Just How Enormous is the Legendary Kraken?

According to medieval Scandinavian lore, the Kraken could stretch over 1.5 miles wide – practically the length of 15 football fields laid end to end. This would make it far larger than any cephalopod known to modern science.

Just picture it: a mollusc so mind-bogglingly huge that early sailors mistook it for a small island. As they approached, massive tentacles would erupt from the water, splintering the hulls of ships as if they were made of matchsticks. Let‘s dive deeper into the mythical size of this terrifying leviathan from Nordic tales – as well as how it compares to the real-life giant squid.

What the Legends and Stories Say

According to the 13th century Old Iceland Bestiary, the Kraken was said to resemble an island when motionless at the ocean‘s surface. Even when swimming, its back could supposedly be 15-20 feet above the waves with horns indicating its head and tail.

The famous Bishop Pontoppidan‘s Natural History of Norway, written in 1750, referenced a legend that the Kraken was nearly 2.5 kilometers in circumference. That‘s over a mile and half wide – practically the entire length of the island of Manhattan! Pontoppidan also described the Kraken having arms as thick as ship masts. Assuming a small 18th century warship or frigate, the main mast could be 100-200 feet tall.

Other myths describe sailors mistaking the Kraken for shallow waters and sailing their ships directly onto its back. This would require something massive enough to allow vessels with even moderate draft to directly run aground. We‘re talking an island-sized surface area for ships to get stuck on. Engravings by French naturalist Pierre Denys de Montfort depict a Kraken attacking a full convoy of nearly ten ships at once. If it could wrestle that many vessels simultaneously, its limbs and body must have matched such massive scale.

So Just How Big are Giant Squid in Reality?

While a mile-wide Kraken likely stems more from creative exaggeration than reality, the giant and colossal squids of the deep ocean do reach pretty staggering sizes:

To put that into perspective, most sperm whales that prey on giant squid range between 15-20 meters long (50-65 ft). So these massive invertebrates rival even apex predator cetaceans in size.

Some key anatomical measurements help visualize their scale:

• The largest giant squid eye recorded was over 15 inches across – bigger than a basketball.
• Their tentacles are armed with rotating, swivelling hooks and suckers nearly an inch wide.
• Their razor sharp beak can sever spines and bite through bone.

Now imagine a squid even bigger – something that could view a sperm whale eye-to-eye or grasp one in its tentacles. That approaches the domain of the fabled Kraken.

Could the Kraken Exist Undetected in the Unexplored Deep?

Here‘s the fascinating thing – over 80% of the world‘s seas remain unmapped, unobserved, and undiscovered. The ocean averages 2.3 miles deep…but most scientific monitoring extends down less than 1300 ft. There are surely creatures lurking in the stygian depths and shadowy canyons below that have never seen light and exist unknown.

Giant squid themselves were considered mythological until 2004 when they were finally photographed alive by Japanese scientists. 95% of the oceans‘ volume lies in total darkness. Who knows what monumental beasts glide through the midnight zone‘s still waters, stirring only when they detect the distant vibrations of prey…or ships on the surface.

Something nearing a mile in length would be improbable. The mass and metabolic needs would likely outstrip even the abundance of the sea. But given how little we‘ve probed past the sunlit shallows, perhaps there are squid out there beyond comprehension or imagination. The legends had to come from somewhere after all…

Maybe one day we‘ll develop ROVs and submersibles tough enough to survive that crushing pressure and pitch black. Imagine the viral footage we‘d capture when flashing lights and whirring cameras reveal a monster Architeuthis or even more colossal cephalopod rising from the icy depths. It‘d be viewed millions of times in a matter of days. Here‘s hoping we get our first glimpse of a living Kraken sooner rather than later!