Hungry Creatures

In Irish mythology, there are two creatures closely related to hunger. One of them is the Alp-Luachra or Joint Eater (I don’t know how it earned that name). It is parasitic and has been described as either looking like a small humanoid or a small green newt. It catches you while you’re sleeping, usually outdoors. It crawls down its victim’s throat and settles in its stomach. The Joint Eater gets away without being felt, because it secretes a specialized mucus that acts as a general anesthetic. Anything this mucus touches goes numb, allowing the Joint Eater to stealthily enter its victim. One source I found actually stated that ancient Irish used Joint Eaters medicinally because of their mucus. By applying or ingesting it, injuries would swiftly numb. 

 

 Once it is inside its victim, the Joint Eater will act like a tapeworm and feed off of whatever its victim is eating. The effects of the Joint Eater’s infestation aren’t felt until a few days after its infestation. The host becomes fatigued and weak then begins to slowly starve. The name Joint Eater most likely comes from the aching joints the victim feels during starvation. 

 The host will actually begin feeling the Joint Eater “wriggling” in their body after a while which worsens the mental condition of the host. If it’s a female, the Joint Eater has the potential to reproduce asexually so that it will be able to reproduce inside its host, laying anywhere between eight to twelve eggs which will hatch and begin feeding on the host as well. 

 How did the ancient Irish get rid of such a deadly pest? For either method, an aide would physically restrain the host and hold its mouth open. From there, the first option involved trying to lure out the Joint Eater(s) with some very savory food. If there were children, they would exit in a large clump then followed by the parent. By that point, the older Joint Eater would be as fat as the host’s mouth and eight to twelve times longer than the babies. 

 The second method involved having the host eat large amounts of heavily salted meat then drink nothing afterward. Next, the host would lay down next to a large body of water and wait for the Joint Eater(s) to exit, desperate for water. This method is much more dangerous than the first one and used only as a last resort, because large amounts of salt added to a malnourished body had the potential to induce fatal heart attacks.

 The other hungry creature was known as the Fear Gorta or Hunger Man. It walked the earth in times of famine and would appear as an emaciated beggar seeking alms from passers-by.

 The Hunger Man didn’t feed on these travelers. He had a different M.O. The people who didn’t spare any food for the Hunger Man would meet with some sort of bad luck, and those who gave to the Hunger Man would find themselves rewarded with good fortune.

 The Hunger Man became very relevant during the famine years. People began referring to sudden feelings of great hunger as Fear Gorta, and they would often experience this when passing through places where people had died from the famine. In order to prepare for this, travelers would carry a piece of oat bread with them to eat when the Fear Gorta struck.

 I have a spot for both of these creatures in my writing. The Hunger Man appears in a short story I wrote that can be enjoyed by anyone who signs up to receive this month’s newsletter. It’s my vision of the creature, so I have given him some powers that aren’t mentioned in any myth I found in order to make him a serious threat. This story will be part of a continuing series. New ones will appear in future newsletters and will center on a mysterious occult investigator known only as W.B. I plan to have the Joint Eater appear in my current work-in-progress.