CRYPTID: KLUDDE, BELGIUM
- Shadows
- May 7, 2021
- 2 min read
APPEARANCE Kludde’s appearance varies from story to story. He is sometimes depicted as a demon who can take on different disguises.
In some tales, he is described as a monstrous black dog that moves on his hind legs. He can also take on the disguise of a large black cat or giant black bird. The faster the passersby run away, the faster the creature follows closely behind them. In addition, he can enlarge and shrink himself.
In other stories, he is more likely to be a man wrapped in a hairy dog skin, reminiscent of the myth of the werewolf.
CHARACTER
Kludde is a tormentor who often hides under bridges or in hollow trees and only appears at night. Hikers can only deduce his arrival by the sound he makes. This is because Kludde rattles a chain that he is obliged to wear on his left ankle.
Once he has signaled his arrival, he jumps on the unsuspecting passerby’s neck. The passer-by is then obliged to carry him on his or her back for the rest of the night. When daybreak comes or the passerby reaches his destination Kludde disappears again.
Kludde lets his appearances depend on the situation. For example, he can transform himself into a normal cat that is approached by pitiful passersby, with horrifying consequences. As a large black bird, he flies over farms at night and wakes everyone up with his cry, “Kludde, Kludde, Kludde, Kludde.” Kludde also occasionally teams up with Long Wappern another Belgian myth.
FIGHTING Kludde was an invincible creature. Once one encountered him there was no escaping him. Yet there are also some stories in which he is defeated:
In Schelle, Kludde once came to haunt a farm. When this kept happening for several nights in a row, the local butcher decided to spend the night at the farm in question. When Kludde came rattling his chains again that night and scared everyone to death, the butcher ran to the door. When he opened it Kludde appeared to be standing in the doorway. Fearlessly the butcher plunged a knife into Kludde’s belly, after which the demon fled, wailing, and never returned to the house.
There is a legend in Wichelen in which a woman threw a cloth in Kludde’s mouth to shake him off. The next day, one of the servants in the village was found to have fibers of that cloth between his teeth, so the villagers could immediately identify him as Kludde. Other stories identify praying as a way to escape the creature. In one story from around Limburg, Kludde was once caught and then hung with a hook in a fish store.
RESIDENCE Kludde is associated with the Schelde region, Dendermonde and other villages in East Flanders, but stories also exist in the vicinity of Antwerp, such as Hemiksem and Schelle. In the municipality of Wichelen there is even a Kluddepath.
Comments