The Monstrefact: The Beast, from "Over the Garden Wall"

old New England charm, and heartwarming whimsy. Created by animator Patrick McHale, it features the voice talents of Elijah Wood, Melanie Lynsky, Christopher Lloyd, Tim Curry, and Moore. Over the Garden Wall is loaded with silliness in but it's not without its spookier moments and its chief antagonist, an entity known only as the Beast, really stands out as an avatar of pure darkness. He appears throughout the series as

a shadowy, antlered figure with glowing eyes. And I'm not going to spoil everything here, but we eventually learn that this entity feeds on the despair and sorrow of children and other individuals lost in the woods. The Beast is an entity fittingly shrouded in mystery, but we can identify various points of possible inspiration and connections to related traditions. As is often the case in Western animation, we of course must acknowledge the devil as part of the antagonist DNA,

but there are other more obscure notes as well. Now some might point to modern depictions of the wind to Go, a spirit from the traditions of the Algonquin people, but is my understanding that these depictions of the wind to Go as an antlered being are largely an invention of non indigenous media depictions. Windigo traditions, however, and related Indigenous ideas do touch on themes of wildness, wilderness and survival cannibalism.

A much clearer point of reference for the Beast, however, can likely be found in Herna the Hunter, a spirit important of doom from English tradition, tied to the woods surrounding windsor castle covered in furs and bearing the skull and antlers of a great stag. The entity might well be tied to pagan worship of the Celtic fertility god Kurnunos. We previously discussed Hernaw the Hunter in Our Stuff to Blow Your Mind episode Ghosts of the Wind and Rain.

The basic iconography of an antlered or horned woodland spirit may also connect to a variety of ancient gods of the hunt. The beast may also have an analog in Germanic tradition, the Earl King or Elf King, Alder King or Oak King. The entity was said to haunt the Black Forest of Germany, luring travelers and children to death in the lonely wilderness. In seventeen eighty two, German poet Johann Wolfgang van Gotha wrote of the entity in his poem The Earl King. I'm gonna read from the Edgar

Alfred Bowering translation. Who rides there so late, through the night, dark and drear the father? It is with his infant, so dear. He holdeth the boy tightly clasped in his arm. He holdeth him safely, He keepeth him warm, my son. Wherefore seekest thou thy face thus to hide look, Father, the Earl King is close by our side. Dost see not the Earl King with crown and with train, my son.

Tis the mist rising over the plain. Oh come now, dear infant, Oh come thou with me, for many a game I will play there, with thee on my strand lovely flowers their blossoms on folk. My mother shall grace thee with garments of gold. My father, my father, And dost thou not hear the words that the Earl King now breathes in mine ear be calm, dearest child. Tis thy fancy deceives. Tis the sad wind that sighs through the withering leaves. Wilt go, then, dear infant, wilt go

with me there. My daughters shall tend thee with sisterly care. My daughters by night their glad festival keep. They'll dance thee and rock thee, and sing thee to sleep. My father, my father, and dost thou not see how the Earl King his daughters has brought here for me, my darling, My darling, I see it all right. Tis the aged gray willows, deceiving thy sight. I love thee. I'm charmed by thy beauty, dear boy. And if thou art unwilling, then force all employ my father. My father, he seizes

me fast for sorely. The Earl King has hurt me at last. The father now gallops with terror. Half wild, he grasps in his arms the poor shuddering child. He reaches his courtyard with toil and with dread. The child in his arms finds he motionless dead. Quite a dark ending, I think you'll agree. But for word in greg and over the garden Wall, things don't go quite as badly.

But it is a near thing. The Beast, like the Earl King, would seem to command great power in those places where long forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel through the wood. Tune in for additional episodes of the Monster, Fact, the Artifact or Animaliustupendium each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.