Headless Humanoids??

February 21, 2007 11:10 AM

Cryptozoology question!

I'm looking for the well-known illustrations from the account of that "explorer" (whose name I don't remember) who published tales of fantastical beasts and strange humanoids hundreds of years ago.

In particular, I'm looking for the drawings of the headless people with faces growing out of their stomachs.

I know someone is probably going to answer this in mere minutes; I just haven't been able to turn up anything no matter how industriously I set Google loose on it.

posted by hermitosis to grab bag (12 comments total)

I think the "explorer" you are looking for is Prester John, but I can't find the woodcuts of the guy with a head in his chest. I think there was a similar illustration of a guy with a foot on his head (an "antipodean"), but I can't find him either.
posted by b1tr0t at 11:30 AM on February 21, 2007

The headless creatures are called anthrophagi.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:43 AM on February 21, 2007

D'oh, see also blemmyea.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:47 AM on February 21, 2007

I found pictures of the blemmyes and the giant-footed sciapods in Sebastian Münster 's Cosmographia.
posted by moonmilk at 11:51 AM on February 21, 2007

Prester John was the mythical king of India. The explorer was probably Sir John Mandeville (links to a relevant extract from his work).
posted by nasreddin at 11:54 AM on February 21, 2007

Hey, is that a dufflepud?
posted by DU at 11:56 AM on February 21, 2007

Yep, that's what I'm looking for. Even knowing the name will make a big difference. Thanks a million!
posted by hermitosis at 11:59 AM on February 21, 2007

I think the drawings you want come either from the Nuremberg Chronicle (scroll down a bit to "Strange People: Headless") or from Pliny the Elder's Naturalis Historia.
posted by ourobouros at 12:12 PM on February 21, 2007

Alvy&: an anthro(po)phagi is someone who eats people; from anthro (man) and phagi (eater). Even says so in your link.

Which of course (for total derail bonus points) reminds me of Flanders & Swann's Reluctanct Cannibal.
posted by polyglot at 4:15 PM on February 21, 2007

polyglot: My first(Hasty, damn me) response was based on a confused memory of high school Shakespeare; having read Baudolino a couple of years ago I knew anthropophagi wasn't the term I wanted, hence my "D'oh" follow-up. The misspelling was just me being cockfingered. :)
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:59 PM on February 21, 2007

I have a copy of The Travels of Marco Polo which has blemmyes, sciapods, dragons, unicorns, and men with dog's heads. I believe the illustrations are from a 14th-century French version of Polo's travels, Livre des Merveilles du Monde, in which the illustrator took some liberties with Polo's descriptions. They're the more colorful images in the linked search (but doesn't show the creatures you're looking for, sorry.)
posted by steef at 6:29 AM on February 22, 2007

Wait, here's an example.
posted by steef at 10:51 AM on February 22, 2007