Nessie Goes to Washington D.C.

Given the peculiarities of the deep sea, its great immensity, the fact that so much of it remains unseen and unexplored, it seems fitting that so many strange stories have been told about creatures coming from the dark abyss. I for one believe everything that the Weekly World News has to report on its cover. If it says the Loch Ness Monster (Nessie, as I like to call her) is real, I am obliged to believe that or anything else they print, including their recent coverage that Mitt Romney has chosen to have Batboy run as his Vice-Presidential candidate.

Nessie Goes to Washington D.C.

All kidding aside, sometimes I think the motto for planet Earth should be, “All weirdness all the time.” August 7th was Sea Serpent day. Back in 2009, the Smithsonian Blog posted this image of a “sea serpent” from a book titled, “Historia Animalium” (or for those of us who don’t speak Latin, The History of Animals) by Konrad Gesner. Whoever authored the blog post that accompanied the picture on their website shares my general sentiment when they said, “Apparently today has been named Sea Serpent Day.” If you look at the picture on the Smithsonian page, the sea serpent seems justifiably perturbed, as if to say,”What are all these sailors doing in my salt water jacuzzi? Its fangs drawn, ready to chomp ships in half. But I guess it’s pretty awesome to say the least that there’s even a day for sea serpents at all.

Did sea monsters lobby for this? Did Congress have to hear the case of a sea serpent who’d felt somehow the contributions sea serpents have made were so influential to society that these noble sea creatures ought to be celebrated annually? Nessie will have her day in Washington, I suppose. Mostly because if you tell sea monsters there’s no room in the budget to promote the appreciation of mythological creatures they will just eat you.

What good is believability in a story anyway? Fish stories are an excellent example. It’s because of the utterly blatant hyperbole involved in telling them that they have so much appeal. By the time you hear the end of one of these whoppers, you’ve gotten so wrapped up in the drama and craziness of the untruths that you no longer fear that the truth has been stretched so far it may snap like a cheap rubber band. A recent book, “The Fabled Coast,” catalogs many of the best deep sea stories of folk legend throughout history. I suppose without sea creatures we would have no Moby-Dick.

I guess it goes to show, that perhaps it’s best not to get wrapped up in concrete journalism all the time. Someday soon the sea serpents of the deep sea may be competing for popularity with Hodags, a strange creature from Wisconsin. Myths endure because of their ability to be retold and embellished upon. If they persist all the better.

Some of the best stories in my opinion are the ones that require the most energy to create, because they draw their origins from things that can’t be known. This makes imagination a necessary gift. Tomfoolery breaks up the monotony of our all too busy lives. As we marvel on the spectacular tales of the ocean, we can gain some relief from stress in submitting to this diversion. So should we fear being eaten alive by sea serpents? Let hope not. But for all we know, the ocean may be teeming with sea serpents, and if they are, let’s all hope their vegetarians.