There is an overwhelming sensation in the mainstream media that there are few secrets left to the world, now that the majority of the Earth’s surface has been explored. Large ruts of highway seem to interlace the western world like great stone spider-webs, traveled frequently by vehicles much faster than any living creature in nature. The sensation lends us to believe we are the single greatest achievement of nature, and that no force could contend with us. The inverse feeling to this mastery is one of longing. For several thousand years, we feared the unknown and it brought communities together. It gave the hearth-fire a position of spiritual as well as physical importance. It’s no coincidence that it is around a fire that we tell tales intended to spark the imaginations and fears of those listening. The exchange of “Ghost Stories” could have just as easily happened as a practical matter to ensure the vigilance of those involved. And who is to say these tales were complete fabrications?
In the past 100 years we have learned of such things as the giant panda, which was long disputed by reputable science, and thought to be no more than a legend of the local people living on the outskirts of China’s settlements, but today can be visited in several zoos. The Giant Squid was “discovered” several times throughout history, including the attack of the Brunswick Auxiliary oil tanker in 1930, and the Alecton which spotted one dead upon the shores of the Canary Islands. In fact, several staunch opponents of the Giant Squid held fast to their beliefs that such a creature could not exist until January 15, 2002 when the first images of a fully adult giant squid were taken on Goshiki Beach in Japan. Just last year the alien looking ‘elbowed’ squid species was discovered in The Gulf of Mexico. Some speculate that it is now appearing due to recent climate pattern changes. If this is the case, what other species will we find encroaching our explored regions from the depths that we have yet to find?
The recent “Blue Hill Horror,” killed in Panama, is just the sort of thing that seems to indicate there are still plenty of reasons to grab a camera and head for the lesser traveled regions of the world. It is speculated by some to be a possible new (or previously undiscovered) species of sloth, but hairless. Those who had the spine tingling experience of interacting with this creature claimed that it did not fear human beings, but rather approached a group of children, who then killed it by throwing rocks at it, and pushed it out to sea. The creature later returned, washing ashore, where it was found again in the state it was in when some snapshots were finally taken. Unfortunately, nothing was done to preserve it and it quickly deteriorated. The humanoid appearance is quite possibly the most unnerving element of this creature, as many have posited. It’s always the creature that in some way resembles humans that we fear the most. This begs the viewer to question: If they look almost human, then what do we see of ourselves in these creatures, and why does it frighten us?