Not strictly necessary, but still intriguing
By blog on Sep. 19, 2009.
I actually find Cryptozoology to be intriguing. Oh I know that sounds a little strange, I mean, I don’t believe that the creatures exist, but I find the discussion and investigation of them to be quite intriguing!
I can’t remember exactly when I first became interested in cryptids, but I know I have been for some time. I love looking at the folklore stories, and how people still believe in these creatures today. Some of them seem more plausible than others, I’ll grant you that, and some are real unexplained phenomena, like the Bloop.
The Bloop is one of my current favourite cryptids, because there is actual evidence backing it up. We’ve got the ‘what’ in this case, but not the ‘how’ or ‘who’. You see, The Bloop is the name given to a sound picked up a few times by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who use equipment that was originally designed to keep tabs on that part of the ocean in case of Soviet Subs. They aren’t listening for subs, anymore, and are instead using the equipment to evaluate marine health, oceanic weather, and general atmospheric conditions out there.
They’ve often picked up strange and – in my opinion – ominous sounds, most of which can be explained by ocean currents, volcanic activity , or the movement of Antarctic ice, but The Bloop doesn’t conform to any of these. It’s the odd sound out.
The Bloop’s sound profile suggests that it comes from a living organism. The sound was heard on multiple underwater listening devices, called hydrophones, about 5,000kms apart. Even a Blue Whale can’t manage that, the creature creating The Bloop would have to be much, much bigger.
Some people have speculated that a Giant Squid could be behind the sound, however that’s extremely unlikely because, according to Phil Lobel, a marine biologist at Boston University in Massachusetts, US they don’t have the giant gas filled sac that would be necessary for such a noise. He says it’s impossible to be certain at this point, because no Giant Squid has ever been caught alive, though Whales have been seen with tentacle ring marks on their bodies, but he believes it’s not the sound of the giant cephalopod.
Anyway, that’s a mystery I hope to see solved one day.
Category: Technology