1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,120 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,160 --> 00:00:12,280 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb And This is the 3 00:00:12,360 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow 4 00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:19,600 Speaker 2: Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 2: Autumn is the perfect time to gather around the old 6 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 2: electric hearth we call a television set and watch the 7 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:35,440 Speaker 2: twenty fourteen Cartoon Network animated series Over the Garden Wall. 8 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 2: In this much beloved show, we follow brothers Wort and 9 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 2: Greg through a woodland world of folkloric intrigue, vintage Halloween vibes, 10 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:48,919 Speaker 2: old New England charm, and heartwarming whimsy. Created by animator 11 00:00:48,960 --> 00:00:52,360 Speaker 2: Patrick McHale, it features the voice talents of Elijah Wood, 12 00:00:52,920 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 2: Melanie Lynsky, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry, and Moore. Over the 13 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,920 Speaker 2: Garden Wall is loaded with silliness in but it's not 14 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,279 Speaker 2: without its spookier moments and its chief antagonist, an entity 15 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,320 Speaker 2: known only as the Beast, really stands out as an 16 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 2: avatar of pure darkness. He appears throughout the series as 17 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 2: a shadowy, antlered figure with glowing eyes. And I'm not 18 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,720 Speaker 2: going to spoil everything here, but we eventually learn that 19 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 2: this entity feeds on the despair and sorrow of children 20 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:27,120 Speaker 2: and other individuals lost in the woods. The Beast is 21 00:01:27,160 --> 00:01:30,319 Speaker 2: an entity fittingly shrouded in mystery, but we can identify 22 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:35,240 Speaker 2: various points of possible inspiration and connections to related traditions. 23 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 2: As is often the case in Western animation, we of 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:43,160 Speaker 2: course must acknowledge the devil as part of the antagonist DNA, 25 00:01:43,720 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 2: but there are other more obscure notes as well. Now 26 00:01:46,959 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 2: some might point to modern depictions of the wind to Go, 27 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,040 Speaker 2: a spirit from the traditions of the Algonquin people, but 28 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 2: is my understanding that these depictions of the wind to 29 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:58,680 Speaker 2: Go as an antlered being are largely an invention of 30 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:04,760 Speaker 2: non indigenous media depictions. Windigo traditions, however, and related Indigenous 31 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 2: ideas do touch on themes of wildness, wilderness and survival cannibalism. 32 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,880 Speaker 2: A much clearer point of reference for the Beast, however, 33 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 2: can likely be found in Herna the Hunter, a spirit 34 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 2: important of doom from English tradition, tied to the woods 35 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 2: surrounding windsor castle covered in furs and bearing the skull 36 00:02:27,040 --> 00:02:30,639 Speaker 2: and antlers of a great stag. The entity might well 37 00:02:30,680 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 2: be tied to pagan worship of the Celtic fertility god Kurnunos. 38 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,720 Speaker 2: We previously discussed Hernaw the Hunter in Our Stuff to 39 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 2: Blow Your Mind episode Ghosts of the Wind and Rain. 40 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 2: The basic iconography of an antlered or horned woodland spirit 41 00:02:46,280 --> 00:02:49,760 Speaker 2: may also connect to a variety of ancient gods of 42 00:02:49,800 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 2: the hunt. The beast may also have an analog in 43 00:02:52,800 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 2: Germanic tradition, the Earl King or Elf King, Alder King 44 00:02:57,760 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 2: or Oak King. The entity was said to haunt the 45 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 2: Black Forest of Germany, luring travelers and children to death 46 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 2: in the lonely wilderness. In seventeen eighty two, German poet 47 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,520 Speaker 2: Johann Wolfgang van Gotha wrote of the entity in his 48 00:03:13,680 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 2: poem The Earl King. I'm gonna read from the Edgar 49 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 2: Alfred Bowering translation. Who rides there so late, through the night, 50 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,760 Speaker 2: dark and drear the father? It is with his infant, 51 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,839 Speaker 2: so dear. He holdeth the boy tightly clasped in his arm. 52 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:34,360 Speaker 2: He holdeth him safely, He keepeth him warm, my son. 53 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 2: Wherefore seekest thou thy face thus to hide look, Father, 54 00:03:38,920 --> 00:03:41,840 Speaker 2: the Earl King is close by our side. Dost see 55 00:03:41,880 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 2: not the Earl King with crown and with train, my son. 56 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,080 Speaker 2: Tis the mist rising over the plain. Oh come now, 57 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:52,880 Speaker 2: dear infant, Oh come thou with me, for many a 58 00:03:53,040 --> 00:03:57,119 Speaker 2: game I will play there, with thee on my strand 59 00:03:57,320 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 2: lovely flowers their blossoms on folk. My mother shall grace 60 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 2: thee with garments of gold. My father, my father, And 61 00:04:06,120 --> 00:04:09,320 Speaker 2: dost thou not hear the words that the Earl King 62 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:13,080 Speaker 2: now breathes in mine ear be calm, dearest child. Tis 63 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:17,120 Speaker 2: thy fancy deceives. Tis the sad wind that sighs through 64 00:04:17,120 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 2: the withering leaves. Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go 65 00:04:21,760 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 2: with me there. My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care. 66 00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 2: My daughters by night their glad festival keep. They'll dance 67 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,679 Speaker 2: thee and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep. My father, 68 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,000 Speaker 2: my father, and dost thou not see how the Earl 69 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,479 Speaker 2: King his daughters has brought here for me, my darling, 70 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:44,560 Speaker 2: My darling, I see it all right. Tis the aged 71 00:04:44,640 --> 00:04:49,360 Speaker 2: gray willows, deceiving thy sight. I love thee. I'm charmed 72 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:52,479 Speaker 2: by thy beauty, dear boy. And if thou art unwilling, 73 00:04:52,760 --> 00:04:56,840 Speaker 2: then force all employ my father. My father, he seizes 74 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,440 Speaker 2: me fast for sorely. The Earl King has hurt me 75 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 2: at last. The father now gallops with terror. Half wild, 76 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:09,320 Speaker 2: he grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child. He 77 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 2: reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread. The child 78 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:19,160 Speaker 2: in his arms finds he motionless dead. Quite a dark ending, 79 00:05:19,240 --> 00:05:22,039 Speaker 2: I think you'll agree. But for word in greg and 80 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:25,039 Speaker 2: over the garden Wall, things don't go quite as badly. 81 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:28,359 Speaker 2: But it is a near thing. The Beast, like the 82 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:31,360 Speaker 2: Earl King, would seem to command great power in those 83 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 2: places where long forgotten stories are revealed to those who 84 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 2: travel through the wood. Tune in for additional episodes of 85 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 2: the Monster, Fact, the Artifact or Animaliustupendium each week. As always, 86 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:46,360 Speaker 2: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 87 00:05:46,360 --> 00:05:56,000 Speaker 2: your Mind dot com. 88 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:59,039 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 89 00:05:59,120 --> 00:06:02,960 Speaker 1: more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 90 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:04,840 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.