Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters. In time for today's episode, I turned once more to the world of Dungeons and Dragons and a particular raven loft monster that I remember quite fondly from my own monstrous compendium binder from way back in the day. The creature was the Crimson Death. Known in other editions of D and D, including fifth Edition, as the Vampiric myst It is typically described as a pale or gray mist, otherwise indistinguishable from mundane fog, but it is in reality an undead vampiric entity. It creeps up on unwary victims, envelops them in tentacles of mist, and then begins to draw the blood from their body, even through their very skin pores, staining its vaporous substance ever deeper shades of pink and red in the process, eventually raining droplets of blood like a heavy seguine cloud. The monster's compendium entry lists several possible origins for the crimson death. Perhaps it is a particularly evil air elemental or the bodyless remnants of a slain vampire, the origin that is also presented in fifth edition. But it may also be the spirit of a mortal who became a vampire. This spirit evil and separated from its physical blood drinking form, and if one could bring these two back together again, then the vampiric curse might be lifted. Now there's an obvious link to Dracula's mist form in Bram Stoker's novel. We also find evil milk in smokelike creatures in various folklores as well. In Japan, there is the smokelike Ininra, said to emanate from bonfires to creep out onlookers. In addition to the human tendency to see patterns as something as shifting and abstract as smoke, it may also link to the common illusion where smoke seems to follow one, due in part to the vacuum created by our movements, which of course draws the smoke in after us. In Wales, the civil duo or water horse may take a mortal on a supernatural ride into the very sky, only to then transform into a mist and drop the unfortunate rider, and in the poetic Eda, mist is the given name of a particular valkyrie, the chosen of the slain of Valhalla. And of course, we also have to acknowledge the role of miasma theory, the outdated pre germ theory idea that human illnesses are caused by bad air and foul smells, such as those that might drift over into populated areas from swamp lands or cemeteries. As we've discussed on Stuff to Blow your mind in the past, this idea was advocated by the likes of Hippocrates, among others, and again the notion was that bad and foul air would allow disease to travel and infect. Therefore, the removal of bad air, or positioning yourself further from it, prevents or combats illness. Now, as we've discussed before, this approach can work accidentally in some cases, but it is not correct, but it is a basic concept that stretches back into the ancient world. Now, turning once more to the crimson death or vampiric myst we can see how easily miasma theory melds with ancient ideas of invisible spirits, demons and fairies that might creep into our homes to do us ill seek us out across great distances with the evil eye. The very sorts of threats we might set out witch bottles to catch, and as such, the Crimson Death or Vampiric Myss seems a fitting fantasy world synthesis of miasma theory and supernatural apparel with more than a dash of Dracula. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters. In time for today's episode, I turned once more to the world of Dungeons and Dragons and a particular raven loft monster that I remember quite fondly from my own monstrous compendium binder from way back in the day. The creature was the Crimson Death. Known in other editions of D and D, including fifth Edition, as the Vampiric myst It is typically described as a pale or gray mist, otherwise indistinguishable from mundane fog, but it is in reality an undead vampiric entity. It creeps up on unwary victims, envelops them in tentacles of mist, and then begins to draw the blood from their body, even through their very skin pores, staining its vaporous substance ever deeper shades of pink and red in the process, eventually raining droplets of blood like a heavy seguine cloud. The monster's compendium entry lists several possible origins for the crimson death. Perhaps it is a particularly evil air elemental or the bodyless remnants of a slain vampire, the origin that is also presented in fifth edition. But it may also be the spirit of a mortal who became a vampire. This spirit evil and separated from its physical blood drinking form, and if one could bring these two back together again, then the vampiric curse might be lifted. Now there's an obvious link to Dracula's mist form in Bram Stoker's novel. We also find evil milk in smokelike creatures in various folklores as well. In Japan, there is the smokelike Ininra, said to emanate from bonfires to creep out onlookers. In addition to the human tendency to see patterns as something as shifting and abstract as smoke, it may also link to the common illusion where smoke seems to follow one, due in part to the vacuum created by our movements, which of course draws the smoke in after us. In Wales, the civil duo or water horse may take a mortal on a supernatural ride into the very sky, only to then transform into a mist and drop the unfortunate rider, and in the poetic Eda, mist is the given name of a particular valkyrie, the chosen of the slain of Valhalla. And of course, we also have to acknowledge the role of miasma theory, the outdated pre germ theory idea that human illnesses are caused by bad air and foul smells, such as those that might drift over into populated areas from swamp lands or cemeteries. As we've discussed on Stuff to Blow your mind in the past, this idea was advocated by the likes of Hippocrates, among others, and again the notion was that bad and foul air would allow disease to travel and infect. Therefore, the removal of bad air, or positioning yourself further from it, prevents or combats illness. Now, as we've discussed before, this approach can work accidentally in some cases, but it is not correct, but it is a basic concept that stretches back into the ancient world. Now, turning once more to the crimson death or vampiric myst we can see how easily miasma theory melds with ancient ideas of invisible spirits, demons and fairies that might creep into our homes to do us ill seek us out across great distances with the evil eye. The very sorts of threats we might set out witch bottles to catch, and as such, the Crimson Death or Vampiric Myss seems a fitting fantasy world synthesis of miasma theory and supernatural apparel with more than a dash of Dracula. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week. As always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.