Bloop, Cthulhu and the strange, but true, story behind a movie

This is one of those evolving life imitating art imitating life imitating art, et al.

What began this journey for me was chasing around master viral campaigner JJ Abrams clues throughout the internet as to what the hell 1/18/08 is going to be about. For those in the unknown, 1/18/08 (a.k.a. Cloverfield) is the new "monster" movie, heavily under wraps, and produced by JJ Abrams of "Lost" and "Alias" fame. As he has proven with Lost, Abrams is a master at the viral campaign, spreading clues and hints throughout the internet as to the secret behind his shows.

Now, with this movie, he created a feeding frenzy. Here's the trailer:



For movie geeks like myself, Abrams spread various "fake" websites throughout the net that offer clues to what the movie is going to be about.
The websites include:

1-18-08.com
Fake Japanese beverage Slusho's homepage
and perhaps the most intriguing one
You Can't Drink Just Six

The last one is just taking the tagline from the Slusho website and adding dotcom to it. Instead of its own website, it switches you to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) website. Specifically, to a real page where they talk about "Bloop."

Now, here's where art is imitating life.

This page at NOAA is dedicated to the mysterious “Bloop” that was recorded by deep sea government listening devices in 1997. This bloop, while never officially explained, has led scientists around the world to speculate that the NOAA caught the sound of an hereto-unknown sea creature that would be immensely huge. So huge, the Kraken has been used to describe the possibilities.

CNN did an article about it in 2002, which you can read here.

But a subset of dark fiction fans saw something more to bloop than giant squids or undiscovered whales. There is a group who thinks (and I’m not kidding) bloop is a recording of Cthulhu – the H.P. Lovecraft creation of a dark forgotten god who emerges from the depths of the ocean to enslave a nation and send the world into darkness. Wiki does a good summary of this.

The site of the Bloop is remarkably close to the site of the fictional city of R'lyeh from H. P. Lovecraft's 1926 short story "The Call of Cthulhu", where an ancient undersea monster (Cthulhu) lies sleeping. Lovecraft said that R'lyeh is located at 47°9′S, 123°43′W in the southern Pacific Ocean, with the bloop also being targeted somewhere in that range [1].

So, in the world of art imitating life imitating art, it seems that Abrams has taken this decade-old mystery and may just be making a movie about it. Since Cthulhu turns people into zombie slaves by transforming them into monsters themselves, this may explain the leaked scenes of people vomiting black blood and allusions to zombies in NY.

That's interesting if you're into movies.

The bigger issue for ATS is -- was Bloop a mythical beast of some sort, perhaps even a creature that inspired Lovecraft to create Cthulhu? Or is it Cthulhu in reality?

There is a subset of people out therewho believe Lovecraft was inspired, and that the Cthulhu Mythos are in fact based on real tenants of reality.
And the parallels to Satan and Cthulhu highlight their belief.

Movie and mytho aside, Bloop remains a very real mystery. Anybody else hear about this or know of other theories surrounding the sound?





[edit on 8/31/2007 by behindthescenes]

well it could have been leviathan from robert anton wilson's illuminatus trilogy (cthulhu having been busy elsewhere in that novel)

its most likely going to be a remake of godzilla as 2008 will mark 10 years since the last remake, being set in japan and several of your links reference japan and the ocean stuff (where godzilla sprang from) then thats the most likely candidate.

pity because a cthulhu film would be far more interesting imho

I'm with justyc on this one!! Saw the trailer to this upcoming movie and the first thing that sprang to mind was a remake of Godzilla!! Hope it's not because the guy behind this project has a really unique way of drawing people in and keeping them guessing - look at Lost; which to me is one of that alltime most frustrating and enthralling TV series off all time! Hope it doesn't get too offtrack like X-Files did towards the end (and now this post has as well - sorry about that!!!)

Im sorry to destroy all theories on the monster here guys, but the acctuall monster in the movie is not Godzilla Or Cthulhu, its an original monster, which is new to this world, and therefore can be something that people already know about, JJ Abrams claims anyhow.

Woops, since I dont see an edit button on my other post, Ill just say that I ment to say that the monster is new and it Cant be something that people have already seen.

Well, that slusho site makes it pretty obvious its about a whale of some kind.

And I think Godzilla's Japanese name Gojira means whale, or is a mix of gorilla and whale. Might just be a coincidence. This movie looks like it may be interesting, even though the guy's track record isn't exactly wonderful.

While I engendered the conversation citing the upcoming movie, I'm really more interested into what the hell "bloop" is and what could have been recorded.

Any takers?

Im not really sure about the bloop, we might never find out. We propabely will aventually but if the bloop did actually happen, we would need to think of the size of this creature, because if it was monstrouly huge it would constantly have to keep eating and im not sure if theres alot for a giant undersea creature to eat at the bottom of any ocean, exept small life and plankton lifeforms, or maybe theres other large creatures down there.

Originally posted by Opulisum
Im not really sure about the bloop, we might never find out. We propabely will aventually but if the bloop did actually happen, we would need to think of the size of this creature, because if it was monstrouly huge it would constantly have to keep eating and im not sure if theres alot for a giant undersea creature to eat at the bottom of any ocean, exept small life and plankton lifeforms, or maybe theres other large creatures down there.

Good point, except that it is in fact Cthulhu and is supernatural, awaiting the time of the Old Gods return.

Of course, I'm kidding.

Perhaps a creature of some sort that can stay dormant for decades before coming to shallower depths to feed. It could explain mass decreases in types of sealife periodically.

If it really was left at the bottom of our ocean by Gods and revealed itself, I think the religions around the world would have to start rewritting there books, dont you?

The only thing I can think is some sort of whale mutation, like sprouting limbs? or somesort of abnormallity.

Think, the decendents of whales and other large fish and mammals that live in the oceans, grew limbs and climbed onto the land, what if it started to happen again? ro some odd reason

[edit on 4-9-2007 by Opulisum]

Originally posted by behindthescenes
While I engendered the conversation citing the upcoming movie, I'm really more interested into what the hell "bloop" is and what could have been recorded.

Any takers?

I found this:

www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov...


Doesn't seem that spectacular to me though. Other sites give the same thing. MUst have to be a real sea-geek to appreciate it.

Originally posted by passenger

Originally posted by behindthescenes
While I engendered the conversation citing the upcoming movie, I'm really more interested into what the hell "bloop" is and what could have been recorded.

Any takers?

I found this:

www.oceanexplorer.noaa.gov...


Doesn't seem that spectacular to me though. Other sites give the same thing. MUst have to be a real sea-geek to appreciate it.

I would love to see that compared to a blue whale or some sort of machine capable of creating such a sound.

That bloop is very interesting, in the context that its been taken from the very bottom of the ocean, so for something to make a noise audible and that long (it having been sped up 16 times), whatever it is would need to be of some size. Wether or not it is a beast of some magnitude, a machine or the earth itself, I have no idea. Could it be something to do with shift in teutonic plates or the like? (I must mention I have no idea if that question even makes sense)

EDIT: I have just noticed elsewhere on that website that there is similar sound recordings of a blue whale. The sound that makes has a reading far, far smaller than that of the Bloop. Further shows how enormous it may well.

[edit on 13/09/07 by Subcomandante]

Originally posted by Subcomandante
Could it be something to do with shift in teutonic plates or the like? (I must mention I have no idea if that question even makes sense)

Makes perfect sense. Occam's Razor still applies. Most likely tectonics or underwater landslide, volcano, etc.
Based on the other things you said though, I did listen to some of the other recordings available (to compare) and I guess it is different. Still, it remains an anomaly and only that - no proof of a Kraken or Leviathan or anything really cool.


[edit on 18-9-2007 by passenger]

Originally posted by behindthescenes
Since Cthulhu turns people into zombie slaves by transforming them into monsters themselves,

Not to be a nitpicky Lovecraft fan, but I`m just wondering which of his many short stories portray Cthulhu transforming people into zombie slaves?

'The Call of Cthulhu' refers to cultic worshippers, not zombies. You could probably make an argument that 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' portrays humans transforming into monsters due to worshipping the Old Ones, but I seem to recall the Old One in that story was Father Dagon, as opposed to Cthulhu.

Sorry, again, just a picky Lovecraft fan here.

The 'Bloop' had my interest from the first time I read about it.

The thought of an underwater creature, the size in which they allure to, strikes a chord of excitement with me. Unfortunately, until some physical evidence it found, its just an undetermined noise.

I wondered why they were unable to 'hear' it again within all the years that past. It would seem more-so now where as they originally stumbled across it by accident, now they are looking for it.

The fact that they haven't been able to hear the sound again could be looked at two ways ( probably a lot more, but I will only cite two ).

1: The 'Bloop' is in fact an underwater creature, and proves to be somewhat elusive ,moving around a lot ... Thus, no more discoveries at present.

2: The 'Bloop' is actually a noise created by the underwater environment. Whether it be a gigantic landslide ( should be more evidence for this ) or the Plates moving as some suggested earlier.

That being said... if created by underwater elements, why has it not been heard by anyone else since? An isolated freak occurrence perhaps.

As far as the movie trailer goes..

My kind of movie.

Good find BehindtheScenes

Originally posted by wagnerian21

Originally posted by behindthescenes
Since Cthulhu turns people into zombie slaves by transforming them into monsters themselves,

Not to be a nitpicky Lovecraft fan, but I`m just wondering which of his many short stories portray Cthulhu transforming people into zombie slaves?

'The Call of Cthulhu' refers to cultic worshippers, not zombies. You could probably make an argument that 'The Shadow Over Innsmouth' portrays humans transforming into monsters due to worshipping the Old Ones, but I seem to recall the Old One in that story was Father Dagon, as opposed to Cthulhu.

Sorry, again, just a picky Lovecraft fan here.

Oh, you crazy Lovecraftians....
No, you're absolutely right. I am bastardizing "Innsmouth" with Cthulhu and a few inspired movies I've seen and transformed worshippers into zombies. My bad.

behindthescenes, could you maybe link the leaked footage of the zombies? I've looked all over Google and can't find anything about it. I actually finished reading The Call of Cthulhu for the first time just before the trailer was leaked, and was excited to think it could be related to the story. Regardless, the film looks great and I can't wait to see what all the hype is about.

Originally posted by MST3K
behindthescenes, could you maybe link the leaked footage of the zombies? I've looked all over Google and can't find anything about it. I actually finished reading The Call of Cthulhu for the first time just before the trailer was leaked, and was excited to think it could be related to the story. Regardless, the film looks great and I can't wait to see what all the hype is about.

Hey MST3K -- are you a fan of the greatest tv show ever? Perhaps are you Dr. Forrester masquerading on ATS to forward your plans for world domination via bad movies? How 'bout TV's Frank? Or better yet, you're Mike sans the 'Bots, looking to lambast ATS with voice overs about how paranoid and delusional we all are?

Hi! My name is Torgo and the Master will see you .... DOH! Never mind.

Anyway, the zombie reference came from a purported "leak" regarding a particular scene in the movie -- you can read about it here -- regarding one of the characters getting "infected" by the monster.

But the new trailer will consist of actual scenes related to the aftermath of the first trailer.. This includes Rob among other friends struggling to get away from the monster (which won't be shown of course.. again)... ad find themselves at a first aid center where (as I have seen on previous posts on the new trailer).. will have "infected people".. but no.. this will not be a monster/zombie movie.. the infection is a result from a mysterious ooze that comes from the monster.. upon contact.. they get sick and may look like zombies.. but do not hunt for brains... It just makes them look like crap for some reason..

Another posting theory regarding Cthulhu:

A drink with ingredients from Deep under the ocean? Monster movie? Slime? What about one of the characters on the 1-18-08 site saying BLOOP! It's all an enormous Cthulhu reference!

Actually, I don't see why Cthulhu would be in a non-stop action monster fest. Imagine how many purist would be upset. Although, the evidence does weigh in favor of the Cthulhu theories.

About this green slime that mutates people... Could it be how Cthulhu changes the poor souls into Deep Ones? Remember that hybrids in the Cthulhu mythos changed slowly over years.

Also, Lovecraft stated that R’lyeh is located around 47°9′S, 126°43′W. The "Bloop" was traced back to approximately 50°S, 100°'W! This was in 1997, so this movie could be an extreme reference to what that sound could have been.

This is definitely sounding more and more like Cthulhu destroying New York City.