Folklore is a curious thing.
It goes without saying that over here at Top 5 Scary Videos, we’ve had a bit of a penchant
for exploring all things folklore, be it in both modern literature and horror--as we trace
back the same cultural bones that have since been laid in the foundations all of all things
folk.
Although profoundly similar to the folklore of wider Europe--Celtic folklore in particular
has some of the most bizarrely unique concepts of the same set of cautionary tales that still
find their place in modern horror to this day.
So, in that case--let’s figure out where it came from.
Hello horror fans, what’s going on, and once again welcome back to the scariest channel
on YouTube--Top 5 Scary Videos.
As per usual, I’ll be your horror host Jack Finch, as today, we curiously take a look
at the Top 5 Most Terrifying Creatures From Celtic Folklore.
Roll the clip.
For the curious amongst you, that scene was from 2019’s The Hole In The Ground, written
and directed by Lee Cronin, that just so happens to feature one of Ireland’s must unnerving
facets of folklore as it’s titular horror villain.
Also, as a side note, that film was surprisingly great--and although it has flown under the
radar since it’s release, it’s certainly worth a look-see if you’re hankering for
some folklore in horror.
So yeah, consider this your most honorable of honorable… reminders.
Yeah, that works.
Anyway, on with the show.
Kicking off at Number 5--The Questing Beast
And what better place to begin our folkloric journey, than with the ultimate adversary
of all things monster hunting in the long history of the British isles.
The Questing Beast.
And yeah, whilst the name may be a dead giveaway, in folklore, there is perhaps no other creature
that is quite as… bizarre as this one.
Otherwise known as the Beast Glatisant--or the Barking Beast--this particular creature
is a key monster in Arthurian Legend--and in the forgotten days of King Arthur’s Britain--his
Knights of the Round Table, most prominently Sir Palamedes and Sir Percival, made it their
quest to hunt this thing down.
As the legend goes, this strange creature had the head and neck of a snake--the body
of a leopard--the haunches of a lion, and the cloven feet of a Hart.
The name, primarily Beast Glatisant--comes from the great noise that it emitted from
its belly--a barking noise, that allegedly sounded like thirty couple hounds questing.
Bizarrely enough though, the legend of the Questing Beast is allegedly a variant of the
mythological medieval view on …. Giraffes.
Do with that information as you will.
But yeah, that’s anyone's guess.
Perhaps the most memorable appearance of the Questing Beast in Arthurian Legend, was in
Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur, where after he had an affair with his half-sister
Morgause (they didn’t know they were related at the time, just FYI--the Questing Beast
appears to Arthur in a disturbing vision drinking from a clear and still pool.
In that same dream, he sees a prophecy that foretells Mordred’s destruction of Camelot,
and he then intertwines the two.
Later on, Merlin reveals to Arthur that the Questing Beast was actually born of a human
woman--a princess who lusted after her own brother.
Sound familiar?!
Well, in the legend told by Merlin, eventually the brother was sentenced to death by their
own father, and was torn to shreds by dogs--the same sound that the Questing Beast made.
Essentially, Arthur saw his own near-downfall in a dream--and the Questing Beast was the
result of that.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Star Wars ain’t got nothing on this.
Swinging in at Number 4--The Dearg Due
As William Congreve wrote in his 1697 play, the Mourning Bride--Nor Hell a Fury, like
a Woman Scorned.
The DAH-rugh DU-ah is perhaps Ireland’s most tragic and fearsome tale of that fact--one
that is still whispered at grave sites and burials to this day.
Surprisingly enough though, in terms of horror, the Dearg Due is perhaps a lot more recognisable
than we may have imagined.
In fact, loosely meaning Red Blood Sucker--this terrifying visage of folklore horror is the
closest that Celtic mythology has come to detailing the archetypal vampire.
As the legend goes, thousands of years ago--she was a legendary beauty--with blood red lips
and pale blonde hair--and her true name has since been lost to the ages, overshadowed
by the folklore villain she became.
Kind as she was beautiful, the Dearg Due was the envy of every clan in Ireland, and suitors
lined up to win her hand in marriage.
As fate would have it though, this sweet natured girl fell in love with a local peasant--an
equally handsome man, who was kind and well-natured too--but alas, was penniless.
Eventually, the girls Father instead agreed for an old, and violently cruel man to marry
her--securing a fortune in the process.
He kept her locked in a tower--and had an affinity for making her bleed.
Day after day he tortured her--locked away in a tower cell--whilst she waited in vain
for the kind peasant boy to somehow come and rescue her.
That hope alone kept her alive for many months--but one day--when all hope was gone--she took
her own life.
As the legend tells it, the DAH-rugh DU-ah is buried in a small churchyard near Strongbow’s
Tree in the Southeast of Ireland.
But that wasn’t the end of her.
In death, she rose from the Earth the same night she was buried--driven mad by the half-remember
visions of her own blood welling on her skin--thirsty for revenge.
As they tell it, every night the DAH-rugh DU-ah rises as the red blood drinker--hunting
down young men in a blind, unnatural revenge.
She calls to them in a strange, haunting siren song that lingers in their mind as they sleep--where
they eventually follow her to her grave--and she feasts on them.
The DAH-rugh DU-ah is as tragic as it is violent, and it’s cautionary tale leaves little to
be desired.
Next up at Number 3--The Caorthannach
And on the same theme as the DAH-rugh DU-ah--there is perhaps no other female figure of folklore
that is more terrifying than the legendary Queer-hawn-nock.
And this one, instead of drawing upon the tragic image of the forsaken daughter turned
ravenous blood-drinking vampire--this one, instead, takes the visage of the mother.
And not just any archetypal mother.
No.
Oh no.
But instead, The Mother of the Devil Himself.
The Fire-Spitter.
The Mother Of All Demons--and one of the greatest adversaries in the whole of Irish mythology.
As the legend goes, when the planet was nothing but a swirling mass of vapor, water, and rock--Queer-hawn-nock
was hatched, deep in the molten core of the Planet.
There, for aeons upon aeons--she waited, patiently biding her time before we humans stepped into
existence.
You see, the Fire Spitter needed food for her children to feast upon--and guess what?
We were that food.
And in the early days of humanity, the Mother of Demons and her children feasted upon us
in a frenzy.
However, there is one turning point of this legend where something remarkable happened--and
beleive it or not, but the legend of Queer-hawn-nock is actually inexplicably tied to the Patron
Saint of Ireland himself--Patrick.
Well, he went by Patricius back then--but still.
Strangely enough, when the legend of Saint Patrick is attributed to his removal of all
of the snakes from Ireland, in some folkloric canons--those very same snakes are instead
The Fire-Spitter and her children.
As the legend goes, Patrick had traced Queer-hawn-nocks home back to a cave on Station Island--which
also allegedly served as a portal to Hell.
There, they battled for two days and two days before the Fire Spitter retreated through
the swamps and poisoned all of the wells on her way.
Eventually, the pair fought in a lake--where the Mother of Demons swallowed Saint Patrick
whole as they both sank into the cold, shadowy darkness of Lough Derg.
Thankfully for him though, Saint Patrick torn his way out of her belly--and she was banished
to the dark, miserable depths for eternity.
Coming in at Number 2--The Changeling
Because we can’t really talk about Celtic Folklore without describing some of the most
prolific entities in the mythos of both Celtic and European Culture.
The Fae.
Fairies.
In Ireland, the Tua de Danann, the Aos Shee--The People of the Mounds--and a race of mythical
and mystical entities that have since established themselves in playing some of the most important
roles in Celtic Folklore.
In Irish and Scottish Mythology specifically, the Tua de Danann were considered to be the
People of the Goddess Danu, the Mother Goddess--and later, they eventually evolved into a far
more supernatural design.
It is said that the Fairies of Celtic Folklore could bestow great blessings--and equally
dangerous curses--and perhaps one of the most terrifying examples of that, is with the Changeling--a
fairy child left behind in place of a stolen human child.
Now, although the theme itself has been used to explain away many unexplained afflictions,
diseases and disorders of the time--the cultural significance of the Changeling, particularly
in horror literature and cinema--has been pretty staggering.
You see, it plays on one key parental fear--of a child becoming uncanny, a split double of
their former self.
A changeling is typically identified by a number of unusual traits.
In Irish legend, a fairy child may appear sickly--or will cease to grow in size like
a normal child.
In many folklore legends, these Changelings grow notable physical characteristics.
They may grow a beard--or grow long in the teeth.
Quickly, they may display an intelligence that is far beyond their years--as well as
develop the power of foresight.
They will know things that should be outside of their knowledge--harnessed by the power
of the Aos Shee.
In some very rare cases--it was the very elderly of a fairy that was replaced as a Changeling--so
that the old fairy could instead live in comfort, being coddled by it’s human parents without
them knowing.
In folk legend, protecting oneself from a Changeling was of the utmost important--and
simple charms such as an inverted coat--or open iron scissors left where the child sleeps
were required to ward them off.
Beware the Changeling.
That’s all I can say.
And finally, coming in at our Number 1 spot--Balor
And truth be told, we can’t really have any other creation of folklore as our Number
1 spot.
Balor--the big bad baddie of Celtic Mythology--and a figure that features most proficiently in
the mythos of Irish and Scottish folklore.
Whereas on the one hand we have the mythical Tua de Dannan--on the other, we have the Fomorians--a
supernatural race of monstrosities who shamble their way from the bowels of the earth to
wreak havoc on we humans and engage in eternal battle with the Fae.
In Celtic Mythology, this guy is the Tyrant leader of them all.
He is often described as a giant with one single, large eye--that wreaks destruction
wherever it casts its gaze.
Hmm, where have we heard that one before?
Perhaps derived from the Common Celtic word--Baleros--meaning the Deadly One--Balor is the be all and end
all of destruction and devastation in the ancient history of the British Isles.
Believe to be the personification of Blight and Drought, it was written in prophecy that
Balor would eventually be slain by his own grandson, Lugh--who would become the Storm
God of Celtic Mythology, and bring an end to the suffering that Balor wrought.
From his fortress on Tory Island--in many myths and legends, Balor is described as a
giant eye at the top of a tower that when opened carves a path of destruction in its
wake.
As many legends tell it, once opened, it could destroy entire armies with a single glance.
Although in many other instances, Balor is a humanoid figure that walks beside men.
As some folklorists describe: he had a single eye in his forehead, a venomous fiery eye.
There were always seven coverings over this eye.
One by one Balar removed them.
With the first the bracken began to wither--with the second the grass became copper-coloured.
With the third the woods and the timber began to heat.
With the fourth smoke came from the trees.
With the fifth everything grew red.
With the sixth it sparked.
With the seventh, they were all set on fire--and the whole countryside was ablaze.
Whichever way you spin it, Balor was the personification of pretty much all evil in Celtic Mythology
and Folklore--and when it comes to big bad baddies--they don’t get much nastier than
this guy.
Well, there we have it folks--our list for the Top 5 Most Terrifying Creatures From Celtic
Folklore.
What do you guys think?
Do you agree?
Disagree?
Have any more to add to this list?
Then let us know your thoughts down in the comment section below, as well as any choice
picks of your own.
Before we depart from today's video though, let’s first take a quick look at some of
your more creative comments from over the past few days.
First up, Gabriel Tadeo says--
Hey Jack of the 2coats, are you a Dungeon/Game Master?
Because you have such a talent for spinning a story together.
Bringing myth and legend and terror to ear holes and our eyeballs, funneling down into
our minds.
Bringing it all to terribly terrific life.
Love ya Jack and Top 5 Scary Videos.
-- Well Gabriel, what a brilliant description--and thank you very much.
I am not a Dungeon Master, no, but I have the utmost respect for anyone that can DM
a campaign because that is some commitment.
The thing is, I just enjoy playing the game too much!
Charisma is just too much fun.
Charisma too good.
And finally, Mel M says--
-- Jack can you get a Twitter!
Love this vids!
Great movie recommendations.
-- Well thank you much Mel M, much obliged.
And I do have a Twitter!
You can follow me at jawfinch -- consider this my shameless Twitter plug.
Yeah, I went there.
Thank you mel m!
Anyway, on that note, unfortunately that’s all that we’ve got time for in todays video,
cheers for sticking around all the way until the end.