Author Archives: The Elder Fox Sister

Monster of the Week: The Slender Man

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The Slender Man is a very young monster, having only come into existence in 2009, yet his notoriety is widespread. Slender Man is a popular figure in art, cosplay and fiction in the internet “creepypasta” tradition.

Slender Man is usually represented as an extraordinarily tall figure in a black suit and tie, with a featureless, bone-white face. He is often seen to have multiple long tentacles instead of, or in addition to, normal arms. He is associated with dark woodland areas and the disappearance of children. Continue reading →

Constantine S01E05 Recap: Danse Vaudou

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drinxLaissez Les Mal Temps Rouler

A reeling drunk in a suit stumbles out of a bar and into a dark New Orleans alley for a slash. As he braces himself against a wall and does his business, a girl turns down the alley, and the man holds up a police badge—to make her more at ease about the presence of a micturating lush along her path, we assume. Suddenly a beautiful woman wearing a grey silk gown and matching surgical mask bumps into the girl. “Do you think I’m pretty?” the masked woman asks.

pretty something!

pretty something!

“No, I think you’re crazy” is the wrong answer—the masked woman slashes and stabs the girl with a huge pair of dressmaker’s shears. The cop turns and empties a full clip into the woman, but the bullets have no effect. The girl is dead, the woman is gone, and the cop is wigging. Continue reading →

Constantine S01E04 Recap: A Feast of Friends

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Updating the Meat Co. incident sign

Updating the Hoffrechter Meat Co. incident sign

In the fourth installment of the new series, Constantine’s sorry old friend Gary Lester appears. Gaz captured a demon in Khartoum, and managed to keep it bottled until his arrival in Atlanta, where it is released by a customs agent at the airport. Mnemoth is a hunger demon, manifesting as a swarm of insects, that inhabits human bodies in order to ravenously feed. While possessed by Mnemoth, the affected person goes on an unstoppable frenzy, indiscriminately and wildly shoving whatever even looks like food into their mouth until they physically destruct. At that point, the body shrivels, and Mnemoth escapes the dying and used-up vessel, swarming again to find its next unfortunate host. Continue reading →

Constantine S01E03 Recap: The Devil’s Vinyl

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Moonrise Records: Willie Cole Feat. SATAN

Moonrise Records: Willie Cole Feat. SATAN

Mini-recap: The Constan-team heads to Chicago to investigate the strange death of John’s old friend and record producer, Bernie Reed. A recording from the 1930s, containing the sounds of last performance of Memphis bluesman Willie Cole being interrupted by the voice of the Deceiver as Willie’s contract runs out and he is dragged to Hell, has resurfaced. The recording compels those near it to listen to it, at which point things go very, very badly for them. John’s old nemesis Papa Midnite is revealed to be behind the recording’s reappearance, by way of a soul-broker middleman. Continue reading →

Monster of the Week: The Griffin

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Griffin mosaic from the Acropolis of Rhodes, ca. 200 BCE

Griffin mosaic, Acropolis of Rhodes, ca 200 BCE

…but the Griffin hath a body bigger than eight Lions, and stronger than 100 Eagles, for certainly he will bear to his Nest flying, a Horse and a Man upon his Back, or two Oxen yoked together as they go to Plow, for he hath long Nails on his Feet as great as Horns of Oxen, and of those they make Cups there to drink with, and of his Ribs they do make Bows to shoot with.
—John Mandeville, The Voyages and Travels, 1357

The Griffin (also Griffon, Gryphon, or Grype, among other variants) is a legendary creature with the body of a lion, and the head, wings, and talons of an eagle. Depictions of the griffin date back to 3rd millennium BCE Egypt and earlier, but are also found in ancient Greece, India, and elsewhere around the world. It is said that the feather of a Griffin can cure blindness, and poison will change color when served in a cup fashioned from a Griffin’s talon. Continue reading →

Constantine S01E02 Recap: The Darkness Beneath

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closedWho made the mine owner?
Say the black bells of Rhondda.
And who robbed the miner?
Cry the grim bells of Blaina.
 —Idris Davies, Gwalia Deserta, 1938
Y Ddraig Goch

Y Ddraig Goch

Although set in the Welsh tract of Pennsylvania, the second episode of Constantine, “The Darkness Beneath,” might just as well have been in Wales itself. The mining town of Heddwich (Heddwich iw lwch is essentially Welsh for “RIP”) has a dragon for a town symbol, as John points out while gesturing toward one of many Welsh flags on the walls of the local bar. Miners have been dying, and the latest one was barbecued in his own shower, so hey, maybe there’s a dragon about? Constantine later even refers to Heddwich as a “Welsh mining town.” Perhaps all of the flags made him forget he’s now living across the pond. Continue reading →