Azathoth, Nyarlathotep, Hastur. All scary, no-nonsense monsters from the extended
Lovecraft universe. All very capable of ruining everything you’ve
ever loved. And everything you’ve ever dreamed of loving.
They’re powerful; insanely so. So monstrous in influence that it’s unlikely any human
will fully understand the true scope of their strength.
These are terrifying beings that you would not want to come across at any point!
Simply seeing them might turn your mind to mush!
So instead, today we’re going to discuss some of the less omnipotent, more strictly
strange monsters of the cosmic variety. Sure, the big shots are pretty weird, but
in a nameless way. The ones we’ll discuss today are weird,
and you can point out exactly why. Not every being from the Cthuluhu mythos has
to wreak havoc across the world, right? Hello horror heads, and welcome back to the
scariest channel on YouTube: Top5ScaryVideos. I’m your horror host, Keegan Hughes, and
today we’re counting down the Top 5 Strangest Lovecraftian Monsters.
Weird enough that you’ll never forget them, so be ready with that brain-scrubber.
Before we get going, make sure to give this video a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more
cosmic chaos. Outstanding. Let the weirdness commence!
NUMBER FIVE: BROWN JENKIN Hmm. Yeah. That… makes me uncomfortable.
Debuting in The Dreams in the Witch House, this little rat… creature thing is just
terrible. Imagine running into this down some dark alley.
I’d check myself into the mental hospital. A large, fuzzy, four-legged creature with
jagged teeth and a human face, Brown Jenkin is the animal familiar to the witch Keziah
Mason. A lovely quote from the story reads: Witnesses
said it had long hair and the shape of a rat, but that its sharp-toothed, bearded face was
evilly human while its paws were like tiny human hands. It took messages betwixt old
Keziah and the devil, and was nursed on the witch’s blood—which it sucked like a vampire.
Its voice was a kind of loathsome titter, and it could speak all languages.”
So it’s got a beard, human paw-hands, and drinks witch blood like a baby vampire.
Got it. It hangs out in the darkness of the Witch
House, scuttling around and nuzzling folks at odd times.
In the same story, young Walter Gilman takes up residence there and begins having nightmares
featuring Keziah and Jenkin. As the dreams became more vivid and sacrificial,
Walter started to think they might be real. One night he couldn’t take the visions anymore,
and killed Keziah during a sacrificial ritual. Without a master, Brown Jenkin was lost! What
was he to do? Oh yeah, burrow his way into Walter’s chest
and eat his heart while in full view of another tenant.
Delicious. If a heart-eating rat man isn’t enough to
put something on a top 5 strangest list, I don’t know what is.
NUMBER FOUR: NIGHT GAUNTS Another dream-beast, these oily xenomorph-looking
faceless fiends are based on Lovecraft’s childhood sleep paralysis nightmares.
If you thought your sleep paralysis demons were bad, imagine hallucinating while having
a mind like Howard over here. Oh goodness me.
Black humanoid beasts with smooth, whale-like skin, pointed horns, bat wings, paws, and
barbed tails, constantly lashing about, these really are the things of nightmares.
Quiet as the night, these things never spoke, laughed, even breathed.
In fact, they have no faces at all. Smooth as a baby’s bottom up top.
The worst thing about them is their method of incapacitating victims.
Night Gaunts, while striking imposing figures, are no fighters.
Instead they rely on stealth, and tickling. Yes, you heard me right. They tickle their
victims. After swooping in on an unsuspecting bystander,
they will grope and grapple and tickle them in ways to make them uneasy, ashamed, and
upset. Their tails often find certain “spaces between
'' that most folks would rather remain un-fondled. Once thoroughly incapacitated, the gaunts
can carry the person up to great heights and drop them, often resulting in death.
They’re also quite formidable on rooftops, or in places with plenty of stairs.
Sometimes, they can be quite helpful though. In The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, they
sort of act as the flying monkeys of the story. Causing mayhem, but also flying people to
where they need to be. It’s a love-hate deal with these things,
which only makes sense in along with the strangeness ranking.
At one point, it was theorized that they served Nyarlathotep, but later it was revealed that
they revere Nodens as their lord and master. Watch out, though. It’s been said that even
Earth’s Gods are afraid of them. NUMBER THREE: SHOGGOTHS
Shapeshifters without shape. I don’t know if that’s contradictory or
not. Not that it matters, we’re talking cosmic
horror here! Transmutations are pretty standard among Lovecraftian
beasts, but these things are unique, okay? They were genetically engineered by the Elder
Things to be used as servants and slaves. Their most common application was in underwater
construction, which put their gelatinous, almost amoebic forms to good use.
Originally, they were created to be mindless drones, but over time they mutated and developed
consciousness. The shoggoths, of course, were not too happy
about how they were being treated. Eventually, through hard work and determination,
they unionized and got fair compensation and benefits for their labour.
Nah, I’m just kidding. They violently rose up and drove their masters to extinction.
Way to go, champs! I’m so proud of you! Nowadays, they live out their lives as sentient
blobs of gelatinous flesh, rolling around the less-visited areas of Earth.
Self-shaping, Shoggoths are capable of shifting into whatever form it may need.
This includes growing new organs, and hardening up into less-than-gelatinous substances.
Most of the time, they’ll remain as rolling bunches of eyes, mouths, and pseudopods.
Suction is very important to them, after all. In fact, it’s how they kill things!
They envelop their victims, and then generate enough suction force to decapitate.
Imagine that, having your head blown off by sheer suction.
Stop thinking what you’re thinking. Like the cold vacuum of space, you freaks.
As the Shoggoths prefer to chill in Antarctica and deep in the ocean, it’s not uncommon
for them to work alongside the Deep Ones. Just a bunch of unsightly abominations hanging
out around the ocean. Goals. Unfortunately, the Shoggoths haven’t completely
escaped subjugation. Another member of the Strangest club are known
for conducting experiments known as mind grafts that let them telepathically control the goo-spheres.
And those beasts are known as… NUMBER TWO: MI-GO
Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff, they are not. Nope, they’re a race of fungus-based aliens.
And they’re super technologically advanced. I’m talking insane, species-altering skill
with surgery, biology, chemistry, and mechanics. They can just experiment on stuff until it’s
totally changed. And boy do they like messing with humans.
These big, pink, crustaceous funguses are covered in fleshy bits, with heads full of
antennae. They’ve got large claws, and some bat-like
wings that work a lot better in space than on Earth.
Plus, they can’t be photographed. Their bodies are made up of otherworldly matter,
and our puny human cameras just can’t keep up.
Although some of those features might lump them in with vampires, they don’t have blood
on the mind. No, Mi-Go are more interested in human brains,
specifically for experimenting. They’re known for snagging still-living
human brains, and putting them into brain cylinders for transportation.
These tubes can then be attached to external devices to allow it to see, hear, and speak
again. However, the brain still functions while inside
of the tube, allowing the human thought process to continue while being deprived of any and
all senses. Sounds like hell, doesn’t it?
Some total I Have No Mouth AndI Must Scream vibes here.
It appears that Mi-Go worship Nyarlathotep and a couple other Outer Gods, which may have
something to do with their alien moral system. Of course we’re going to think they’re
evil and terrible and weird for stealing our brains!
But we just don’t understand the inner machinations of their minds, they’re doing this to further
the development of the universe! NUMBER ONE: HOUNDS OF TINDALOS
You’ve heard of angles, now get ready for the devils.
The Hounds of Tindalos can be both! These are extra-dimensional predators that
will materialize anywhere, anytime to get a taste of their time-travelling prey.
Known to inhabit the “angles” of time, they like to prey on us curve-dwellers whenever
they can. Little is known about their appearance, as
very few victims survive, but it is said that they have hollow proboscises for draining
their prey dry. Like a big, living capri-sun. They also tend to leave behind blue pus-like
goo wherever they feed. As angle-dwellers, the Hounds can appear wherever
angles and corners exist. If the angle is sharper than 120 degrees,
it’s even easier for them. Usually their arrival is preceded by smoke
pouring out from the corner, and then their head popping through.
Now, I’ve been calling them hounds, but that isn’t because they resemble canines
at all. In fact, they’re less dog-like than you’re
probably imagining. They’re labelled as hounds thanks to their
behaviour, where they will pick up the scent of a man, and follow him across all matter
of time and space in order to feed. Once they have your scent, it’s all over,
bucko. It appears that the only way to avoid them
is to be somewhere devoid of all angles. This can prove to be quite difficult, considering
the modern world we live in. Man loves angles, it’s in our entrepreneurial
blood! So if you find yourself being sniffed out
by a Hound of Tindalos, try plastering up curves in every corner of your home.
If that proves to be too labour-intensive, it’s time to retreat to nature!
You get to be a hermit for the rest of your days! No sharp angles out in the woods!
Just remember: no cabins, lean-to’s, or tents.
Lots of degrees in those. Good luck making curved tools!
OUTRO And there you have it! Five weird, wonderful,
wobbly abominations from somewhere in the Lovecraft canon.
How do you feel after all that? Are there any creatures you think are much
weirder? Which of the five is your favourite?
Make sure you let me know down in the comments! Speaking of comments, let’s have a quick
look at some of your more mayoral ones from TOP 5 MOST DISTURBING MONSTER MOVIE TRANSFORMATIONS
- PART 3: Evan Alworth says “Wow so excited to eat
my Italian sub lunch after this lol thanks Keegan 10/10 as always”
Nothing says stomach-churning monster transformations like deli meats and hot peppers! Enjoy!
Northeast Bass Fishing says “Good job but the Beast Within is not a werewolf. Paul Clemens
turns into a giant flesh-eating cicada.” Correct! Good on you looking out, I may have
slipped after a long day of scriptwriting. So This is My Life says “I wonder if Transformers
is considered body horror to toasters.” Auto-body horror, maybe. Oh boy, that joke
was way past it’s Optimus Prime. I don’t know if it could Bumblebee any less funny.
Goodnight everyone I’m here all week! David R says “I’m still disturbed that
there is no TOP 5 DANTE’S INFERNO TORTURES!!” Oh David, where would we be without you? Keep
on fighting the good fight, who knows what might happen?
Ms_Midnight3 the boss and the legend Friendly says “EL FIRSTO”
I’m sure you are, ms midnight, I’m sure you are…
And that’s all the time we have for today! Before I do a backflip off stage, snapping
both my ankles, make sure to give this video a big thumbs up, and subscribe for more cosmic
content! Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.