At the beginning of the 21st Century monsters still roam the remote, and sometimes not so remote, corners of our planet. It is our job to search for them. The Centre for Fortean Zoology [CFZ] is - we believe - the largest professional, scientific and full-time organisation in the world dedicated to cryptozoology - the study of unknown animals. Since 1992 the CFZ has carried out an unparalleled programme of research and investigation all over the world. Since 2009 we have been running the increasingly popular CFZ Blog Network, and although there has been an American branch of the CFZ for over ten years now, it is only now that it has a dedicated blog.
STALLO - BEWARE HIM ON CHRISTMAS EVE
Stallo is a bogeyman in the folklore of the Sa'ami or Lapps of northern Scandinavia. On Christmas Eve he comes around, looking for misbehaving children. He is depicted as hairy and having horns and he carries a sack into which to stuff his victims. Stallo may sometimes be considered a species name. In Vindelfjallen Nature Reserve (Sweden) lie the foundations of a building which it is said Stallos constructed for their dwellings.
In Finland a procession goes around led by a man in black rags who calls himself Stallo. He pokes at girls with a phallus, which leads me to suspect that here is the remnant of a fertility rite. Thankfully, here in Ireland we are some distance from Stallo's stomping ground.
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