Monstrum

Join Emily Zarka, Ph.D. on a journey to discover humans’ unique drive to create and shape monster mythology through oral storytelling, literature and film.

Curated by: Storied (110 videos)


Currently Playing: Release the Kraken! Origins of the Legendary Sea Monster | Monstrum

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateStoried ↓ More info below ↓ Don’t miss future episodes of Monstrum, subscribe! http://bit.ly/pbsstoried_sub This massive tentacled beast of the deep has terrorized sailors and seafarers for hundreds of years. But with real life giant cephalopods found in every ocean on earth, is the Kraken really just a myth? The ocean is a terrifying force of nature, filled with mysterious creatures that helped inspire the human imagination to construct a monster of epic proportions. Dr. Zarka looks at the history of the Kraken since the time of the Ancient Nordic, and admits her own fear of giant squid. Are you afraid of the Kraken? You might be after this episode! #kraken #seamonster #Monstrum Written and Hosted by: Dr. Emily Zarka Director: David Schulte Executive Producer: Amanda Fox Producer: Stephanie Noone Illustrator: Samuel Allen Editor: Dano Johnson Produced by Spotzen for PBS Digital Studios. Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monstrumpbs/ ----------- BIBLIOGRAPHY: “Ein Ungeheuer Im Meere.” Globus, XII.2, 1867. Heuvelmans, Bernard. The Kraken and the Colossal Octopus: In the Wake of Sea-monsters. Kegan Paul International, 2003. Hugo, Victor. The Toilers of the Seawith One Hundred and Fifty Illustrations from Designs by Chifflart, D. Vierge and Victor Hugo. G. Routledge & Sons, c. 1887. Kaplan, Matt. The Science of Monsters: The Origins of the Creatures We Love to Fear, Scribner, 2013. Lee, Henry. Sea Monsters Unmasked. London: Clowes, 1883. Linnaeus, Carl. Systema Naturæ per regna tria naturæ, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis, 10th ed. Stockholm: Laurentius Salvius, 1735. Olaus, Magnus. A compendious history of the Goths, Swedes, & Vandals, and other nothern nations. London: J. Streater, 1658. Paxton, C.G.M. “Unleashing the Kraken: on the maximum length in giant squid (Architeuthis sp.).” Journal of Zoology, Ed. Andrew Kitchener, 300, 2016. Starkey, Lindsay J. “Why Sea Monsters Surround the Northern Lands: Olaus Magnus’s Conception of Water.” Preternature: Critical and Historical Studies on the Preternatural, 6.1, 2017. Tennyson, Alfred. “The Kraken.” Poems, 1862. Verne, Jules. The Annotated Jules Verne: Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea. Ed. Walter James Miller, Crowell, 1976.


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