by Matt Martin
Modern people are skeptical by nature. Maybe that’s because
we grew up reading, listening to, and watching fantastical stories, only to
discover the real world isn’t as exciting. Monsters are not real. Magic is not
real. Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and Hanukkah Hank. But just because Santa
isn’t a magical elf overlord, it doesn’t mean there wasn’t a real life
individual who did some breaking and entering and left gifts in his wake.
Let’s give our skepticism a dose of reality and take a look
at ten (and a bonus and competition) supposedly mythical things that actually
existed, or that have had real world equivalents.
Theories as to what inspired stories of dragons include lost
crocodiles and dinosaur bones, but we can’t call these real dragons because
humans never encountered dinosaurs, and crocodiles are too small. That’s where
the Megalania comes in, an ancient relative of the Komodo Dragon that
terrorized the Aboriginals of Australia. It grew to lengths of up to twenty-six
feet (eight meters) and weighed up to 4,300 pounds (1.9 tons). Its poisonous
saliva contained a blood thinner that caused its victims to bleed to death.
9 Hobbits
Excavations of a limestone cave on the Indonesia island of
Flores uncovered a three-foot-tall skeleton with a skull one third the size of
a normal human
- a hobbit. Researchers discovered the bones of nine such people,
the youngest of which dates back about 12,000 years. They also found tools and
other signs of civilization. There are skeptics who believe the hobbits are
simply humans that suffered from a growth inhibiting condition such as
microcephaly, but the popular opinion among scientists is that the hobbits are
a separate species like Neanderthals that shared a common ancestor with humans.
Also, Indonesia
has active volcanoes, which you could, say, throw a ring inside if needs be
....
8 Kraken
The Kraken is widely believed to have been inspired by a
giant squid. That’s a little bit of a letdown, isn’t it? With eyes like beach
balls, a giant squid is big for sure, but it lacks a certain .... monstrosity.
It’s not something we could see tearing a boat apart.
But recently a Colossal Squid was discovered in the Southern
Ocean. It’s estimated to be about forty-six feet (fourteen meters) in length
and its beak and eyes are bigger than that of a giant squid. What sets it apart
from other squids: in addition to suckers, its limbs are lined with sharp
hooks, some that swivel and others that have three points. Now that could do
some damage.
7 Amazon Women
You’ve no doubt heard of the Amazons
- exclusively female
tribes of fierce warriors who are best known for getting wild with Hercules.
The Greek historian Herodotus wrote of the fate of the Amazons, saying that
they were captured, relocated, overcame their captors, became shipwrecked, and
then ended up on the Eurasian Steppe where they fought the Scythians. Thinking
the Amazons would make strong wives, The Scythian men decided to fight the next
battle on the field of love. The dwindling Amazons eventual agreed to
inter-marry with the Scythians as long as their daughters were encouraged to
continue the proud tradition of the woman warrior.
Herodotus has been known to embellish history, so it’s best
not to believe him unless he’s backed by archaeological evidence. And he is.
Ancient graves unearthed in the Eurasian Steppe reveal that a good portion of
the Scythian women had battle-damaged bones, and that they were buried with
swords, bows, daggers and other staples of the warrior.
6 Dire Wolf
The Dire Wolf has appeared in many role-playing games, and
maybe you’ve read (or seen) them most recently on Game of Thrones. In real
life, dire wolves existed alongside early man and the mega-fauna in the
Pleistocene Age. They were larger than the average wolf, stronger, and had
sharper teeth.
But when the mega-fauna began to go extinct, dire wolves
lost their primary food source. They were too slow to hunt the smaller prey
that modern grey wolves feasted upon, which forced them to become scavengers - something
they weren’t really built for. Eventually they died out.
5 Scylla and Charybdis
On Odysseus’ voyage, he had to steer his ship through a
narrow strait that had a monster close to either shore. On one side was Scylla,
a multi-headed beast that plucked crew from the deck. On the other side was
Charybdis, a sea monster that sucked ships to the depths using a whirlpool.
Odysseus opted to sail nearby Scylla, thinking it would be better to lose a few
men instead of the whole ship.
The Straits of Messina run between Sicily and the Italian mainland. It is here
that Scylla and Charybdis lived. Charybdis is an actual whirlpool minus the
monster, and its current is weaker than the legends would have you believe. On
the other side of the strait are rocky shoals believed to have inspired the
heads of Scylla. In reality, it looks like Odysseus might have been better off
choosing Charybdis.
4 Berserkers
Berserkers aren’t just a character build from Skyrim, they
first appeared in old Norse poems and were feared warriors in their day. But
how did they obtain supernatural strength and invulnerability? Surely their
legendary battle frenzies were not more than embellished stories? The stories
were true. Berserkers achieved their frenzy by chasing a dragon of a different
sort. They took intoxicating drugs before battle
- most likely hallucinogens - that
made them fearless, stronger and dull to pain and danger. Researchers have
discovered that the drug bufotenine is capable of reproducing the berserk rage.
3 Tower of Babel
Unlike the Hanging Gardens, there is archaeological evidence at the
dig-site of Babylon to support that
Nebuchadnezzar II commissioned the Tower
of Babel. You can see its
remnants here.
Only it wasn’t a place of babbling gibberish that was
destroyed by God. It was a ziggurat named Etemenanki, a temple to the god
Marduk that was later destroyed by Alexander the Great. He wished to rebuild it
in his image, but died before that could happen. Many people subsequently tried
to rebuild it in their own images, each time tearing down what had been rebuilt
to start anew. But nobody ever finished it. It looks like this place ended up
representing humankind’s inability to work together after all.
2 Moby Dick and Captain Ahab
Not only was Moby Dick inspired by an actual giant white
sperm whale, but the real one was infinitely more badass. He was named Mocha
Dick, perhaps because he lived near the island of Mocha.
He came off victorious against a hundred whaling ships, sending some in
splinters to the bottom of the sea. He also took on three whaling ships at once
and won.
Captain Ahab was also inspired by a man living around the
same time as Mocha Dick. Captain Pollard didn’t seek revenge after his ship was
wrecked by a whale, forcing him and his crew to resort to cannibalism to
survive, but he did go back out to sea as the captain of a new ship that
also was sunk - this time by a storm. He spent his remaining years as a night
watchman.
1 Imoogi
Korean legends speak of Imoogi - enormous pythons believed to
be juvenile dragons. It is said that the Imoogi lived in water or caves, and
had to survive for a thousand years before they could ascend to heaven and
become true, fully-formed dragons.
Although it existed in South America and not Korea, there
was a python of such gigantic proportions that we might mistake it for a young
dragon. The Titanoboa was roughly 46 feet (14 meters) in length and weighed
over a ton. It constricted at a force of 400psi, which is like having 1.5 times
the Brooklyn Bridge on top of you, and it could
swallow a human without even showing a bulge. They went extinct long ago, but
we like to think that they ascended to dragon-hood.
+ Krishna’s City of Dwarka
According to legend, Krishna (Hindu equivalent of Jesus)
ruled over the city of Dwarka
- until
it was swallowed by the sea. For Hindus, finding the Lost City of Dwarka would
be like finding the Holy Grail or the Arc of the Covenant.
Archaeologists have discovered a sunken city off the shores
of India.
Stone reliefs found in this city have not only indicated that it is in fact
Dwarka, the oldest city in history, but that it was ruled by a flesh and blood
Lord Krishna.
Source : http://listverse.com
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