Case file · Anomaly hotspot
The Moskstraumen maelstrom
The violent tidal whirlpools off Lofoten appear on Olaus Magnus's 1539 map and grew into the legend of a sea that swallows ships.
1539 CE · 67.80, 12.85 · status: explained
The account
The 'Maelstrom' inspired Edgar Allan Poe's 'A Descent into the Maelström' (1841) and Jules Verne.
The sceptical view
A real but explainable system of strong tidal currents between Lofoten islands; it does not suck ships to the bottom.