Siamese Fuzz

Death of Hypatia, 1930s

Patches from @maidenvoyageco

Le Poulpe COLOSSAL!

The legend of the “giant octopus” (Kraken) may have begun by chance sightings of dead giant squid (Archeteuthis dux) that floated up from the abyss. Ancient sailors may also have encountered the enormous beaks and tentacles of giant squid within the stomachs of beached or hunted sperm whales and pilot whales.

“Sea serpents” and the Lusca of Caribbean mythology may also have their origins in the giant squid.

While it’s unlikely that a giant squid ever sank a seafaring ship on its own, the flailing arms and hooks of a dying squid certainly would have seemed like an attack, and in 1873, one specimen near Bell Island, Newfoundland, overturned a dory (a small, shallow-water boat) and cut the flesh of the young boy and minister who thought they were out for a calm day of fishing. What a fishing story THAT would have made!