GIANT OCTOPUS ATTACK

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1919-03-23/ed-1/seq-34/#words=monsters+monster+Monster

DAVEY CURTIS: Giant Pacific octopus in Tynemouth Aquarium

Dear Jon,

I hope this is of some interest to you.

As it was the last day of Rosie's school holidays we took her to the Tynemouth Aquarium. I don't know if you agree with these type of places or not, but from what I could see their hearts are in the right place and they do seem to have had some fantastic success stories in breeding rare and endangered fish. Anyway, here is some footage of what I thought was their star exhibit, The Giant Pacific Octopus.

As the Octopus is light sensitive I turned the light off on my camera so the footage does not do this magnificent creature justice.

The colours and texure were just out of this world! I could have stood there for hours but I was blocking the kids having a look so I moved on to the sting rays and said a prayer for the Crocodile hunter Steve Irwin instead.

Regards

Davey C

LIZ CLANCY: Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus

It is fortuitous that Nick Molloy was recently the interviewee for Oll's series, Five Questions on Cryptozoology, for I recently borrowed a DVD from Blockbuster simply because its theme mirrored that of Nick's book, Predator Deathmatch (which I urge you all to buy as it's fantastic!).

Just as in his book Nick pits famous carnivores against each other in imaginary but well researched fights to the death, so does the aptly named film Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. I don't remember this coming out in the cinema and after watching it, have come to the conclusion that this is because it's trash.

Starring American soap actor Lorenzo Lamas and one of Darren Day's many ex-girlfriends (Deborah Gibson - no, I'd never heard of her, either), this cobblers was penned by Jack Perez (he wrote an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess), who also directed. It tells the story of a group of friends who try to stop a megalodon and a giant octopus from destroying humanity, by getting them to destroy each other. Said beasties were apparently frozen alive mid-battle during the last ice age and due to global warming (Emma suggests their survival is "our comeuppance") have been defrosted to wreak prehistoric havoc on an unsuspecting twenty-first century.

A little far-fetched this plot may be, but stranger things have worked in film; this was an opportunity sorely missed. We were 'treated' to a cast of stereotypes - the sexy academic, the foreign academic, the anti-hero who is racist towards the foreign academic and the token charming Irishman.

The most ridiculous part of the film was when the mega shark leapt from the ocean and bit a jumbo jet in half.

I suppose it did have some redeeming features: the script was so bad I at least got a good laugh. In retaliation to yet another racist jibe from the government bloke in charge of the 'kill the monsters' operation, the Irish man replies "Megalodon don't discriminate," and the Chinese scientist adds, "Yes, he's an equal opportunities eating machine." And then when challenged over the likelihood of success in their plan to lure the creatures to a secure location by faking the scent of potential mates, it is pointed out that "Those guys have been frozen in ice for millions of years; wouldn't you be a little horny?"

Apart from the fact that it has given me the opportunity to plug Nick's book, that film stole two hours (it actually felt more like ten) of my life that I will never get back so if readers see it in their local video shop, they are advised to do a quick about-turn. You have been warned....

RICHARD FREEMAN: STRANGE TALES OF JAPANESE OCTOPI

Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai painted the picture Dream of a Fisherman’s Wife in 1820. The picture depicts a beautiful Japanese woman being sexually ravaged by a giant octopus. It may seem strange to westerners, but it is not an unusual image for Japanese culture, because somehow octopi have a hold on the Japanese imagination.

Several monster octopi turn up in their legends

Akkorokamui

In the legends of the Ainu people, the original inhabitants of Japan, this was a monster resembling a giant octopus or fish. It lurked in Funka Bay and adjacent waters off southwestern Hokkaido.

The 19th century Englishman and missionary John Batchelor, who lived among the Ainu , wrote firsthand a journal entry of an alleged actual incident concerning an apparent Akkorokamui in his book The Ainu and their Folklore.

In the morning, we found the whole village under a cloud. Three men, it was said, were out trying to catch swordfish, when all at once a great sea monster, with large staring eyes, appeared in front of them and proceeded to attack the boat. A desperate fight ensued. The monster was round in shape, and emitted a dark fluid and noxious odor. The three men fled in dismay, not so much indeed for fear, they say, but on account of the dreadful smell. However that may have been, they were so scared that the next morning all three refused to get up and eat; they were lying in their beds pale and trembling.

Another old 19th century account was made by a Japanese fisherman and was translated by cryptozoologist Brent Swancer.

And I saw ahead something huge and red undulating under the waves. I at first thought my eyes deceived me and that I was merely seeing the reflection of sun upon the water, but as I approached, I could see that in fact it was an enormous monster, 80 meters in length at least, with large, thick tentacles as big around as a man’s torso. The thing fixed me with a huge, staring eye before sinking out of sight into the depths.

Thomas Beal, a surgeon on a British Whaling ship, described being attacked by a huge octopus whilst on the Bonin Islands off southern Japan in 1835. He was rescued by his shipmates.

Another Englishman, Arthur Grimbal was also attacked but saved by his colleagues.

The Pacific octopus may reach 7 meters across the tentacle span but it does not seem large or aggressive enough to account for these sightings. Could we be dealing with a huge, unknown species?

Nurarihyon

In early legends from Okayama prefecture, Nurarihyon (whose name means slippery and strange) was an aquatic yokai from the Seto Inland Sea. He was said to look like a giant octopus or jellyfish and dived beneath the surface if humans came too close.

By the Edo period Nurarihyon had radically changed. He was then supposed to be the supreme commander of the yokai. For all this he is an unassuming, harmless and rather pleasant fellow. He resembled a green skinned man with an enlarged head shaped somewhat like a cabbage. In the evenings he entered people’s housed and drank their tea and smoked their tobacco. His manner is so confident he was never questioned.

Tako no nana ashi

An octopus with seven legs. These odd tentacled cephelopods haunted the seashore of Chubu District in the Edo period. They crawled up onto land to dig into graves and feast on rotting flesh.

Tako-ningyou

A human headed octopus captured by fishermen during the Meiji period. Make you wonder whether H P Lovecraft read old Japanese texts.