5 Stunning Sea Monster Myths in the World




#1 Loch Ness Monster
This sea monster allegedly lives in the lake called Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. Although the scientific community considers this story a “modern day myth” or simply a hoax, there are a lot of believers around the world, and there are a lot of people who brought authentic proof of the Loch Ness monster. These proofs consist of photographic material and sonar readings, but the living status of the creature remains unconfirmed.
The Loch Ness monster was first reported by Alex Campbell on 2 May 1933. Campbell was a water bailiff during those times, and a part-time journalist for the Inverness Courier. However, we wasn’t sure that he spotted something in the water, but on 4 August 1933, he published an article which said that a Londoner named George Spicer, and his wife had sighted “the nearest approach to a dragon or pre-historic animal that I have ever seen in my life”.





#2 Leviathan
This sea monster is mentioned in the Bible in five places, and nowadays the word represents any enormous sea creature. In the Old Testament, the Leviathan is a fleeing serpent which lives in the sea, while in the novel “Moby Dick”, the Leviathan is a great whale.
The myth of the Leviathan sea monster was explained by a French rabbi, Rashi, who said that “God created a male and female Leviathan, then killed the female and salted it for the righteous, for if the Leviathans were to procreate the world could not stand before them.”


#3 Mermaids
In many mythologies around the world, the mermaids were drowning men who were trying to rescue them as they didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. Also, it is said that the mermaids were taking men into underwater kingdoms (probably to procreate). A long time ago, people believed that these sea monsters were water fairies or animals that could transform themselves from seals or other sea creatures into humans.
The history shows that mermaids were first mentioned in Assyria ca. 1000 BC, then they showed up in the “Arabian Nights” story, and even in the British folklore where these creatures were sized up to 2000 feet. Let’s not forget the Warsaw Mermaid which is the symbol of Polish biggest and capital city, Warsaw.
  



#4 Kraken
The Kraken is a mythological sea monster which was supposed to live in the waters between Norway and Iceland. It seems like these gargantuan sea creatures were attacking ships and they didn’t leave anyone alive. However, this sea monster myth is based on true stories as the Kraken resembles a real giant squid which can grow up to 60 feet in length.
Even if the giant squid lives at great depths, recently there were many reports of such creatures attacking smaller ships using their gigantic tentacles. The work Kraken comes from the Scandinavian word, krake, which describes a twisted, unhealthy animal. Also, in German, krake, means octopus, but it can be also referred to the mythological Kraken.





#5 The Hydra
The last but not the least is the Lernaean Hydra which can be found in the Greek mythology as one of the Twelve Labors of Heracles. The Greek hero received the task of killing the sea creature from the lake of Lerna in Argolid – the Hydra.
According to a description from Gaius Julius Hyginus, a Latin author, “this monster was so poisonous that she killed men with her breath, and if anyone passed by when she was sleeping, he breathed her tracks and died in the greatest torment.”
Also, the myth says that this sea monster had numerous heads, actually it possessed “more heads than the vase-painters could paint” and whoever encountered it, was killed almost instantaneously. However, Heracles (with a little help from his nephew, Iolaus) managed to kill the Hydra which was the guardian of an entrance to the Underworld.