A-Z Challenge: C is for Cecaelia

Day 3 of the AtoZ Challenge brings us to the letter C! For my theme Under the Sea Myths & Legends, I'm now shifting to creatures with the letter C and posting a freakish-type of water creature known as....

Cecaelia or Octopus People

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These sea beasts look half-human and half-octopus and are part of a myth originated from Native American and Asian mythology. The most notable Cecaelia is a character I've blogged about before, Ursula from Disney's Little Mermaid. In short, she was bad ass! But what do we really know about these mythological creatures? Well, they are also referred to as sea demons or sea witches. Not to be confused with other underwater creatures because their distinguishing feature is their tentacles! Not fins or fish scales but real leg tangles of sea flesh that will suck the living out of you.

According to some myth sources, the original tale from Native Americans is about a man from one tribe, meets a woman from another tribe digging for clams. The man pesters the woman, who's, in fact, a Cecaelia disguised as a woman. Whether it's lust or just annoyance, the man continues badgering the Cecaelia who in return becomes annoyed. She shifts, revealing her true idendity and drowns the man with her tentacles. But the man comes back to life and decides never to talk to an octopus again. The story has different versions but that was the most interesting.

Vilgax from Ben 10

Aside from Ursula and even Davy Jones from the Pirates of the Carribean, this sea monster has little notoriety other than some video game character references. Still I found one monster I thought was closely related. One of my favorite characters from this series is Ben 10's nemeis, Vilgax. He, like the Cecaelia, is shaped like a man with octopus and alien parts. He's said to be based on the Greek Mythology's Chimera, but I think he's more Cecaelia than Chimera.  Just say'n...

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That's it for Cecaelia or Octopus People. Have you ever heard of them? Do you think it's possible this myth is real?

Mina Burrows