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墨書 Inktalez
The ocean is the largest body of water on Earth and one of the most difficult areas to explore in the world.
Since ancient times, human research into the ocean has never ceased, but a series of challenges such as vastly differing water temperatures, endless darkness, unbearable high pressure, and lack of oxygen have hindered our progress, shrouding the sea in a veil of mystery.
Many inexplicable phenomena and sightings of unknown creatures seem to become more plausible here.
From the dragons we are familiar with to the legendary mermaids, these underwater myths are found all over the globe.
Among them, the giant sea monster Lusca from Bahamian folklore is undoubtedly one of the most famous representatives.
Andros Island is the largest island in the Bahamas, renowned for its pure white sandy beaches and turquoise waters.
Inland and surrounding areas of the island lie over 200 deep-sea blue holes.
These blue holes are like sinkholes in the ocean, ranging from depths of 300 to 400 feet, formed at the end of the Ice Age. The melting glaciers combined with rainwater eroded the limestone foundation, and as sea levels rose, the caves were submerged, creating these strange and spectacular sights.
The bottoms of these blue holes are intricate, with many interconnected tunnels between caves.
Locals often advise visiting divers to stay away from these blue holes because beneath that unfathomable surface lives a man-eating sea monster known as Lusca.
There has even been a film about Lusca; a similar creature was featured in the 2010 American science fiction movie Sharktopus, where the monster was inspired by Lusca.
Lusca, also known as the Giant Scylla or Hairy Hand, is typically described in local legends as a half-octopus, half-shark creature.
The creature is massive, measuring between 75 to 200 feet in length, with powerful tentacles covered in suction cups and the ability to change its coloration to blend into its surroundings. It is said to emerge near the Blue Hole at night, suddenly surfacing to attack passing ships.
Legends of this creature are widespread, particularly in the southeastern Bahamas, the Caicos Islands, and along the northern coast of Cuba. Sometimes it is described as a monster that is half-dragon and half-octopus or as an unusually large eel.
Although descriptions of the Lusca vary greatly in folklore, I found that in subsequent sightings, it is mostly characterized as a gigantic octopus or squid.
The famous Lusca International Film Festival in Puerto Rico is named after this sea monster.
In 1863, French traveler Benedict Trevail described an encounter in Chapter 14, "Sea Serpents," of his publication North American Fisheries Art. He recounted meeting an American captain in New York who told him about an attack by a sea monster in 1836 when their ship was attempting to land in the Bahamas.
The captain claimed that the sea monster reached out with its enormous arms and dragged two crew members into the ocean. Despite numerous attempts to rescue them, they were unable to save the two men from its grasp. However, they managed to sever one of the creature's arms, which measured over 10 feet long and was as thick as an adult's body.
Afterward, the captain handed over the monster's arm to Barnum American Museum. Trevail noted that he had seen this specimen stored folded in a large jar filled with alcohol.
Unfortunately, due to renovations at the biodiversity museum and the closure of its virtual exhibits, no further texts or images regarding this specimen could be found. However, this may represent one of the earliest written records of the Lusca.
On the evening of November 30, 1896, two boys riding bicycles discovered a massive object partially buried in the sand along the coast north of the Bahamas near Saint Augustine, Florida. They hurried back to town and reported their findings to American biologist Dewitt Weber.
The next day, Professor Weber arrived at the scene and found a severely decomposed and incomplete animal carcass. The visible portion above the sand measured about 18 feet long and 7 feet wide, with a pale pink hue and a texture resembling hard rubber.
Interestingly, this carcass appeared to have four incomplete limbs, leading Weber to conclude that it likely belonged to some unknown species of giant octopus. The body was swept out to sea by a storm in January 1897 but was washed ashore again on January 15 at Crescent Beach, approximately two miles south of Saint Augustine.
Major newspapers eagerly reported on the monster's story, inviting many scientists to examine it, including Addison Virell, a leading expert on cephalopods at the time. He speculated that it could be a giant squid or giant octopus.
However, as scientists conducted repeated experiments and analyses on the specimen, it was ultimately confirmed in 2004 that this massive mass was a piece of damaged whale skin. Before this, the event had been regarded as tangible evidence of the existence of Lusca until the 1990s.
On October 6, 1949, the American newspaper "Star News" published a report in which a British navigator named Frank Clark stated that he had encountered a massive storm while traveling from the Canary Islands to the Bahamas Sea in August 1938, approximately 500 miles east of the Bahamas.
At the same time, he saw a giant octopus approaching his boat, while a pod of orcas was attempting to hunt it, causing the waves to churn even more violently.
Clark's exact words were: "I hid in the cabin because that was the only time I felt scared; you never experience such violent turbulence in your life." Eventually, a shark pulled it down into the depths of the sea, and it disappeared.
In March 1956, American marine biologist Forrest Wood traveled to the Bahamas to investigate the legendary sea monster. A local guide named Duke expressed without hesitation that he was certain of the existence of this giant octopus.
When Wood asked him about the size of the octopus, Duke pointed to a cabin about 75 miles away and said that the monster's arms could reach there. In recent decades, there had been three sightings, with the most recent occurring in 1946.
For local fishermen, it was only when the monster's arm attached to one end of their boat could reach down to the seabed that it became most dangerous.
Aside from Duke, another companion from Andros Island recounted that when he was 12 years old, he had gone fishing with his father and accidentally hooked something particularly heavy. As they struggled to reel in the line, they discovered a massive octopus at the end.
As they grabbed hold of the line, it broke free from the hook and clung tightly to the bottom of their boat. They were terrified at that moment, but fortunately, the octopus eventually released its suction cups and vanished into the deep sea.
In 1971, Wood published an account of this investigation in "Natural History Magazine," and soon after received a letter from a naval officer named John Martin. In his letter, Martin described an incident that occurred in 1941 while he was patrolling on a ship.
That day, he suddenly noticed a large mass of brown seaweed floating beneath the bow of his ship. As he approached for a closer look, he realized it was a mass of tentacles with suction cups. Many crew members witnessed this phenomenon, but it was not recorded in their logbook.
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