Bloop!

June 13, 2002 5:04 PM

Bloop! Scientists have revealed a mysterious recording that they say could be the sound of a giant beast lurking in the depths of the ocean. Researchers have nicknamed the strange unidentified sound picked up by undersea microphones "Bloop."
Is it Cthulu? Communist robot sea monsters [pdf]?
posted by badstone (24 comments total)

I am never, never, ever going deep-sea diving, ever.
posted by Succa at 5:06 PM on June 13, 2002

bloop?

Sounds like them Giant Squid need some Beano!
posted by Kafkaesque at 5:08 PM on June 13, 2002

doh! just noticed my Cthulu link is back to the same article. This is what I meant, for what it's worth...
posted by badstone at 5:15 PM on June 13, 2002

it's Jimmy Hoffa, and he's pissed
posted by billder at 5:18 PM on June 13, 2002

... the terrible secret of the deep is about to reveal itself...
posted by ph00dz at 5:26 PM on June 13, 2002

...Ph'nglui Mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh Wgah'nagl Fhtagn...
In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming...
posted by juv3nal at 6:08 PM on June 13, 2002

ummmm... giant deep-fried squid...
posted by kush at 6:19 PM on June 13, 2002

Sounds like the Chimp on Lost In Space.
posted by ParisParamus at 6:26 PM on June 13, 2002

In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming...
Waits 'bloop'ing, you mean.
posted by darukaru at 6:27 PM on June 13, 2002 [1 favorite]

There's a link to an actual .wav file on fark. I'm to lazy to look it up, but if you want to go look there

btw, the weird thing about this is that it sounds *exactly* like the sound a bubble makes, exactly what you think of when you think 'bloop'. Its kind of weird.
posted by delmoi at 6:41 PM on June 13, 2002

Maybe it's the Discordians playing a rousing game of 'Sink'. Underwater.
posted by darukaru at 7:24 PM on June 13, 2002

Here's the Bloop sound, from NOAA's website.
posted by shinybeast at 8:07 PM on June 13, 2002

That "Slow Down" sound sounds vastly more ominous. I'm going to go hide under the bed now.
posted by Kikkoman at 8:21 PM on June 13, 2002

Keeping in mind, of course, that it's sped up ten-fold (or is it sixteen-fold?), so while the WAV file sounds like a bloop, the actual sound doesn't quite sound like a bloop.

Microphones some 4000km apart both recorded this noise. It was *loud.*

Perhaps it was a magma bubble under the crust? A blorp of methane gas eructing from the seabed? Whale farts?

Whatever it was, I'm glad I wasn't there for it, 'cause whatever did it was surely gynormous.
posted by five fresh fish at 8:22 PM on June 13, 2002

Chilling.
posted by holloway at 9:10 PM on June 13, 2002

We are definitely going to need a bigger boat... Is the QEII available?
posted by John Smallberries at 9:30 PM on June 13, 2002

I bet this goes "bloop".
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 10:02 PM on June 13, 2002

I was thinking the same thing, too, i_am_joes_spleen, a gieant bubble of methane. It's The Deep Hot Biosphere!

A big bacteria fart, you might say. Indigestion from producing that inexhaustible supply of oil. Upon rereading that thread, I got to say you crack me up, riviera.
posted by y2karl at 1:09 AM on June 14, 2002

Kids, let's not get carried away. Let's apply Occam's Razor. One should not make more assumptions than the minimum needed.

Sooo....

Yep. Cthulu.
posted by Marquis at 6:30 AM on June 14, 2002

Another religion vs. whacko science thread this is, then?

*cries*

posted by babyyoda at 8:45 AM PST on June 14th


Now look what you did Marquis!
posted by y2karl at 8:47 AM on June 14, 2002

Don't make me sacrifice your fake-posting ass on an altar of chrysolite. :)
posted by Marquis at 9:03 AM on June 14, 2002

Spleen/Karl : Bermuda triangle. Sargasso Sea. Gas bubbles. Hmmmm.

Easy to figure there's a connection between rotting seaweed, ship disappearances, etc.

Alas, a number of skeptical sites indicate that there really isn't a statistically significant difference in shipwrecks in the Bermuda area, compared to other areas.
posted by five fresh fish at 10:19 AM on June 14, 2002

The North Sea's now included in the Bermuda Triangle?
Man, it's growing...
posted by y2karl at 10:44 AM on June 14, 2002

Eh? The North Sea link has a rational for the gas-burp phenomena. The Sargasso sea has conditions that could easily lead to very thick mats of rotting material on the seabed. Seems to me that if it happens in the North Sea, it can happen in the Sargasso sea. Probably far more likely to happen in and around the Sargasso, as it's literally clotted with weeds.
posted by five fresh fish at 1:16 PM on June 14, 2002