Swallowed Whole

[Archosaur]

Events and cases where people have been swallowed whole. Also postulates as to what could happen.

[JJO]

A little bit more description would be nice. But defiantly, several things get swallowed whole. Large whales, sharks, they can gulp down 100's of tiny fish at once. It’s said that large whales, that swallow fish in large quantities, the fish can live inside the whale for over 3 days. I’ve never really heard of people getting swallowed hole though, as you mentioned.

JJO

[Raptor]

Like this?

[CAptain Scuttle Tew]

Like this?

I would have to look for it, but I recall an account where a man was swallowed by a whale. This happened on a whale hunt in the 19th Century. As I recall, he was recovered very quickly from the stomach and was found to be alive, unconscious and his skin was bleached a ghostly white. He did recover. I will try to find the account of it for you, but to be honest; I read this almost 20 years ago. I’m not sure if I still have the book.

[truethat]

On the whale thread I posted a story about a crewman that fell into a whales mouth but he wasn't swallowed, just caught in the teeth by his legs. He was recovered.

[CAptain Scuttle Tew]

On the whale thread I posted a story about a crewman that fell into a whales mouth but he wasn't swallowed, just caught in the teeth by his legs. He was recovered.

Thanks. Do you remember where you posted it? I would love to read it. The one I'm writing about I'm pretty sure did end up in the stomach. The thing that stuck in my mind was the white skin. That happens to some things when exposed to stomach acid. I would guess that during the days of whaling, quite a number of people ended up as "whale food."

On another thread, but the same idea, I heard the story (complete with photos) about the sleeping guy who was swallowed by the snake was not true. Anyone know what the true story was?

[fullywired]

Thanks. Do you remember where you posted it? I would love to read it. The one I'm writing about I'm pretty sure did end up in the stomach. The thing that stuck in my mind was the white skin. That happens to some things when exposed to stomach acid. I would guess that during the days of whaling, quite a number of people ended up as "whale food."

On another thread, but the same idea, I heard the story (complete with photos) about the sleeping guy who was swallowed by the snake was not true. Anyone know what the true story was?

Here is a link to the story

  http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/n/newjonah.htm

This is certainly a hoax the like of which seamen traditionally reserve for the gullible. In the nature of such hoaxes it is of course impossible to disprove claimed events in the past. Several factors point in this direction; no source is quoted, merely "browsing through old records". The "well authenticated facts" are given no authenticity.

If a man were swallowed by a whale, he would be entirely without oxygen and the temperature would accelerate heat stress causing him to die very quickly. Even if a sperm whale could swallow a man (see below) a live unharmed one would certainly put up a fight (wouldn't you?!) requiring him to be bitten and subdued, possibly (probably) killed in the process.

Edited May 8, 2007 by fullywired

[Archosaur]

From "Tales of Giant Snakes, A Historical Natural History of Anacondas and Pythons" by John C. Murphy and Robert W. Henderson:

(Clarke 1953 in Peru):

"Usually our men just disappear. We never hear from them again. ... The Anaconda, apparently hunting for food, came out of the river and entered the boat through a hole torn that day in one corner. After killing and swallowing Vargas, it could not return through the hole, and was found in the engine room next morning."

(Bosman 1818, Africa)

"About the same time another(Python sebae) was killed at Boutry, not much shorter than the former; in whole body a Negro was found."

Kind of racest, but then this was 1818.

(Blomberg, 1956, Ecuador)

"Some children were bathing, and a boy of 13 suddenly disappeared. ... He had often been told that a gigantic anaconda haunted the river hereabouts. It was even said to have swallowed two persons. ... he discovered the reptile. It was laying with half its body on the shore, the other half in the water. It had vomited up the devoured boy."

(Rose, 1955, Calcutta)

"Maung Chit Chine, a Burmese salesman for a firm of European jewelers, was shooting in Thaton district when he was attacked and swallowed by a large python. Another member of the party found Maung's hat near the python which was asleep. He killed the python, opened it and found Maung's body inside. He had been swallowed feet first."

(Kopstein, 1927, Indonesia)

"On the 13th of July, in the village of Bitoenoeris on the island of Salibathoe, a 14 year old boy was eaten by a snake. ....saw a giant snake asleep under a tree. They thought of the missing immediately of the missing boy, and the snake was clubbed to death in no time. ...the snake was cut open and they found the boy inside in the following position: the legs were crossed with the left hand stuck between them, the right arm was wound around behind the head, everything was completely smeared with dirt and blood, the dead body was covered with dirty slime."

(Frank Buck1932, Burma)

"On the ground, a few feet away, was a huge python. its tremendous bulge plainly indicated it had just gorged itself.

...The jungle monster (it later devloped that it measured 28 feet) had devoured their friend. One of the group raised his rifle and was bout to pump lead into the giant constrictor.

"No!" shrieked one of his companions.

...A hardier and less superstitous member of the group raised his rifle and fired."

(Buck, 1932, Philippines)

Referring to a elderly Moro who kept a pet 25' reticulated python he referred to as "his god" that escaped and was subsequently found.

"Interested to know what the snake had devoured, I ran my hands over the bulge. ZI could feel a round nobby something that suggested a human head! Working both hands feverishly a little below this point, I found myself tracing the outline of human shoulders! There was no longer any doubt in my mind. There was a human body inside that reptile's - probably that of a child.

When I communicated my belief to the old man he showed no concern, his joy over finding his "god" representing his one and only emotion.

...When the head-man officially decided that his son was no more I expected him to set up a terrific wailing. Instead he entered the cadge, and, stroking the sluggish python where the boy's head budged out, said, "My Taqua will sure go to heaven; he is inside god". With this he consoled (his weeping wife), even rebuking her for failing to share his view of the matter."

[Loonboy]

In the article about the hippo and the dwarf, why on Earth would they send the trampoline for forensic analysis???

There has to be less complicated ways of murdering dwarves...

[CAptain Scuttle Tew]

Here is a link to the story

  http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/n/newjonah.htm

This is certainly a hoax the like of which seamen traditionally reserve for the gullible. In the nature of such hoaxes it is of course impossible to disprove claimed events in the past. Several factors point in this direction; no source is quoted, merely "browsing through old records". The "well authenticated facts" are given no authenticity.

If a man were swallowed by a whale, he would be entirely without oxygen and the temperature would accelerate heat stress causing him to die very quickly. Even if a sperm whale could swallow a man (see below) a live unharmed one would certainly put up a fight (wouldn't you?!) requiring him to be bitten and subdued, possibly (probably) killed in the process.

True. When I used the term "whale food," I meant that many men were killed by whales. Not actually eaten. The guy had been knocked out. I wish I could remember what book I had that talked about that case. I seem to recall it was documented. I hate it when this happens! Oh, as a sailor myself, I too can spin some great whale stories. My favorite is (though not about whales or about people being eaten. For that, I am sorry for being off thread.) is the brass monkey myth.

[Archosaur]

From: "Killers of the Seas" by Edward R. Ricciuti:

"Medieval European accounts tell of sharks whose bellies held men in full armor, a situation whose truth is debatable"

"...the sheatfisf, or wels (Silurus glanis), has been reputed to gulp down humans as well as the frogs, fish, worms, dogs, lambs, and waterfowl that constitute the greater part of its varied diet. As musch as 15 feet long and weighing up to 700 pounds, the wels is indeed capible of swallowing a child whole, if not a large man. A child was reported eaten by a wels near Pressburg, Hungary, in 1613; and in 1754 one of these great catfish was opened and found to contain the corpse of a seven-year old child. ...and late in the 18th century, the body of a woman was discovered in a wels caught in Turkey. It could be that the human remains found in these giant catfish were victims" of drowning or other mishaps and were scavenged by fish, but it is just as possible that among people reported missing in some of the rural regions of Europe down through the years are poor unfortunates that died horribly, swallowed alive by a wels."

"Lergue groupers and sea basses could easily close their jaws over a man, for some members of the family are big enough to weigh more than 1,000 pounds. ...It is easy to imagine a diver entering the black water in the hold of an anchient wreck and suddenly being engulfed in the jaws of a monsterous grouper. Pearl divers of the Indo-Pacific are said to fear big groupers and sea basses more than sharks, and around the waterfront of San Juan, Puerto Rico, people tell stories of groupers waiting beneath the wharves to snatch up youngsters from the streets who sometimes dive and swim there."

"Nixon Griffis, president of the American Littoral Society, told me of an account he had heard of a Navy lieutenant who was diving with scuba and was swept into the maw of a giant grouper. The lieutenant escaped only because his bulky air tanks prevented the fish from swallowing him. William J. Cromie, oceanographer and science journalist, wrote in "The Living World of the Sea" that a pearl diver ws swallowed by a giant sea bass in Australian waters and escaped through one of the fish's huge gill openings."

[fullywired]

From: "Killers of the Seas" by Edward R. Ricciuti:

"Medieval European accounts tell of sharks whose bellies held men in full armor, a situation whose truth is debatable"

"...the sheatfisf, or wels (Silurus glanis), has been reputed to gulp down humans as well as the frogs, fish, worms, dogs, lambs, and waterfowl that constitute the greater part of its varied diet. As musch as 15 feet long and weighing up to 700 pounds, the wels is indeed capible of swallowing a child whole, if not a large man. A child was reported eaten by a wels near Pressburg, Hungary, in 1613; and in 1754 one of these great catfish was opened and found to contain the corpse of a seven-year old child. ...and late in the 18th century, the body of a woman was discovered in a wels caught in Turkey. It could be that the human remains found in these giant catfish were victims" of drowning or other mishaps and were scavenged by fish, but it is just as possible that among people reported missing in some of the rural regions of Europe down through the years are poor unfortunates that died horribly, swallowed alive by a wels."

"Lergue groupers and sea basses could easily close their jaws over a man, for some members of the family are big enough to weigh more than 1,000 pounds. ...It is easy to imagine a diver entering the black water in the hold of an anchient wreck and suddenly being engulfed in the jaws of a monsterous grouper. Pearl divers of the Indo-Pacific are said to fear big groupers and sea basses more than sharks, and around the waterfront of San Juan, Puerto Rico, people tell stories of groupers waiting beneath the wharves to snatch up youngsters from the streets who sometimes dive and swim there."

"Nixon Griffis, president of the American Littoral Society, told me of an account he had heard of a Navy lieutenant who was diving with scuba and was swept into the maw of a giant grouper. The lieutenant escaped only because his bulky air tanks prevented the fish from swallowing him. William J. Cromie, oceanographer and science journalist, wrote in "The Living World of the Sea" that a pearl diver ws swallowed by a giant sea bass in Australian waters and escaped through one of the fish's huge gill openings."

And not one whiff of evidence to support it, all anecdotal accounts about what somebody heard .old sea salt 's tales

[laveticus666]

Like this?

haha man that is one unlucky dwarf.

[Archosaur]

And not one whiff of evidence to support it, all anecdotal accounts about what somebody heard .old sea salt 's tales

Pretty much.

The statements of sizes and potential appear to line up with zoological records, but as for the events themselves

Just recently in the news we had a diver who was half swallowed by a Great White (his weight belt kept him from being sawed in half) off Austrelia. The shark spat him out. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16785242/

Previously a huge Great White swallowed a diver on the surface off South Africa in front of several witnesses. http://www.cdnn.info/news/safety/s050605b.html

Let me know if you find anything interesting or substantive.

[truethat]

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/010914.html

http://www.coolantarctica.com/Antarctica%2...whale_tales.htm

[jesspy]

ahh you mean swallowed hole as in by animals yes its possiable depending on what is being swallowed. A small child into an anconda yes and adult no

I dont think a whale would swallow a man whole the sperm whale which is the biggest toothed whale could take a man whole but might choke plaus the whole chew rf\eflex or something would come into play. the other whales like blue and humpback could certainly fit a person int their mouths swallow them too. But i doubt they would considering they only eat krill which are tiny

[War-Junkie]

I remember hearing on the TV or somewhere a guy was swallowed by a shark and sliced open the stomach and cut his way out.

probably was a movie.

[TJMac]

The guy who was swallowed whole wa named James Bartley. According to the post in Wikipedia there are quite a few references to the original article and even where his grave is located and evidence that it was NOT just a hoax.