1 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,399 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:08,560 --> 00:00:11,680 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Artifact, 3 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:23,239 Speaker 2: focusing on particular objects, ideas, and moments in time. The 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 2: a Nightmare on Elm Street film franchise gave us an 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,720 Speaker 2: iconic but at times perplexing horror icon in the form 7 00:00:31,760 --> 00:00:35,879 Speaker 2: of Freddy Krueger. He's a disfigured phantom of the opera 8 00:00:36,120 --> 00:00:39,960 Speaker 2: esque character with a taste for fedoras and red and 9 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:43,959 Speaker 2: green striped sweaters. He does not wear a mask, and 10 00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:48,160 Speaker 2: he attacks his victims in their dreams, making frequent use 11 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 2: of his signature weapon, a clod leather right hand glove. 12 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 2: Freddy's glove. While iconic, has only a few real world analogs. 13 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 2: Throughout in history, weapons like the sword have proven to 14 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 2: be more than effective as a means of slashing adversaries 15 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:10,800 Speaker 2: with a forged blade. When we do find weapons more 16 00:01:10,840 --> 00:01:13,839 Speaker 2: in line with Freddy's claw, they tend to either still 17 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:16,760 Speaker 2: require the use of a handle or hilt, such as 18 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 2: with various punch daggers, or they function in a way 19 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:24,760 Speaker 2: comparable to, say, brass knuckles in Japanese martial arts. The 20 00:01:24,840 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 2: Tikokagi claw weapon perhaps serves as one of the best 21 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,320 Speaker 2: parallels to Freddy's claw. I was reading about this weapon 22 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 2: in Classical Weaponry of Japan, Special Weapons and Tactics of 23 00:01:36,400 --> 00:01:39,680 Speaker 2: the Martial Arts from two thousand and three by Sergei mo. 24 00:01:40,400 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 2: Mull draws special attention to the shuko and ashiko weapons 25 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:48,480 Speaker 2: hand and foot hooks, respectively, which are thought to have 26 00:01:48,520 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 2: been used as quote unquote ninja weapons for scaling walls, trees, 27 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:57,960 Speaker 2: or other obstacles. Their main function was climbing, not combat, 28 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 2: but Mole points out that they could still have proven 29 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 2: fierce in close corners combat, and it certainly would have 30 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:09,360 Speaker 2: given the user a certain psychological advantage. The ticocaggi, however, 31 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 2: which means iron backhand claw, was unlikely to have been 32 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 2: used for climbing, he writes, and its elongated blades were 33 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,480 Speaker 2: seemingly designed to slash and rip up skin. Still, it 34 00:02:22,520 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 2: should be noted that the tickocaggi was not a glove. 35 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,359 Speaker 2: The human hand, after all, has evolved for fine manipulation, 36 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 2: it can also be used for bare handed violence, and 37 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,520 Speaker 2: it has even been hypothesized that the hand evolved to 38 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 2: form an effective fist for punching, but it certainly didn't 39 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 2: evolve to slash. Oh. Certainly, human fingernails can dig and tear, 40 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 2: but your fingers simply are not suited for the broad 41 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 2: slashes and of course occasional torpedo style stabbing through the 42 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 2: torso that a Krueger glove seems designed to administer. Freddy's 43 00:02:56,880 --> 00:03:00,760 Speaker 2: creator Wes Craven cited the housecat as if inspiration for 44 00:03:00,800 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 2: Freddy's claw, and certainly cats are pretty skilled slashers, but 45 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 2: even their amazing retractable claws are multipurpose, and as Douglas 46 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 2: j Emlin points out in the excellent book Animal Weapons, 47 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 2: the primary purpose of the claus during a kill are 48 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,520 Speaker 2: to catch and hold the prey in place in order 49 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:24,400 Speaker 2: for the cat to deliver a powerful killing bite. Not 50 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:28,120 Speaker 2: only does this latching on with the claws enable the 51 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:31,040 Speaker 2: teeth to sink home in the prey animal, they also 52 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 2: hold the prey animal in place through the death throws, 53 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 2: and this prevents these movements from snapping the cat's long 54 00:03:38,320 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 2: canines off in the body. Freddy Krueger, of course, is 55 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:45,000 Speaker 2: a fictional monster. He can do whatever he pleases, while 56 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 2: an actual human might well break their own fingers, using 57 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 2: such a glove as a weapon. All Freddy has to 58 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:59,120 Speaker 2: do his dream. Tune in for additional editions of the 59 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,320 Speaker 2: Artifact or the Monster Fact each week. As always, you 60 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 2: can email us at contact at stuffdblow your Mind dot com. 61 00:04:14,400 --> 00:04:17,359 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 62 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,280 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 63 00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.