Something in the Water

From our earliest campfire legends to our biggest blockbuster movies, a deep dive into the stories we tell about water and the horrors it hides

In the 300,000 years Homo sapiens have walked the planet, we’ve explored less than 30% of the ocean. Yet, again and again, we’re pulled under by our enduring fascination with water, the mysteries it hides and the unrelenting power of its destructive force. Something in the Water is a fun and irreverent history of aquatic horror, one that is nearly as vast and deep as the waters it explores. 

Each period and culture has its own stories of what lurks below: mermaid tales, fishing folklore, sea monsters, and flood legends. From Greek mythology to kaijus to Lovecraft to Shark Week, this book is a wild and light-hearted trip through our deepest, darkest nightmares. Each chapter is divided into subsections, presenting all aspects of aquatic horror, ranging from real-life oddities, ghost stories, and legends based on facts to more contemporary media portrayals in comic books, fiction, movies, and television.

Something in the Water chronicles our obsession with the nightmarish mysteries of aquatic horror and is a must-read for anyone who wonders what else slithers alongside the creatures of the deep.