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From: Mark McFadden
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 03:03:14 EST
The Evil Clowns: an Adventure in Synchronicity
I can still remember my first Evil Clown. I was reading the Fortean pages at the back of OMNI (hey, they had good fiction) when I encountered one of those little factoids that I can't put away. It seems that within one months time, police in LA, Chicago, New York and Boston had received 911 calls asking that police check out a clown that made the caller uneasy. When asked what the clown was doing that merited a call, the caller would state that the clown looked "suspicious" and frightened the caller. When police were dispatched, no clowns were found.
"Cool" I thought, "the Mass Unconscious is producing scary clowns. I wonder what brought that on?" And I went on to other things.
Months later I encounter the Jack Handey line: "Most people think clowns are funny, but I've always thought they're kind of scary. I think it goes back to when I was at the circus when I was a kid, and a clown shot my Dad."
Later, National Lampoon inexplicably ran a feature called Evil Clown Comics, the tale of a hard-drinking, child-molesting, ultimately kinked clown that moves in with a single mother and turns the whole family into his sex slaves. Okay, you had to be there, but it was funny.
Later, Marvel Comics would occasionally do a lampoon story starring Blotto the Clown.
In Boot Camp, I independently discovered Urban Myths. I didn't know that such a thing existed, or that anyone studied them. I just knew that every kid I knew in grade school (including myself) swore that he had really, actually seen a kid cuss out Bozo the Clown. Swear to God. They were having this contest, see, and this one punky kid loses, see, and he goes "Aww shit!" and then Bozo says, "That's a Bozo No-no" and the kid goes 'Aww cram it clowny." No, it's true! No shit. It was live, you know, and they couldn't cut it or anything. It was soooo cool.
Yep. Every one of us saw it. I mean, I hadn't, but I wasn't about to be the only kid who'd missed it, so I saw it too. Or at least, that's what I told the other guys at summer camp when we were trading stories. Most of them saw it, too.
Then I learned something about the Bozo Show. In Boot Camp, I had the opportunity to talk to guys who had grown up all over the country. I asked them if they had seen the kid cuss on the Bozo Show. They sure as hell had, they had the whole story down cold: Game, Kid loses, Aw shit, That's a Bozo No-no, Cram it clowny, it was live so they couldn't cut it. All the key elements. In Chicago, in Boston, in Nebraska, in Arkansas, in Oklahoma yada yada.
Here's what I learned about the Bozo Show. Yes, it was live. It was also a syndicated franchise, a local show in each venue. Each Bozo on each local show was personally trained by Harmon to be Bozo, but there is no way that sequence of events could have happened on ALL of the local shows (duh). Incidentally, for you Fireside Theater fans, that's why "We're All Bozos On This Bus" and why Barney the Bozo is a clone. Hmmmm. I forgot that clown.
Inci-incidentally, I was at the opening night for a play composed of Fireside Theater material from several albums tied together by the plot of "Bozos." It was written and directed by an acquaintance with the permission of the Firesiders (who were in line behind me waiting for their comp tickets. Fun guys, of course).
Watch "Body Heat" sometime. When William Hurt's character is establishing an alibi, he rents a car in Miami. He steps from the rental office and stares quizzically at an oncoming car. POV shows a convertible driven by a clown, with a bunch of balloons tied to the car. Slo mo. The camera lingers on the clown as if it's an important plot point. Close-up of Hurt's face. He looks uneasy, as if he's had a premonition.
Imagine how I felt while reading Stephen King's "It" the first time the evil entity appears as a clown with a bunch of balloons. And, of course "Killer Klowns From Outer Space."
"Shakes the Clown" (Nono, you don't take the french fry, I give it to you. Open your mouth. Body of Binky.)
I don't know what to make of it, or if I should try. Sometimes, you've just got to let the weirdness wash over you.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
From: Theophobic
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 03:56:52 EST
"Cool" I thought, "the Mass Unconscious is producing scary clowns. I wonder what brought that on?"
Perhaps an Avatar of Nyarlathotep, the Black Clown With a Horn (Whooka! Whooka!)???
Do happen to remember if this started before or after John Wayne Gacy was arrested? I'm sure that the pictures of him in his clown outfit probably put some fear into a lot of parents hearts.
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 10:41:51 -0500
From:Graeme Price
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Oh yes. You can be sure of it. 23 of them. And they'll be riding Rhinos bareback.
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 14:37:42 -0500 (EST)
From: "Andrew D. Gable"
I can still remember my first Evil Clown. I was reading the Fortean pages at the back of OMNI (hey, they had good fiction) when I encountered one of those little factoids that I can't put away. It seems that within one months time, police in LA, Chicago, New York and Boston had received 911 calls asking that police check out a clown that made the caller uneasy. When asked what the clown was doing that merited a call, the caller would state that the clown looked "suspicious" and frightened the caller. When police were dispatched, no clowns were found.
Loren Coleman, in his book "Mysterious America," talks about a wave of such evil clownnage in the early 1980s. A whole chapter of the book is devoted to the nasty clowns who chased children, attempted to abduct them, etc…I believe a few instances of mutilation of dogs and cats were linked to appearances of the clowns!
Personally, I'm inclined to believe it was just a wave of post-Gacy fear of "devil-clowns," but maybe it was something else. I dunno.
Maybe clowns are a small thing we can throw into Delta Green plots, an element with little or even no bearing on the plot, just an atmospheric device. It can help to throw the players off-track, maybe.
"Yeah, we're in Club Apocalypse. It looks pretty bad, 'cause that guy over there might be an avatar of Nyarlathotep, that guy there's older than Dick Clark, and that guitar-playing guy's just totally whacked. But there's all these clowns here…it can't be all bad!"
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 22:21:13 +0100
From: Davide Mana
Personally, I'm inclined to believe it was just a wave of post-Gacy fear of "devil-clowns," but maybe it was something else. I dunno.
I think is something deeper and much more widespread.
A guy I knew in the Airforce was absolutely scared of clowns, to the point he would not look at pictures of clowns if it was possible to avoid it. Don't even mention circuses or movies.
And there was no significant event or "trauma" in his past to justify this (that he knew of, that is).
And there's a lot of people that find the basic clown makeup (Fratellini-style - white face, red nose, wide mouth and silly hat) unpleasant if not actually scary.
Fact possibly is <street psychologist mode>, the basic clown makeup is a grotesque distortion of a human face; it takes just a little to read it as grotesque/scary instead of grotesque/funny </street psychologist mode>
Or maybe is just a collective memory of an attempted alien invasion in the distant past ;>
Take care and aim for the nose.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 17:11:07 EST
Personally, I'm inclined to believe it was just a wave of post-Gacy fear of "devil-clowns," but maybe it was something else. I dunno.
In real life, yep, agreed.
But in a DG world you must ask yourself why Gacy chose to be a clown. Who gave him the costume, who made the suggestion? Or what part of the Zeitgeist moved him to become a clown? And keeps him painting himself as the clown again and again and again. I don't think he gets any profits whatsoever from his paintings due to the new rules about profiting from notoriety derived from crime.
John Wayne Gacy. John Wayne Bobbitt. What's Nyarlathotep got against John Wayne?
I'm flailing here. Must be chagrin over writing about Evil Clowns and completely forgetting the real one.
From: Tenebrous Technologies
In real life, yep, agreed.
But in a DG world you must ask yourself why Gacy chose to be a clown. Who gave him the costume, who made the suggestion? Or what part of the Zeitgeist moved him to become a clown? And keeps him painting himself as the clown again and again and again.
Maybe he was just a man that loved children….a lot.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 19:22:03 EST
Oooooh, I am such a morbid clown
I love to mow those Christians down
The Circus is my home
It's still right here in Rome
To R'lyeh on the ocean floor
Or shambling through dimensional doors
But you must know
I'll never go
Unless you come along!
Bozius, Bozius
Never laughs, always frowns
Bozius, Bozius
Bozius the Clown!
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 00:19:17 EST
Fact possibly is <street psychologist mode>, the basic clown makeup is a grotesque distortion of a human face; it takes just a little to read it as grotesque/scary instead of grotesque/funny </street psychologist mode>
Could this be at the root of the nearly universal hatred of mimes? Not only are they annoying when they follow you around (like a dybbuk) aping your every move, but we're hard-wired to stomp the pasty-faced, rubber-mouthed Marcel Marceau (there's another one on your scoresheet France! I'm making a list and checking it twice) spawn, toss them in an invisible box that gets smaller and smaller until you can smoosh them like the coleopterans they are.
Or not.
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 01:38:57 -0500
From: G M
Can't sleep, clowns will get me.
Oh yes. You can be sure of it. 23 of them. And they'll be riding Rhinos bareback.
And if you remember the Blushi/Ritter comedy "Real Men", there is the CIA Clown Squad.
From: Val_Salvis
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 07:07:32 -0500 (EST)
"REAL MEN" was a comedy? lol!!
From: Val_Salvis
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 07:19:25 -0500 (EST)
you all are forgetting the most infamous claown…SWEETOOTH from Twisted Metal!
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 14:55:33 +0000
From: Juergen Hubert
Has anyone seen that episode of "Extreme Ghostbusters" that also features Evil Clowns?
To be specific, they were some weird beings that looked like giant leeches with tentacles (they wouldn't look too shabby among other Mythos nasties), but they camouflaged as large clowns. They would feed on humans (they would simply swallow them up), but they could only do that if the humans were laughing. If the humans weren't laughing, they would try to evoke laughter (hence the clown disguise). If they lost their big white clown gloves, the laughing faces of all their recent victims could be seen on their palms.
And they were also able to create new ones - an animated jack-in-the-box with very large teeth would bit a human, who would be turned into one of them over the period of a few hours.
In the episode they also had a huge "head clown" that seemed to be stationary and laired in an abandoned carnival building. After its defeat, all the victims and infected people were turned back to normal - but that's probably too nice an ending for most RPG scenarios…
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 14:15:44 -0500 (EST)
From: The Man in Black
And if you remember the Blushi/Ritter comedy "Real Men", there is the CIA Clown Squad.
I LOVE that movie. Filled chock full of surreal comedy bits. My favorite line (so many to choose from) "Can the pen on TV do that, Bob?"
Date: Thu, 18 Mar 1999 13:29:40 -0600 (CST)
From: Tenebrous Technologies
you all are forgetting the most infamous claown…SWEETOOTH from Twisted Metal!
I thought the most Evil Clown was the Bill Murray clown from Quick Change…after all, he was the kind of clown that cried on the inside.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 14:53:16 EST
Something about Davide's street psychologist take on clown make-up reminded me of other types of clowns.
The Harlequin is a mythic/folklore figure throughout (at least) western Europe. IIRC, the word Harlequin is derived from Herla Cyning, a possibly historic leader that became connected to The Wild Hunt. I really must know more about The Wild Hunt. The context in which I've seen references to it implies that it was an activity of the Faerie, it was scary to see, and seemed to have a Bacchanalian feel. And may be the inspiration of fox hunting as it is practiced today (the unmentionable pursuing the inedible). Does anyone have any references?
The Harlequin was one of the great early figures in theater, a stock character in the Comedia dell' Arte plays. I believe that some Italian folklore has Arlecchino as a messenger of Death, much like Hermes.
I'm starting to see clowns (by way of Harlequin) as symbols of Hastur. A sort of inverted King in Yellow. Instead of a dreamy, languid call to decadence; a frantic Felliniesque Bacchanalia.
The fool or jester is allowed great license in his japes. He is depicted as an intimate of the King's. Possibly an advisor. When did that start, and why?
Just some random thoughts. Comments?
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 16:57:03 -0500 (EST)
From: The Man in Black
The fool or jester is allowed great license in his japes. He is depicted as an intimate of the King's. Possibly an advisor. When did that start, and why?
Saw an old movie once where the Jester of the King was actually a quite effective spy, not only in the court, but on foreigners too. Also, lots of inbred noble families produced dwarfs and the such, so the Jester's family could have been relatives of the less debased folk on the throne. I used this in an old AD&D game once.
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 23:03:27 +0100
From: Davide Mana
This is going to be long.
Sorry.
Marck Mcfadden wrote…
The Harlequin is a mythic/folklore figure throughout (at least) western Europe. IIRC, the word Harlequin is derived from Herla Cyning, a possibly historic leader that became connected to The Wild Hunt. I really must know more about The Wild Hunt. The context in which I've seen references to it implies that it was an activity of the Faerie, it was scary to see, and seemed to have a Bacchanalian feel. And may be the inspiration of fox hunting as it is practiced today (the unmentionable pursuing the inedible). Does anyone have any references?
The Harlequin was one of the great early figures in theater, a stock character in the Comedia dell' Arte plays. I believe that some Italian folklore has Arlecchino as a messenger of Death, much like Hermes.
Some food for speculation…
"On New Year's Night, 1091, a certain priest called Gauchelin was terrified by a procession of women, warriors, monks etc. who swept past him, dressed in black, half-hidden by flames, and wailing aloud. Astonished and dismayed, the prioest said to himself:'Doubtless this is the Cornelius family. I have heard that it has formerly been seen by many people, but I have mocked at such tale. Now, indeed, I myself have truly seen the ghosts of the dead.' Gauchelin was, indeed, neither the first nor the last to see the notorious 'maisnie Cornelius' (Harlequin-troupe), which appeared so frequently both in medieval France and England. For Harlequin (harlechin, Hellequin etc. are all variations of the same word) appears first in history or legend as an aerial spectre or demon, leading that ghostly nocturnal cortège known as the Wild Hunt.
Poor Gauchelin was much alarmed by his experience, but as time went on - at any rate in France - the Hunt lost some of its terrors, and the wailing procession of lost souls turned into a troupe of comic demons who flew merrily through the air to the sound of song and of tinkling bells. Nor did it always remain a a mere nebulous, ghostly phenomenon. I have suggested, elsewhere, that the mummery probably originated as a miming of a Wild Hunt led by a certain Mormo, a child-devouring ogress of Greek origin, not unlike Perchta, the mythical patroness of the Perchton. That the Harlequin-Cornelius troupe was also sometimes mimed is suggested by the fact that it makes a partial appearence in Adam de la Halle's Jeu de la Feuillée, which, as we have seen, had for its central theme the entertainment of fairies by the citizens of Arras. […]"
Enid Welsford, The Fool, His Soocial and Literary History, London 1934
[quoted in Moorcock's "The Condition of Muzak"]
For a more reliable source (I'm not sure Mike Moorcock did not make the above up to suit his needs - the quote feels authentic but…), I went to the definitive "Leggende delle Alpi", an 1889 reference by folklorist Maria Savi-Lopez. The book devotes a whole chapter to the Alpine occurrences of the Wild Hunt, offering some interesting tidbits that I'll summarize here…
. the legend is consistent throughout Europe, going as far east as Austria
. the Hunt appears as a mass of black-dressed men variously chasing or being attended by animals.
. The hunt is led by a character variously identified as Woden, Count Haekelberg, the Goddess Holla, Valdemar, Abel, King Arthur, Thor, the Knight of Danesberg, Theodoric of Verona, the Dietrich von Bern, the Straggele (a child-stealing hag - much as the above mentioned Mormo), the Goddess Bercht
. in the Alpine region, the Wild Hunt is linked to the "caraule" legend, a carousel-like dance of demons that happens on Christmas Night (and the English "carroll" is a related word and ethimological (sp?) connections with "carousel" and "carnival" can be clearly established.
. the "caraule" is itself derived from an actual Alpine tradition called also "Grande Coquille" - a dance is started and proceeds through the valleys, uninterrupted for a few days, and everybody that meets it has to join in and follow the leader. A Gruyere count (we are talking Reinassence here) once started a Grande Coquille on a sunday night at the head of a valley with seven dancers and finally stopped, three days later, when his party of 700 revellers reached the end of the valley (and probably collapsed).
. it is apparent that "Wild Hunt", "Caraule", "Grande Coquille",and "Danse macabre" are all stemming from a common source (according to Savi-Lopez some kind of pre-Christian ritual) - all above mentioned events cross countries and regions, incorporating everything they meet and governed by some kind of collective mind. The Ideal Carnival Celebration (TM) should also follow these rules.
. according to legend the Goddess Bercht has a special power - she can possess a particularly haughty high-born woman and turn her into her vessel to lead the Hunt on some nights (again my pet reference to Loas and voodoo springs up)
The most recent (in 1889) documented appearence of the Hunt in Italy was in 1333 just before the flood of Florence - a monk saw a troop of black knights riding towards the city, accompanied by "an infernal din".
Finally, a few obvious snippets from my frustrated showman background:
. Harlequin (Arlecchino in Italian) is actually a demon-derived (or at least supernatural) character, probably going back to Roman tradition
. the Roman equivalent of Harlequin was Sannio, a wild "man" of the woods - and therefore connected with the traditional "homo selvaticus" legend
. the anthropoid origin is emphasized by the fact that the traditional Harlequin mask in the Commedia dell'Arte is a leering monkey-face
. the many-coloured costume of the basic Clown is a derivation from the multicolored, tattered-rags-based costume of the traditional Arlecchino
And here I stop.
Hastur looks like the prime suspect for all this - rags, play-acting, wild dances and contagious madness all fit his standard bill, as does the old god of sheperds bit.
Any more suggestions?
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 17:53:15 -0500 (EST)
From: "Andrew D. Gable"
The Harlequin is a mythic/folklore figure throughout (at least) western Europe. IIRC, the word Harlequin is derived from Herla Cyning, a possibly historic leader that became connected to The Wild Hunt.
Hmm, I wasn't aware of that…sheds a rather interesting Mythos slant on things. The leader of the Hunt I'm familiar with was Herne, who's almost certainly the same as the one mentioned here. Now, Herne (at least IMHO) was probably derived from the even earlier Gallic god Cernunnos. Cernunnos was represented as a seated man with the horns of a stag, flanked by two creatures. Reading the E.C. entry on Nyarlathotep, it appears that the avatar known as The Horned Man was based on Cernunnos. Perhaps clowns are representations of Nyarlathotep? Although they fit in extremely well with Hastur and King In Yellow-type debaucherie.
Stephen Alzis…clown from hell. =)
I really must know more about The Wild Hunt. The context in which I've seen references to it implies that it was an activity of the Faerie, it was scary to see, and seemed to have a Bacchanalian feel.
As far as I'm aware, the Wild Hunt was a force of vengeance. A sort of way for the Celtic gods to take vengeance on evil-doers. More than "scary to see," it was usually fatal. Groupings of spirits similar to the Wild Hunt are found in Germanic lands, especially (i.e. Odin's hunt).
A few years back, I read a (possibly apocryphal) story about an English court decision. A man was found lying dead, no apparent cause, on the English moors (I believe somewhere in Devonshire, if I'm not mistaken). The officially released cause of death was "death by misadventure," although a lot of people seemed to believe the individual was killed by the Wild Hunt itself. This case took place in the early 1900s, I believe.
ObDG: Two factions of a cult are locked in a magical struggle. Cult A summons a Wild Hunt to off sections of Cult B, Cult B returns like for like, and a really nasty occult war starts going down. Until Nyarlathotep, or Hastur, or whoever's behind the Hunt and the Devil-clowns, decides to get even. It's an occult free-for-all! (Inspired by ideas for the Hunt's use in SHADOWRUN)
Also, there's an element of Scottish folklore called the Unseelie Court, which is a similar collection of wicked spirits. The Unseelie Court flies through the air at night, and unlike the Wild Hunt (which has a purpose), the Unseelie generally just raise hell. The Hunt's anarchist cousins, I guess. Killing cattle, spreading disease, taking people away, the whole nine. It strikes me that they'd also be rather interesting to use in a DG scenario.
I believe that some Italian folklore has Arlecchino as a messenger of Death, much like Hermes.
Hermes' name is the origin of the word "hermetic," BTW. All in all, Hermes is functionally a lot like the Egyptian Thoth (well, Tahuti if you want to use the Egyptian, not Greek, name).
I'm starting to see clowns (by way of Harlequin) as symbols of Hastur. A sort of inverted King in Yellow. Instead of a dreamy, languid call to decadence; a frantic Felliniesque Bacchanalia.
I still have to differ and say that I think clown imagery is derived from Nyarlathotep's influence. After all, what more innocent image could Ol' Nyarly choose for one of his 1000 forms? Although the imagery still fits Hastur…Maybe the clowns are associated with both. After all, it seems that nightgaunts are associated with Nodens and Yibb-Tstll.
All in all, though, the clowns should be used along the lines of how "real" MIBs work, or how The Adepts (?) in the Fate work…they always have a knack for showing up at just the right spot and just the right time, but they're mostly in the background and the players can never interact with them.
It would be supremely eerie, I think, to have the players checking out the mysterious murder that is, of course, Mythos-related, and seeing a clown peek in the window. But when the PCs get outside, there's no one there.
Just one quick note to wrap up this long post. My use of the word "Celtic" seems to be a point of some confusion. I can understand why: many people associate the Celts with Ireland, Scotland, that area. But when I say Celtic, I'm referring to not just those tribes, but all Celtic peoples, which would include the Gauls (this would explain why they worshipped the Celtic god Teutates/Toutatis), some tribes on the coast of Spain near Portugal, and even the Galatians of the Bible!
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 18:04:16 -0500
From: Graeme Price
And here I stop.
Hastur looks like the prime suspect for all this - rags, play-acting, wild dances and contagious madness all fit his standard bill, as does the old god of sheperds bit.
Any more suggestions?
Getting a little off topic, the, er… unwelcome guest at the costume ball in Poe's "The Masque of the Red Death" leaps immediately to mind. Incidentally, the symptoms of said malady are a reasonably accurate approximation to those of Ebola about 120 years before the first reliably documented outbreak… did Poe know something we don't?
From: POOH
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 19:16:12 -0400 (EDT)
Inspiration: Nyarlathotep is the Harlequin. The cynical 'clown'. Consider it.
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 18:36:16 -0500 (EST)
From: "Andrew D. Gable"
the notorious 'maisnie Cornelius' (Harlequin-troupe), which appeared so frequently both in medieval France and England. For Harlequin (harlechin, Hellequin etc. are all variations of the same word) appears first in
Found this just after I replied to the last message: the Wild Hunt/Harlequin connection is pretty much confirmed, because a French name for the Hunt is "Mesne Hellequin."
merrily through the air to the sound of song and of tinkling bells. Nor did it always remain a a mere nebulous, ghostly phenomenon. I have suggested,
I suppose there may be a possible connection between the Hunt and the "Mountain-men"…huge shapes appearing on a mountain, inspire mad uncontrollable panic, etc. Most famous two I can think of are the Grey Man of Ben MacDhui (Scotland) and the Brocken Specter in Germany.
elsewhere, that the mummery probably originated as a miming of a Wild Hunt led by a certain Mormo, a child-devouring ogress of Greek origin, not
As in "Gorgo, Mormo, thousand-faced moon…"
Can anyone elaborate on Mormo? My understanding is that she was associated with the Greek Lamia. The story of Lamia is a fairly nasty one: evidently, she was a woman who had several children by the god Zeus (Zeus really got around…he had something like 500 children). If memory serves, Hera got royally P.O.'d at Lamia (as with all of Zeus' mortal women) and tried to kill her children. Rather than give them up, Lamia devoured them. In revenge, Zeus turned her into a half-snake, half-woman. Charming story.
Anyway, she later became immortalized as a sort of bogey: she'd slither around, steal bad children, eat them. And later, she turned into a kind of succubus-type creature.
Lilith, Nahemah, and Lamia: that's way they all became the Succubus Bunch!
. the Hunt appears as a mass of black-dressed men variously chasing or being attended by animals.
Similar to MIB imagery: a similar purpose to both, too, when you think about it. Vengeance on those who've gained too much knowledge.
Speaking of historical MIB, there's the Master of the Forest, a figure who goes by several names, and also thought to spring from Cernunnos. Associated with lycanthropy, I believe. I think several accused werewolves said they were given a magic ointment by the Master. Also, of course, the Black Man.
also "Grande Coquille" - a dance is started and proceeds through the valleys, uninterrupted for a few days, and everybody that meets it has to join in and follow the leader.
Hence the "dancing craze" of the Middle Ages (associated at the time with the tarantula [the *real* tarantula spider is a tiny little thing], but blamed on the disease St. Vitus' Dance).
The most recent (in 1889) documented appearence of the Hunt in Italy was in 1333 just before the flood of Florence - a monk saw a troop of black knights riding towards the city, accompanied by "an infernal din".
Aha! Thought of something! A possible connection with the appearance of "phantom armies" in the skies?
. the Roman equivalent of Harlequin was Sannio, a wild "man" of the woods - and therefore connected with the traditional "homo selvaticus" legend
. the anthropoid origin is emphasized by the fact that the traditional Harlequin mask in the Commedia dell'Arte is a leering monkey-face
Hmm. I recall hearing an account (or maybe it was a line in "Hop-Frog," I dunno) about some members of the nobility who dressed as woodwoses (wildmen). Could this harlequin/"wild man" connection also, I wonder, account for the popularity of hypertrichotics in the courts of kings?
Hastur looks like the prime suspect for all this - rags, play-acting, wild dances and contagious madness all fit his standard bill, as does the old god of sheperds bit.
Yeah, the Hastur case is looking up. Still don't wanna abandon Nyarlathotep as the cause. Unless…
…maybe Hastur and Nyarlathotep are the same deity? Hastur's patronage of rampant madness fits in with Nyarly's brand of "take your time" nihilism.
Any more suggestions?
I for one, Davide, predict that this whole Wild Hunt/harlequin thing is a thread that'll have to go in the Ice Cave.
And to think we got into all this from a humorous post about evil clowns…
From: Escutcheon
. the many-coloured costume of the basic Clown is a derivation from the multicolored, tattered-rags-based costume of the traditional Arlecchino… (snip) … Any more suggestions?
Some of the garb we associate with clowns or jesters comes from the traditional costume of witches and shamans. The traditional "jester's cap", bells, and particolored clothing all have parallels in Northern European folklore.
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 02:07:22 +0100 (CET)
From: Delta Green
I think you are missing a near reference , the spanish "Santa Companha" , in the celtical region of Galicia , were a procession of "almas en pena" (maybe lost souls is a poor traduction..) , wanders across cities and woods , and anyone who see it knows that will not be alive when the sun goes up.
Tradition says that the lost souls MUST join the "Santa Companha" to reach redemption or will be wandering for a year before another oportunity can arise to join.
Due to its historical isolation and geographical location , Galicia is one of the last reducts of the celtic traditions , where there are in a pristine purity , more pure than the Normandized Ireland. So this rite its most likely related to Celtic traditions that Roman pagan celebrations , and of course , are pre-catolic beliefs , that are sligthy costumed to survive in a catolic country.
Any more disgressions?
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 20:43:18 EST
Hastur looks like the prime suspect for all this - rags, play-acting, wild dances and contagious madness all fit his standard bill, as does the old god of sheperds bit.
Any more suggestions?
First off, thankyouthankyouthankyou for the Wild Hunt info. It was even better than I was hoping for.
It would seem that this would be a theme to use in places where Carnival is still celebrated. N'awlins, Mobile, Natchez and Memphis (IIRC) stateside. And others, I'm sure. I know the Wild Hunt (under another name) is still practiced in Louisiana.
Rio's is the most famous, but certainly not the only one in Brazil. Isn't there an ongoing hereditary rivalry between Rio and another major city?
It would appear that much of this suspect activity was happening in the Order of St. Jerome's neighborhood.
Oh yes, there will be more later. Thanks Davide, I think you're on to something.
From: "David Farnell"
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 11:12:58 +0900
Speaking of historical MIB, there's the Master of the Forest, a figure who goes by several names, and also thought to spring from Cernunnos. Associated with lycanthropy, I believe. I think several accused werewolves said they were given a magic ointment by the Master. Also, of course, the Black Man.
Along with the moon-goddess/demon connection, this raises up the specter of Shub-Niggurath. I seem to remember a connection between werewolves and S-N, something out of Cultes des goules.
Hence the "dancing craze" of the Middle Ages (associated at the time with the tarantula [the *real* tarantula spider is a tiny little thing], but blamed on the disease St. Vitus' Dance).
Are you talking about a European tarantula? Because, you know, those huge hairy things from the Americas are real tarantulas, too (unless they're just avatars of Spiders from Leng).
Yeah, the Hastur case is looking up. Still don't wanna abandon Nyarlathotep as the cause. Unless…
…maybe Hastur and Nyarlathotep are the same deity? Hastur's patronage of rampant madness fits in with Nyarly's brand of "take your time" nihilism.
Not the same, but with strong connections. Nyarly is somehow connected with all the GOO; I remember some line about him being the "soul of the Great Old Ones." But now, with Shubby in the picture, we've got a nice little Trinity, Father, Mother, and Holy Ghost (Spirit / Messenger). Funny that—it's led right back in a circle to a neo-pagan cult my players tangled with some years back, the members calling Hastur the "Dark Father" and Shubby the "Bright Mother."
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 22:56:01 -0500
From: Daniel Harms
led by a certain Mormo, a child-devouring ogress of Greek origin, not
As in "Gorgo, Mormo, thousand-faced moon…"
Can anyone elaborate on Mormo? My understanding is that she was associated with the Greek Lamia.
Mormo, from what I've heard, is another name for Hecate, another mythological femme fatale thought of as the queen of witches. A copy of an invocation to her, mentioning Mormo, can be found here:
http://www.gnosis.org/library/hyp_refut4.htm
Date: Fri, 19 Mar 1999 23:29:24 -0500
From: Steven Kaye
I'm starting to see clowns (by way of Harlequin) as symbols of Hastur. A sort of inverted King in Yellow. Instead of a dreamy, languid call to decadence; a frantic Felliniesque Bacchanalia.
There are some interesting pages on the Web, discussing Picasso's "hiding" of the figure of the Harlequin in his painting, as a magical attempt to counteract the forces of Death. Check out Picasso's Unknown Masterpiece at
http://web.org.uk/picasso/toc.html
[Ice Cave] Editor's Note: a copy of the painting in question is currently part of the Ice Cave Containment Section, Visual Arts SubSection
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 01:09:31 EST
To: gro.enrutcon|neergatled#gro.enrutcon|neergatled
Could this harlequin/"wild man" connection also, I wonder, account for the popularity of hypertrichotics in the courts of kings?
Hmmmmm. Gilgamesh's hairy friend, Enkidu. The one whose death from the actions of the gods sent him on his quest for immortality. A natural man, who lived among the beasts as a peer, who was seduced by a woman in Gilgamesh's plan so that the beasts shunned him and he was left with no option but to live among men.
The theme of Enkidu being a natural man living with beasts is repeated in Northern European folklore.
Check out Tom Cruise's character in "Legend." Jack, the wild boy of the forest who falls in love with Lily. As a love gift he shows her the Unicorns, which he can touch without effect. She touches one and the balance between Light and Darkness is shattered.
Wasn't Robin Goodfellow a wild boy? And isn't he represented as The Fool in the Tarot?
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 01:09:33 EST
…maybe Hastur and Nyarlathotep are the same deity? Hastur's patronage of rampant madness fits in with Nyarly's brand of "take your time" nihilism.
Howzabout Hastur amongst the pagans of Europe, with Nephren-ka\Nyarlathotep following the money and power up from the Mideast? The GOOs are indifferent to each other, but their zealous followers clash, dragging in the masses unaware of the Inner Secrets or Mysteries?
Everything gets confused when both sides have Good/Bad Guys. Mythos-tainted empire builders dupe devout Christians into mounting crusades against harmless pagans. Pagan cultists use the threat of approaching Christians to persuade said harmless pagans to get proactive and consider the use of 'Black' magic.
Hey, can't make an omelet yada yada, and you can quit anytime.
The sequence of events gets muddier when you consider that Nyarly was already in Europe as the Black Man. Wheels within wheels.
On the surface, it appears that Hastur had more influence in the North, and Nyarlathotep in the South. Hastur cultists respond to Christian advance with Viking expansion. Nyarly fans counter with another faith from the Mideast, this time with high tech and a better bureaucracy.
Think of history as a vast interlocking network of conspiracy. Lots of zealous cultists without explicit instructions, keeping busy by trying to anticipate their deities wishes. If chaos is the goal, all you need is fanatics and no project planning.
And caught in the middle: a bunch of peasants who can no longer tell the difference between a Wild Hunt and a pogrom.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 01:09:34 EST
Also, there's an element of Scottish folklore called the Unseelie Court, which is a similar collection of wicked spirits. The Unseelie Court flies through the air at night, and unlike the Wild Hunt (which has a purpose), the Unseelie generally just raise hell. The Hunt's anarchist cousins, I guess. Killing cattle, spreading disease, taking people away, the whole nine. It strikes me that they'd also be rather interesting to use in a DG scenario.
Sounds like Grey activity, especially if the cattle were mutilated. Whitley Streiber makes much of the similarities between Greys and the Faerie folk.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 01:09:35 EST
Also, lots of inbred noble families produced dwarfs and the such, so the Jester's family could have been relatives of the less debased folk on the throne.
In Trevanian's "Shibumi," while giving the background of a Basque character, he mentions Le Cagot. Le Cagot were traditional outcasts in Basque society, small malformed people restricted by tradition to tinkery and metalwork. Their size can be inferred by the very small, very short doors at the back of Basque churches for the use of Le Cagot, who were forbidden to use the front door. The male Le Cagot genitals were said, however, to be of prodigious size, and not just in contrast to their small bodies. I'm seeing a connection to the Norse depiction of Dwarves.
From: Mark McFadden
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 01:22:28 EST
There are some interesting pages on the Web, discussing Picasso's "hiding" of the figure of the Harlequin in his painting, as a magical attempt to counteract the forces of Death. Check out Picasso's Unknown Masterpiece at http://web.org.uk/picasso/toc.html
Just a quick aHa! And thanks for the synchronicity. The painting you point to was painted in 1934, the year I chose to profile in my post about Mythos at the movies. I'm telling you, that year was special.
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 09:17:14 +0100
From: Heiko Aulbach
Also, there's an element of Scottish folklore called the Unseelie Court, which is a similar collection of wicked spirits. The Unseelie Court flies through the air at night, and unlike the Wild Hunt (which has a purpose), the Unseelie generally just raise hell. The Hunt's anarchist cousins, I guess. *_Killing_* cattle, spreading disease, *_taking people away_*, the whole nine. It strikes me that they'd also be rather interesting to use in a DG scenario.
_Mutilating_ cattle and _abducting_ people?
PS: Ok, looks like I'm getting into the group mind thing that was shortly discussed somewhile ago, right Mark?
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 14:30:14 +0100 (CET)
From: Delta Green
Maybe the class of cultist reacting ones to others in the interlocked network that you mention is the history of Umberto Eco in "Foucault Pendulus" (I think this book is published in all the World..). For whose that had not read that book , and want to see wath happends when a group start to see conspirance under any historical events , … is a MUST read.
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 15:11:57 +0100 (CET)
From: Delta Green
Just one quick note to wrap up this long post. My use of the word "Celtic" seems to be a point of some confusion. I can understand why: many people associate the Celts with Ireland, Scotland, that area. But when I say Celtic, I'm referring to not just those tribes, but all Celtic peoples, which would include the Gauls (this would explain why they worshipped the Celtic god Teutates/Toutatis), some tribes on the coast of Spain near Portugal, and even the Galatians of the Bible!
Here you hit the point!
The region of Spain you mention is Galicia , and its version of the Hunt is "La Santa Companha". Folklore of this region is very rich , and Mythos taunted. Maybe if i get time , i will post some examples of this (I live in the oposite side of Spain , so i have second hand knowledge of this folklore).
BTW. just now , in Valencia (Mediterranean Coast of Spain) , a Fire Carnival known as "Fallas" is taking place….A spring Celebration..or a Azathoth invocation…? Who knows.. };->
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 15:26:44 +0100
From: Davide Mana
Also, there's an element of Scottish folklore called the Unseelie Court, which is a similar collection of wicked spirits. The Unseelie Court flies through the air at night, and unlike the Wild Hunt (which has a purpose), the Unseelie generally just raise hell. The Hunt's anarchist cousins, I guess. *_Killing_* cattle, spreading disease, *_taking people away_*, the whole nine. It strikes me that they'd also be rather interesting to use in a DG scenario.
_Mutilating_ cattle and _abducting_ people?
OK, time for killing two birds with a stone and all that…
A new wing on the Ice Cave Containment Section has been opened, that will collect images and graphics-based data for future reference.
[just go to the Cave and through containment - you'll see the Section 2 sign with the New thingie and you'll know you are there]
As we do not as a rule post images to the list (they'd probably mess up the digests and so on), agents are invited for the future to point out interesting bits to me - or mail them directly to my address - so that I'll be able to update the collection.
Keep things focused - available space is what it is and we'd like to keep up the standards ;>
For starters, anyway, I've placed there the "three clerics" basrelief from 9th century Scotland that I mentioned already on the list a few months back.
Read the above about cattle-mutilating elves and then take a look at the pic.
Sure it will get you thinking.
From: Escutcheon
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 1999 12:56:41 EST
Having indulged too much on the romances of ancient chivalry, Mssr. Gable recalls:
… hearing an account (or maybe it was a line in "Hop-Frog," I dunno) about some members of the nobility who dressed as woodwoses (wildmen). Could this harlequin/"wild man" connection also, I wonder, account for the popularity of hypertrichotics in the courts of kings?
Barbara Tuchman's book about the 14th Century, _A Distant Mirror_, mentions the incident that inspired Poe's tale, "Hop-Frog". As I recall, the king of France and some courtiers were costumed as "wild men" for a revel. The costumes had fibrous "hair" glued on with pitch. One of the revelers accidentally brushed against a torchbearer and ignited himself; in the ensuing panic, several more "wild men" caught fire. The king was not killed, but some of the courtiers were.
Perhaps they were attempting to summon the King in Yellow, but lacked the will to continue to ritual to it's incindiary end?
Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1999 15:39:05 -0500 (EST)
From: The Man in Black
First of all, when you notice the Wild Hunt approaching, _immediately_ throw yourself on the ground. If you remain standing in the Wild Hunt's path, you will be torn to bits by it. _Don't_ attempt to look at it.
In Hawaiian mythology, the Nightstalkers (Ghosts of fallen warriors) will march along at night, glowing with spectral light, from the mountains to the sea (to join Kaneloa/Cthulhu?). Looking at their procession is said to be bad juju - the Nightstalkers will mistake you for their enemies during life and attack.
Hawaii has a lot of faceless oriental ghosts too.
From: "David Farnell"
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 1999 12:16:41 +0900
Juergen's story was absolutely cool. To add to that and the MiB's Hawaiian Hunt, there's a whole slew of similar stories about Tanuki in Japan. Tanuki are an indigenous animal--they're name is usually translated as "raccoon-dog," and they do look sort of like raccoony dogs, or doggy raccoons. Anyway, they have all sorts of magical powers, especially as shape-changers. As they often change into many traditional "obake" (monsters/ghosts), they are often blamed for many monster and ghost sightings in Japan--not only in the historical record, but sometimes even today, unofficially of course and usually only in the countryside.
Anyway, many stories have them swarming, all taking different fantastic shapes and terrorizing the locals. They rarely hurt anyone in these "parades," but they seem to love scaring people. There's a movie by the same guy who did Totoro and Princess Mononoke, about a community of Tanuki who fight back against the destruction of their environment. Sort of Watership Down-like, with a kind of magical-realism feel.
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 1999 23:07:37 -0800
From: Phil A Posehn
For a good scary version of the Wild Hunt see "Faerie Tale" by Raymond Feist.