The Kraken

The kraken is the sea monster that refuses to stay in storybooks. Sailors once spoke of a creature so vast it could be mistaken for an island, with tentacles long enough to drag entire ships under. In this episode, Midnight Signals traces the evolution of the kraken from early Scandinavian lore and ship logs to modern science that has finally confirmed giant squid hunting in the dark zones of the ocean.

We look at classic reports of vanished vessels, sailors who claimed to see living storms rise from the deep, and the way natural sightings of huge cephalopods slowly turned into legends of a single monstrous being. Along the way we explore what modern marine biology has uncovered about real giant and colossal squid, and ask whether the true animal behind the kraken myth is any less terrifying than the story.