THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVOURITE FREAKS
Taken from the 1863 version of Dictionnaire Infernal by Collin de Plancy. This guy was went from a sceptic with an eye for sublime invention to a half-mad Catholic, putting his faith in the demonologies, ‘hellish hierarchies’ and the drawings he’d created.
He followed the Catholic method of cherry-picking ideas and depictions from other cultures’ mythologies and warping them into bizarre mysticisms, the old ‘immerse and convert’ vibe.
The Catholic Church championed his depictions in the same way they did Bosch as they struck the fear of God into the masses. I don’t know if a tomato with cutlery in its head is particularly dread-filling; I just feel hungry.
Here's my favourite anecdote from the book.
“The devil, disguised as a lawyer, once argued a case in Germany.In the course of debate, the accused female, who was being sued for stealing money from the church box, swore that she would give herself to the devil if she had taken a penny.The lawyer from hell, having heard and seen everything threw the defendant onto the bar and took the liar in front of the eyes of everyone"