8 Seriously Bizarre Scientific Theories From History

4. Monopods

Again wandering into the unexplored realms of exotic lands, there was a persistent rumour that flew around the ancient world regarding a race of people who had just one leg and a single giant foot that they would occasionally use as an umbrella or sun shade.

These were known as the monopods (one legged) or sciapods (shadow feet).

The thing is, that when asked where these monopods lived, the answer was invariably "over there". They were always seemingly just over the horizon.

The legend of the monopods spread across the globe faster than people did, and there are stories of European travellers turning up in the east in search of the monopods, only to be told by the locals that they thought the monopods came from where they had just come from.

The monopods were taken pretty seriously. St Augustine even devotes some of his philosophical works to figuring out whether they were descended from Adam and Eve and developed into something else - a sort of early meditation on evolution if you will.

It's not entirely sure where the legend came from, but it does sound suspiciously like something a mischievous local would tell a wide-eyed Ancient Greek historian for a laugh.