LETTERS
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Wild Irish
The report of an “Irish Wildman” [FT399:67] is not unusual. Stories about the ‘Wild Irish’ were common in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. LP Curtis’s study, Apes and Angels: The Irishman in Victorian Caricature (and other works) reveal that Irish people were routinely portrayed as subhumans or as animals. During his travels in Ireland, Charles Kingsley wrote to his wife describing the Irish he saw as ‘white chimpanzees’, a sight that he found very disturbing because of their colour.
Paula McGee Birmingham
Hanging, drawing etc
Re: Mythconceptions [FT399:23]: many people believe that our mediæval forebears got the word order wrong in the punishment of being “hanged, drawn and quartered” since victims were, as you say, drawn on a hurdle to the scaffold before being hanged and quartered. The word order is actually correct. The drawing refers to the poor victim having his intestines drawn out of his body before his eyes on a kind of spindle – after being hanged and before being quartered.
Tony Purcell By email
Puzzlement
Spotting Jenny Agutter’s pull-quote used in David V Barrett’s review of ‘Walkabout’ [FT397:64] accidentally pasted into his review of ‘Equus’ [FT399:62], I placed the two pages side by side and enjoyed the comedic effect of the two articles cheerily declaring “It’s very difficult to actually put your finger on what it’s about”. Perhaps the error should be embraced and the quote repeated more widely in the magazine; after all, it could be the ultimate fortean reflection on life.
Rob Bray Old Stratford, Northamptonshire
Wooooo
In reference to Mark Greener’s letter, “Cats, dogs and bears” [FT399:50], the suggestion of templates certainly chimed with me. I have long held that the traditional bedsheet ghost of folklore – still clinging on despite being so at odds with anecdotal accounts – resembles an owl in flight, possibly of the barn or snowy variety. Perhaps the image is hardwired into us from our ancient, small and furry ancestry, reflecting something we once faced on a nightly basis? Even the call is similar. If we assume that the fast metabolisms of our ancestors resulted in accelerated processing of sensory information, the “Oooo” of an owl as experienced by its prey would come very close to the deeper, slower “Wooooo” of the spook!
Barry Metcalfe By email
EVP & bird watching
If Friedrich Jurgenson was recording birdsong at the time, his “Friedel, Friedel” EVP [FT399:17] could have been a call of the Great Tit, transliterated as “Teacher, teacher”. Sticking with ornithology, the “Penguin on the roof” [FT399:27] is, in my opinion, a somewhat out-of-place member of the auk family, the Razorbill. And as a verse translator I like the idea of a clipping, 7 Dec 1898, FT399:34).
