The Monstrefact: Rawhead Rex and Kin

limits the selection process. British lore, legend, literature and gaming have produced hordes of great monsters, from Grendel to Frankenstein's Monster, from the Questing Beast of Authoritian legend to that werewolf that Ozzy Osbourne turns into for the Bark at the Moon video. And so this brings us first to raw Head Wrex, the titular monster from English writer Clive Barker's novella of the same name, published in nineteen eighty four and included in the third volume of his Excellent Books

of Blood anthology series. Barker describes the monstrous god Beast his having a huge head, the color of the moon and raw like meat. He has two rows of needle sharp teeth on each jaw, which emerge from bloody gums quote like claws unsheathed from a cat's paw unquote. And his eyes. Barker writes, they were for all the world like wounds, those eyes, as though somebody had gouged them in the flesh of Rawhead's face, then set two candles to flicker in the holes. Horrifying stuff. I highly recommend

the Books of Blood. There's some real gems in there, but many of you may know Rawhead wrecks instead for his appearance in the nineteen eighty six film adaptation of the tale. Barker wrote the script for this movie, but, like most viewers, found the film version of the monster somewhat unconvincing. While he originally envisioned a very phallic and meat faced monster at the center of the movie, what we end up with is a heavy metal powerlifter ogre

with kind of goofy eyes. There's nothing even raw about Rex's head in the film. However, I do quite like the slipcase illustration of the monster that Wes Benzcotter did for the Arrow Blu ray re release. Go check that out if you like your monstrous art by the Way. While the film version of raw Head Rex takes place in Ireland, the original short story takes place in rural

Kent Now. One of the inspirations for Barker's creation here would seem to be an English boogeyman or water demon, known by several names raw Head, Tommy, raw Head, Old, Bloody Bones, and even raw Head and Bloody Bones. As Carol Rose points out in Spirits, Fairies, Leprechauns and Goblins, the entity was described as a gory humanoid with blood running down its face, often seated upon a pile of bones.

Like such boogeyman figures as Ginny Green Teeth, who he discussed in a past Halloween episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. Raw Head is said to haunt potentially dangerous places like stagnant pools and pits, the very dark and lonely waters you want your children to steer clear off. So that's raw Head and Bloody Bones. But there's also

Bloody Cap or red Cap to consider. An evil spirit sometimes described as a hobgoblin, originating in the folk traditions of the English Scottish border, appears as a hideous little old man in iron boots with a red blood soaked cap on its head. It haunts old ruins and sights of historic bloodshed. Venture near such places, and it might just kill you, slice off your head and catch your flowing blood in its cap, unless you recite scripture and

drive him off first. It's also said that if the blood of his cap ever dries, the creature will shrivel up and die. A perfect subject for even a modern slasher film if you ask me. Now, there are many different variations of the red cap tail, some of which connect the entity with the fourteenth century Scottish border noble William the Second. Desouls sometimes embellished as a villain tutored in the Black Arts, with the imp robin red cap

serving as is familiar. In some accounts, the cruel lord is eventually boiled alive by the people who suffered under him, and I've also read variations where the red cap creature is encased in lead and boiled as a way to slay the monster. Now, in reality, Souls died in prison after allegedly playing part in a conspiracy against King Robert the Bruce. Now, as long as we're talking about red caps, let's have a quick word about blue caps. Another spirit

of English folklore, also known as blue bonnet. This entity, according to Rose, resided deep in the earth, only encountered by the humans who labored in the mines. It was often invisible, but might manifest as a light blue flame, thus the name far from the farious. The blue cap would mimic human miners and put in a full day's work moving heavy tubs of coal and ore around. The miners would therefore leave out offerings for the blue caps

in thanks for their labor. This reminded me of details I've read before concerning American mining soup prestitions, of which are connected to English and European traditions as well. I was reading about these in a nineteen forty two edition

of California Folklore Quarterly. An article titled California Miners Folklore by Wayland d. Hand and It mentions tales of runaway carts said to have been pushed by the ghosts of dead miners, as well as a tradition brought over by Cornish miners, the Tommy knockers, spirits of the dead or unseen Elvin denizens of the deep. Either way, they could be appeased with offerings and hand writes. The following quote.

Many California miners, though not having themselves seen these creatures in person, recall having seen small effigies of them made of clay and set upon portal sets to a tunnel on the lagging or elsewhere where their patronage is desired. Hand explains that descriptions of the creatures vary greatly, with the Cornwall version being something like a cross between an old man in an infant. Californians describe creatures in leather jackets,

peaked hats, and water soaked shoes. Meanwhile, Native American miners reported a creature called an entity that is small and squat. According to Hand, in all cases, however, the spirit or creature could be called upon for protection in the deep, dark, dangerous environment of the mine. Tune in for additional episodes of the Monster fact or the Artifact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is

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