Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. This Friday on Weird House Cinema, Joe and I will discuss the seventy three horror film The Laurelize Grasp, in which a bloodthirsty immortal woman emerges from the depths of the Rhine River in Germany to take on a monstrous reptilian form and tear the hearts
from mortal victims. The movie is rife with allusions to Germanic mythology, and yet the actual origins of the Laurel Monster can be found not in myth but in German romanticism of the nineteenth century. Now. To be sure, global traditions of mermaid It's in sirens are quite ancient, but this particular water spirit seems to only date back to
German poet Clemens Brentano's eighteen hundred poem lor Ley. It tells the tale of a doomed woman named lor Ley, who, convicted of sorcery, throws herself off a high cliff and into the river Rhine. German poet Hendra Kaina also wrote a popular poem of Loralai and described her haunting of the cliffs as follows. The fairest of maidens is sitting up there a beautiful delight. Her golden jewels are shining.
She's combing her golden hair. She holds a golden comb, singing along as well an enthralling and spell binding melody in his little boat. The boatman is seized by it with a savage woe. He does not look upon the rocky ledge, but rather high up into the heavens. I think that the waves will devour the boatman and boat in the end. And this by her songs sheer power, fair lore Lie has done with Highna's lyrics, we are
clearly within the domain of sirens and mermaids. Now. These poems were quite popular, and both were also turned into song. General enthusiasm for this romantic notion of a doomed siren eventually led locals to erect a statue of her atop a particular rocky cliff overlooking the Rhine. The Laura Lae Rock, Yes, this would be her namesake, and the very geologic formation that our poets were referring to in crafting their melancholy ballads.
Located in the upper Middle Rhine Valley or Rhine Gorge, the rock was long seen as a place of possible supernatural significance due to the strange echoes it elected, perceived as the possible murmurings of dwarves or gnomes in its caves. While long known as Laura Lae, the exact etymology of the name is uncertain. Lay means rock, but the lower part may refer to sounds, murmurs, or the possible presence
of magical creatures, depending on who you ask. But as IGNACEE Freuerlicht points out in a article appearing in the German Quarterly, there was never a tradition of a siren atop these cliffs before nineteenth century poets created the connection quote. Sometimes the view is voiced that Haina, unlike his Romantic predecessors,
restored the original legend. However, there is no old tradition calling an all read or water nymph lorelei, and there is no ancient legend about a maiden singing on top of the Laura Lae rock who has no communication with passing men Still. The romantic idea of this haunting figure, as well as the monstrous version in the ninety three film, speak to a long history of superstitions concerning the Rocky Cliffs and the Rhine depths beneath it. Yah Tune in
for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.