and Evil. Their role - both in various myths and in literature - is ambiguous: they can act as defenders and patrons; and like evil, unrestrained beasts.

But true story"Gryphons" is no less interesting than the legends about them. Historian Adriena Mayor in her book “The First Fossil Hunters” suggested that the image of the griffin was inspired by ancient Greek historians from the stories of Scythian gold miners of Altai, who could observe in the sands of the Gobi Desert the fossilized bones of protoceratops dinosaurs, freed from the dunes by the winds. The description of the griffin is quite applicable to these fossil skeletons: the size of the animal, the presence of a beak, the proximity to gold placers, the horny occipital collar of Protoceratops is capable of splitting over time, and its skeleton on the shoulders could create the illusion of ears and wings.

Bigfoot - Gigantopithecus.

Bigfoot (Sasquatch or Bigfoot) is a legendary humanoid creature supposedly found in various high mountain or forest regions of the Earth. Its existence is claimed by many enthusiasts, but is currently not confirmed. In testimony about meetings with " snow people“Most often appear creatures that differ from modern humans in a denser and more muscular physique, a pointed shape of the skull, a more long arms, short neck length and massive lower jaw, relatively short hips, with thick hairline throughout the body - black, red, white or gray.

There are many theories about who Bigfoot might actually be (if he really exists). Starting from the completely plausible, that this is some kind of relict hominid, that is, a mammal belonging to the order of primates and the genus of man, preserved to this day from prehistoric times, and ending with the absolutely fantastic, that these are aliens who flew to us from other galaxies. Modern science knows at least one genus great apes, which fit the description very well Bigfoot, this is Gigantopithecus. They existed in the late Miocene, Pliocene and Pleistocene in the territory of modern India, China, Thailand and Vietnam. According to experts, Gigantopithecus had a height of up to three and even four meters and weighed from 300 to 550 kg, that is, they were the largest monkeys of all time.

Sea serpent - Herring king.

The sea serpent is a fantastic creature that is mentioned in the myths of different peoples of the world and in eyewitness accounts. Sea serpents have been found in the Mediterranean, Asia, India and even off the coast North America. Naturally, they are described in completely different ways, but almost always this is a huge snake-like creature with a head that looks like either a horse or a dragon.

The prototype of a monstrous sea serpent may not be some ancient animal, but a completely modern herring king or an ordinary belt fish. This is sea deep sea fish from the family Limniformes. It is found in warm, moderately warm and temperate waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The body of the fish is ribbon-shaped: with a length of 3.5 m, the height of the body can be 25 cm, and its thickness - only 5 cm. But there are specimens that are much larger. For example, an individual 5.5 meters long can weigh about 250 kg. And the largest of the officially registered ones had a length of more than 11 meters. This could easily be mistaken for a sea serpent.

Korean dragon - Titanoboa.

The Korean dragon is one of the varieties of the mythological serpent, which has a number of features specific to Korea that distinguish it from dragons of other cultures. For example, unlike many dragons of other cultures, he does not have wings, but has a long beard. Even greater differences may lie in the character of this mythical beast. While most dragons in Western mythology are usually associated with fire and destruction, Korean dragons in myths are usually seen as positive creatures that protect waters and rice fields. They are believed to bring rain to the earth.

And if with the origin of myths about European dragons everything is not so clear and unambiguous, then with the Korean dragon you can be almost sure. Fossils were recently discovered in Colombia huge snake, which was named Titanoboa. After performing a comparative analysis of the skeleton, scientists came to the conclusion that the snake could reach 13 meters in length and weigh more than a ton. Titanoboa lived 61.7-58.7 million years ago in tropical forests modern Colombia. But it is quite possible that she lived on other continents.

Cyclops - Dwarf elephant.

In ancient Greek mythology, the Cyclops are a group of characters, in different versions divine beings (children of Gaia and Uranus) or a separate people. According to one of the versions, reflected in Homer in the Odyssey, the Cyclops made up an entire people. Among them, the most famous is the ferocious son of Poseidon, Polyphemus, whom Odysseus deprived of his only eye. The Scythian people of the Arimaspians were also considered one-eyed. There is an image of a Semitic one-eyed demon from Arslan-Tash.

As for the scientific basis for these myths, in 1914, paleontologist Otenio Abel suggested that the discovery of dwarf elephant skulls in ancient times was the reason for the birth of the myth of the Cyclops, since the central nasal opening in the elephant’s skull could be mistaken for a giant eye socket. It is curious that these elephants were found precisely on the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus, Malta (Ghar Dalam), Crete, Sicily, Sardinia, the Cyclades and the Dodecanese

Briefly about the article: Who can really be sure what is hiding there, in the many kilometers of ocean depths? Are all the stories about huge sea monsters fiction, or do the most natural monsters live right next to us? Look for answers on the pages of the World of Fantasy.

Troubled waters

Monsters of the deep sea

Understand death? Certainly. This is when the monsters finally get to you.

Stephen King, "Salimov's Lot"

Water - the best place for miracles. It's like a completely different world. Another universe is right at our fingertips. The creatures living in the ocean are completely different from those on earth and look like real aliens in comparison. Biblical monsters emerged from the “eternal sea,” and the giant Leviathan also lived there. People have already visited Mariana Trench- the deepest place on the planet - however, they still know very little about the inhabitants of those unimaginable depths, which even Everest would not reach if we decided to turn it over into the water.

Nowadays, people no longer experience a mystical horror of the sea and treat it exclusively as a consumer (for example, about 90% of toilets in Hong Kong are powered by sea ​​water). However, just a hundred years ago, terrible rumors about ships being dragged to the bottom by giant octopuses still circulated in port taverns, and science fiction writers populated the oceans with mystical creatures from other dimensions.

At the bottom

Remember what the old ones looked like? nautical charts. Whales, dolphins, newts, snakes and shells “swimmed” in the oceans. Stories about monsters inhabiting the expanses of water appeared almost before navigation itself and have successfully survived to this day. Deep monsters, hungry for human flesh, can be found in any culture that has had contact with the sea. Ancient authors described encounters with these creatures in rather vague terms, mentioning glowing eyes, a lion's mouth, horns, fur and other attributes of the classic “prefabricated creature” characteristic of those times.

When travel to other continents ceased to be as sensational as the current flights to the moon, stories of “deadly dangers” lost the flavor of heroic tales and began to resemble the truth. In 1734, the Norwegian missionary Hans Egede, a man of common sense and not prone to exaggeration, wrote about his voyage to Greenland:

The number of evidence of encounters with sea monsters in our time has sharply decreased, but even they are quite enough to make one wonder where such unanimity comes from? Most often, a serpentine body of large size is described (about 10-20 meters, which cannot be compared with ancient stories about sea ​​dragons), or some kind of amorphous mass armed with tentacles.

It is interesting that the majority of such observations fall on the lot of fishermen or people of “land” professions who accidentally find themselves at sea. And those who work closely with underwater world(submarine crews, oceanographers and even divers) encounter the mysteries of nature extremely rarely.

It is generally accepted that some (but not the most significant) part of such stories is an ordinary hoax, and the rest is a mistake or an optical illusion. Anyone who has been on the high seas understands how difficult it can sometimes be to identify a particular animal. Incessant excitement, natural optical distortions and significant observation distances - it is in such an environment that “monsters” are born. A writhing sea snake is likely to be algae, and the slimy carcass of a giant octopus is likely to be an ordinary seal.

One could put an end to this here, but literally last years It’s as if nature had mercy on scientists and gave them irrefutable evidence of the existence of one of the most popular sea monsters.

Kraken

The Kraken is a legendary sea monster that supposedly lives off the coast of Iceland and Norway. There is no consensus regarding his appearance. He could equally well be an octopus or a squid. The Danish bishop Erik Pontoppidan first spoke about the Kraken in 1752, describing it as a giant “crab fish” that easily drags ships to the bottom.

According to the bishop, the Kraken had the size of a small island and was dangerous for ships not so much because of its predatory habits as because of the speed of its descent into the depths of the sea - by diving, it could create an extremely strong whirlpool. As the Kraken rested at the bottom, large schools of fish swarmed around, attracted by its excrement. Pontoppidan also wrote that fishermen sometimes took risks and spread their nets directly over the monster’s lair, because this provided them with an excellent catch. On this occasion they even had a saying: “You must have fished on the Kraken.”

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Kraken, with the help of self-taught zoologists, turned into a giant octopus, but at the same time it was attributed the lifestyle of a cuttlefish or squid (most octopuses live at the bottom, squids live in the water column). Even the world famous naturalist Carl Linnaeus included the Kraken in the classification of real living organisms (the book “System of Nature”) as a cephalopod, but later changed his mind and removed all mentions of it.

Some naval disasters were attributed to the Kraken, and his relatives - giant octopuses under common name"Luska" - allegedly found in the Caribbean Sea (it is not surprising that the heroes of the film "Pirates Caribbean Sea 2" you will have to fight with a huge octopus). It was even called the “monk of the sea,” although the original term referred to a creature that washed up on the shores of Denmark in 1546 - a fish that, according to contemporaries, was “strikingly similar to a monk.”

Beer snack

And then the fairy tale became reality. In 1861, the French ship Alekton brought a piece of giant squid ashore. Over the next two decades, remains of similar creatures began to be found along the northern coast of Europe (it was later determined that changes in temperature conditions seas that drove these creatures to the surface). Fishermen also began to notice that the skin of some of the sperm whales they caught had strange markings - as if from very large tentacles.

In the 20th century, there was a real hunt for the once legendary Kraken, but either too young individuals (about 5 meters in length) or half-digested fragments of adults were found in fishing nets and in the stomachs of sperm whales. Luck smiled on researchers only in the 21st century.

Japanese oceanographers Kubodera and Mori spent two years trying to find the elusive Kraken by tracking the migration routes of sperm whales (these whales often hunt giant squid). On September 30, 2004, they arrived on a five-ton fishing boat near Ogasawara Island (600 miles south of Tokyo). Their tools were simple - a long steel cable with bait, a camera and a flash.

At a depth of 900 meters it finally took the bait. The giant squid, about 10 meters long, grabbed the bait, got entangled in its tentacle and spent four hours trying to free itself. During this time, several hundred photographs were taken confirming the extremely aggressive nature of this creature.

It has not yet been possible to catch live giant squids (architeuthis). However, dead, well-preserved specimens are already available general public. In December 2005, the Melbourne Aquarium put on public display a seven-meter-long Architeuthis frozen into a huge piece of ice (the monster was purchased for 100 thousand Australian dollars). Earlier this year, London's Natural History Museum showed off a nine-metre specimen preserved in formaldehyde.

Can giant squid sink ships? Judge for yourself. It can reach a length of over 10 meters (evidence of twenty-meter individuals is not confirmed by anything). Females are usually larger. Since approximately half the body length is made up of tentacles, the weight of this mollusk is measured at only a few hundred kilograms. This is clearly not enough for a large vessel (especially considering that the giant squid, like its small relatives, is completely helpless outside the water), however, taking into account the predatory habits of this creature, it can be assumed that Architeuthis poses a theoretical danger to swimmers.

Cinematic octopuses (“Rise from the Deep” or “Pirates of the Caribbean 2”) are able to playfully pierce the hull of ships with their tentacles. In practice, this is naturally impossible - the absence of a skeleton does not allow cephalopods deliver a "surgical strike". They can only act on tearing and stretching. IN natural environment habitat, giant squids are quite strong - at least they do not surrender to sperm whales without a fight - but, fortunately, they rarely rise to the surface. However, small squids are capable of jumping out of the water to a height of up to 7 meters, so it is not worth making clear conclusions about the “combat” qualities of Architeuthis.

The eyes of the giant squid are among the largest of all living creatures on the planet - over 30 centimeters in diameter. The powerful suckers of the tentacles (up to 5 centimeters in diameter) are supplemented with sharp “teeth” that help hold the victim.

Recently it was classified even more close-up view giant squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni). Externally, they differ slightly from Architeuthis ( larger in size, with short tentacles studded with hooks instead of “teeth”), but are found much less frequently, and only in the northern seas and at depths of about 2 kilometers. In the 1970s, a Soviet trawler caught one young specimen, and in 2003 another was found. In both cases, the length of the squid did not exceed 6 meters, but scientists calculated that an adult specimen of this species grows to at least 14 meters.

To summarize the above, as of 2006, the legendary Kraken can be safely identified as a squid. Octopuses or cuttlefish comparable in size to the mollusks described above have not yet been found. If you go on vacation at the seaside, be on the lookout.

Hairy snakes

Giant sea serpents appeared in historical chronicles much earlier than the Kraken (around the 13th century), however, unlike him, they are still considered fictional. The Swedish priest and writer Olaf the Great (1490-1557) in his work “History northern peoples" gave the following description of the sea serpent:

In modern times, the most famous encounter with a sea serpent occurred almost 150 years ago. On an August day in 1848, the crew of the British ship Daedalus, en route to St. Helena Island, observed a twenty-meter aquatic reptile with a gorgeous mane of hair on her neck. It was unlikely that this was a mass hallucination, so the London Times immediately burst out with a sensational article about the “find of the century.” Since then, sea snakes have been seen more than once, but not a single reliable evidence of their existence has been obtained.

Among all the candidates for the “position” of the sea serpent, the belt fish (Regalecus glesne) is most suitable. This rather rare creature, living in tropical seas, is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest (up to 11 meters) bony fish in the world.

In appearance, the fish belt really looks like a snake. Its weight can reach 300 kilograms. The meat is jelly-like and inedible. Front rays dorsal fin are elongated and form a “sultan” above the head, which from a distance can be mistaken for a bun of hair. The belt fish lives at great depths (from 50 to 700 meters), but sometimes floats to the surface. Its unique feature is that it swims in an upright position, head up. Take a look at the photo. What might you think when you see this strange creature in the water?

* * *

If the ancients did not lie about the Kraken, then maybe we should pay more attention to other legends? After all, there are “giant versions” of familiar aquatic creatures! The American lobster grows up to 1 meter in length and 20 kilograms in weight. The limb span of the Japanese spider crab reaches 4 meters. And the jellyfish Cyanea capillata is generally the longest living creature on the planet - its bell can be 2.5 meters in diameter, and its thin tentacles extend up to 30 meters.

In 1997, US Navy hydrophone stations tracking submarines off the coast South America, recorded a very strange sound in the ocean, undoubtedly made by a living creature. The source could not be identified, however, judging by its acoustic power, none of the marine animals known today could “gurgle” so loudly.