The vast majority of Earth’s oceans remain unexplored.
We’ve mapped only five percent of the ocean in detail, and yet it’s estimated that the
seas contain up to eighty percent of all living things on this planet…
So, with so much still unknown, could any of these creatures have started out life much
further away?
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; are there aliens
hiding in the ocean?
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Today, we’re looking at the various oceanic alien theories – some more outlandish than
others – as well as discovering why searching for alien life underwater might not be such
a bad idea.
One of the most prominent theories focuses on one specific stretch of water: the Bermuda
Triangle.
An area between Bermuda, Florida, and Puerto Rico, it’s continually linked with a reportedly
high number of disappearing planes and sunken ships.
Explanations as to why the Triangle appears especially dangerous include simply that it’s
a notably busy and well-travelled section of the world map, and also that it’s prone
to unusual weather patterns.
But, for some, the Triangle is something else; it’s prime UFO territory… with most Bermuda
Triangle disappearances - including infamous cases like the USS Cyclops and Flight 19 – attracting
claims of alien abduction.
One other popular theory centres on the nearby Bimini Road rock formation in the Bahamas,
which some claim is evidence of the lost city of Atlantis, and that it’s the Atlanteans
– alien or otherwise – who are hiding beneath the waves ready to pull down ships.
Statistically speaking, you’re actually no more or less likely to vanish in the Bermuda
Triangle than in any other section of water… but it’s arguably the most mainstream example
of an “underwater aliens” narrative.
The legend of Atlantis has thrown up some others, too, though.
The story’s origins come from Ancient Greece and Plato, and it’s widely considered an
allegory rather than a true-to-life account.
Nevertheless, according to Plato, Atlantis was a once great city corrupted by its arrogant
inhabitants, until it was sunk into the sea as punishment by Zeus.
The majority of theories suggest that Atlantis, if it did exist, was some sort of ancient
Minoan civilization… but no one can be anywhere near confident in defining or finding it,
so the cries of “alien” continually come up.
In the nineteenth century, the American senator Ignatius Donnelly wrote the book “Atlantis:
The Antediluvian World” and, in it, he suggested that all the world’s ancient civilizations
were originally descended from Atlantis.
Marry that to the now many “ancient alien” theories with regard to the history of life
on Earth, and it’s perhaps easy to see why the two get linked together.
Though they’re both considered fringe theories at best and we have plenty more rational explanations
for how most ancient monuments came to be, they’re increasingly popular ideas.
In fact, a survey published in 2019 found that belief in both Atlantis and ancient aliens
in general was on the rise among Americans.
Of course, America has long been the source of many other modern legends about aliens.
Area 51 has drawn attention for years, for example, with many theorizing that it’s
where the US Air Force is hiding indisputable evidence of life on other planets.
But it isn’t the only top-secret military installation with suggested extraterrestrial
links.
The so-called “underwater Area 51” can be found on Andros Island, again in the Bahamas.
It’s another classified, secretive base, only one that’s operated by the Navy instead.
Called the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center”, or AUTEC, the official line is
that it’s where the Navy develops top-secret naval technology – just like how Area 51
is officially a top-secret testing ground for experimental aircraft.
Not surprisingly, though, AUTEC has attracted many of the same conspiracy theories; including
that it actually contains evidence of aliens.
It’s still much less notorious than its land-based counterpart, but no less a point
of interest for alien enthusiasts.
In truth, though, many of the theories on aliens hidden in our oceans are based on,
well, very little or nothing at all!
The same isn’t true for oceans on other worlds, however.
Arguably the two bodies with the best potential for alien life in the solar system are Europa
and Titan, moons of Jupiter and Saturn respectively.
Specifically, scientists think that both of these moons could have vast, subsurface oceans
that could be the perfect environment for alien life.
Some also theorize that the solar system’s ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, may have liquid
oceans beneath their gaseous layers, too - also with the potential to host alien life forms.
In a similar way to how many believe that life on Earth originated in the oceans before
eventually spreading to land, there are expectations that life elsewhere would also be underwater
first and foremost.
Unfortunately, until we send considerably more advanced probes to these planets and
moons, we’re unlikely to ever know for sure.
Finally, though, although most underwater alien theories seem to suggest otherwise,
if it was ever found that there was alien life in the ocean, then it needn’t necessarily
have “always been here”.
It might have arrived relatively recently… with meteorites crashing down on Earth all
the time, many into the sea.
Much was made of the 1984 discovery in Antarctica of the Martian meteorite ALH84001, for example,
and whether it conclusively proved that life existed on Mars.
Decades later, and scientists are still to reach a unanimous verdict on whether the rock
brought some form of microbial life from another planet to our own…
But even if this particular one didn’t, it’s theoretically possible that another
one might have.
And, seeing as the majority of Earth is covered in water, it is more likely that any asteroid-borne
alien life would settle beneath the waves.
Just based on what we do know about them today, the oceans are certainly full of weird and
wonderful creatures… like giant tube worms, which live so far underwater, in such a hostile
environment, that they weren’t discovered by humans until 1977.
Elsewhere, there are other exciting, prehistoric monsters like frilled sharks hiding in deep
water… and the elusive giant squid, which wasn’t caught on camera until 2001.
There’s zero suggestion that these particular creatures are extraterrestrial in themselves,
but because so much of the ocean remains unexplored… and because so many deep-sea animals appear
so alien to us… perhaps it’s unsurprising that many are asking “what else is out there?”
Our own seas are already the most alien place on Earth, filled with unseen creatures just
waiting to be studied.
What do you think?
Is there anything we missed?
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