Cullan Hudson's Blog, page 43
September 5, 2011
More Irish Monsters
Continuing from the last post, let's delve deeper into the monsters of my ancestors. No, not hillbillies--older....The Leanan Sidhe is a sort of vampire meets a muse. She attached herself to artists, poets, writers, and musicians and suck up all their creativity and left them bereft and depressed to the point of suicide. You know, like a groupie. Well, she'd come by with her big ol' cauldron and fill it up with their blood. From here she drank or bathed or soaked her cuticles or whatever to retain her beauty and intoxicatingly inspirational powers. I wonder if Oprah has a cauldron....
The Dullahan or "dark man" is a harbinger of death in a sort of Irish headless horseman tale. The headless Dullahan rides a black horse with fiery eyes while clutching his head beneath his arm. Wherever the rider stops, death visits hapless mortals. However, you can bribe the Dullahan with gold and he may spare your life. I wonder if he ever thought about running for office...
The Bean Sidhe is a more common entity in the list of Irish monsters, although you mightn't recognize the proper spelling. The "Banshee", as Americans term it, is a spirit that attaches itself to a family and wails horribly in anticipation of death with in the clan. And you thought your relatives were a bunch of loud mouths.
Ruling over the Fomori, a race of demons living deep in the lakes and seas, Balor was the sort of god of the underworld in ancient Celtic myth. He had one leg and one eye with which he could stare down a person to death. His victims were given over to the Fomori. Balor's own son, Lug, killed him with a slingshot (giant? slingshots? hmmmmm....) With Balor dead, the Fomori were free to evolve into sea monsters and seek out their own human prey, which is pretty much how I see the whole Kate Plus 8 thing working out.
Sluagh are dead sinners that come back from the dad to hunt down souls. They arrive from the west (like so many tourists, probably landing in Shannon) in flocks and attempt to gain entry into the homes of those knocking on death's door. It was tradition among some to keep west-facing doors and windows shut at all times.
Carman was an witch-goddess in Celtic lore. Like an evil stage mom, she traveled about with her three sons: Dub, Dother, and Dain (the Irish words for Darkness, Evil, and Violence). Together they destroyed anyone or anything in their path. Eventually, Tuatha De Danann (the people of Danu) defeated the old witch with powerful magic and banished her kids across the sea--probably to America. Thanks.
Kelpies are shape-shifting sea monsters that often appear as a horse. The horse would come from the sea, ride across the land, and entice victims to ride him. Once mounted, the Kelpie would race to the sea, dive in, and drag the victim down to its lair whereupon it would be quickly eaten.
Caorthannach was banished from the emerald isle when St. Patrick was running his pest control service. This fire-spitting beast (a dragon some say) didn't want to go so easily, but St. P was able to do the job. With one word. That's how badass he was.
September 2, 2011
It Devoured The Remains
"Nachzehrer are a German sort of vampire, and are much like zombies, though they would become restless in their graves and chew through their burial shrouds."READ MORE and HERE as well.
Perhaps it was fitting that Bram Stoker was an Irishman...
In Ireland, a folk tale exists of the Dearg-due, a type of vampire. Legend tells that a beautiful woman committed suicide to escape a terrible marriage. She was buried in Waterford, but arose from the grave to exact revenge on those men who conspired to make her so miserable in life. Thenceforth, she would rise one night a year to lure other men to their death with her beauty. Her arrival could only be held off if her grave were found and stones piled high atop so that she was unable to dig herself out.
Dearg-due is likely a corruption of the word dréag or driug, which in Gaeilge means a portent or harbinger. This, in turn, was probably borrowed from a word used by the oft-invading Norse Vikings, draugr. Draugar were creatures that "walked again" after death, which included ghosts.
September 1, 2011
August 30, 2011
Paranormal Roundup
Billy Cox praises the History Channel for getting it right in their "UFOs On The Record" documentary.
And Annie Jacobsen delves deeper than anyone else into the government's mysterious Area 51 in her book, Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base. Jacobsen interviewed former employees to gain inside information as to what REALLY took place there. But if the lackluster user reviews at Amazon are any indication, you might want to wait for a bargain bin price.
And over at Mysterious Universe, Michah Hanks posits whether some old school quantum physics couldn't have implications on spectral phenomena.
And Annie Jacobsen delves deeper than anyone else into the government's mysterious Area 51 in her book, Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base. Jacobsen interviewed former employees to gain inside information as to what REALLY took place there. But if the lackluster user reviews at Amazon are any indication, you might want to wait for a bargain bin price. And over at Mysterious Universe, Michah Hanks posits whether some old school quantum physics couldn't have implications on spectral phenomena.
August 29, 2011
Sisters Are Doin' It For ThemsELVES
A backlash has really heated up in recent times regarding how women are being depicted in comics and fantasy works. Recently an image depicting how silly male superheroes would look in the poses given female characters made the rounds. And a Tumblr blog came to light via Boing Boing called Women Fighters in Reasonable Armor that depicts... Well, it depicts exactly what it says it does. So for all you ladies out there tired of the Elf Tramps and Super Sluts, this one's for you.
August 28, 2011
May the Force Be With You: Collective Consciousness, The 6th Sense, and Our Interconnected Fields
Watch more in this series over at Ghost Hunting Theories. The implications presented in these videos are staggering and further research may produce evidence of psychic ability.
August 26, 2011
Hoodoo Ann
This gif reflects a couple of seconds from a 1916 silent film entitled 'Hoodoo Ann', written by the famed D. W. Griffith and starring Mae Marsh as a girl suffering a remarkable streak of bad luck that may trace back to a cursed doll--or does it? I've not seen the film, so I can't say if these frames represent spontaneous human combustion or simply a fire igniting while she sleeps. If the former, it must surely be the earliest example of the topic having been broached in cinema.Click The Image To Watch
No Sumerian/Akkadian Text Referencing "Doomsday" Planet, Nibiru
Paleo Babble excavates the truth behind those infamous theories of Zecharia Sitchin regarding ancient texts predicting a 'Planet X' he called Nibiru that swings by every 3600 years to wreak havoc. But if Stichin read this somewhere, it's a document unknown to the whole of Sumerian/Akkadian scholars. To Explain, WATCH THIS VIDEO.
