Grindylows

For this week's episode, we're coming back to barmy Britain for the horrible marsh-dwelling Grindylows! How do these monsters link to the Vikings? Why are these monsters so popular with so little folklore written on them? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

We’re heading into the world of slight fantasy this week but we’re also heading up north - where I also am this week for a work trip to Manchester. So whilst I’m freezing up in the Moors, I hope you enjoy this one.

DESCRIPTION:

We’re talking about a water monster this week though, so I’m not sure how cosy this one will be. We are looking at the Grindylows, creatures from northern English folklore that have been brought into the spotlight with some big modern media. 

Grindylows are described as water spirits that live in bogs, lakes and marshes. They’re depicted as small green-skinned creatures that are about 3 feet in size, with a humanoid face but with sharp barbed teeth, pointed ears and large black eyes. There are a few descriptions of the body of a Grindylow, the most popular being that they have a humanoid torso which ends in eight tentacles that can whip around prey as well as provide a swift exit from any misadventures. However, whilst this is the most common thought - within folklore, it’s believed that they have a completely whole human body, just at a smaller size, with long fingers and claws that are perfect for grabbing prey from the waterside and not letting them slip from their grasp before the victim drowns.

They are completely aquatic creatures, so they cannot breathe air and live their lives entirely underwater. Because of this, they have gills that are on the sides of their faces and slimy, but not scaly skin. They tend to eat fish, terrapins, algae and weeds - but will occasionally have a human nibble too.

They prefer to live in large bodies of water, with plenty of greenery for them to hide in, with poor visibility to those who do not live in the murky depths. Up in the Moors of Lancashire and Yorkshire, the UK is known for having plenty of bog-land, as well as places like the Lake District being closeby with large bodies of water. The visibility in marshes and bogs is incredibly poor, making them perfect spots for the Grindylow. It’s also pretty cold up in the Northern part of England, with temperatures of large bodies of water averaging at 6 degrees celsius or 40 degrees fahrenheit, which is pretty cold.

They are incredibly strong swimmers and catching a glimpse of them is particularly difficult, but realistically, as soon as you’ve seen them - it’s most likely too late. They attack anything that comes to their water’s edge - pulling in their victim with their incredibly strong grip. They would attack in large groups of at least 15 Grindylows, overwhelming the drowning swimmer - and dragging them to the seabed where they would drown, and left to be consumed by sea life or decay in the water. 

There’s no evidence to say that Grindylows eat their victims, but they do especially like children as a tasty snack - and they are the most common victim due to their natural curiosity and clumsiness around water. We’re not sure how they reproduce, although there is an assumption that it is very similar to fishes with eggs. We’re also not sure how they die either, and because they are spirits, it could just be that they are immortal and invulnerable to anything we can do to them.

ORIGIN:

For their etymology, there’s not a direct and confirmed translation for the word Grindylow - however, folklorists do believe that Grindylow comes from Grendel from the epic poem, Beowulf. Grendel is a giant monster who is unbelievably violent and lives in a riverside cave - and therefore due to the Viking influence on the UK as well as the link to water, a lot of monsters from bogs, mires and marshes are linked to Grendel. However, the Grindylow is the only one with the name specifically. 

Which leads us into their history, because in theory, we can then link this monster to the Vikings - which were here in the UK during the Norse invasion between 789 - 1066 AD and had a huge influence on British culture then and now, and brought across many of their folklore and mythical legends across the Norwegian Sea. There are plenty of monsters that owe their existence in the UK to the Viking invasion, but a lot of them do stem from Old English pagan and Celtic beliefs when Britain didn’t have any external influence. 

What is important to note with British folklore is that whilst the Brits were conquerors later in history, during the middle ages and prior, Britain was invaded and subsequently conquered by France, Norway and Denmark and Romans, and so to call something British folklore is always a bit tricky as the outside influence is hard to avoid. 

We do believe though that Grindylows are the Lancashire and Yorkshire equivalents of the water spirits from other counties in the UK, such as Jenny Greenteeth, Peg Powler, Nelly Longarms, Nixie and Kelpies - but these are just a handful of monsters and each of them come from around this same time, all being introduced into folklore in the 10th or 11th century, whilst England was still being formed and the Vikings still had control over the Northern English counties. 

Other than the vague timeline that we have, we don’t really have much else on this monster, which is a real shame. I did have to double check that this was even a real folklore monster because of the elephant in the room.

Of course, we have to talk about Harry Potter here too - the Grindylow was quite a big part of the Goblet of Fire, which is the fourth book and movie, where they live in the Great Lake next to Hogwarts as pets of the merfolk that dwell in there alongside the giant squid. Within this interpretation, they have the octopus lower half and are vicious little monsters that try to tear the protagonist and his friends apart and are only repelled with a spell to freeze them. We actually owe a lot of their interpretations to this bit of media and really, any of their popularity and renown.

Whilst I’m always glad when a monster gets the spotlight from a movie franchise or book series - when there is so little on the monster within research and folklore that we can physically find, it begs the question of fiction or folklore. That is how powerful this type of media is and how these really small monsters within folklore that may have been passed over without it can be blown up with popularity. There are countless Harry Potter wikipedias and fan sites that discuss Grindylows, and I’ll be honest - it was the D&D and Pathfinder wikis that convinced me to keep on this, as they’ve been around since the 1970’s and so were not influenced to make this monster from Harry Potter.

In reality, what we do know is that these monsters were created with the purpose to caution people away from the water - which you’ll know from all of our other monsters like this. As their favourite meal is child and they are the most common victims to shallow water drownings, it makes sense for local parents to tell their children of the dangers of Grindylows grabbing them, rather than the vague and intangible threat of the murky water. We see this a lot within British and Scandinavian folklore, because as well as the general drowning threat, our weather is usually on the colder side - making bodies of water deadly for cold shock, hypothermia and drowning. 

As we’re on the topic, our lakes and rivers are also susceptible to intense currents, and they are deadly to even the strongest of swimmers - so warning anyone away from our local water sources was a great idea back then and now. The difference now is that we have information at our fingertips with the internet and regular safety adverts for the dangers of water - when back in the Viking era of Britain, it was all spread through word of mouth, and personifying them as little green monsters made the threat considerably more real.

I don’t really have a reality based comparison for these little monsters, the only thing I could possibly link them to in our waterworks is cuttlefish or squid, however, they’re generally not fond of stagnant bodies of water and prefer the open sea. 

For monsters that are like this - I’ve already mentioned them but if you wanted more information on all of these, I’ll be covering Jenny Greenteeth, Peg Powler and Nelly Longarms in a single future episode as they’re all very similar, and we’ve covered the Germanic Nixie and the Scottish Kelpie before - so go check them out to find out more. But long story short, they’re all river or lake monsters that have been spotted within the UK and are all used as cautionary tales to stay away from the water.

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now onto modern media, we do have a few bits of Grindylows - however, I’ve filled this out with some water beasties too!

For art, have a look at the independent art this week or all of the work that has come from Harry Potter within CGI - as they are a really cool representative of what they look like!

In movies, we have; Harry Potter, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Legend, Dagon, Farkadden, Pirates of the Caribbean, Frozen 2, Luca, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Scooby- Doo and the Ghoul School, Star Wars, Fairytale: A True Story, Underwater, Aquaman, The Adventures of Sharkboy & Lavagirl & Barb and Star go to Vista Del Mar.

For TV, we have; Grimm, Masters of the Universe, The Secret Saturdays, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Monster Force, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Doctor Who, Winx Club, Legend Quest, Black Clover, Berserk, EDENS ZERO, Fairy Tail, H2O: Just Add Water, Tidelands, Mako Mermaids: An H2O Adventure, Farscape, The Outer Limits, Adventure Time, Ben 10, Arcane, Ducktales, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea & Lil’ Monsters.

In video games, we have ones such as; LEGO Harry Potter, Harry Potter series, Hogwarts Legacy, Remember Me, Roki, The Witcher, Dark Age of Camelot, Tribes of Midgard, Dota 2, Elder Scrolls, Runescape, Warcraft, World of Warcraft, Suikoden, Dwarf Fortress, Fallout, Stellaris, Mythgard, Valheim, Final Fantasy 14, Resident Evil: Revelations, The Legend of Zelda, Pathfinder, Darkest Dungeon, Lusternia, Monster Hunter, Bloodborne, Monster Prom, Overlord, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Splatoon, Terraria & Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn.

My book recommendation this week is Water: Selkies, Sirens, & Sea Monsters by Rhonda Parrish for some great water dwelling monsters or Treasury of Folklore: Seas & Rivers by Dee Dee Chainey & Willow Winsham because this series of folklore books are amazing.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed? 1700

I’m going to say no to this one, and it’s the usual reason with water monsters and cautionary tales I’m afraid - sorry to be boring. Although the difference with these monsters is that they are mostly bog or marsh water, which is deep but definitely not deep enough to evade scientific discovery and I think we would have probably found some little green water men by now. But what we do need to take into account is the cautionary tale and how important they are to these kinds of environments, especially back in the day, but also even today.  

These monsters are an imperative deterrent to keep children and vulnerable people away from the waters edge and realistically, because folklore says they do not eat their prey - it means that we could find the person’s drowned body and still blame this on Grindylows or other river or marsh based monsters. I think these myths are still really important, as water deaths in the UK are still very high due to our vast lakes and harsh coastal currents which people underestimate. So I think the idea that this monster is this area’s water warning is pretty fitting, and I certainly wouldn’t want to go near the water’s edge here thinking that one of these would grab me. 

I’ve fallen into Lake Windermere where Bowness lives as well as dunking my hand into Loch Ness and I think this one might win in terms of creepiness that I would avoid. I can’t help but think of the Dead Marshes from Lord of the Rings when it comes to bogs and mires, and that scene used to freak me out so much that I would never go near a marsh anyway. I actually fell into a bog in a local woods when I was about 10 when I was walking on what I thought was a fallen log, turns out it was floating and I fell off. It was disgusting, but I didn’t see anything whilst in the water - I just wanted to get out as soon as possible because it was cold and smelly.

I will also add because we’re on the topic, that you should always avoid wild swimming within lakes and rivers you’re not familiar with - I used to live on the River Avon in Bath, and the amount of people swept away by the deadly current and not found was heartbreaking - please don’t become a statistic, and do your research before jumping into any body of water, in the UK or elsewhere.

But what do you think? Did the Grindylow haunt the northern English rivers and marshes? Let me know on Twitter!

OUTRO: 

A fun but slightly lacking information monster this week - I really struggled to find a lot beyond Harry Potter references although they existed long before them - so I hope you’ve learnt something else from outside of that universe with this episode!

Next week, we’re heading over to the Norse isles and looking at a Viking monster, the Dis or Disir! Get ready to pray to these fierce female warrior spirits next Thursday!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got the twitter for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, Youtube, Threads and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk - you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.