24 Interesting Mythological Explanations for Real Scientific Phenomena

We should bring a couple of these back…
24 Interesting Mythological Explanations for Real Scientific Phenomena

Let’s say you’re a tornado on the horizon. You sure as hell have no fucking clue what that is, so how are you supposed to react?

You could, of course, absolutely lose your mind. Or, in order to go on living on this rock with a semblance of sanity, you can cook up your own reasoning for what made that twister. Just decide it’s one of God’s sneezes and you can get back to feeling sick from meat parasites. Plenty of civilizations did just that, and often, their explanation was a whole lot cooler than the scientific fact behind it. 

Redditors have shared their personal favorite mythological explanations for natural phenomena, and personally? I think we should bring a couple of these back.

ZAS100 . 8y ago In the Torah(Old Testament) Jews are required to bathe often. This lead to many Jews not getting sick during the time of the Black Death and some were accused of being the creators of the disease and killed.
Dracon_Pyrothayan 8y ago Medieval scholars, being unable to see fly eggs, thought that rotting meat simply generated maggots. Considering the Viking myth of the origins of Dwarves (i.e., they're maggots emerging from the corpse of the first giant, from whose body the worlds were made), that is a very old belief.
PremSinha 8y ago Edited 8y ago In India, centuries ago, people used to think that white clothes turning red is a sign of a demon entering one's house. Indeed, clothes don't generally change colour. In reality, turmeric is a spice used in Indian food. If white clothes stained by turmeric are washed with soap, they turn red. So, it was just messy eating, which was hardly demonic.
Hwny . 8y ago The Flying Dutchman and other ghost ships could have earned their reputation due to looming, in which a ship on the horizon would appear to be floating in the air due to the way light bends. If it faded below the horizon it would also appear to disappear into nothing.
apollymii 8y ago Ancient Greeks had an Oracle at a sacred place called Delphi. The Oracle was a priestess of the god Apollo. People would make pilgrimage to see her to ask her questions about everything from the outcomes of war to when they should plant their crops. The Oracle had a fairly short lifespan once she became the Oracle and a new one would be put in place. Once the priestess achieved this status she was then called Pythia. Pythia would sit in a cave where the airflow was low and a mixture of carbon monoxide and methane would
mattherat 8y ago Not really a scientific phenomenon. But the story behind the Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland is that it was built as a bridge between Ireland and Scotland to allow two giants to meet and fight. The Irish giant known as Finn MacCool (when written in English) got scared and so had his wife dress him up a baby, when the Scottish giant arrived he seen Finn, thought he was really a baby and as such ran away home because of what he thought Finn must of looked like because of the size of his kid. The bridge
hecytor 8y ago Mermaids have been engraved into ocean mythology, even being sighted by Columbus. These where later to be explained as Dugong/Manatee sightings. They are also known to stand on their tails in shallow water and have distinctly human figures. Mermaid skeletons brought back to the UK showed the strong dorsal vertebrae which was confused for the Mermaids fish-like fin
xaviere8 8y ago I've always loved how some First Nations traditions believe the northern lights are the spirits of your friends, family and ancestors who've ed away, dancing because they are happy. It's such a nice association--to look at a beautiful phenomenon, people you've lost and be happy.
SugarButterFlourEgg . 8y ago Any of the monsters blamed for sleep paralysis, from incubi to aliens.
Jordan_the_Hutt 8y ago The people of the congo had a religious beliefe that across the ocean was the land of the dead, also white was often the symbolic color of death. When Slavers first came to the congo on their huge ships its very likely the congo people believed these white folks were spirts come back to take them away to the land of the dead. 1/3 of all african american captives came from the congo. Chilling.
8y ago Not sure if this fits exactly but in the small village I live in in the West of Ireland there is a huge rock in a field with a massive split in it. Known imaginatively as The Split Rock. Legend has it that ancient Irish badass, Fionn Mac Cumhaill got in a rock throwing contest with a giant. They stood on the Ох Mountains, about 30 miles away and tried to throw rocks into the sea. Fionn's attempt fell short and he was pissed off so he ran down and split the rock in half with his
. 8y ago Ancient cultures such as the Greeks used to burn sulphurous candles to ward off ancient spirits in their brewing houses. In reality they were filling the air with sulphates which inhibit bacterial growth
MissMarionette 8y ago Japan explained earthquakes with a giant ass catfish that slept beneath the archipelago and when it snored it would cause earthquakes. It's why the Pokémon Whiscash has that Snore attack (among other pokés).
Anemomaniac 8y ago . Edited 8y ago Mars looks reddish from Earth, which is believed to be why ancient societies like Rome associated it with a god of war (reminded them of blood). In alchemy, the metal associated with Mars was iron, because you use iron to make weapons of war. Interestingly, the reason Mars appears reddish is because of oxidized iron in the soil (which these people had no way of knowing at the time).
ThatScottishBuddie 8y ago Owls gliding through graveyards while hunting for prey at night are credited with where the image of ghosts with the two big black eyes and the white colour comes from! And also hearing an owl hoot also gives us the woooooohhhhhh! noise people make when mimicking a ghost!
MGee9 . 8y ago | read somewhere that ancient merchants would put silver coins in their water skins/canteens for good luck. Turned out silver is very handy for killing bacteria, so those silver coins helped keep their water supply clean
pjabrony 8y ago In the mountains of , it's possible to climb high enough that you get cloud formations below you. If the light catches things just right, it can look like a great shadow moving across the clouds at high speed. This may be the origin of the idea that witches would fly.
Cdn_Nick 8y ago The quenching (rapid cooling) of steel to harden it. There are stories that indicate some of the sword smiths of the Middle East, when making Damascus swords, believed that piercing the bodies of strong slaves resulted in the strength of the slave being transferring to the sword.
marshmallow314 8y ago Edited 8y ago In Greek mythology the change of seasons was explained by the goddess Persephone's location. So in spring/summer Persephone was with her mother Demeter (presumably on Mount Olympus) whereas in winter/fall she was stuck with Hades in the underworld. Her misery in the underworld resulted in colder weather whereas her happiness above caused nice weather.
screenwriterjohn . 8y ago The concept of bad air is medically sound in the sense that air can be used as a medium to spread infectious diseases. Before the microscope, it was a good theory.
Gregaroo . 8y ago Cyclops myth was spurred by one-eyed fossils which turns out to be ancient elephant skulls
PippinIRL 8y ago The 5th Century BC Historian Herodotus described hearing reports of winged serpents and other sorts of fantastical creatures during his travels around Egypt and the Middle East, and reported seeing the bones of these himself. Modern scholars now believe what he is referring to are preserved dinosaur bones and fossils that of course appeared to look like great winged serpents - could also explain the origin of myths such as dragons!
Katzenhaft13 . 8y ago I like the tail of Helios that explains the sun. They thought some giant man and his giant chariot driven by giant horses pulled the sun across the sky and must rest each night to pull the sun again the next day.
cortechthrowaway 8y ago The Cherokee had a myth that the great cataract in the Tennessee River Gorge was created by a giant sturgeon flopping around on the riverbottom.

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