A listener writes “Hi Wes, I’m a longtime fan of the show. I wanted to reach out about the recent conversation you had with Mac on episode 1133 about the “Rake”-type creature that has been seen.
My girlfriend’s father saw one of these entities shortly before he passed away in 2020. I’m by no means an expert and perhaps you’ve heard this already, but these creatures very closely resemble the original description of ‘ghouls’ in Arabic and European folklore, as well as the original description of ‘wendigos’ in Algonquian folklore.
While ghouls and wendigos are often depicted very differently in media today (with wendigos looking more deer-like), the original folkloric description of both was that of a tall, emaciated humanoid figure with light grey skin like a corpse, elongated features, often seen crawling on all fours. Both entities were also described as being a type of extraphysical evil spirit or fallen angel that is cannibalistic, eating human remains and being associated with gravesites. That’s why the word “ghoul” has also come to mean people who rob graves, as well as being a ubiquitous term for anyone associated with the dead.
The reason why I’m sharing all of this with you is because there seems to be a lot of confusion about what has come to be called a “Rake,” when this specific archetype has existed for centuries and across different cultures around the world. Again, I’m not an expert and I know this is a very bizarre topic – the encounter that my girlfriend’s father had was fleeting and I don’t have a ton of information about what he saw. I also don’t subscribe to organized religion so I definitely don’t mean to push any beliefs, especially by using the term “fallen angel.” However I do think that it’s important to understand how these things have been interpreted in the past, and the implications that has for other cryptids that they’re seen and associated with.
Hopefully that all makes sense, thank you for everything you do.”
Jeff K
Interesting.
Pia B
Insightful.