Monster's Genealogical Chart: Ghoul

Ghouls fascinate me. Mostly because there's no clear definition of what a ghoul is, how a ghoul is created, or what their characteristics are. The most simple definition of a ghoul is one who is attracted to and ingests human carrion. 

By that definition one doesn't even have to be a supernatural being, or even an undead being, to be a ghoul. From my reading the most commonly held belief about what creates a ghoul is that a human who has partaken in a life of debauchery and depravity of the flesh degenerates into an undead being that in the afterlife is condemned to inhabit the places of the dead and feed on carrion. 

How that transformation actually takes place isn't very clearly described in any mythological text, but in the Arabic world there is commonly a Djinn involved that has deceived a human into committing  damning acts of depravity, then punishes the human by turning them into a ghoul. In The Monster Club, The Elders arrive at the end of the movie, but we never actually see them, so this depiction of a ghoul from a Monster's Genealogical chart never actually appears in the movie.

The Ghoul, from a Monster's Genealogical Chart

August 10, 2026 update: I had a real third story of The Monster Club experience at the post office last week. I had a package i needed to send overseas, and there's no easy way to do that anymore, and when I turned around there was a crowd of ghouls behind me like the scene with Stuart Whitmore in the third story of The Monster Club. 

Pin It

Titivillus, The Mortal Enemy of Printers, Editors, Typesetters, and Scribes

Most of Christian folklore doesn't have much resonance in my life. But as I walked to the general store for honey for my Earl Gray tea tonight I realized there is one figure that was created to terrify and keep in line medieval scribes that has also been a hobgoblin in my life, and that is Titivillus, better known as The Printer's Devil. My independent literary press, Zombie Logic Press, has been publishing children's books and books of poetry since 1997. As editor of ZLP I design, edit, and supervise the publication of all of our books. Sometimes I spend months with a manuscript combing it over to find the perfect font, trying to cull out grammatical and spelling errors, and just trying to make it as aesthetically pleasing to look at on the page as I can make it. I do this rather well and have even been asked to do it for others. But perhaps if they knew what I was about to confess I would never be entrusted with a manuscript again. In every book I have ever edited, no matter how long I have painstakingly labored over it with hunched shoulders and squinty eyes, I have always found a single editing error in the finished book. One lonely error, but enough to call into question my ability as an editor. Sometimes I see it right away when I hold that first book out of the crate in my hands, other times I notice much later, but it's always there to haunt me. Sometimes I swear it just isn't possible after having read these words dozens, maybe hundreds of times that I could have missed something this obvious. Which is why I tend to believe this demonic entity is more than a creature of medieval folklore, but a real entity and the enemy of all printers, editors, typesetters, and scribes...

Titivillus. The Printer's Devil.

Titivillus, an underling of the horrific demon Belphegor, was said to be responsible for maliciously introducing errors into the work of scribes. But his motivation was said to be pure: to remind scribes to be ever vigilant and concentrate on what they were doing. Also under his purview was recording the idle gossip and chatter of churchgoers so he could report it to his superiors and ensure the guilty would be punished. Not only was he a gremlin saboteur, but a lowly snitch. In medieval times Titivillus was used as a method to teach moral lessons such as remaining respectful in church and staying diligent in one's pious tasks.

But sacred records indicate Titivillus, or an equivalent entity, was active in Egyptian culture, and even the Babylonian culture before that. In these cultures Titivillus performed much the same function, bedeviling scribes and recording the the sins of those who dared transgress in holy places. 

Titivillus eventually petered out as a figure taken seriously in the church, but by this time had made his way into the world of literature as his own character. And to this day we can all identify with returning to some long labored over piece of writing we are proud of and considered finished only to find an error that seems to have appeared from nowhere. Is it a lapse in concentration or The Printer's Devil that causes these blemishes on our masterpieces? The world may never know.

Illustration by Jenny Mathews

Pin It

Hodag

The Hodag is a monster native to and exclusively sighted in Northern Wisconsin, specifically in the city of Rhinelander, where they have the most financial investment in perpetuating the folklore of the strange, fearsome beast. The first Hodag was not only spotted, but actually captured by a local posse spurred on by notorious flim flam man Eugene Shepard. The monster was photographed that day in 1893.

But as any hoaxster who has created a religion out of whole cloth can tell you, sometimes people take you seriously even when you're selling them a shit sandwich, which the local media did, running this story as if it was a legitimate cryptozoological find. Not to let a good lie go uncapitalized upon, Shepard claimed in 1896 to have captured another Hodag, this time a living specimen, and was of course all too willing to display it on the carnival circuit. The exhibit was a good success, until The Smithsonian Institute dispatched a team of scientists to verify the claim, at which time Shepard admitted the hoax. But Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Mormons, and Scientologists can tell you none of that matters, because once a lie starts turning a profit no amount of truth can extinguish it.

Now, the black Hodag is the most nasty of the Hodag variations

This specimen is about six feet long and three feet at the shoulder. Its primary attack is a gore or a spike with its tail, but some Hodags have been known to resort to using tasers and some have been rumored to possess a noxious breath weapon (save at -2 or be dumbfounded for three rounds). 

This is the extremely rare Stuffed Animal Cave Hodag. Its primary means of attack is to siphon about twenty dollars out of your pocket, maybe more if you hit the gift shop.

Not much more is known about this downright nasty cryptid. On occasion you'll see one outside of a lodge after a few Leinenkugel Fake-Ass Mythical Beast brews sort of feigning a benevolent grin, but I can assure you it's all a clever ruse designed to get you to buy a T shirt.

Pin It