Hurricanes: Human Baffler

Hurricanes are a natural disaster that even today cannot be fully explained. So one can imagine how the people of ancient times explained hurricanes.

In Greek myths, there are many references to hurricane-like happenings. For example, when Jason of Iolcus goes on a quest for the Golden Fleece, he must sail through dangerous waters similar to that of hurricanes. One of the big resemblences is from the monster Scylla. Also resembling a whirlpool, Scylla sucks up anything near it, likely referring to the water that seemed to always be pushing against ancient boats.

Other references to hurricanes in Greek myths are the monster Charybdis, the sirens, and the wrath of the sea god, Poseidon. These represent the danger of sea travel, especially of hurricanes.

Another way people have explained hurricanes is told by this ancient document from the city of Notrealville. It is thought to be the diary of a student. Fortunately, the language the document was written in, ishish, happens to be exactly the same as English with the exception of the word scary. In ishish, scary is gloosh-gloosh. Anyway, the document states, "From the diary of a student: The chief was stressful today. He had predicted something bad. The next few days were strange. Something didn't feel right. Then, something horrible happened. The wind started to pick up. Sticks were getting thrown around. But it wasn't until I saw huge branches getting torn off their trees did I really get gloosh-gloosh. The village was a mess. Nobody knew what to do. The bigwind (that's what I call it) is destroying everything. I don't know what it's from. The gods wouldn't do this. Well, they might. But that is what everybody thinks. Every time something unusual happens, they say it's the gods. I don't. I think the sky is falling and that that is causing huge winds. It's either that or the trees are sneezing. Heck, I don't know. Who does? I don't think anyone does. Or will. Uh-oh. The winds are picking up. I better stop writing, put this away, and run. I need this to be found for future archeological findings and meteorological studies."