S10E8 - Sea Monster Mash

The stories featured in Greaking Out are original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features turning children into stones, mysterious black stallions, deep fake cryptids, a man in search of a wife, and the terror of the deep.

out.

Ah, the ocean.

There's just something about the power and beauty of the sea, right?

Going to the beach or sailing or surfing are favorite pastimes for people all over the world.

And yeah, it's fun to play in the waves and build sandcastles, but there's also something kind of cool about the ocean that draws people to it.

And there always has been.

Each year, approximately 180 million Americans make visits to beaches and shorelines.

A recent survey reported that 47%

of Americans say they go to the beach at least once a year.

This does not include the rest of the planet.

Wow, that's a lot, but I'm not surprised.

I'm a big fan of the ocean myself.

And the ancient Greeks, of course, were huge fans.

They sort of had to be because of all of the islands in the area.

The country of Greece today includes about 6,000 different islands.

So when you spend a lot of time at sea, you start thinking about what's underneath you.

And that's not always good.

The ocean is beautiful, but it can be very dangerous.

And the ancient Greeks believed that some of these dangers were the result of sea monsters.

So that's what we're going to talk about today.

Yes, we're going to be talking about sea monsters and creatures that lived beneath the waves.

And our undersea trip will take us outside of of ancient Greece.

We're going to discuss some Norse monsters and maybe even some strange creatures way up in Scotland.

But we're going to start with a classic sea monster from Greek mythology, the Cetus.

Now, the Cetus was a really, really big sea monster.

This thing was massive.

In fact, it was so big that modern-day scholars believe it may have been inspired by whales.

But in most stories, the Cetus didn't look anything like a whale.

It was huge, usually snake-like with lots and lots of tentacles and it had lots of teeth.

Some stories actually said it had the head of a boar.

But I think that seems just kind of ridiculous, right?

I mean, an underwater pig doesn't exactly inspire fear.

It just seems, well, weird, right?

I mean...

Pigs are excellent swimmers.

Many are known to swim across rivers and streams in search of food, habitat, or safety.

Because of their large lung capacity, pigs are also naturally buoyant.

They float.

Great, but they're not exactly sea monsters, right?

The Cetus, on the other hand, was definitely monstrous.

You might remember our story about Andromeda and Perseus in an earlier season.

The monster that Perseus saves Andromeda from was the Cetus.

You see, Queen Cassiopeia of Ethiopia was really proud of her daughter Andromeda.

The girl was shockingly pretty.

I mean, she was straight up gorgeous, especially for a mortal.

Cassiopeia bragged about how beautiful her daughter was to anyone who would listen, and she even went so far as to say her daughter was more beautiful than a sea nymph.

Sea nymphs are sometimes called Nereids.

They are minor goddesses of the sea, who are generally kind

and breathtakingly beautiful.

Right, so being the god of the sea, Poseidon was pretty upset about that kind of boasting.

pro tip if you want to avoid upsetting the Greek gods keep the bragging to a minimum.

Thanks

So Poseidon decided to teach Cassiopeia a lesson He called up the Cetus and instructed it to attack their entire kingdom For weeks, this giant monster preyed upon the kingdom of Ethiopia.

It devoured ships and anyone who happened to walk up on the shoreline.

It even stretched its tentacles into the city occasionally and snatched up unsuspecting citizens.

Naturally, Queen Cassiopeia and King Cephas had to do something, so after consulting with an oracle, they had to make a terrible choice.

They chained their beautiful daughter Andromeda to a rock and sacrificed her to this awful monster, hoping that would appease Poseidon.

And it would have, too.

But if you remember the previous story, you'll know that the hero Perseus happened to be flying by, and when he saw a beautiful maiden chained to a rock waiting for a sea monster, he knew he had to step in and help.

There was a great battle between Perseus and the Cetus, and some say that Perseus slew the monster with his sword, but other versions of the story say that he used the head of Medusa to turn the monster to stone.

But either way, Perseus rescued Andromeda and the Cetus was defeated.

Now, it might be helpful to point out that the Cetus is also sometimes called the Kraken.

If you're a movie fan and grown-ups, I'm looking at you, you might remember a certain film where Zeus says, release the Kraken.

Well, that's actually...

You are referring to the 2010 film Clash of the Titans, in which Liam Neeson portrays Zeus and Sam Worthington portrays a young Perseus.

This film was a remake of a 1981 film of the same name.

Right, thanks for pointing that out.

Anyway, the monster in that film was actually the Cetus.

They just called it the Kraken.

In fact, a number of myths actually use those names interchangeably, but in truth, the Kraken does not come from Greek mythology.

It's actually a different monster altogether.

The kraken is actually a monster in Scandinavian folklore, and the stories where it appears were written much later than these ancient Greek myths.

The first time anybody wrote about the kraken was in the early 1700s.

And this monster was usually described as a giant sea creature with long tentacles and big teeth who would sneak up underneath unsuspecting ships and drag them down to the depths of the ocean.

Then the boats would be crushed into Smither.

It was a squid.

Excuse me?

It was a giant squid.

Scientists and historians have now accepted that the kraken is simply an exaggerated account of a giant squid.

Giant squid are elusive creatures, but they are real

and they do inhabit the oceans near Scandinavia.

Oh,

well, cool, I guess.

Squids are cool.

They have three hearts and the largest eyeballs of any animal.

Okay, wow, that's not relevant at all, but yeah, kind of cool.

The Kraken and the Cetus are also sometimes compared to another giant undersea creature called the Leviathan.

Now, the Leviathan is a monster that's actually mentioned in the Christian Bible half-dozen times.

It's described as a massive sea serpent, big enough to wrap around even the biggest ship and crush it to smithereens.

The Leviathan is a very big underwater snake, but some people depict it as a very large whale.

Huh, interesting.

I think the snake is cooler.

Well, that goes without saying, Oracle, but now we're going to move on to a different kind of underwater creature altogether.

This one is not a monster at all.

It's a member of the royal family, Triton.

King Triton is a character in Disney's wildly successful animated feature film called The Little Mermaid.

He is the father to the main character, Ariel.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, not that Triton, although they are very similar.

Our Triton was actually more like a prince.

Triton was actually the son of Poseidon and Amphritrite, a god of the sea.

And most people describe him as a merman.

And he actually appears in the story of Jason and the Argonauts.

Now, this is another story that we told in a way earlier episode, but it had so many specific adventures in it that we couldn't include everything without making making a podcast so long your parents would yell at us.

So one of these adventures involves Triton.

Jason and the Argonauts were in the middle of a terrible storm.

Heavy rains, heavy flooding, gale-force winds, and high waves.

It was all the Argonauts could do to just stay on their ship, which was battered back and forth in the storm.

A lesser boat would probably have been smashed to bits, but the Argo was strong and it held fast.

And when the storm began to move away and the waters receded, Jason and his men found themselves washed up on a shore

well to be completely honest they weren't on a shore they were inland way inland the wind and floodwaters had carried them well beyond the beach and they found themselves in the middle of a desert with a boat

now I'm not much of a sailor, but I can tell you that you don't need a boat in the desert, especially a big sturdy ship like the Argo.

But Jason and his men couldn't leave it behind, so they found themselves carrying their ship through the desert in the hot sun, trying to make their way back to the sea.

After a while, it became obvious that they had no idea where they were going.

Jason and his men were hopelessly lost.

Eventually, they made their way to the shores of a small lake that was in the middle of this desert and decided to camp there to rest.

It was then that one of the adventurers, Orpheus, had an idea.

Yes, that Orpheus.

He remembered that Apollo had given Jason a tripod as a gift before the voyage even began.

In Greek mythology, a tripod is a three-legged stand that holds a sacred object or vessel.

It looks like a fancy stool.

Hey, why don't we offer this tripod as a gift to the gods of this land?

He suggested.

We clearly aren't going to make it out of here without some help from above.

So the sailors dug the fancy stool out of the bottom of the boat, placed it on the shore of the lake, and said a small prayer to the gods asking them for help.

Almost instantly, a huge spout of water shot up from the center of the lake and beneath it, they saw the figure of a man began to emerge from the water.

At first, it seemed like the man was swimming, but as he got closer, Jason and his men saw that he had grown legs and was walking through the water towards them on the shore.

I am Triton, the god said to them.

Thank you for your gift.

I happily accept and I offer you a gift of my own in return.

Triton bent down and scooped up a clod of dirt in his hand.

He then held it out to Jason and his men.

Jason and his men looked at each other.

They were a little confused and maybe even slightly insulted.

I mean, a fancy stool was far more valuable than a handful of dirt, right?

What kind of a gift was this?

Fortunately, one of the sailors recognized this gesture for what it was.

His name was Eurypolis, and he quickly stepped forward to break the awkward silence.

Thank you for this gift, Triton, he said with a bow.

We are honored and we happily accept, but while we have you here, we were kind of wondering if maybe you could point us towards the ocean.

We're trying to get to the country of Pelops.

And with that, Triton extended his hand and pointed across the water of the lake.

This is not a lake, it is a very large lagoon, and it does lead to the sea.

But there is no wind, so you will have to row, row, row your boat gently across the lake.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.

I wish I had a pet snake.

What was that?

Please disregard.

My sensors erroneously detected a sing-along, and I was compelled to join in.

I am displeased with the results.

Okay, well, anyway, Triton took his fancy stool, walked back into the water, and disappeared, leaving Jason and his men standing awkwardly by the side of the lagoon.

After a lot of pushing and shoving, the sailors were finally able to get the Argo into the water.

They boarded the ship and set out for the ocean slowly.

Very slowly.

Triton wasn't kidding.

There was no current and no wind, and it was hard work rowing and rowing and rowing and making very little progress.

Now at this point, I suspect the crew was probably starting to get a little grumpy.

They were hot, they were tired, they gave away their fancy stool for what?

For some dude to come out of of the water and say, go that way?

I mean, it hardly seemed fair, right?

But Jason, and to his credit, Orpheus, knew that being ungrateful was not a wise course of action when dealing with the gods.

In fact, Jason decided to go the other way.

He brought up the biggest, fattest goat that they had been saving for a feast and sacrificed it right there on the deck of the ship as a thank you to the gods.

Some of the sailors might have been surprised by this and they might have even spoken up and complained, but they didn't have the opportunity.

Suddenly, the sailors began to realize that the Argo was moving a lot faster than it was before.

And nobody was rowing.

Jason and Orpheus ran to the back of the ship and when they peered over the stern, they saw an amazing sight.

Triton, three times his previous size, was pushing the boat forward.

His two massive hands were pressed against the hull of the ship and in the water they could see the powerful curved tail of a merman swishing back and forth, propelling them on.

Jason looked down at Triton and nodded his head in gratitude.

Triton simply winked in reply, and the boat continued forward all the way to the sea.

Many ancient Greek ships were known as triremes because they had three levels of oars and rowers, with sometimes as many as 170 men rowing at the same time.

This seems like a pretty good place to take a break, I think.

Yeah?

Okay, we're going to take a quick break.

We'll be back with more greeting out on the other side right after this.

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Okay, and now back to more Greeking out.

So, obviously, we've learned that not all creatures that live under the sea are monsters.

I mean, Triton is a demigod, but there are plenty of other crazy undersea creatures in Greek mythology that weren't your typical evil sea monsters.

For example, the hippocampi were like, literally, seahorses.

They were half horse, half fish.

The front half was the horse, and the back half was the fish fin.

Right.

The Greeks believed that Poseidon was actually the god who created horses, so I guess it tracks that he would make an underwater version too, right?

Then there are ichthyocentaurs.

That's a lot of syllables to basically say merman, but they aren't just mermen.

An ichthyocentaur is a person from the waist up, but from the waist down, they are both fish and horse.

Essentially, half human, half hippocampus.

I wish I could show you a picture, but the top half is human, and the bottom half is like an underwater version of a regular centaur with both hooves and a fishtail.

Your explanation increased the level of complexity of this content by 42%.

Uh, what?

I'm sorry?

You made that a lot more complicated than you needed to.

Yeah, right.

I know.

I'm sorry.

Okay.

Moving on.

We're going to move up to the British Isles, and we're going to tell you about a monster that that is straight up monstrous.

In fact, monster is in its name.

We are heading to Scotland to learn about the infamous Loch Ness monster.

This is a myth.

Well, technically, Oracle, all of these are myths.

That is accurate.

But these stories were never presented as fact.

Unlike the Loch Ness monster.

which many humans believed to be real.

That's a fair point, I guess.

The Loch Ness Monster is is a large marine creature that some people believe lives in a lake in Scotland called Loch Ness.

Rumors of this monster go all the way back to ancient times.

They've actually found stone carvings that depict a monstrous beast with flippers.

And the first written account of this monster's existence goes back to the 6th century.

Now in April of 1933, a Scottish newspaper ran a story about a couple who claimed to have seen a giant dragon-like prehistoric monster cross in front of their car and dive back into the lake.

This story excited so many people that the newspaper actually hired a big game hunter named Marmaduke Wetherell to catch the Loch Ness monster.

In December of 1933, Wetherell provided photographic evidence of giant footprints that he found by the lake, Loch Ness.

Now, as it turns out, these

were fake.

Right.

As it turns out, these footprints were created by an umbrella stand that had a hippopotamus leg for a base.

Case closed.

Or, so we thought.

But a year later, in 1934, an amazing picture surfaced.

One that was taken by a surgeon named Robert Kenneth Wilson.

Now, you may have seen this picture before.

It's a grainy black and white photograph that kind of looks like there's a brontosaurus head floating above the water.

This picture became an immediate sin.

This was also fake.

Oracle, disable spoiler mode, please.

Thank you.

We have to tell all the parts of the story in the right order.

Disabling spoiler mode.

Now.

Cool, thanks.

Well, actually, the Oracle is right.

This picture became an international phenomenon.

Many people were skeptical, but the theory that the Loch Ness monster was actually a creature related to a dinosaur took hold, and people talked about it for decades.

But in 1994, it was revealed that the picture was a hoax.

It turns out old Marmaduke Weatherall wanted a little payback for all the people who made fun of his footprint pictures.

His family admitted that the monster in the picture was actually a plastic and wooden contraption fastened to a toy submarine.

Also, in 2018, scientists did DNA research to determine the exact kind of creatures that lived in Loch Ness.

No results of dinosaurs or any other unusual creature were discovered.

They did, however, discover an unusually large population of eels.

Right, so the Loch Ness Monster isn't real, but that doesn't mean the story wasn't impactful.

According to recent statistics, in the early 21st century, the Loch Ness Monster story has contributed more than $80 million to the Scottish economy every year from tourism.

Stories like these matter, sometimes in ways we don't expect.

But the Loch Ness Monster isn't the only dreaded sea creature in Scotland.

For centuries, the Scots have been telling tales of the infamous Kelpie, a water spirit that has been known to drag people out to sea or into a river to a watery grave.

You see, the Kelpie was tricky.

It would always reside near a body of water, of course, not usually the ocean, but a lake or a river or a bay or whatever.

And it would frequently take the form of a beautiful black horse.

Initially, this horse would seem peaceful and friendly, especially if unsuspecting travelers wandered by.

And sometimes said travelers would be tempted to hop upon the back of the horse and attempt to ride it across the stream or the river to avoid getting wet.

But once they were on the horse's back, the Kelpie would suddenly leap into action, galloping furiously into the deepest part of the water.

The poor unsuspecting riders would most often drown, being pulled quickly under the deep water.

But some humans were tricky too.

There's an old story that goes way back hundreds of years to the town of Peterhead in Scotland.

You see, there was once a farmer who was making his way across a river when he encountered a beautiful black stallion.

Now, this farmer wasn't an old man, but he had lived long enough to hear the stories of the Kelpie.

So instead of trying to ride the horse, he threw a bit and bridle over its head and subdued the horse.

A bit and bridle are used on regular horses so that the rider is able to control their head.

The man then brought the kelpie back to his farm and made it work for him, carrying stones for the construction of a nearby bridge.

When the work was complete and the bridge was finished, the farmer released the kelpie and it splashed back into the water, never to be seen again.

The kelpie is also a breed of dog.

It is technically known as the Australian Kelpie, and it is a a medium-sized dog bred for wrangling livestock like sheep and cattle.

The kelpie also makes an excellent pet for families.

Well, dog Kelpies definitely sound cooler than evil water horse kelpies.

But we're going to stay in the British Isles for our last sea monster story today.

And once again, this monster isn't really a typical monster, but it is strange and it's an alluring creature that comes from the sea.

This one is called the Selki.

Now, a Selki is essentially a half human, half sea creature, but don't worry, it's not like the seal centaur kind of thing.

The Selkies are popular in Scottish and Irish folklore and they are essentially humans who can shapeshift into seals.

Or maybe there's seals that can shapeshift into humans.

But either way, in order to do this shape-shifting, they have to have a magical seal skin cloak.

Now, the classic story of the Selki involves an Irish clan leader named Thadde Rua O'Dowd and he had just been elected chieftain of his clan.

Now this was a pretty big deal for Mr.

O'Dowd because he was still a relatively young man and young men aren't usually voted into the chieftain role but Thaddey's cleverness, respect and wisdom made him the exception to the rule.

He was popular among his peers and everyone in the clan, so all were eager to see him succeed as their leader.

In order to get the job, he just needed one small thing, a wife.

Apparently, that was some sort of rule among the chieftains of the clans.

There had to be a Mrs.

Chieftain.

So Thaddy met with all of the young women in the village and they were kind and pretty and sweet, but none of them captured his heart or his imagination.

He wasn't sure what he wanted to do.

This was a big decision, obviously, so he took a long walk on the beach to try to think things through.

It was a clear day and the sun was shining on the beach and as Thaddy walked along the rocky shore he saw something or someone up ahead in the distance.

It appeared to be a woman, a beautiful woman, and she was sitting on a rock sunning herself and combing her long red hair.

Now Thadde was clever and like the farmer in the story before, he was old enough to remember the stories that he had been told as a child.

He knew he was looking at a Selki.

Slowly and very quietly, the future chieftain made his way towards the Selki who had her back turned to him.

She was humming a beautiful melody to herself and the sound filled Thaddy with joy and desire.

He knew he had to marry this woman.

But how?

Selkis live in the ocean.

They don't like to stay on land.

And that was when he saw it.

Stretched out across another rock beside her, the Selki had laid her magical seal skin cloak to warm in the sun.

Quickly as he could, Thadde grabbed the magical cloak and ran.

Of course, the Selki began to chase him, and soon, very soon, the man slowed down and let her catch up.

The Selki, whose name was Eve, demanded the return of her cloak, but Thadde wanted to talk with her more first.

He explained that he was the chieftain here and that these were his shores, so everything that landed here was technically his property, even the magical sealskin cloak.

That being said, the two actually actually had a lovely time chatting.

They met again the next day and the next day and they soon fell in love.

Eve did her best to forget about her magical cloak and moved on with her life.

Some folklorists believe that the origins of this myth actually stem from ancient Celtic people seeing Finnish travelers in the water.

Sailors from Finland often wore sealskin coats and traveled by kayak.

Ha!

Now that is very interesting.

I can see that.

Anyway, after a time, it seemed Thadde had everything he wanted.

He was a chieftain.

He had a wife, and soon they had a large family with seven beautiful children.

But Eve was not as happy.

She did love her husband, it was true, but she could not help longing to return to the sea.

It was in her nature.

But without her magical cloak, she was forced to live as a human forever.

Sometimes late at night, Thadde would hear an awful sobbing sound.

He would stumble outside to discover his wife kneeling on the beach, crying.

This went on for years.

Thaddeo Dowd felt bad, but he couldn't bear to let his wife go.

And then one day, Eve made an amazing discovery.

One of her kids asked about their father's special treasure.

I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Eve said.

It's his magical treasure, the child replied.

I heard him telling grandfather about it.

He keeps it hidden beneath the flat rock behind our house.

Without thinking, Eve stopped everything she was doing and ran outside.

She scrambled up the small hill behind the house where she found a flat rock.

She pushed the rock aside to reveal a small hole beneath, and lo and behold, there was her magical seal skin cloak.

Eve knew that her husband would be back soon, so she threw on the cloak, grabbed up her children, and immediately headed for the sea, telling them that they were going for a midday swim.

Just then, Thaddeo Dowd returned home.

He was walking down the beach, and he could see his wife and kids at the water's edge.

As he got closer, Thadde could see that his wife was wearing her cloak.

He yelled for her to stop, but Eve only paused for a moment, just long enough to turn and look at him sadly.

Then, without a second thought, she rushed into the waves.

Poor Eve had to make another hard choice here.

She wanted to bring all of her children with her, but she could only carry two of them, her youngest.

So, to make certain she could visit her other children again, she turned her back to the waves for a moment, waved her hand, and cast a magic spell.

In an instant, Her five remaining children became steadfast rocks, entrenched on the beach, facing the sea, and waiting for their mother's return.

Thaddy let out a scream of anguish, but it was no use.

Eve was gone.

Some say that Thaddeo Dowd spent the rest of his days waiting on that beach for her to return.

Others say that she did return occasionally, and I would like to believe that version of the story.

Fatty had to spend most of his remaining days alone, but sometimes he was blessed to get a visit from the sea.

His wife would return, and his children would greet her among the rocks.

She couldn't stay for long, but they would enjoy their time together still.

He probably would have been a lot happier if he had just let her keep the coat in the first place.

You know, I don't disagree with that.

And also, maybe I wouldn't have turned my own children into stones if I were Eve.

So a lot of mistakes were made here, I think, but it's still an interesting story.

And it's nice to take a field trip every once in a while.

Thanks for exploring the oceans and its crazy creatures with me today.

We'll be back next time with more Greaking Out.

Thanks for listening.

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