All language subtitles for Holy.Marvels.with.Dennis.Quaid.S02E04.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

[mysterious music]

- Tonight, legendary tales
of beasts so terrifying

they've generated stories
told for thousands of years.

- What's absolutely fascinating

is that almost every
culture on Earth

has stories of demons, and
devils, and hellish beasts.

- [Dennis] From giant creatures
able to swallow humans alive...

- Jonah spends the next
three days and nights

in the belly of this beast,
praying to God for deliverance.

- To monsters of the deep

that attack both
ships and sailors.

- It's said to roam
the deepest oceans,

and it can take down entire
ships in one fell swoop.

- To a fallen angel
who exemplifies evil.

- Satan wants to populate hell

by drawing humanity into sin

so that they will also be
trapped there for eternity.

- Is it possible these accounts

are more than just
cautionary tales?

- Pope Francis said,

"There is no shadow of
a doubt a battle exists

in which the eternal salvation
of us all is at stake."

- Many believe
that mayhem happens

when dark beasts are unleashed.

These are some of the stories.

[dramatic music]

- They're known today as
an army of evil beings

sent to torment humans,

unholy creatures who are
both feared and loathed.

Almost every culture
has its own version.

But they share one
trait, malevolence.

[tense music]

- Demons may be the most famous
religious monsters we have.

They can shapeshift
to deceive humans,

they can trick people
into worshiping them,

and they can inflict
physical torture.

- These are evil spirits usually
in league with the devil.

They're out to do
the devil's work.

This is a very modern
conception of the word demon.

- [Dennis] Surprisingly, demons
haven't always been depicted

as bad.

- We get the word "demon"
from the ancient Greeks.

Their word daemon
originally refers to

all kinds of different spirits
that interact with people.

Daemones could do bad things,

but often instead they
would guide people,

provide wisdom,
even protect them.

- Socrates famously claims
that he had his own daemon

that inspired some of
his famous writings,

acting more like a divine guide

than a demon in
the modern sense.

- [Dennis] Other civilizations
have similar stories.

- In ancient Mesopotamia,

beings called utukku could
bring sickness or even death.

But the Mesopotamians also
believed in protective spirits

that could counteract
these bad ones.

And then in Egypt, you have
a character named Bes,

who's a dwarf-like
protector demon

who actually scares
away evil spirits.

- In Islamic mythology,

there are these invisible
demons called djinn.

And they can take the form
of either humans or animals.

They originate from
this smokeless fire

existing in this parallel world.

Djinn are neither
inherently good or evil.

They can be
malevolent, benevolent.

They can be mischievous.

- [Dennis] In Europe at
least, that all changes

by the time the King James
Bible is published in 1611.

Written under royal
supervision by 47 scholars,

this new version attempts
to remove inaccuracies

in earlier translations
from Hebrew.

It also advances a new
and frightening definition

of demon behavior.

- So after this
translation of the Bible,

demons are everywhere
in the New Testament.

Suddenly Satan's forces are
causing physical illnesses,

like the inability to walk,
the inability to see,

the inability to speak.

And they're actually
causing demonic possession.

- [Dennis] Possession is
when an evil or dark spirit

allegedly takes over someone
without their consent.

The King James Bible
counts several instances

of this phenomenon, most
famously involving Jesus.

- Jesus himself encounters
demons dozens of times

in the Gospels.

And in fact, one of
the most famous stories

is retold in Matthew,
Mark, and Luke.

Jesus and his disciples
meet a guy who's possessed.

He's been cutting
himself with stones,

running around naked, and
nobody can control him,

Not even with chains,
he just breaks free.

The people in the area
are terrified of him.

- When the man sees Jesus, he
immediately starts yelling.

But it's not really
him speaking,

it's the demons inside him.

- Jesus asked the demon,
"What is your name?"

And the man responds with,

"My name is Legion,
for we are many."

Now, remember, Roman military

would have about
5,000 for a legion,

so there's like a whole
lot of demons in this man.

- Jesus, being the Son of
God, scares the demons off

and the man is
totally transformed.

He finally puts his clothes on

and he is back in
his right mind again.

- This is one of several stories
of Jesus casting out demons.

And these kinds of tales
have a huge influence.

Scholars begin
writing many books

about how to identify
demons, how to avoid demons,

how to combat demons.

- [Dennis] Eventually,
the Catholic church

compiles all this research into
an official handbook in 1614

called the "Roman Ritual."

- It lists some
signs of possession,

which include superhuman
strength, knowledge of events

or people the person possessed
couldn't have known about,

and speaking in
unknown languages.

- [Dennis] It also
suggests the best way

to get rid of
demons, exorcisms.

- There's a very detailed,
step-by-step process

to an official exorcism.

First, you have to identify
that there is actually a demon

because it will
try to hide itself.

Plus, you don't wanna
mistake a medical condition

for demonic possession.

- [Dennis] Over the years,

religious figures have performed
thousands of exorcisms,

including one that
inspires Hollywood.

- One of the most famous cases
in America happens in 1949

with this teenage
boy in Maryland,

who the Catholic
church has identified

by the pseudonym
Robbie Mannheim.

Robbie begins exhibiting
strange behavior.

He is throwing tantrums.

Disturbingly, people
reported seeing objects

and even furniture moving
around the room by itself.

- When psychologists can't
explain his behavior,

priests are called in.

- Father William S.
Bowdern leads an exorcism

with several other clergymen.

Spontaneously, scratched
words like evil and hell

appears on the boy's body.

He starts speaking in Latin

despite not knowing
the language.

All of this is evidence
for the priests

that powerful demons
are inside of Robbie.

- Once the demon is identified,

a process called
the clash begins.

The priest conducting
the exorcism

wages a spiritual battle,

including certain
prayers, and chants,

or tools like rosaries, or
crucifixes, or holy water.

And if the exorcist
is successful,

the demon is expelled.

- It actually took a
second round of exorcisms

to fully rid Robbie of
this demonic possession.

During a second exorcism,

he even slipped out
of his restraints

and broke one of
the priest's nose.

Ultimately, the exorcism
was declared a success

and Robbie went on to
live a fairly normal life.

- The Robbie Manheim exorcism

actually inspires
the famous novel

and later Hollywood
movie, "The Exorcist."

- [Dennis] It's a
ritual Catholic priests

still practice today.

- The exorcism guidelines
were revised in 1999,

but they remain fairly
close to the 1614 version.

- The demand for exorcisms

has actually increased
in recent years

due to the rise of
secularism, they say,

and occult practices
which the church believes

opens people up to
demonic influences.

- [Dennis] And Catholicism
isn't the only religion

that casts out demons.

- Jews, and Christians, and
Muslims believe that exorcism

is a serious and sacred right,

a desperate attempt
to save a soul.

- As frightening as demons are,

many serve the most terrifying
evil creature of all, Satan.

[ominous music]

- If you look up Satan or
the devil on the internet,

you'll probably pull up
images of a red monster

with horns and wings,
maybe carrying a pitchfork.

That's a picture that's become
iconic not only in religion

but across pop culture as well.

- Outside of God and Jesus,

Satan is arguably the
most recognizable figure

in Christianity.

Satan is the personification
of pure evil.

- In the Christian tradition,

Satan is a beautiful
angel named Lucifer

who rebels against God

and leads a third of the angels
with him in a war in heaven

and is defeated and is
cast down into hell.

Even in hell, Satan
doesn't learn his lesson

and wants to populate hell
by drawing humanity into sin

so that they will also be
trapped there for eternity.

so that they will also be
trapped there for eternity.

- [Dennis] While this is the
devil we've come to know,

he didn't start out that way.

- For centuries, one
name has evoked fear,

fascination, and debate: Satan.

But who is this figure?

And how did he come to
embody everything we fear

about darkness and temptation?

- The term Satan comes from
the Hebrew word Ha-Satan,

which actually means "the
accuser" or "the adversary."

The word appears more than 20
times in the Old Testament,

referring to a being
dispatched by God

as an instrument of judgment.

- The first instance
of the term Ha-Satan

occurs in the Book of Numbers,

when God sends a Satan

to confront the
greedy prophet Balaam

who's planning to
curse the Israelites.

And this Satan actually acts
as a kind of employee of God.

He's under his command.

- Ha-Satan's role as an
instrument of God's judgment

is further established
in the Book of Job.

Satan and God are having
this conversation about Job.

Job is a man whose favored by
God for his righteousness.

Satan starts questioning
Job's integrity,

saying that Job is only good

because God has given
him such good fortune.

It's not because of
Job's great faith in God.

- So there's a bet
between God and Satan

about how far Job can be
pushed before he renounces God.

And Satan is given permission
to destroy Job's family,

his property, inflict
all kinds of illnesses

and pain on his body.

- And if you've read the Bible,

you know that in the face
of losing everything he has,

Job actually doubles down
on his faith in God,

proving Satan wrong.

- [Dennis] In later books
of the Old Testament,

Satan begins to transform.

- Satan eventually
becomes so enamored

with his own greatness,
and beauty, and power,

that he decides he is the
one that should be worshiped

and not God.

- And this all leads up
to the Book of Isaiah,

when we finally hear
the familiar tale

of a former angel called Lucifer
who is cast out of heaven

for aspiring to be even
more powerful than God.

- He's said to be banished
by God to the, quote,

"lowest depths of the pit."

- But even in this story,

he's still not the kind
of powerful evil force

that we think of him today.

He's actually powerless

because God has complete
authority over him.

- The reason is that a
lot of the Old Testament

is written by Israelite
Jewish authors

for an audience of
Israelite Jewish readers.

And they really don't
have a concept of Satan

as this independent entity
that could stand up to God.

That would fly in the face

of everything they
believe about God,

that he is all powerful
and stands alone.

- [Dennis] That changes
in the New Testament.

- In the Gospels of
Matthew, Mark, and Luke,

we start seeing a
darker, stronger,

and more independent
side to Satan.

In Matthew, Satan tries to
tempt Jesus in the wilderness,

offering worldly power in
exchange for worshiping him.

And it seems like
Satan is doing this

without God's authorization.

- Now, we see Satan in
this role as a tempter

and as a corrupter, trying
to lure people away from God,

even God's own son.

- From there, it gets worse.

The Gospels describe
Satan causing illnesses,

including fever, and
leprosy, and even arthritis.

And his main goal is to
turn humankind toward evil.

- By the time you get to
the Book of Revelation,

Satan's transformation
is complete,

into a full fledged
evil enemy of God,

and he has a whole new look.

He takes the form of a great
red dragon with seven heads,

10 horns, and a massive tail.

He eventually wages war against
the righteous and loses,

getting cast into a
lake of fire to die.

- [Dennis] By the fifth century
AD, thanks to the writing

of influential theologians
like St. Augustine,

the concept of the devil
as pure evil is set.

- He's given ominous names,
like Samael and Beelzebub.

And he's retroactively
associated

with all kinds of evil
acts in the Bible.

Soon, writers are offering
whole new interpretations

of Bible passages, especially
the Book of Genesis.

And they now suggest
that Satan was present

in the story of
the Garden of Eden.

- We have the snake
who tempts Adam and Eve

with the apple of knowledge.

So that snake, for so many
Christians, is now Satan.

- And as this
re-imagining of the devil

is happening in
the fifth century,

Christianity is spreading like
wildfire throughout Europe.

So this is a version of Satan
that spreads along with it.

- And then, Europe
hits the Dark Ages

between the 5th
and 10th centuries.

Living conditions for
most people at this time

are quite bleak, and people
are more than willing

to blame Satan for everything
bad that's going on.

- [Dennis] But something
surprising happens

around the 14th century.

- After 900 years or so of
Satan being the most feared

and despised creature
in existence,

people do a 180 on him.

He becomes a joke.

- During this time, we do
start to see images in art

of Satan with his horns, cloven
hooves, tail, and pitchfork.

But it's not done to
make Satan look scary.

It's done to make
him look ridiculous.

- [Dennis] In 1260,
Satan is featured

in a medieval bestseller
called "The Golden Legend."

- "The Golden Legend"
is this compilation

of encounters between
the saints and Satan.

It's almost like Wile E. the
Coyote versus the Road Runner.

It's an endless tale
of back and forth

in which Satan is duped
and fooled by the saints.

More copies of
"The Golden Legend"

survive from the Middle
Ages, more than the Bible,

more than any other book.

It was that popular.

- Even in Catholic writer
Dante Alighieri's famous work,

"Inferno," which is written
during the early 1300s,

Satan isn't frightening.

Instead, he's portrayed
as a once powerful demon

that's been reduced to a
grotesque, weak, silent creature

who suffers the same punishments
as all other sinners.

- [Dennis] Then, a
devastating period in history

renews Satan's
fierce reputation.

He is blamed for causing
the infamous Black Death.

- One of the most
eventful things to happen

to medieval Europe was various
plagues around the 1300s.

The Black Death was
said to have killed

almost a third of the
population of Europe.

- In the wake of the plague,

people are praying
to the church,

protect us from the evil that
Satan has unleashed upon us.

By the time that the first wave
of the Black Death has ended,

this age-old fear of the
devil is once again ascendant.

In places like England

that were hit especially
hard by the plague,

Christian sects begin to form

with the goal of living as
pious a life as possible

to escape the wrath of Satan.

- [Dennis] The Puritans bring
this view to the new world.

- They come from England
when the panic around Satan

is in full swing.

And they settle in New England

and they start seeing Satan
everywhere around them.

These are extremely
religious people

who move to an
unfamiliar wilderness.

There are strange
beasts all around them.

Wolves had gone extinct
in England by the 1500s,

and their wild nighttime howling

is freaking out the Puritans,

who believe that these wolves
are in league with the devil.

- John Winthrop,
the first governor

of the Massachusetts Bay Colony,

claims that the devil made
rebellious Puritan women

give birth to stillborn monsters
with claws and sharp horns.

Other Puritans write
that the Native Americans

are worshipers of Satan

and describe them as, quote,
"children of the devil."

Some settlers even claim to
have seen Satan in the flesh

at Native American ceremonies.

- [Dennis] The fear of
Satan is so overwhelming

that in 1692, the
Massachusetts colony

executes 19 people believed
to comport with the devil.

Known as the Salem witch trials,

these tribunals eventually
launch endless books,

plays, and movies.

- Ever since the tragic
events of the witch trials,

the idea of an evil Satan, a
beast unleashed on mankind,

has remained firmly rooted in
literature and pop culture.

- All you have to do

is turn on your
television or your radio

or log into your favorite
social media site

and you're going to
find depictions of hell.

You're gonna find the
devil and his minions

running around with
their pitchforks.

You're gonna find fire,
flames, darkness, brimstone,

all of these catastrophic,

eternal punishments
raining down.

- [Dennis] According
to a recent poll,

41% of people worldwide
believe in a literal devil.

- In October of 2013,
Pope Francis said,

"There is no shadow of
a doubt a battle exists,

a battle in which the
eternal salvation of us all

is at stake."

- Not every legendary
monster is a fallen angel

or a dark spirit
with evil intent.

Some biblical beasts
are allegedly

unleashed by God himself.

But is there evidence
that any are real?

- In the beginning, God creates
the heavens and the earth,

Adam and Eve, the
Garden of Eden.

He also creates all the animals.

And apparently, one of them

is a real, honest to
goodness monster.

[tense music]

- It's in the Book of Job

that we get this
terrifying introduction

to this beast known
as the Leviathan,

a massive sea creature
that God himself creates

on the fifth day of creation.

It has scales, it has
teeth, it is huge,

it has this massive tail,
and it breathes fire,

just like the giant dragon
in "Game of Thrones."

- [Dennis] The Leviathan
is portrayed as a beast

no human can subdue.

- In one account in Job,
of Leviathan's power,

when a group of warriors
is crossing the sea,

the beast rises up.

The very sight of it
terrifies these mighty men

to the point that they're
absolutely beside themselves

with despair.

It doesn't matter what
weapons they try to use,

swords and spears,
arrows, slings, stones,

they're all powerless
against Leviathan.

- [Dennis] Remarkably,
tales of scary sea monsters

are not unique to the Bible.

- The Leviathan
shares similarities

with several other monsters
that predate the Bible

across multiple
ancient cultures,

like the hydra in
Greek mythology.

This legendary creature

is a giant sea snake
with nine heads,

which represents the
idea of evil and danger.

- In Egyptian mythology, we
have a creature called Apep,

who is described as either
a serpent or a dragon

that also is invincible

and has stone-like scales
protecting its skin.

- The Babylonians also have
a primordial sea goddess

named Tiamat,

who's often depicted as
a chaotic sea monster

that's beaten down by a God,

kind of similar to how only God

can kill Leviathan in the Bible.

- If all these religions
across thousands of years

describe a similar
monstrous beast,

maybe it was inspired by
something they all saw.

- [Dennis] One of the ancient
world's best known authors

writes about such a
beast around 77 AD.

- In his book "Natural History,"

the famous Roman naturalist
and philosopher Pliny the Elder

describes the bones of a monster

put on display in
Rome's largest theater.

[dramatic music]

This beast is said to
be over 40 feet long,

with each rib taller
than an elephant,

and the bones of its spine
one and a half feet thick.

We should note that the skeleton

was actually found near Judea,

which is the same area where
the Bible's Book of Job

was probably written.

- Pliny the Elder goes on
to describe the discovery

of other larger
than life animals,

including a washed up
carcass with 120 teeth

that are each six
to nine inches long.

These finds confirm that
the geographical region

around the Mediterranean,
the Middle East,

have been home to
some big creatures.

- The bones haven't survived

and the physical
descriptions are too vague

to classify these animals.

But here's the thing about
unidentified species.

They don't always
stay unidentified.

In 1719, Robert Darwin,

the great-grandfather
of Charles Darwin,

contacts the Royal Society of
London, a group of scientists,

with an unusual find

that sounds a lot like what
they had on display in Rome.

He's located a rock that has
strange bones embedded in it.

- At the time, they can't
figure out what it is,

but today we know it's part
of a Plesiosaur skeleton.

Plesiosaurs are large
marine reptiles

that went extinct about
66 million years ago.

They're known to grow
up to 50 feet in length.

They have long necks
and flippered bodies

that give them a serpent-like
or dragon-like appearance.

- Some historians believe

that the so-called monster
bones found in Rome and Greece

were from prehistoric reptiles,

plesiosaurs,
dinosaurs, you name it.

Today we know of many
scary extinct species

with terrifying teeth
and massive size.

- From the time that
the Bible was written

all the way up until
the 19th century,

discoveries like this

were thought to be
from unknown monsters.

It isn't until 1822 that
a fossil is identified

as an ancient extinct
reptile species.

And it's not until 1842

that this category
of dinosaur is named.

- [Dennis] Whether humans
feared a real creature

or a metaphorical one,

the legend of the
Leviathan lives on.

- The word Leviathan
has become synonymous

with anything that is
gigantic and formidable.

- Marvel comics borrowed
the name Leviathan

for an evil, powerful
government organization.

The name has also lent itself

to roller coasters
and video games.

It's even become a
catchphrase in politics,

used as a metaphor
for governments

that wield absolute control.

- In the end, no
matter the source,

that's most definitely what
the authors of the Bible

were going for when they
wrote about the Leviathan,

the symbolism, the power of God,

the recklessness of chaos,

and the fear of the unknown

lurking beneath the depths.

- In legends shared
around the globe,

deities unleash all kinds
of beasts against humans,

from dragons, to huge
creatures called behemoths,

to sea monsters
like the Leviathan.

Among the most famous is
the tale of one small human

and a mighty whale.

Is it possible
this story is true?

- You've probably heard
the story of Jonah.

A guy gets swallowed by a whale,

lives in its stomach for three
days, and then gets spit out.

It sounds terrifying.

What must this guy have done
to deserve such a punishment?

But as we learn from
the Book of Jonah,

it's not actually a
punishment, it's his salvation.

- According to the Bible,
Jonah's story begins

with a command from God

that he travel to
the city of Nineveh

and warn the people to repent
from their evil deeds.

But Jonah is hesitant

because he's not a big
fan of these Ninevites,

and he's afraid that
the people will listen.

So instead of following
God's command,

Jonah flees in the
opposite direction.

- Jonah gets on a boat,

and almost immediately,
this intense storm hits.

Jonah has told the sailors
that he's fleeing God's orders,

so they think the
storm is his fault.

So the sailors throw
Jonah overboard,

hoping to calm the waters.

- [Dennis] As it turns
out, God has other plans.

- God sends this large fish,

who swallows Jonah whole
to save him from drowning,

not to devour him.

Jonah doesn't know
what's going on though,

so he spends the next
three days and nights

in the belly of this beast,
praying to God for deliverance,

repenting for his mistake.

- God wasn't trying
to kill Jonah anyway,

but he appreciates the prayers

and has the fish vomit
him up onto dry land.

Jonah finally travels to Nineveh

and follows through
on his mission.

He delivers God's
message of repentance.

The people of Nineveh
heed his warning,

and the entire city is saved
from the power of God's wrath.

- Now here's the first thing

you might not know
about the story.

The Bible never says
God sends a whale.

The original Hebrew text says
that God sends a "dag gadol,"

meaning large fish.

No species is mentioned,

and it's definitely
not called a whale.

- [Dennis] So when and how
does the fish become a whale?

- Some people think that

an English biblical scholar
named William Tyndale

is responsible.

In 1534, he publishes a
translation of the Bible

working from manuscripts
written in both Greek and Latin

but not the original Hebrew.

Tyndale uses the
words ketos and cetis,

translating these to mean whale.

To this day, the study of
whales is called cetology.

- So the word whale

gets into Tyndale's 1611 King
James version of the Bible,

which in turn cemented the whale

as the beast who
swallowed Jonah.

- [Dennis] Whether
a fish or a whale,

some scientists wonder
what could be big enough

to swallow a person.

- There are several
possibilities of whale.

Of course the biggest
ones are blue whales,

thought to be the
largest animals

that have ever existed on Earth.

But their throats
are too narrow.

They would choke on a human.

- Sperm whales have
large enough throats,

but their stomachs are
full of methane, not air.

Some even say, well, what
if it's a whale shark?

It's a fish that feeds
by opening its huge mouth

and swallowing
whatever it can hold,

but they're a little too small.

There really is no animal

that fits the biblical
description perfectly.

And there aren't
too many stories

of people being swallowed by
sea creatures to compare with.

- [Dennis] That is, until
just a few years ago,

when a routine dive in Cape
Cod takes a bizarre turn.

- On June 11th, 2021, a
man named Michael Packard

is diving for
lobsters off Cape Cod,

about 40 feet below the
surface of the ocean,

when something
swallows him whole.

- His world goes black.

At first, Michael is thinking

that he was struck
by a great white,

but as he begins to feel around

and realizes that he's
still in one piece

and he's not surrounded
by razor sharp teeth,

he starts to rethink
his situation.

- About 40 seconds later,

a member of his
crew is on the boat

and he sees a giant sea
creature emerge from the ocean.

It turns out to be
a humpback whale,

and he just spits out
Packard back into the sea.

Packard is rushed
to the hospital

with some minor
soft tissue damage,

but he's got an
incredible story.

And he even goes on Jimmy
Kimmel to retell his tale.

There are plenty of
news articles about it

and most of them reference
Jonah and the whale.

- Humpback whales have
occasionally rammed into boats

or people.

They just don't usually
swallow people whole.

But hey, it happened
at least once,

even though Packard
wasn't in there

for three days and nights.

- [Dennis] Despite
being a short story

in a very short
book of the Bible,

Jonah and the whale has had
significant cultural influence.

- The story of
Jonah and the whale

has inspired numerous
pieces of art and culture.

He appears in Michelangelo's
work "The Prophet Jonah,"

which now graces the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel.

He inspired Rembrandt to
paint portraits of him.

Authors like Herman Melville
penned their famous novels

with direct inspiration from
the story of Jonah itself.

Even "Pinocchio" from Disney

features a massive
whale named Monstro,

which is a direct reference
to the story of Jonah.

- Jonah's story is

more than just a
miraculous survival tale.

It's about human
flaws, second chances,

and the idea that God's
mercy is available to all

no matter how undeserving
they may seem.

- Metaphorically, the whale,

or the big fish,
or whatever it is

is less about the
creature itself

and more about transformation.

Jonah goes from
defiance to repentance,

from despair to redemption,

all within the
belly of the beast.

- Much of what lurks deep in
the ocean remains a mystery,

but one creature

has been feared by sailors
worldwide for centuries.

- The Kraken is a
legendary water beast

of monstrous proportions

that's believed to
have this huge head

and multiple arms or tentacles.

It's said to roam
the deepest oceans,

and it can take down entire
ships in one fell swoop.

- Today, the kraken
is a pop culture icon.

It's in the "Pirates of
the Caribbean" films,

several novels, including John
Wyndham's "The Kraken Wakes,"

and it's even the name
of Seattle's NHL team.

- [Dennis] The earliest
recorded stories

date back about 800 years.

- There's a Norwegian text
called "The King's Mirror"

from the mid-13th century

which is essentially
a sacred guidebook

for the king to pass on
knowledge to his son.

And it includes a
catalog of sea creatures

that sailors might encounter
in the North Atlantic Ocean.

- In this catalog
of sea creatures,

there is a description of a
monster that is so massive,

it is sometimes
mistaken for an island.

And it has the ability
to create whirlpools

that it uses to swallow
sea creatures whole.

- Around the same time,
another saga emerges

where a Viking hero
encounters a giant sea monster

called the Hafgufa.

It's similarly described
as a massive creature

that can consume
ships and whales whole

and is often mistaken for
a reef or a small island

before it strikes.

- Even though this creature
has a different name,

they sound a lot alike.

- [Dennis] Tales of the
beast spread for 500 years

before it gets its famous name.

- In 1752, a Scandinavian
bishop named Erik Pontoppidan

publishes "The Natural
History of Norway."

And in it, we find the first
ever use that we know of

of the term "kraken."

- This book comes out
at just the right time

in the history of science.

This is a period where
scientists are very interested

in cataloging and identifying
different types of animals.

He describes the same creature
from older religious myths,

with massive size,
long tentacles,

and this frightening reputation.

- If you look up the word kraken

in the Norwegian
dictionary today,

it derives from the
root word krake,

which means an
overgrown crooked tree.

And this makes
sense if the beast

is supposed to have
several snaking arms,

like the many branches of a
tree, as the bishop describes.

- In 1801, we get
an illustration

drawn by a French naturalist
named Pierre Denys Montfort.

And he names this illustration
"Colossal Octopus."

And it depicts this
giant octopus-like beast

surrounding a ship,

and it's about to pull
it down into the ocean.

- He also refers to historically
known attacks in 1782,

where 10 warships
were lost at sea

and this was largely
attributed to a kraken.

- So at this point,
what do we have

with descriptions of the kraken?

We have these stories and
we have this illustration.

And around this time, scientists
are dissecting sperm whales

and studying the contents
of their stomachs,

and sometimes these large
tentacles are found.

But still, there
isn't any direct proof

of the Kraken's
existence or what it is.

- [Dennis] All that changes
one day in the 19th century

when a group of sailors
come face to face

with what they believe
is the mythical beast.

- In 1861, a French ship
sailing in the Canary Islands

encounter what they think fits
the description of a kraken.

They're very eager
to capture this

and bring it back to
the scientific community

to prove that the kraken exists.

- So the captain orders
them to fire on the creature

and try to capture it.

They fire muskets,
they launch harpoons,

and they try to ensnare
it with a noose.

The bullets have little effect

on the creature's rubbery body,

but the sailors do manage
to get this noose around it.

- The problem is the
animal is so heavy,

they can't just haul
it onto their ship.

Just as it manages to
escape the sailors' grasp,

a piece of its body they
refer to as its tail

is torn off and brought
aboard with the ropes.

You can imagine the sailors
are disappointed, of course,

that they're unable to
catch a live kraken.

- [Dennis] But it's
enough to ignite tales

of the terrifying kraken
for generations to come.

- Following an 1861 encounter
between a French ship

and a huge sea beast
near the Canary Islands,

interest in a monster
known as the Kraken

reaches a fever pitch.

[suspenseful music]

- The stories of the sailors
who do encounter a kraken

basically do the modern
equivalent of going viral.

The existence of a frightening,
unidentified, giant squid

doesn't just inspire scientists,

it inspires the
public worldwide.

- From this point, the
Kraken and the giant squid

are forever linked,

and articles begin
to describe them

as one and the same thing.

This eventually leads

to several other popular
works of literature.

- Victor Hugo writes about
the Kraken around 1866,

and then in 1870,
Jules Verne comes along

and makes it infamous

with his "Twenty Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea."

In it, an unnamed giant squid
becomes locked in a battle

with Captain Nemo's
submarine, the Nautilus.

- So at this point,
people are really excited

about the Kraken,

but the scientific community
is not ready to concede

that the giant squid
actually exists.

- [Dennis] From here, face
offs where the sea beasts

become increasingly rare
over the next century.

- Sometimes, a large
squid or part of a squid

will wash ashore or a tentacle
end up in a fisherman's net.

These events are
highly publicized,

and this is part of what
keeps the Kraken's legend

in modern consciousness.

- Throughout the 1980s and '90s,

there are these
scientific expeditions

searching for these giant squid

that they believe are out there,
but they haven't found it.

- [Dennis] In 2004, the
mystery surrounding the Kraken

begins to unravel when two
important things happen.

- A Japanese research
team is able to photograph

a live giant squid in
its natural habitat

off the coast of the Ogasawara
Islands south of Tokyo,

and a 28-foot-long giant squid

is caught off the coast
of the Falkland Islands

and brought to the Natural
History Museum in London

for examination.

- They name it Archie

and it is the most
complete specimen

that we have ever found.

So finally, the giant squid

is acknowledged to
be a real species.

- As of 2011,
about 700 specimens

of giant squid had
been collected,

mostly in the area around
the North Atlantic.

And this is where the original
Norse stories emerged.

Once again, all signs
point to the giant squid

as the creature that
inspired the legend.

- [Dennis] But there might be
an even bigger possibility.

- In 2007, a fishing vessel
called the San Aspiring

is searching for
Chilean sea bass

off the coast of
Antarctica, in the Ross Sea,

when something massive
gets caught in their nets.

- It turns out to be an even
bigger species of squid.

It's the largest known
invertebrate on the planet,

and it's named the
colossal squid.

It takes nine crew members
two hours to drag it on board.

It's frozen and taken
to a New Zealand museum

where it's still on display.

- So a giant squid can
grow to about 45 feet

and weigh about 600 pounds.

The colossal squid is
about the same length

but almost twice as massive,

estimated to reach up
to 1,500 pounds or more

because of its bulky body
and its thicker mantle.

- Both the giant and
the colossal squids

have this massive central eye.

It's the largest eye
in the animal kingdom.

And the colossal squid's
eye is actually bigger

than the giant squid's eye,
measuring over 12 inches.

- The average human eye is
about one inch in diameter.

So if you came face to
face with a colossal squid,

its eye would be about
the size of your head.

It makes sense that encounters
with these creatures

would make terrifying
stories in ancient times.

- Could the colossal
squid be the Kraken

or even some kind
of super Kraken?

In 2023, a mission was launched
to learn more about them

but came up empty handed.

Future expeditions are
planned, and maybe one day

we'll be able to solve this
mystery once and for all.

- Whether it's
Satan or the Kraken,

these legendary beasts
continue to fascinate

and frighten people everywhere.

I'm Dennis Quaid.

Thanks for watching
"Holy Marvels."