SHAPE-SHIFTERSHORTAGE
Th eencountertookplaceinearl yJanuary
1851innorthernLancashire.Thelocal
newspaperreportsthatacarter,coming
homeinthedeadofnight,sawthat“his
horsesuddenlystoppedandappearedmuch
frightened”.(Youshouldnowfeellike
youdow henwatchingan
expendablecharacte rgoing
down adarkalleyinaserial
killerdrama.)“Onlooking
toascertainthecause,[the
carter]perceivedashe
imaginedalargesheeplying
inthemiddleoftheroad,
towhic hhep roceededwith
theintentionofapplyinghis
whiptoforceitsremoval.
Hestruck,theblowfell
upon vacancy, thesupposed
sheeparouseditselfand
asifwithindignityatthe
insult, swelledoutasthe
manaffirms,intothesize
ofahouse,andthengiving
himalookofineffablecontemptflewaway
inaflameoffire.”Ihave my doubtsabout
thatword‘house’.Isitpossiblethatthe
printermistooka‘u’foran‘r’(ami nimmore,
aminimless)andthatthesheepactually
becameahorse?Buthorse-sizeorhouse-size
thecarter’svisionwasprettyextraordinary
evenbeforetheblaz estarted.
Cong ratulations,carter,youha ve justhad
acloseencounterwithabona fideBritish
shape-shifter,asmanydidinthe1800s.There
isnomemberoftheBritishsupernatural
pettingzoothatIwouldrathergetmyhandson.Yougetfear,yougetamazement,youget
thesublimeandyougetso methinglikea
fireworkdisplayatt heend.Thesemonsters
datebackto11th-centurysaints’li ves,turn
upinmediævalghoststories,Elizabethan
plays(e.g.Puck),folkstories(HedleyKow,
anyone?)and19th-century encounters
andthen...nothing.Iknowofnoexample
ofshape-shiftersbeing
seenintheUKafterthe
Great War.Thereare some
fairiesdescribedinunusual
forms–oneimaginesthey
hadchanged,buttheactof
changingisnotdescribed.
Thenther eis“thelarge
slimycreatur eont heA628at
Devil’ sElbow”inDerbyshire,
in,Ithink,the1960s:which
suggestssomeshape-
changingpotentialperhaps.
ChrisWoodyard pointsout
tomethattheOccult Review,
April1920,hasadogthat
seemedlikeacalf.But
doesn’tthatsugges tsizerather
than shape-shifting?Notsure.
Thepointisthathereweh ave ye tanother
exampleofthesupposedlyimmutable
supernaturalitselftakingadifferentform.
Inthe20thcentury, ghostslosetheirchains;
fairiesgainwings;shape- changersceaseto
exist;anddemons,don’tevengetmestarted
onpoordemons...Whatwentwrongfor
shape-shifters?Myguessisthattheybecame
justtoo,well,sill yformoderntastes,and
thatth eywe re demotedintoblackdogs.
SimonYoung’snewbookMagicalFolk:
British and IrishFairiesis out now.,Fairies, Folklore and ForteanaSIMONYOUNG FILESANEW REPORTFROMTHE INTERFACEOFSTRANGE PHENOMENA ANDFOLK BELIEF“THE SHEEPAROUSED ITSELFAND AS IF WITHINDIGNITYAT THEINSULTSWELLEDOUT INTO THESIZE OFAHOUSE”FT389 27stafffromitsHavanaembassyand
adviseditscitizensnottotravelto
theCaribbeanisland.
However,arecentlypublished
article(‘Challengingthediagnosis
of‘Ha vanaSyndrome’as anovel
clinicalentity’,Journalofthe
Royal Society of Medicine,2019)
suggestsCubawasinnoc ent,and
thatnointentionaltargetingof
USdiplomatsoccurredatall.The
report,co-authoredbysociologist
andexpertinpsychogenicillness,
DrRobertBartholomew, together
withneurologistDrRobert
WBaloh,ar guesthat‘Ha vana
Syndrome’(astheconcussion-
likesymptomsbecameknown)
wastheresultof“emotional
traumaandfear”.Theauthors
proposethat‘HavanaSyndrome’
beconsideredasacontemporary
instanceofshellshock,with
symptomscomparabletothose
associatedwithwartrauma:
“A characteristicfeatureof
combatsyndromesoverthepast
centuryist heappearanceofan
arrayofneurologicalcomplaints
fromanoverstimulatednervous
systemthatarecommonly
misdiagnosedasconcussions
andbraindamage”.They add: “A
signaturefeatureofs hell shock
wasconcussion-likesymptoms.
Liketoday,theirappearance
initiall ybaffledphysiciansuntil
amorecareful reviewofthe
datadeterminedthatwhatthey
wereseeingwasane pidemicof
psychogenicillness.Infact,some
ofthedescriptionsfrom100years
agoar evirtuallyident ical,right
downtotheuseofthephrase
‘concussion-likesymptoms’”.
Thediplomatsaffected
bythesyndromewere,the
articlesuggests,participants
in“acontinuationoftheCold
War, living inahostileforeign
countrywheretheywereunder
constantsurveillance”.Itnotes
that“thereisal onghistory
ofembassystaffsuffering
harassmentatthehandsofCuban
agents”.TheUSd iplomatswere
“livinginacauldronofstress
anduncertainty”,asituation
exacerbatedbyrumourstheywere
beingtargetedbyasonicweapon.
Aweapon,theauthorssay,for
whichnoc oncreteevidencehas
emergedinthreeyears.msn.com /
independent.co.uk,1Nov2019.
STRANGEDAYS