Minicthulhu Wrote:
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> It depends on what you consider to be a ghoul. A
> monster that haunts graveyards and consume dead
> bodies? Or a creature that eats human flesh in
> general?
The first definition is too narrow. The second one obviously too broad (a tiger or vulture or even an ogre is not necessarily a ghoul); and several entries are already on my reject list above for this reason. I'll give you the definition that Sidi Nouman gave to Haroun Al Raschid:
"
As Your Majesty knows, goules of both sexes are demons that wander in the countryside. They generally inhabit ruined buildings, from whence they leap out and surprise passers-by, whom they kill and whose flesh they eat. For lack of passers-by, they go into cemeteries at night, and feed on the flesh of corpses which they disinter."
A similar definition was provided earlier when the prince met the "ogress" [that is, the ghulah]: "
a female of these wild demons, called ogres [that is, ghuls],
who inhabit abandoned places, and use a thousand ruses to surprise and devour passers-by".
The original
Arabian Nights stories establish that these creatures are intelligent and capable of conversation, and sometimes capable of impersonating humans (possibly with the aid of full body covering or veils, though this is not specified). Note that Amine, who is able to seem fully human even to her husband, is never actually identified as a goule in the story (though most readers reach this conclusion), and her graveyard companion, who is identified as a goule, is immediately recognized as one on sight.
It helps if the word "ghoul" is actually used. But obviously that cannot be the be all and end all. I would distinguish them from most "vampires" (as well as from flesh-eating zombies) in that they are not undead humans. Pickman was able to become a ghoul, but that was because he was a changeling. He had really been a ghoul all along.
> Short stories about ghouls (some of them written
> before 1943)
>
> The Ghoul Keepers
> [
www.goodreads.com]
> ul_Keepers?ac=1&from_search=true
I would not assume that an anthology is primarily about ghouls merely because the title of the anthology (or even a specific story) contains the word "ghoul".
For instance, I just read one of the tales from that anthology: Henry Kutner's "Spawn of Dagon",
Weird Tales (July 1938). It's not about ghouls, but alien sea monsters, with beaks and tentacles. They don't eat people, either. They only thing they have in common with ghouls is that they have language and can impersonate humans (using robes and masks). A zombie, created by necromancy, also appears in the story, but he does not eat people either. He's just a zombie.
Not a bad story though.
> You can find monsters eating human flesh in The
> Night Land (1912) by W.H.Hodgson
> [
www.goodreads.com]
> ht_Land?from_search=true
The hero met many hostile beings in the Night Land, but I don't recall that he ever gave them an opportunity to demonstrate what they wished to do with him after they defeated him. When the people of the Lesser Redoubt flee into the Night Lands, they are merely described as being "slain". I can't recall a single example of monsters eating human flesh. The really creepy thing about the Night Lands and its monsters is that they threatened the soul, not the body.
> There is a book called “Icons of Horror and the
> Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst
> Nightmares vol. 1 and 2“ by T.S.Joshi in which
> one chapter is dedicated to ghouls, their origin,
> influence in literature etc.
> [
www.goodreads.com]
> f_Horror_and_the_Supernatural
This might not have anything that I don't have already. I already have much data on the origin of ghouls, some of it posted above. I also have a much longer chronology of ghouls (from which the above list is summarized), with some commentary on each of the stories, and other non-story sources of ghoul-lore. I could post the longer chronology anyone is interest. But it is very long.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 31 Mar 18 | 07:26PM by Platypus.