It is with great pleasure that we welcome Neil Arnold to the CFZ bloggo with this first guest blog. I have known Neil for fifteen years now since he was a schoolboy with ambitions for adventure and I was an earnest young hippie who merely wanted to start a club for people interested in unknown animals. Nothing much has changed over the years. We are just both a tad older... (and probably not that much wiser)
When I wrote Monster! The A-Z Of Zooform Phenomena, I realised that as soon as it was published more bizarre ethereal beasts would emerge from cultures across the world. The Netherlands is a greatly ignored country, a place peppered with weird and wonderful folklore pertaining to monsters.
One of my favourite zooform mysteries is the dreaded Osschaart (Osschaard, Osgaard). It is a horrifying ghoul which can take on several forms, but is mainly known for being a humanoid but with the characteristics of a bull and also horse or donkey, making this spook a classic water spirit similar in some instances to the Kelpie. Fishermen are extremely wary of this beast, for those who refuse to throw back their first catch of the night are sure to get a visit from the hideous monster. The ringing of bells, but usually the rattling of chains signifies that the creature is in the vicinity and then, from the shadows the fiend pounces, leaping onto the backs of his victims. No harm ever appears to be done to those who are on the receiving end of the beast, but just like many critters from the realm of nightmares, it seems we learn to respect and certainly fear their presence. Drunkards also seem to be prone to the attacks of the apparition.
Strangely, throughout Dutch folklore there are several apparitions whose intention it seems, is to ‘weigh down’ their victim. Such a sinister motive of course resembles the Mara, which exists in the lore of the Scandinavians as a hag-like nocturnal predator. In Dutch it is the Nachtmerrie, a horse-like beast said to sit on the chests of those during slumber. However, when discussing the Osschaart, researcher Mathijs Kroon, when I asked as to why ‘weight’ plays a major part in monster folklore, answered, “Maybe it has something to do with alcohol. Men left the pub late at night, heavily drunk in total darkness...and started walking back to their small houses in the small villages at the countryside. Legs became too heavy, walking impossible. When they finally reached home, stumbling to their doors, with their angry waiting wives, they blamed some supernatural creature for the long delay!”
Two other folkloric monsters resemble the Osschaart, the Kludde and the Lange Wapper. The former resembles a huge, phantom black bipedal hound which also roams the countryside of Flemish Belgium. It also gives off the sound of rattling chains to warn of its ominous arrival and it is said that no-one can ever outrun the hound and it also takes on the form of a ghastly black bird or large black cat covered in thick hair. It has a relation in West Brabant folklore, the Flodder, a tormenting creature which lives in ditches and ponds and leaps from these hidden places to the backs and shoulders of its victims. Strangely, particularly in Belgian lore, the Lange Wapper also has a dislike for drunken souls and exists as a trickster spook which can take on many forms, and is able to leap over houses. Another devilish form which enjoys weighing down its victims is the Stoep of Gelderland which is said to resemble the Osschaart. Its name translates as ‘short tail’ and the creature can either appear as a werewolf or dog.
To be continued….
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