Creature Feature: Gef

Creature Feature: Gef

(Image from http://thinkingsidewayspodcast.com/gef-the-talking-mongoose/)

This is not a mythological creature, per se, but a story interesting enough to be told. It negotiates the space between haunting and manifestation, and begins on a small farm on the Isle of Man. The buildings were owned by the Irving family - mother Margaret, father James and their daughter Voirrey, who was thirteen at the time of the creatures manifestation. 

It began in September 1931, when the family began to notice strange rustling noises behind the wall panels in the farmhouse. After some prompting, the noise introduced itself as a mongoose called Gef, and claimed it was born in India, in New Delhi. It gave it’s birthdate as 1852 - which would have made it 99 years old on discovery. I’m sure you don’t need to be told that the standard mongoose doesn’t live that long! 

Gef informed the family that he was no ordinary creature, but an ‘extra, extra clever mongoose’ - however it was unclear whether Gef was limited to mongoose form. Though sometimes seen, he was more of an invisible presence around the house and he once claimed that he hands, ‘hands and feet, and if you saw me you’d faint, you’d be petrified, mummified, turned into stone or a pillar of salt!’

(Image from http://blogs.forteana.org/node/96)

After his introduction Gef proved handy to have around the home - he guarded the house during the day, would scare mice off the property, put out the fire when everyone had gone to bed and took great pleasure in waking up members of the family when they had overslept. The creature would often come with them to the market, but would remain unseen - hiding on the other side of the hedge. 

He ate only the best foods; chocolate, biscuits and bananas - and although he was often a joy to have around the home, he could also be rather disturbing and ego-centric. When James Irving died in 1945, Margaret and Voirrey left the home and sold the property for a very small sum of money due to claims of it being haunted. Gef, sadly, did not travel with them, and remained on the farm. 

The mongoose became very popular in the press when discovered by the Irvine family, and it became such a phenomenon that investigators were seen to the home to prove the animal's existence. However, the animal was never spotted - the investigators took special note of how the space between the wall and the wooden panels allowed sounds to move clearly through the house, and one of the more popular theories proposes that Gef was an invention of the young Voirrey - who exploited the gaps in the boards to propel a silly voice around the house. 

Another theory builds on James Irving and potential mental instability. That the creature was not heard from after his death leaves space for this interpretation. Nandor Fodor, Research Officer for the International Institute for Psychical Research stayed at the family home for a week and heard nothing from the mongoose. She came to the conclusion that the mongoose was an aspect of James’ personality. 

Creature Feature: Nuckelavee

Creature Feature: Nuckelavee

Take the M9 out to Stirling from Edinburgh, and you’ll come upon two giant steel horse-head sculptures rearing up into the sky. At 30-metres tall, they’re very hard to miss. Completed in 2013, the sculptures are said to be a ‘monument to horse powered heritage across Scotland’ - but for many, they are a monument to the creatures from which they are named, ‘The Kelpies’.

A kelpie is a Scottish water spirit that often appears as a horse, but can shape-shift into a human being. They inhabit bodies of water, and, after tempting a victim on to their back, they ride into the deep water; subsequently drowning the rider. It’s not always as clean or clear as this - other tales tell of the spirit devouring the rider, and leaving the entrails on the shore. 

Kelpies have an incredibly rich history in Scotland, but the Nuckelavee - though similar - is a far more disturbing beast. Specific to Orkney, this horse-demon damages crops, kills livestock, spreads plague and can even limit rainfall on the island - leading to droughts and terrible harvests. Unlike kelpies, the Nuckelavee lives in the sea surrounding the island, and only ventures ashore before and after the summer months. It’s appearance is terrifying. One encounter with the monster is described as follows:

[...] like a great horse with flappers like fins about his legs, with a mouth as wide as a whale's, from whence came breath like steam from a brewing-kettle. He had but one eye, and that as red as fire. On him sat, or rather seemed to grow from his back, a huge man with no legs, and arms that reached nearly to the ground. His head was as big as a clue of simmons (a clue of straw ropes, generally about three feet in diameter), and this huge head kept rolling from one shoulder to the other as if it meant to tumble off. But what to Tammie appeared most horrible of all, was that the monster was skinless; [...] the whole surface of it showing only red raw flesh, in which Tammie saw blood, black as tar, running through yellow veins, and great white sinews, thick as horse tethers, twisting, stretching, and contracting as the monster moved [...]

Having heard of this creature before, Tammie managed to escape the beast by crossing to the other side of a freshwater stream. Like many salt-water demons, the Nuckelavee cannot stand fresh-water, and so Tammie was saved. The same cannot be said for the livestock the creature has sickened with its breath, nor the deaths caused by the plague. 

Historians say that the Nuckelavee is likely an Orkadian explanation for stormy seas during tempestuous months. GIving further weight to this is the Sea Mither, which is the only creature capable of controlling the dreadful Nuckelavee - imprisoning it during the summer months. 

Creature Feature: Eloko

Creature Feature: Eloko

(Image from http://ctaudubon.blogspot.co.uk)

The Eloko can be found in the deepest, darkest regions of the rain forest in Zaire. They are dwarf-like in stature, live in hollow trees, and grass grows in place of hair. They often encourage beard growth, so in many stories the Eloko has a lengthy grass beard - sometimes down to the knees! They fashion clothes from the leaves around them, and yes, I know what you’re thinking. They sound adorable. Like Ewoks, except, the Eloko aren’t Ewoks. They really really really aren’t Ewoks. I haven’t told you about their sharp claws, razor-like teeth and a snout nose with a mouth that can open like a snakes. It can eat a human whole. 

How the Eloko came to be is conflicted. Some sources say that they are the spirits of those who died in the forest in extreme circumstances. Their spirit was unable to move on, and so an Eloko forms from the bones of the trapped deceased. They guard the treasures of the forest (wild fruits and raw resources) from local hunters, and it is said that only hunters with magical defences and honed skills can slip by these creatures, and harvest the treasures of the forest. 

The magical properties of the Eloko emanate from a small bell they carry around with them. They use this bell to paralyse and manipulate those who do not have any magical defences, and these bells are particularly effective on women. The wives of hunters are often bewitched by the bells of the Eloko, and in their madness they give themselves to these small creatures, who devour them piece by piece.

I told you, the Eloko are *definitely* not Ewoks.

One particular tale tells of a hunter and his wife heading in the forest. They camp on the edge of the dangerous region, and the hunter tells his wife not to move if she hears the sounds of the bell. He leaves, and not long after he has left, she hears a little bell growing louder as the Eloko approaches. She relents to the sound of the bell and lets the Eloko inside, then cooks fruit for the small creature. 

The dwarf however said that he did not like it. ‘Then what do you eat?’ 

‘I eat only human flesh… I am very hungry. I have not eaten since many days. You are a delicious woman. Give me a piece of your flesh.’ 

‘All right,’ said the woman, ‘Have a piece of my arm.’

The Eloko frequents the home over a few days, and the poor woman is entranced by the bell. One day the hunter hides outside instead of heading into the forest, and watches as the Eloko enters his hut. He surprises the creature - launches a spear into its back, and even cuts off its head - but he’s too late. The Eloko has already sunk a blade deep into his wife's torso.  

Creature Feature: Mapinguari

Creature Feature: Mapinguari

If you’ve been lucky enough to visit the National History Museum in London, then you’ve likely seen the hulking skeleton of the giant ground sloth. At a height of six metres, and a maximum weight of four tonnes, the Megatherium was a creature not to be messed with. Scientists believe the creature became extinct around 10,000 BP due to human hunting habits, but recent descriptions of a creature called the Mapinguari suggest otherwise. 

Folklore has it that the Mapinguari has long claws, reversed feet, a single eye and crocodilian skin, and modern sightings have described it as humanlike, or similar to a massive hairy ape. Other accounts describe it as having an additional mouth on its belly, and it can move about the forest floor on both two and four legs. It’s skin is incredibly tough - and many hunters have claimed to fire on the Mapinguari, only for the bullets to bounce off of it. This armoured skin is covered in matted fur, and its arm are said to be powerful enough to take down trees in one swipe. 

It’s a remarkably stealthy creature for its size, making it extremely dangerous in the dense Amazonian rainforest - but it’s also very slow, and has an aversion to water. Encounters with the Mapinguari have been sparse, but some continue to search the rainforest for evidence of its existence. They believe the creature could be a descendent of the giant sloth, pushed deep into the rainforest by human expansion.