Fact or fiction
This Famous Sea Serpent Story Might Actually Have Been a Sighting of a Whale Penis
This week the New York Times reported on a new archaeological discovery that might prove the ancient Romans hunted whales, and asked whether this might explain epic tales of the time about fishermen harpooning ‘sea monsters’:
There’s an ancient Greco-Roman poem that tells the tale of brave fishermen who harpooned a sea monster. Once they hooked the beast, the men reeled it in from their rowboats near the shore and hauled it onto the beach. The text, which is dated to the second or third century, describes one onlooker as standing on a cliff and beholding the “tremendous toil of the men in this warfare of the sea.”
But was this “sea monster,” or “cetus” as it is called in Latin, actually a whale?
While this new suggestion that ‘sea monsters’ of ancient tales might have actually been whales is an interesting one, there has previously been an association between whales and sea monsters, though one you might not see in the New York Times anytime soon.
In 2005, ecologist Dr. Charles Paxton co-authored a paper titled “Cetaceans, Sex, and Sea Serpents” (PDF), in which he and his co-researchers analysed the 1734 sighting of “a most dreadful monster” off the coast of Greenland.
The account, originally recorded in 1741 by the Danish-Norwegian missionary Hans Egede, has been a regular feature of sea-monster folklore ever since it was reproduced in Henry Lee’s 1883 book Sea Monsters Unmasked:
[A] terribly big sea creature which in 1734 was seen in the sea… It was a so enormously big creature, [that] its head reached the [ship’s] yard arm and the body was as thick as the ship and was 3 to 4 times as long. It had a long pointed nose, and blew like a whale, [it] had big broad flippers, and the body seemed to be covered with a carapace, and the skin was wrinkled and rough. It was otherwise created at the rear like a serpent and when it went under the water it lifted itself backwards and raised then the tail up from the water a ship’s length away from the body.
Over the years, a multitude of explanations had been offered, including that the sighting might have been of a giant squid, an (extinct) Basilosaurid whale, a giant marine otter, or a giant longnecked seal. But Paxton’s group had a more interesting solution: that the witnesses may have mistaken a whale penis as the serpent-like projections from the water:
Many of the large baleen whales have long, snake-like penises. If the animal did indeed fall on its back then its ventral surface would have been uppermost and, if the whale was aroused, the usually retracted penis would have been visible. The penises of the North Atlantic right whale and (Pacific) grey whale can be at least 1.8 metres long, and 1.7 metres long respectively, and could be taken by a naïve witness for a tail. That the tail was seen at one point a ship’s length from the body suggests the presence of more than one male whale.
In support of this hypothesis, the researchers point out another ‘sea serpent’ case that also sounds suspiciously like it might have been a whale penis: a sighting from the merchant vessel Pauline in 1875, “when a sea-serpent in the form of a “whitish pillar” was seen amongst a pod of sperm whales “frantic with excitement” (the sperm whale penis can be pale).
It’s difficult not to agree with Paxton’s suggestion, especially if we compare the contemporary illustrations of the ‘sea serpent’ with modern photos of whale penises emerging from the water (or, if you prefer video, go watch some Attenborough).
For those that might think this is the ultimate solution to the mystery of sea serpents however, note that the researchers make clear they are not completely confident in their identification, and “nor are we suggesting that whales’ penises are a universal source of sea-serpent sightings”.
(h/t to Loren Coleman)
SOURCE:
Fact or fiction
Was an Angel filmed over a house extinguished by firefighters?
Having appeared on the network, this photo caused a lot of comments – from the fact that it really was a Guardian Angel who guarded the firefighters during work, to those who assured that all this was just an illusion, no more complicated than a cloud in the shape of a lamb.
At the end of December 2020, while extinguishing a fire in the Polish village of Maldyty, an Angel hovered over the firemen, or at least something like an Angel. This photo appeared on the Facebook page of the Maldyta fire station and generated many comments.
“This is something that was formed during the last extinguishing of the fire from the ignition of soot in the chimney in Maldyty. Write in the comments your thoughts about it,” was written under the picture on their FB page.
Poles are known to be very religious and there are plenty of people willing to comment on the picture.
Many indeed believed that the Angel oversaw the work of the firemen and, perhaps, even helped them to extinguish the fire. But there were also enough of those who believed that it was all just a random silhouette between clouds in the sky and pareidolia (illusion). The photo was taken by an unspecified person sitting in the cab of a car parked next to the burning house.
“Christians have always believed in the existence of guardian spirits. Some call them Guardian Angels. The Bible confirms their existence,” Pastor Leszek Kozheniecki told reporters, commenting on this photo.
By the way, Kozhenetskiy is a well-known Polish pastor who believes in the existence of supernatural beings.
Three years ago, he told the press that he had driven out the evil spirit that settled in his house in Turza Wielka. One of the firefighters who worked on the extinguishing of the house that night said:
“If we have this kind of protection watching over us, I am pretty calm about safety during work.”
Fact or fiction
The skeleton of a mysterious “prehistoric beast” found in Antarctica?
Blogger MrMBB333 shared an image of a “mysterious creature.” It was discovered 80 kilometers off the coast of Antarctica in a remote region of Antarctica, according to the Sun.
According to the blogger, the pictures are screenshots from the Google Earth service, which were sent to him by his subscriber and conspiracy theorist under the nickname BONKERS.
They estimate the length of the remains at 3.6-6 meters.I don’t know if it was frozen for thousands of years or appeared recently,- the blogger said.
MrMBB333 believes the skeleton belonged to a dinosaur. He came to this conclusion by examining the front and hind limbs of the creature. His subscribers are sure that these are the remains of a seal.
A google search for seal skeleton images shows a pretty good match,- one of them wrote.
Other subscribers call the skeleton “suspicious”. They explain that “seals have no hind legs.” Another wrote that the remains belonged to an alligator or some other reptile.
In the comments, conspiracy theorists also expressed their opinion that “Antarctica is full of unexplained phenomena that may be related to ancient aliens.”
It is also believed that most of the “discoveries” made by users of Google Earth can be explained by the unusual shape of ice or other natural phenomena.
MrMBB333 uploaded his investigation video to YouTube on January 5. Since then, the video has been watched more than 200,000 times.
Fact or fiction
150 thousand years old Metal pipes in Tibet, contradict the official history
It is said that there is a mountain in Tibet that contains a network of special formations that extend to the nearest lake. Many researchers believe that this is an artificial pipeline system. But, strangely enough, its origin dates back to the era of the Neanderthals.
This mountain rises about 40 km from the city of Dalingha in the Tibetan Autonomous Region. It is called Baigongshan (White Mountain). In the world, it is better known for the wonderful formations that are in its heart and wide surroundings – they are called the Baigong pipes.
This miracle has been the subject of controversial discussions for many years. Some believe they are a natural formation, but there are many who are sure that someone built them in the distant past to drain the lake. They base their arguments on research results, but there is a catch; the mysterious aqueduct should have appeared 150 thousand years ago. Traces of settlements around the mountain are not even older than 30 thousand years. So who could build metal pipes inside an uninhabited mountain?
There are three caves at the foot of Mount Baigongshan, two of them have already collapsed and are inaccessible, but the largest of them has since been the target of many tourists who come to the area.
The cave looks like it was artificially created by someone. Visibility is enhanced by a massive pipe about forty centimeters in diameter that sticks out of the stone.
Another apparently hollow pipe of the same diameter ran into the cave from the top of the mountain. Another one came from the bottom of the cave somewhere below.
At the entrance to the cave, you can see several other pipes with a diameter of 10 to 40 cm. All this gives the impression of the remains of some ancient system or mechanism. About 80 meters from the cave, Lake Toson sparkles with a large number of scattered pipes on the beach.
They stretch from east to west and have a diameter of 2 to 4.5 cm, these archaeological finds are described by the Chinese scientist Liu-Shaolin:
The unmistakable rust color indicates that they are made of metal. And their craftsmanship showcases advanced attachment techniques. Who could have built such a complex pipe system? Only one who knew well what he was doing and why.
The version that such an engineering miracle was created by the Chinese disappears immediately. The inhabitants of the Middle Kingdom could not build something like that 150 thousand years ago. As the authors of many amazing inventions, bureaucracy became one of them. Therefore, it is simply impossible to imagine that such a large-scale and, without exaggeration, a great construction project was reflected in any ancient Chinese source. Any emperor, during whose reign this happened, would make sure that his great deed was not forgotten by descendants.
Baigong tubes are another unsolved mystery in human history. This find once again refutes the facts of the official history. Where is the true and where is the misconception? Maybe there will be people among the readers who will logically explain the origin of the ancient aqueduct.
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