WEBVTT - The Monstrefact: Blood Clot Boy

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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 Lamb and this is the

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<v Speaker 2>Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

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<v Speaker 2>Your Mind, focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in

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<v Speaker 2>time as our core Stuff to Blow Your Mind episodes

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<v Speaker 2>have been about the Prairie. I wanted to turn to

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<v Speaker 2>some mythic beings associated with these lands, and in searching

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<v Speaker 2>around for the right topic, I found not a monster,

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<v Speaker 2>but a monster slayer in the form of Katoyus or

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<v Speaker 2>blood clot Boy. Katoyus is a mythic hero of the

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<v Speaker 2>Blackfoot or Nisitipi people, whose historic lands include vast expanses

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<v Speaker 2>of the North American Prairie. Katoyus gets his name, which

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<v Speaker 2>means blood clot from his miraculous birth. So global myth

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<v Speaker 2>folklore and religion is full of this particular motif, including

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<v Speaker 2>such figures as Peach Boy in Japanese tradition, who is

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<v Speaker 2>of course born to an elderly couple from a magical peach.

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<v Speaker 2>In the traditions of Catoyus, and various related heroes of

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<v Speaker 2>indigenous North American traditions, this hero is born out of

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<v Speaker 2>a blood clot which falls from the wound of a bison.

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<v Speaker 2>When an elderly couple boils the blood clot hoping to

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<v Speaker 2>make a soup, this miraculous infant emerges and swiftly matures

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<v Speaker 2>into a monster and giant slaying hero, as Eldon Yellowhorn

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<v Speaker 2>discusses in Calling Down the Spirits in the Sky, Blackfoot

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<v Speaker 2>Astronomy and Sense of the Sacred, published twenty twenty in

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<v Speaker 2>Intersections of Religion and Astronomy, This hero is associated with

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<v Speaker 2>blood red Mars in the Night Sky and in Blackfoot Astronomy,

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<v Speaker 2>this being his ultimate place in the heavens after he

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<v Speaker 2>finally dies in heroic battle, but before that can happen.

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<v Speaker 2>Before he perishes, he indeed protects the word against aggressors,

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<v Speaker 2>food deniers, cruel sons and laws, and of course monsters

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<v Speaker 2>of plenty. In nineteen eighties Plistocene Animals in Folk Memory,

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<v Speaker 2>folkloris George E. Langford discussed Blood Clot Boy as he

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<v Speaker 2>factored into the traditions of the Cree and Ojibwei peoples,

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<v Speaker 2>and indeed he pops up in several different indigenous mythologies,

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<v Speaker 2>and as Langford explorers, has connections to other tales in

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<v Speaker 2>which a hero is born from the body of a

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<v Speaker 2>mother slain by an ogre, and the hero then avenges

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<v Speaker 2>his mother by of course, of slaying that ogre. The

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<v Speaker 2>ogre in question, he points out, sometimes might take on

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<v Speaker 2>avert bear like qualities or be thought of as some

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<v Speaker 2>sort of a monstrous bear, but other times is described

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<v Speaker 2>in more clearly fantastic terms. So it just depends on

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<v Speaker 2>the telling and the particular tradition. These mental images that

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<v Speaker 2>you might have right now of Catoeus and his miraculous

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<v Speaker 2>birth from a bison's blood clot a certainly enthralling, But

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<v Speaker 2>we can't let the pure mental spectacle of the thing

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<v Speaker 2>distract us from its significance. He is a castaway turned hero,

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<v Speaker 2>born directly from the blood of the bison, the sacred

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<v Speaker 2>source of food, shelter, and spiritual life for the Blackfoot

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<v Speaker 2>people and other indigenous peoples of the Great Plains. Bison

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<v Speaker 2>wants rome North America and numbers estimated to be between

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<v Speaker 2>thirty and sixty million before the coming of Europeans and

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<v Speaker 2>the subsequent mass slaughter of the creatures. In the eighteen seventies,

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<v Speaker 2>a government sanctioned act that was intended to undermine and

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<v Speaker 2>control the Plain's Native American tribes. I have to admit

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<v Speaker 2>I had not heard of blood clot Boy before researching

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<v Speaker 2>Prairie and Prairie based folkloric traditions. So I feel like

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<v Speaker 2>my life is richer for knowing about him, and I'm

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<v Speaker 2>going to have to look around to see if I

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<v Speaker 2>can find some other good sources about the various tales, adventures,

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<v Speaker 2>and exploits of this hero and related heroes. So perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>so come back and explore another one in an upcoming

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<v Speaker 2>episode of The Monster Fact. And indeed, you can tune

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<v Speaker 2>in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact, The Artifact

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<v Speaker 2>or Animalogus do Pendium each week. As always, you can

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