Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas,
Speaker 1: and monsters in time. Sift around through urban legends and
Speaker 1: hauntings websites enough and you'll come across talk of the
Speaker 1: mud Man of Metz said to haunt Metz Bridge and
Speaker 1: mets Iowa. Websites such as Haunted Places mentioned tales of
Speaker 1: a mud monster in the depths beneath the bridge, perhaps
Speaker 1: a ghost or revenant of a man who died in
Speaker 1: a fatal car accident at the site. Some accounts raised
Speaker 1: the possibility that this individual died while fleeing a crime
Speaker 1: scene and that their bloody crimes doomed them to this
Speaker 1: horrible existence in central Iowa. Haunting men of mud can
Speaker 1: be found elsewhere in the world as well. Specifically, there
Speaker 1: is the do ro Tabo of Japan. The name means
Speaker 1: either mud man or rice patty man. This yokai is
Speaker 1: generally described and depicted as a humanoid of mud, or
Speaker 1: at least a torso of mud emerging from the mud
Speaker 1: of a rice patty, grasping about with its arms and
Speaker 1: staring out of a single wide eye in its head
Speaker 1: as it wails in the night. According to Hiroko Yota
Speaker 1: and Matt Alt in their excellent book Yokai Attack, the
Speaker 1: do Rotabo is not generally believed to be dangerous. It cries,
Speaker 1: it frightens those who encounter it. Some traditions say it
Speaker 1: originated in the spirit of a man who lost his
Speaker 1: hard earned farmland and now haunting those very rice patties,
Speaker 1: cries for its return in the night. The authors share
Speaker 1: that the do Rotabo's origins go back at least as
Speaker 1: far as say can Toriyama's famous eighteenth century your Kai
Speaker 1: book Tales of Monsters then in now, And while it
Speaker 1: might be based on pre existing folk tales, it's more
Speaker 1: likely a creation of Toriyama himself. I'll have to admit
Speaker 1: that this frightening spirit loses some of its appeal given
Speaker 1: that it might have been a little more than the
Speaker 1: embodiment of a crude sexual metaphor quote to stick a
Speaker 1: pole in the rice patty. The door o Tabo's appearance
Speaker 1: is vaguely phallic, and the authors point out that Toriyama
Speaker 1: may have been referencing Brothels that were located north of
Speaker 1: Edo Castle at the time. Mud monsters pop up in
Speaker 1: our modern fictions as well. Just to name a few appearances,
Speaker 1: you'll find them in the goose Bumps book series and
Speaker 1: TV show, as well as the movies Spookies and Terry
Speaker 1: Gilliam's two thousand and five fantasy film The Brothers Grimm.
Speaker 1: Mud Men have also emerged from the muck and such
Speaker 1: role playing games as Dungeons and Dragons, and you'll be
Speaker 1: able to smite them in such video games as Blasphemous.
Speaker 1: In the natural world, many creatures take advantage of mud,
Speaker 1: either as part of their habitat or as an excellent
Speaker 1: cooling and sun productive coating for their skin. Mud can
Speaker 1: also aid in the removal of ecto parasites, provide relief
Speaker 1: from biting insects, and prevent skin from drying out. And yes,
Speaker 1: it can also aid in camouflage. The wart hog is
Speaker 1: a great natural example of this, but of course, if
Speaker 1: you ever find yourself battling invisible aliens in the jungle,
Speaker 1: this trick also comes in handy for muscular commandos as well.
Speaker 1: Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster fact or
Speaker 1: the Artifact each week. As always, you can email us
Speaker 1: at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio.
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