Hey, y’all, it’s Weird Wednesday! Where on some Wednesdays, I blog about weird stuff and give writing prompts.

Today: The Essex Whaleship: the True Story Behind Moby Dick

Welcome to Weird Wednesday! Today we’re headed to the middle of the Pacific Ocean in the year 1820, where we’re about to meet the real-life Moby Dick.

Moby Dick is an 1851 novel by Herman Melville, a sailor-turned-author. The story of Captain Ahab battling a giant white whale who sinks a ship might seem unlikely—but surprisingly, Melville based his story on real events. Let’s set the scene:

Whalers in the 1800s sought out sperm whales partly because the whales’ heads contain mass quantities of oil (which resembles semen, hence the name) that was used as a pricey lamp fuel. However, the supply of sperm whales close to shore was soon exhausted, so whalers had to start taking years-long journeys to the middle of the Pacific to ply their trade. Sperm whaling was a cruel, bloody process in which men with harpoons were pitted against creatures with massive teeth (sperm whales are toothed whales, like orcas) and bodies nearly as big as a whaling ship itself. And the men didn’t even hunt whales from that ship, but small, open whaleboats.

At the close of Nov 20, 1820, those little boats were all the sailors of the Essex had left. A giant sperm whale—estimated at 85 feet—repeatedly rammed the ship Essex, opening a large gash in the bow while its sailors were pursuing other whales. No one knows why—the Essex wasn’t the only whaling ship sunk seemingly on purpose by a whale, but such occurrences were rare. It’s possible the whale acted in defense of its pod, which is only fair.

But imagine being in a tiny boat and turning around to see your ship mortally wounded, while between you and the nearest land is hundreds of miles of ocean, storms, sharks, and starvation. 

Fortunately, we know exactly how the Essex crew felt at that moment, because some of her sailors survived. 

Check out the blog post for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as:

Lost at sea. Ships sometimes vanish without a trace, even in this digital age. Chillingly, we don’t know how many sinking ships put out lifeboats of survivors, if those boats are never found. You could write a horror story about all the ghosts in doomed lifeboats that must sail the open ocean. Maybe a psychic can speak to them, or a necromancer raise them to tell the fate of their lost ships. Or you could have a sci-fi story about lost lifeboats ending up on another plane of existence. What would the sailors of different eras say to each other?

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On this day in 1948, songwriter Stan Jones released Ghost Riders in the Sky, which tells a version of the Wild Hunt legend.

As the riders loped on by him

He heard one call his name

‘If you wanna save your soul

From hell a-riding on our range

Then, cowboy, change your ways today

Or with us you will ride

Trying to catch the devil’s herd

Across these endless skies

A mighty hunter and a pack of dogs, horses, or other beasts racing across the horizon, making a terrible noise as they rush above you! What could it mean? Well, that depends on who you are.

Let’s say you might be an average citizen in a time of political upheaval and great anxiety about the future (seems rather timely). For you, the appearance of the Wild Hunt may not be so helpful. In some traditions, the Wild Hunt is a bad omen— not just for those who see it, but for the entire society they represent. That’s right, those huntsmen chasing howling wolves across the sky means you’re going to have a war! Except! If the guy leading the hunt happens to be King Arthur or some other long-dead hero. Then you may be relieved, as the day is about to be saved, supernatural-superhero-style.

Check out my Weird Wednesday blog post on the Wild Hunt for the whole story and some writing prompts, such as:

King Arthur returns. This is some Angels of Mons type stuff, where visions in the heavens presage victory for one side or the other. But what if your character finds they recognize Wild Hunt Arthur as somebody they know? A grandparent, neighbor, or lover? Maybe someone could get abducted into the Wild Hunt only to realize they themselves are the supernatural hero.

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers