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. The Yokai tradition of Japan is rich with strange beings that range from the comical
to the terrifying, and today's subject falls somewhere in the middle. Imagine, if you will yourself alone in a graveyard or on the grounds of an abandoned temple in the darkness, you glimpse something pale and bloated. It carries with it the rancid, unmistakable stench of death and decay. As it bumbles closer, you see it more clearly, a bloated, headless torso of ghastly flesh that walks about on two lumpy legs and
flounders about with two lumpy arms. It is naked, and the folds of its fat seem to vaguely form the contours of a saggy face. This is the new Peppo, and despite its disturbing appearance, it is said to be quite harmless. It just wanders about, disturbing those who encounter it, but otherwise harming no one. It's related in the excellent
book Yokai Attack by Hiroko Yoda and matt Alt. An eighteenth century tale recounts a new Peppo haunting at the castle of Shogun took Agaya Yayishu, who lived fifteen forty three through sixteen sixteen. According to the tale, the shogun demanded the creature be removed from the premises and released deep into the willderness, where a wooden trouble human settlements or bother anyone again. Only afterwards did Tokugawa learn that the new p pose flesh was said to restore youth
and health to anyone who consumed it. A frequent subject of yokai art and toys, New Peppo depictions often walk a thin line between the ghastly and the weirdly cute, which I think is one of its appeals. Its exact origin seems to be shrouded in mystery, though perhaps it is related to the word new perry, a derogatory name for older women with too much makeup, as well as to its fellow Yokai no Parabbo, which appears to be
an otherwise normal human figure without a face. I like the mystery though, is the new Peppo walking accumulation of dead flesh some sort of shambling, amorphous grave slime and why does it invite us to become the ghoul by devouring its life giving meat. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As a ways, 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 for my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.