INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

Well I’ve had a historical week this week, I went up to Manchester in the north of England this weekend for some family visits and ended up in the Bronte village, which is full of spooky little independent shops and a beautiful traditional northern town architecture, which I would really recommend if you’re into Wuthering Heights especially, as it’s where it’s based. I also had a tooth pulled out, which is a wild experience as an adult - I do not recommend it.

DESCRIPTION:

We’re talking about beaks this week though, which you might think is a little weird considering we’re discussing a sea monster - but we’re back out into the depths to look at the legendary nautical folklore monster, the Ziphius, this week.

What is the Ziphius? I’ve never heard of it - I hear you say. Well, you may not have heard its name before, but you’ve probably seen it a million times if you’ve ever been interested in sea monsters like me. The Ziphius is a sea monster that has a large owl-like head, with massive dish sized eyes and a beak-like mouth on a whale's body. They are about the same size as a blue whale, so absolutely massive - literally the biggest known creature on the planet, and are sometimes reported to have a tuft of feathers or fur around its head. 

They are often referred to as owl-faced and terrifying to look at, whilst being incredibly aggressive. They had a razor sharp dorsal fin, which stood at around 10 feet tall, which they would use to tear holes in ships, or even split them entirely in two. Whilst it did look like a whale, it also had stripes running down its body with paw-like legs, making it sometimes look like a lion or hedgehog in some tellings. However, due to its beak and fluff around its head - it is commonly known as the owl-whale.

This monster is known mostly to live around Scandinavia and the colder parts of northern Europe - however, it can only survive in water and cannot venture onto land. Due to its immense size, it would also generally stick to deeper water, so would only be found in the sea rather than lakes or rivers. Northern Europe is known for having some of the coldest bodies of water, such as the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Norwegian Sea before getting over to the much warmer Mediterranean in the south, meaning you would most likely find this around Scandinavia, the UK, France, The Netherlands, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Poland and Belgium.

In terms of powers, really the only ones it has are the physical gifts, such as the powerful crushing beak, very similar to those of birds, but also of other sea dwelling creatures such as squids and octopus, as well as its powerful and destructive dorsal fin of doom I suppose. They are carnivores, and are most likely to be found eating seals, dolphins, sharks and other whales, but if you were unlucky enough to come into contact with this monstrous creature and end up in the sea, it would happily eat you up too. 

There are a few things we really don’t know about this creature, such as its migratory habits, reproduction and lifespan - however, if we take into account whales of this size that we know of today, blue whales live for 80-90 years and as most other whale species, survive in pods with their young alongside them. Whilst I couldn’t find any records of the Ziphius being seen with any others, it’s not to say that this didn’t happen, and maybe the younger ones stayed beneath the waves whilst mumma did the fighting.

ORIGIN:

For etymology, the word Ziphius is actually a really interesting one. Z is a really strange letter to begin most words with, and especially considering the age of this monster, which we’ll get into shortly - it’s quite odd. We don’t know where Ziphius came from exactly, but we do know where the inspiration came from - it’s from the Latin word for sword, xiphias - which sounds exactly the same I give you that, but it’s spelt with an X instead of a Z. Of course, we can say that an X within the English language is usually pronounced as a Z sound, maybe pointing to Ziphius being an Anglicised version of the word - but it’s not confirmed anywhere. It is named after the sword due to the cutting nature of the dorsal fin, which makes it nice and easy.

In terms of history though, this monster goes back quite a long time, but we really don’t know much about it. We know that it was first mentioned in medieval times within Scandinavia - going back to around the 16th century or 1500, when actually, the medieval era was coming to a close. This was the emergence of modern Europe or officially known as Early modern Europe. This was the time of adventure and maritime warfare, with the reign of Elizabeth 1st of England and the Spanish Armada making history in the mid 1550’s, Europe was known for its massive amount of ships and colonisation, including the discovery of the Americas, and a lot of Asia to Europeans.

Which meant of course, there were a lot of ships on the water - meaning nautical stories were not only commonplace, but also a lot of the entertainment for people on the land, and their income too. Whilst you had traders and merchants on the sea, you also had pirates and military vessels, which meant that the variety of people on the water was vast. As well as this, it was the time of great entertainment, Shakespeare and Marlowe were at the peak of their fame in England, and stories from other countries from across the sea were penned by some of the greats - but most of these old bards never left England.

With the flow of the common man being on board ships, it meant that reports of sea monsters massively increased in comparison to before this time - and all of these were being reported back to the populace back home, meaning these stories were blown up to massive proportions, and these myths really did stick. 

But because we don’t know much historically with dates, and most records of this monster have been lost to time - unfortunately, that’s about all the history I can give you for this one, but it’s interesting nonetheless to know that it is as old as it is - and still survives now with very little historical knowledge available on it. 

What could these people have seen though? Well we actually have a direct comparison that we know has been linked to this monster, and in Latin, it’s named the same. The Ziphius, or the Cuvier’s beaked whale, is a really common whale around Europe, and is one of the smaller whales of the seven seas. These animals have a beak-like structure to their faces, giving them an ‘owlish’ appearance - and does definitely make them stand out in comparison to traditional whales. They actually are more likely to be mistaken for porpoises or dolphins, but are most likely to be spotted way out to sea as they are deep water whales. 

They were discovered officially back in 1823 by Georges Cuvier, who named them after himself, but in Latin after the legendary sea monster with a beak, which is a great tribute mainly, but is also how this monster still lives on today. There is a genus species of 22 whales with this name too and they are really common, so thankfully, this monster will also continue to live on as long as we preserve our wonderful oceans.

There were also thoughts that this monster could be mistaken for Orcas or Killer Whales, as these are also quite common around the north of Scotland and Scandinavia. However, Orcas don’t tend to have beak-like features, bar their longer noses, but this could be said about most whale or dolphin species. Neither of these species though are said to be aggressive towards humans, and the beaked whale would only be eating smaller prey due to its size anyway. 

Of course, when talking about sea monsters that are this infamous and highly misidentified, we do have to talk about the Kraken, which is very often put in the same category as this. The Kraken is usually described as a large sea monster of no particular description, but is commonly portrayed as either a giant squid or humanoid beast - but who is to say that the Kraken couldn’t be a owl-faced whale? We just don’t know - and it does come from the same kind of area, from around the same time, so it can definitely be pulled into the mix.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we’re going to look at monstrous whales this week - as they fit into this monster really well. 

For art, I would really recommend looking into old maps from around Europe which do all have images of this monster on, and is probably the easiest way to find this one, even if they’re not explicitly named. Honestly, there are not many independent pieces this week, but always do have a look out for them. I used the traditional portrait for this week in my advertising. 

In movies, we have; Finding Nemo, Pinocchio, The Page Master, Moby Dick, The Asylum, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Adventures of Pinocchio & Kurija Gami.

For TV, we have; Digimon, Berserk, Bleach, Gyo, Re:Zero, Toriko, The Mermaid Princess’ Guilty Meal, Doctor Who, Stargate Atlantis, Walking with Beasts, Bojack Horseman, Spongebob Squarepants, Futurama & Courage the Cowardly Dog.

In video games, we have ones such as; Skies of Arcadia, Endless Ocean, Don’t Starve, OMORI, Resident Evil: Revelations, Final Fantasy 9, 10 & 14, Dragon Quest 9, Alundra 2, Super Monkey Ball, Kingdom Hearts, Harmful Park, Fallout 4, Dishonoured, Subnautica & Cthulhu Saves the World.

My book recommendation this week is Don't Shoot the Albatross!: Nautical Myths and Superstitions by Jonathan Eyers which is a great book on nautical folklore including a lot of the monsters we’ve covered and have yet to cover, as well as the myths that surround them. Another is Sea Monsters: A Voyage around the World’s Most Beguiling Map by Joseph Nigg, which goes more into the monsters and how people came up with such fantastical creatures of the depths.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

I think the joy of being from an island is that we have a natural fascination with the sea here in the UK - at least, I have found that growing up here. So to put a monster that I’ve been seeing on maps since my very early days in education with trips to the sea to back these up - really itches something great in my brain. 

But for this one, it’s most likely a definite case of misidentification. Imagine being a pirate for a second - you’re a bit drunk, you’ve got one eye and you’re on a moving vessel looking out into the emptiness of the open sea. You see a whale with a weird looking face that seems massive, you can definitely see how these kinds of monsters came into existence this way. But I do think it was most likely these beaked whales that they have been linked historically to, which does make sense. 

I do love the idea of pirates talking about these beasties over a bottle of rum and an open fire once they get back to land though, scaring all of the land-lubbers into believing that there were monsters like Ziphius and the Kraken within the depths of the ocean. We are truly an imaginative and deceptive race aren’t we? It’s brilliant, and as long as we have sailors - we will have sea myths, which I fully embrace and look forward to.

But what do you think? Did the Ziphius roam the seas? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

A great and historically influential monster that I’ve really loved covering this week - going all the way back to primary school days and looking at old pirate maps and now being able to name all the monsters that are on them!

We are now on a break from now all the way til 12th October, so that I can have my annual two week September break - this is to prep for the three weeks after this where I’ve got a wedding in Glasgow on 19th, London Comic Con on 27th and I’m off to BlizzCon in California from 2nd-8th November - so I’ll make sure there are episodes written, recorded and edited for you whilst I’m out! Of course, if you are at any of these events and spot me, please do come and say hello! 

When we come back on the 12th October though, we’re heading over to the beautiful island of Bali for a horrible monster - the Leyak. Keep pregnant ladies away from graveyards when we come back!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.