Sunday, 3 January 2021

15 Unsolved Ocean Mysteries That'll Keep You Up At Night

 

1. The ghost ship Kaz II

The Kaz II was a boat that set sail in 2007 from Australia. It was manned by three sailors and was mysteriously found drifting with the motor still running, a powered-on laptop, and a table completely set with no sign of any foul play... oh, EXCEPT FOR THE MISSING CREW! Coroners have speculated what happened to the men but nothing has ever been proven.


2. The giant cannibal shark

In 2003, scientists decided to tag a 9-foot-long great white shark to study temperature changes in the ocean. Weirdly, several months later, the tag recording the information was found on shore. When researchers looked at the tags information, they were stunned. About four months after the tag was put on, the shark seemed to have dove around 1,900 feet, which suggests it was attacked and eaten by something. But what could eat a 9-foot great white? An even bigger shark, some scientists say.


 

3. Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is the deepest point in all of our oceans, coming in at 36,201 feet deep. That's right, you could stick Mt. Everest on the bottom and it would be COMPLETELY covered by water with an extra 7,000 feet of extra water on top. Because of the sheer size and pressure, only four expeditions have successfully descended. Who knows what's even down there? There's just too much of it!!


4. Baltic Sea anomaly

No, that's not the Millenium Falcon. It was discovered by two researchers using a sonar scan in 2011 some 300 feet deep on the ocean floor of the Baltic Sea. The strange shape led many to believe it was some kind of space craft that had crash landed or a weird natural formation. Even crazier, some now speculate it could be some kind of secret war technology.


5. Unexplained sounds

You know that feeling when you hear a strange noise in the middle of the night? Imagine that, but in the middle of the effing ocean. There are several unexplained noises that have been recorded over the years with two of the most popular being "The Bloop" and "Julia." These sounds have to have been made by very large objects (or possibly creatures), with most scientists believing the sounds are large icebergs scraping the ocean floor. BUT WHAT IF IT'S NOT???





6. The submarine disappearances in 1968


Four separate submarines went inexplicably missing in the SAME exact year. These were the USS Scorpion, a Soviet submarine K-129, a French submarine Minerve, and the INS Dakar. The last two subs disappeared only four days apart. The Minerve has still never been found, even though it only disappeared an hour away from its home port. Is it just coincidence that four giant machines would all have misfortunes the same year, or is it something more sinister?


7. The real Atlantis

Like Sebastian said, "The human world is a mess." So why not try life under the sea? Some say that the lost underwater city of Atlantis has been discovered right off of the island of Delos in Greece. An entire planned town was found with several buildings, courtyards, and so many pieces of pottery.


8. The HMS Daedalus' Sea Serpent

For over twenty minutes, the crew of the HMS Daedalus, a Royal Navy warship, watched what they claim to be a giant, 100-foot-long snake with a dragon's head swim near their boat. Don't trust the Daedalus crew? It was spotted a second time by the American brig Daphne, who even shot at the creature and tried to follow it, only to lose it at sea. Scientists today think they most likely saw a whale, but wouldn't a bunch of experienced sailors know the difference between a whale and a serpent?


9. The Bermuda Triangle

Named for the triangular shape of around 500,000 square miles of ocean between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico, the Bermuda Triangle is one of the most notorious sea legends. When Christopher Colombus first sailed the area he claimed to see a giant ball of light in the sky that crashed into the horizon and made it glow. Soon, all sorts of strange events began being claimed in the area, including several boats disappearing with no one radioing in a distress signal, and in one incident in 1945, an entire squadron of US torpedo bombers vanished into thin air.


10. The Gulf of Mexico's cursed shipwreck

Exxon Mobil was laying pipeline when they happened to stumble upon this shipwreck. That would be the last bit of good luck to happen near this site. A team was assembled to explore the wreckage but nothing ever seemed to go right. The exploration sub malfunctioned right as it was getting ready to go check out the wreck; everything from video monitors going out whenever they fired the thrusters, to sonar breaking, to hydraulics going haywire one after another. Next, the Navy sent a researcher sub that basically self destructed its own rover upon entering the water, and when it finally got to the wreck, its arms were too short to reach anything. These are only some of the many attempts and spectacular failures that this cursed ship seems to bestow on all ye who enter there.


11. The Stronsay Beast

Scotland seems to have the sea beasts on "loch." Not only do they have the now infamous tales of The Loch Ness Monster, but, back in 1808, a strange carcass washed up on the shores of Stronsay that many believe be another Plesiosaurus. Scientists speculate that it was a 36-foot-long decaying basking shark, but do basking sharks have paw-like fins with articulating joints, like the eyewitnesses reported seeing on the creature?


12. The Phantom Island of Bermeja

An island called Bermeja was found on several maps and charts throughout the 16th century to the present, however, when recent surveyors went out to explore the area in 2009, the island had mysteriously vanished. This occurrence is called "Phantom Islands" and has happened with many different marked map locations over the years. Did the islands never exist? Did the US government blow the island up to expand the US hold on the oil-rich Gulf like some conspiracy theorists believe? Is this Wonder Woman's home island, Themyscira? We may never know.


13. Devil’s Sea

Want to never go out on a boat again? Look no further than than the Devil's Sea. It is one of the twelve vile vortices (or vortexes) of the world right up there with the Bermuda Triangle. It's a place where planes drop from the sky like birds and large methane deposits cause gas explosions. It's also where the US lost over 20 submarines during WWII and ships that are twice as big as the Titanic go missing.


14. Yonaguni Monument

These giant stair-like structures were discovered in 1985 and have been causing controversy ever since. Many believe them to be man-made from some ancient civilization, but some believe them to just be rare natural formations. These stone giants are over 165-feet-long and 65-feet-wide. All I know is I definitely don't want to meet the thing that is large enough to use those steps.


15. The Kraken

Everyone picture a school bus. Now imagine a squid that size. It's not a great picture, huh? Well back in 1870, a giant squid washed up in New Zealand. The villagers of the area reported it was the same animal that had grabbed and sunk a canoe previously. The squid's mantle, that cone shaped thing at the top of its head, was more than 9 feet long. A scientist today has concluded that this means that giant squids could reach lengths between 19 to 90 feet long. He says that top number may be a little high, but that he can conservatively say 66-feet-long squids are not out of the question.