WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: The Alp-Luachra of Irish Folklore

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

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<v Speaker 2>Hi, my name is Robert Lamman. This is the Monster Fact,

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<v Speaker 2>a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,

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<v Speaker 2>focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. Yesterday

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<v Speaker 2>was Saint Patrick's Day, so I figured it would be

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<v Speaker 2>appropriate and not too late to feature another monster of

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<v Speaker 2>Irish origin on the show. So I'd like to discuss

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<v Speaker 2>not a leprechaun or a banshee, but rather the out

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<v Speaker 2>Blue Ucra, an invisible creature that crawls down your throat

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<v Speaker 2>while you're asleep and then proceeds to eat the contents

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<v Speaker 2>of your belley. Now. I initially read about this creature

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<v Speaker 2>in the pages of Carol Rose's Spirits Fairies, Leprechauns and

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<v Speaker 2>Goblins and Encyclopedia, and then looked up one of her

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<v Speaker 2>primary sources on the subject, Irish author Douglas Hydes. Beside

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<v Speaker 2>the Fire from A ninety The entity is also discussed

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<v Speaker 2>in James mccullop's Dictionary of Celtic Mythology nineteen ninety eight.

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<v Speaker 2>But here's the basics. One allegedly can inquire the out

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<v Speaker 2>Blueucra by sleeping near a stream. The invisible creature, sometimes

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<v Speaker 2>described as being a kind of fairy, other times a

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<v Speaker 2>sort of invisible newt, will crawl down the sleeper's throat

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<v Speaker 2>and eat the food in his stomach. Once it has

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<v Speaker 2>set up shop down there, the creature will just continue

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<v Speaker 2>to eat any food or most of the food that

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<v Speaker 2>the human swallows. As a result, the poor victim of

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<v Speaker 2>the alp lucra grows weaker and frailer despite always eating,

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<v Speaker 2>because an evil spirit in his belly is actually eating

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<v Speaker 2>all of the food. The solution, as described by Hyde,

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<v Speaker 2>is to just eat a whole lot of salt beef

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<v Speaker 2>and then lie with your mouth open over a stream.

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<v Speaker 2>The thirsty out leucra will then eject itself desperately in

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<v Speaker 2>need of a refreshing drink. Kellop also adds that in

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<v Speaker 2>some stories, the invisible creature, also known as the joint eater,

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<v Speaker 2>will sit beside the victim. There also seems to be

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<v Speaker 2>related tails out there, one in which serpent eggs in

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<v Speaker 2>the water of running Brook that eve ingested will cause

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<v Speaker 2>snakes to hatch in your stomach, and these apparently can

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<v Speaker 2>only be removed by fasting and then positioning oneself mouth

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<v Speaker 2>open in front of a bowl of milk. This according

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<v Speaker 2>to one wwn in an eighteen ninety one review of

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<v Speaker 2>Hyde's book in the Journal of American Folklore. So there's

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<v Speaker 2>a twist of magic and folklore humor to these tales, obviously,

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<v Speaker 2>the eating of the salt beef and so forth. But

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<v Speaker 2>at heart we can't help but be reminded of real

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<v Speaker 2>world intestinal parasites such as tapeworms here, with McKellop also

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<v Speaker 2>mentioning this in his analysis, humans have known about tapeworms

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<v Speaker 2>for a very long time, the descriptions of them sprinkling

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<v Speaker 2>and popping not throughout the writings of the ancient world.

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<v Speaker 2>And so in the story of the alp Lucra we

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<v Speaker 2>seem to combine this knowledge with the universal concept of

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<v Speaker 2>a spiritual or invisible force that brings illness while also

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<v Speaker 2>warning us about the more subtle dangers associated with bodies

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<v Speaker 2>of water. And obviously we have any number of folklooric

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<v Speaker 2>creature that is warning us about the more overt perils

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<v Speaker 2>of the water, creatures that will drag you down into

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<v Speaker 2>the waters and drown you, and so forth. But here

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<v Speaker 2>you know, various internal parasites do occur in water, and

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<v Speaker 2>a tale like this could be warning us about those

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<v Speaker 2>sorts of dangers as well. But hey, hopefully, today, the

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<v Speaker 2>day after Saint Patrick's Day, you did not wake up

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<v Speaker 2>next to a running stream and there is not a

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<v Speaker 2>demon inside your belly eager to consume all or most

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<v Speaker 2>of your next meal. Tune in for additional episodes of

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<v Speaker 2>The Monster, the Artifact or Animalia Stupendium each week, and

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<v Speaker 2>you can find episodes of all of these in audio

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<v Speaker 2>form in our audio archive. Wherever it is you get

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<v Speaker 2>your audio podcasts. As always, you can email us at

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<v Speaker 2>contact at Stuffdblow your Mind dot com.

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