Demonseed: changelings, halflings, and human monsters
By Wm. Michael Mott
Copyright © 2001, Wm. Michael Mott
 1. PREFACE
On the contrary, she seemed strangely proud of the dark,
goatish-looking infant who…. was heard to mutter many
curious prophecies about its unusual powers and tremendous
future.
–H.P. Lovecraft, THE DUNWICH HORROR
In his classic piece of horror fiction (later made into a mediocre
film), THE DUNWICH HORROR (1928) H.P. Lovecraft tells a tale of
unspeakable terror set in a small New England town. Dunwich, Massachusetts,
is an isolated hamlet which is decaying and filled with a sense
of uncleanliness, where the inhabitants have interbred for some
time, with one another, and eventually, with something else. Out
of another "dimension," analogous to the underworlds
or fairylands of old, a new source of genetic materal comes, when
Old Man Whateley makes a deal with and underworld entity called
Yog-Sothoth, and allows the demonic thing to mate with his daughter,
Lavinia, impregnating her with a potential threat to the human
species. Her son Wilbur Whateley, tall, hulking, and strange of
shape through baggy clothing, is not all that he seems, and eventually
his slain form is revealed:
"Above the waist it was semi-anthropomorphic; though its
chest, where the dog's rending paws still rested watchfully, had
the leathery, reticulated hide of a crocodile or alligator. The
back was piebald with yellow and black, and dimly suggested the
squamous covering of certain snakes. Below the waist, though, it
was the worst…."
The rest of the description of Wilbur Whateley goes beyond vertebrate
characteristics, with mollusk and cephalopod features (aquatic
or semi-aquatic?), limbs, and other members. The full horror of
the description will not be repeated here in the interest of "fair
usage," but the story is recommended to any student or researcher
of subterranean folklore. Needless to say, the resemblance of Wilbur
to the Sumerian underworld demon called 'PAZUZU,' or to a variety
of cryptid as well as 'reptoid' forms from Ufology and folklore,
is apparent. Also of interest is that the story ends with the revelation
that Wilbur had a twin, not quite as capable of masquerading as
human as he had been…in fact, he is an invisible elemental
giant of greatly destructive power. PAZUZU was of the underworld,
yet was also a 'demon of the wind,' in effect paralleling both
of the abominable brothers from THE DUNWICH HORROR. As an entertaining
fictional read, Lovecraft's work in general is highly recommended.
An interesting piece of fiction, one might say, and indeed it
is. But do things like this really happen, in the real world? Do
human beings, either willingly or unwillingly, make pacts or genetic
links with nonhuman beings from beneath the Earth or elsewhere,
contaminating the human gene pool even as they enrich the intrusive,
parasitical one? Do history, folklore, and medical science hold
clues as to this seeming-fantasy being a reality?
Evidence for such activity would necessarily consist of two types:
historical and folk accounts, and real persons of questionable
and mysterious genetic heritage, a heritage which may result in
unfortunate and sometimes inexplicable medical or physical conditions.
As in the Lovecraft story, there is sometimes an element of the
human family or gene-pool being interbred to some extent as well,
and the extent to which they are interbred may have some affect
on the likelihood of the non-human genetic characteristics being
dominant upon occasion, even surfacing in future generations. This
does not mean that these people are not human beings, although
upon occasion this may have been debatable. It simply means that
they have retained or inherited genetic characteristics from a
contamination in the distant past, which is beyond their control
or responsibility. As it turns out, both types of circumstantial
evidence do exist, and in fact may indicate that the second type
of evidence could be the result of the first, even if such trysts
or cross-breeding took place decades or centuries before.
Before going further, it must be observed that unfortunate birth
defects and malformations exist which doubtless, do not fit into
the evidentiary category described. No person should ever be shunned
or otherwise mistreated due to any defect beyond their control.
Negative behavior of this type is wrong in all instances, and should
never be tolerated or condoned for any reason. Compassion is one
of the fundamental aspects of true humanity, and many a true "monster" has
held a beautiful or otherwise normal appearance, yet inwardly been
a beast of the worst description.
To return to the study at hand, folklore and history are filled
with tales of such half-human or genetically-contaminated unfortunates,
and often the two anecdotal areas overlap. It must be observed
that not all such liaisons have resulted in deformity or an otherwise
evil condition or nature. How do such 'alien' genes, possibly originating
with pre-human races who shun the modern sun, enter the world of
human beings?
There seem to be two methods: through forced interbreeding (abduction,
rape, and the like), or else willing pacts and even marriages.
Closely-monitored or genetically-related groups seem to be the
target of the latter, while the former appears more random at times.
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