As children we often let our imagination roam free, to the limits of what is accepted by adults. Everything exists, if not only for a minute - Chupacabra, Vampires, The Loch Ness Monster, The Boogeyman, Bigfoot, Aliens, Werewolves - the list goes on and on. So what changes from the time we’re kids to the time we reach adulthood? Why does our imagination suddenly turn off? All the creatures of our nightmares suddenly no longer exist, and instead our nightmares are replaced with uneasy images of unpaid bills, unwanted pregnancies and psycho killers. I admit, that is still some pretty scary stuff, but it just doesn’t stand up to the thought of a giant underwater creature waiting for the perfect opportunity to crash humanity’s party.

Thankfully the monsters have once again reared their ugly heads, in film and in reality. With Korea’s 2006 The Host, and more recently the phenomenon known as Cloverfield, it’s safe to say that we’re once again willing to let our imagination roam free, knocking down buildings and decapitating the Statue of Liberty along the way. But what if these monsters that have been relegated to fantasy all of a sudden became real? In Wes Anderson’s 2004 film The Life Aquatic, the cast is in search of a giant leopard patterned shark that killed Steve Zisso’s (played by Bill Murray) best friend. The search ends, when after surviving a handful of disasters, they finally see the mythical creature, and it’s huge. It’s only a movie though right? And mythical creatures, that are constantly denied existence, can’t all of a sudden really appear… can they? Oh, they can - and they have:

“This six-gill shark (Hexanchus) was filmed during a submersible dive off the northeast coast of Molokai at a depth of 1000m (3280ft). The 2 red laser dots are 6 inches apart, resulting in a length of about 18 ft for the shark.Great ecstatic live commentary by University of Hawaii Oceanography Professor Jeff Drazen! Many thanks to Dr. Craig Smith (University of Hawaii) and Dr. Eric Vetter for permitting release of this footage which was obtained as part of their research data set.”

Although footage of this creature is very rare, there has been documentation off the coast of Japan as well. It’s sad but true, we know less about our own oceans than we do about outer space. This shit is legit, and begs us to ask the question: what else is out there?