Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. Hi,
Speaker 1: my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact,
Speaker 1: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,
Speaker 1: focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time.
Speaker 1: Irish folklore and mythology is a rich well of wonder,
Speaker 1: from the ancient wars of the Duapha Dadanan to the
Speaker 1: blood cirdling Banshee and the cunning LEPrecon. But today I'd
Speaker 1: like to talk about the Cluricon. The Cluricon has a
Speaker 1: bit in common with its more well known kin. Both
Speaker 1: it and the LEPrecon are a diminutive fairy folk with
Speaker 1: a love of strong drink, magical powers, and a malicious
Speaker 1: streak you want no part of. In some traditions, they
Speaker 1: are both also tied to shoemaking and hidden treasure. Carol
Speaker 1: Rose points out in Spirits, Fairies, Leprecons and Goblins, the
Speaker 1: Cludcon looks like a little old man in a red
Speaker 1: pointed cap, a red coat with silver buckles, blue stockings,
Speaker 1: and buckled shoes. But accounts of this magical creature tend
Speaker 1: to have more in common with traditions of the cellar
Speaker 1: demon entities in medieval English monastic folklore who would guard
Speaker 1: the provisions and wines in the cellars of wealthy houses
Speaker 1: and monastic orders. So likewise, Rose explains that the Cludcon
Speaker 1: makes its home in Irish wine cellars, tending to the
Speaker 1: casts and making sure there are no leaks. Now, this
Speaker 1: alone sounds like a pretty good deal, right, But the
Speaker 1: added wrinkle is that the Cludcon staggers about in an
Speaker 1: apparent drunken stupor all the time, frightening any household servants
Speaker 1: who come near the wine casks at all in order
Speaker 1: to prevent anyone from stealing the precious stuff. So at
Speaker 1: the very least, the creature is over zeus and disruptive
Speaker 1: in its protection of a household's libations. And sometimes it's
Speaker 1: even worse. In the folk tale The Haunted Cellar, recorded
Speaker 1: in eighteen twenty five by Irish author Thomas Crofton Croker,
Speaker 1: the McCarthy household has a legendary wine cellar. It's stocked
Speaker 1: with an enviable selection of fine wines and Irish whiskies,
Speaker 1: if only anyone could fetch them. The vaults beneath the
Speaker 1: mansion are old, dating back to a time when there
Speaker 1: were places of refuge carved from the stone beneath an
Speaker 1: ancient castle that once stood on these very grounds. A
Speaker 1: cluracon haunts these depths, and while it respects the master
Speaker 1: of the house and permits him to fetch wine and
Speaker 1: whiskey on his own, all others are greeted with haunting effects,
Speaker 1: such as trembling bottles and the sensation of things crawling
Speaker 1: in the dark. In various other accounts as well, the
Speaker 1: master of a curacon wine cellar cannot simply move away either.
Speaker 1: For starters, moving the wines and whiskies might be difficult
Speaker 1: if you had to do it yourself, and you don't
Speaker 1: want to leave all of that stuff. And secondly, the
Speaker 1: cluricon might just come with you, just as the one
Speaker 1: in the Haunted cellar threatens to do. In other tales,
Speaker 1: a household moves only to discover that the troublesome clucon
Speaker 1: has stowed away in one of the wine casts they
Speaker 1: took with them. Now, I want to point out that
Speaker 1: to this day, the LEPrecon film franchise has eight movies
Speaker 1: in it. Isn't it time that the Cluricon had to
Speaker 1: go at it? Both legitimate Irish horror cinema and animated
Speaker 1: Irish fantasy have risen strongly in recent years, and I
Speaker 1: can imagine a dark or light hearted treatment of the
Speaker 1: myth going over quite well. I'll leave you with this.
Speaker 1: If you happen to visit any great Irish houses anytime soon,
Speaker 1: maybe don't be too insistent on helping the host fetch
Speaker 1: that next bottle unless you want to have a run
Speaker 1: in with a clue racon to yourself. Tune in for
Speaker 1: additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always,
Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow
Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is
Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.