Bloop

Steve · Joined: 31 Aug 2007 Posts: 93

While not one to buy into every cryptozoological story that makes the rounds I do think there's some critters yet to be discovered or, in the case of some panther reports in the northeast US, re-discovered. I believe the best opportunity for new discoveries lie in our oceans however. The diversity of deep-sea life is amazing with many exotic and truly bizarre discoveries and we have yet to even come close to cataloging everything that lives down there. Speaking of bizarre, anyone ever hear about Bloop?

Ataraxik · Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2007 7:59 pm Post subject:

I had not heard of the Bloop. The brief Wiki article listed only one organization having recorded it, the NOAA several times over the summer of 1997. That's narrow enough where equipment malfunction might still be on the menu, unless that was ruled out in some manner. That aside, I'd look for a big guy making that low freak noise. Or... how about a big school of unknown little guys somehow making the noise. Is there a mechanism for that? Or... could ocean bottom features possibly act as an amplifier, a 'sound funnel'? Imean, if a blue whale speaks out from deep in an ocean floor trench, might it cause a 'bloop'?

There was/is some sort of anomalous low frequency noise thing in the US west or southwest, a deep, low hum of some sort. I can't recall further details.
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Steve · Joined: 31 Aug 2007 Posts: 93

Ataraxik · Posted: Thu Sep 13, 2007 5:01 pm Post subject:

I found a wav file of the Bloop:
http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/acoustics/sounds/bloop.wav

This page has links to the Bloop recording played faster/slower, etc.:
http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php?showtopic=20613

Bloop article with much more info:
http://www.science.org.au/nova/newscientist/102ns_001.htm
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Steve · Joined: 31 Aug 2007 Posts: 93

Cool links. I was unaware that Bloop had so much company down there. Smile

**Somerville Changeling** · Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 198 Location: Central Texas

**Skeptical** · Posted: Mon Sep 17, 2007 12:38 pm Post subject:

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who remembered Bloop, Angela Cartwright's pet space chimp from Lost In Space. Not sure what happened to Bloop - they should have kept him and written out Doctor Smith! Smile

I had not heard of the underwater Bloop so this thread has been a bit of a revelation. It is amazing what an excellent conductor of sound waves water is, and that sounds can be detected and interpreted at thousands of miles distance. Still, since the Bloop sound has never recurred, what are we to make of it? Like the Wow Signal, it is a one-of-a-kind and it is just about impossible to analyze it without something to compare it to. If Bloop were one of a breeding population of living creatures, you'd think we would periodically hear other Bloops. As it is, how can we know that it wasn't just an unusual release of methane from some subterranean volcanic rift?

S
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Steve · Joined: 31 Aug 2007 Posts: 93

That's why it's an enigma, we don't know what "Bloop" and the other acoustic signals actually represent. I'm no marine biologist or acoustic guru but it's possible that the "Bloop" signal was the marine equivalent of a rabbit-scream... in other words, a "distress" noise that, considering "Bloop's" possible size, doesn't happen too often. Another possibility, and the reason I mused about SOSUS maintenance, is maybe that antiquated acoustic system is degrading.

Then, on the other hand, maybe it was a deep-sea geological burp.

Stay tuned...

**Somerville Changeling** · Joined: 09 Sep 2007 Posts: 198 Location: Central Texas

Just so long as it's not a pre-awakening nightmare cry of Cthulhu! Seriously, when a high strangeness fact runs smack dab into fiction, it makes you think. Not necessarily that the fiction is real, but that a high strangeness event arose at the approximate coordinates of a fictional greatly evil high strangeness event.

Coincidences are fun, and maybe not coincidences at all? Perhaps there's an underwater mystery down there that makes the possible pyramids off of Japan, or the Bimini road look like a child's set of Euclidean blocks? The wiki mentions that the location for R'lyeh is at the Pacific pole of inaccessibility. So is the bloop.

It might be some time before we get a robot submersible down there to check things out. Sometimes, even science can be stranger than fiction.

I love Lost in Space, but the first season was best, when it was more SF and less "space camp". That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the other two seasons, but it quickly became a boy and his robot with the evil Dr. Smith morphing into the foolish Dr. Smith. I preferred the original idea of episodes revolve around each of the characters in turn.

Keep in mind that it had to compete against Batman. I was one of the few kids I knew who's miss one of the Batman episodes for Lost in Space. So, I often didn't see a complete Batman season until summer reruns, which actually meant something in the days before cable and TV cards in one's PC.
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stareater · Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 26

I do admit the Fortean mystery monger in me wants to think that the whole Cthulhu mythos arose from dreams in a witch house of real creatures with nightmare shapes and motivations not meant for man to know.

If you haven't seen it yet, check out John Carpenter's In The Mouth Of Madness. It's an homage to Lovecraft, and from one Lovecraft/Cthulhu fan/enthusiast to another(I assume, of course), you'll enjoy the storyline greatly. I have to say it is pretty cool that the sound emanated from the depths where Great Cthulhu resides, even though it's just a story. It is just a story. right?! Sad

The thought of a creature "much larger than a blue whale" creating the bloop is intriguing and frightening indeed. Given what we know about the ocean to begin with, much less the far reaches of it's vast abyss, there certainly could be(and probably is) a massive creature or various creatures hiding out far below the waves. We know giant squid exist and yet sightings are still extremely rare, even when an active search is on. Who knows what could be lurking in Challenger Deep or the Puerto Rico Trench? The people who made the throwback monster film Deep Rising certainly had an idea of what they thought might be living in the Marianas Trench. That's also a fun, sorta old-school Saturday afternoon Creature Feature movie for anyone who hasn't seen it.

Informant · Joined: 20 Feb 2008 Posts: 33

I remember Debby the Bloop from old Lost in Space reruns.

I've known about the "Bloop" recording for years. It's one of the most interesting oceanic mysteries I've come across. A rough back-of-the-envelope calculation (with an admittedly high probability for error) suggests that the source of the Bloop recording, if zoological, would be nearly three times the size of a blue whale. That would make it by far the largest animal that ever lived. It would only make sense that the largest animal that ever lived would be oceanic, since the buoyant force of water would support gigantic species that could not attain such sizes on land.

The Biblical Leviathan, in some traditions, was a sea monster so large (300 miles long according to some sources) that God killed the first female of the species to keep them from multiplying and overrunning the world. One wonders why God would have created a creature so large that he had to keep it from breeding in the first place.

It is interesting that the Bloop sound originated near H.P. Lovecraft's fictional sunken city of R'Iyeh, where the Great Old One Cthulhu sleeps. Though unlikely, I suppose it is remotely possible that some Lovecraft fan in the right place at the right time could have fabricated the Bloop recordings.

**Skeptical** · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 8:54 am Post subject:

There is an interesting but somewhat disconcerting article on the forgetomori website regarding sea monsters and their possible connection to sexually-aroused whales. Includes a photo that definitely falls into the TMI category! Shocked

http://www.forgetomori.com/

S
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stareater · Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 26

I've seen the whale penis theory on a few websites and in some books. It certainly could explain many sea serpent sightings, especially in early instances from previous centuries. Is that a sea serpent in your pants or are you just happy to see me? Sorry for that one. Confused

**Skeptical** · Posted: Fri Aug 22, 2008 9:42 am Post subject:

Here's an interesting take on the underwater noises our hydrophones pick up - one scientists says it's merely sea urchins:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/08/080818-noisy-urchins.html

It seems rather hard for me to believe that a little creature (even a very large number of little creatures) could have been responsible for Bloop. Even with the strangeness of underwater acoustics, I can't imagine that large of a noise travelling that great a distance could be the work of sea urchins.

S
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“...If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers." -- Thomas Pynchon

Steve · Joined: 31 Aug 2007 Posts: 93

I agree Skeptical. The "Bloop" signal was strong enough to be detected on multiple SOSUS detectors and, unlike these sea urchins, was only detected (or reported) once AFAIK. I don't know if Bloop has a biological origin but if it does it wasn't a bunch of sea urchins.