<![CDATA[Karl Eckler · Storify]]>http://storify.com/beachrubbleNodeJS RSS ModuleThu, 20 Jun 2013 00:38:39 GMT<![CDATA[The Great Northwestern Tree Octopus]]>

Is it real, is it a hoax? In this quantum century, does it matter?

Storified by Karl Eckler · Fri, Apr 13 2012 21:44:55

This is where it all started....
Save The Pacific Northwest Tree OctopusSave The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus
Rare photo of the elusive tree octopus The Pacific Northwest tree octopus (Octopus paxarbolis) can be found in the temperate rainforests ...
The Tree Octopus, while native to the Pacific Northwest, is rarely seen--even by lifelong residents--due to it's shyness, ability to camouflage itself, and most importantly its unique ability to harness quantum uncertainty to literally "be or not-to-be" as required to elude predators. 

This may appear to be either pure insanity or simply another example of Northwest quirkiness, but consider, if you will, the case of the Mad Fishmonger:
Mad Fishmonger « Hoopla!Mad Fishmonger « Hoopla!
May 28, 2005 ... I will quote the Mad Fishmonger story from Charles Fort&#39;s “Lo!”: “Upon May 28th, 1881, near the city of Worcester,...
It might be said at this juncture that Charles Fort was a nut (or that 19th Century newspapers had a somewhat different relationship with objective truth than they do today), but consider the Smoked Barracuda...
ouroborosity exhibition · weegeebored
To this, I can only quote someone:

"Nature has shewn herself capable of many freakish performances."  --H.P. Lovecraft

And he would know, being an exceptionally weird guy.  Also he hated fish. It's all coming together!

Also coming together... more stuff that people didn't believe before, but now can reproduce in a Lab:
Photo: Ball Lightning Mystery Solved? Electrical Phenomenon Created in LabPhoto: Ball Lightning Mystery Solved? Electrical Phenomenon Created in Lab
A series of stills taken from a video shot in a Brazilian lab show scientists applying an electrode to silicon wafers (top left) to creat...
Craig Venter unveils "synthetic life" · tedtalksdirector
Or have been here, swimming along, for the last 480 million years or so...
Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) · euftepan
With the extent of odd things bubbling up into the collective unconscious, is it so ludicrous to believe that a little seen amphibious octopus is at large in the rain forests of the Pacific Northwest?

The horrible truth is, that it isn't*!

(*Really. It's a hoax. You know, like the Jackalope)
Jackalope Herd · freethejackalope
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