Alright, so Matt, do you know what George Washington's favorite type of music was?
Hmm. No. Well, I heard he really loved his country.
Oh, God.
You'll hear many George Washington jokes.
That's right. You don't. Yeah. Take what you need more.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
He's crazy. He's crazy.
Good evening, everybody, and welcome to the graveyard. Thank you for joining us tonight.
My name is Adam and my name's Matt. Now, we'll up a tombstone or settle into your casket and get comfortable because this is graveyard tales.
Oh, right. Everybody here we are again, Matt. How you doing tonight, brother?
I'm pretty good, man. Good day. Can't complain. Yeah, nobody'd listen.
No, I was gonna say I wouldn't listen, but I'd let you complain, but I'd be thinking about something else.
I'm so before we get into it, we want to say go check out the pod belly network at pod belly.com.
You can find a list of shows that some of them you might not find anywhere else.
So go over there and check it out. Pod belly.com. They also have information on starting a podcast.
If you're interested, they've got some tips and tricks and stuff like that.
And you can listen to little episode things on what is a podcast? How do you start it?
All that kind of stuff. So go over there and check it out at pod belly.com.
We also want to thank tonight's sponsor Hello Fresh. I literally just ate some Hello Fresh a few minutes ago.
So be more than happy to talk about them here coming up in the episode.
And we want to say go check out patreon.com slash graveyard tales.
You can sign up to become a patron. We've got three different levels.
And each one of them has a little something different for you.
Our $10 a month patrons, they get the video version of us recording the episode.
They get an ad-free audio version. Plus they get audio and video versions of
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even on a dark week. So if we're dark, our patrons still get a kind of a mini episode.
They're in. We run the gambit of what we talk about. It's not just paranormal stuff.
Sometimes we just have a funny joking thing. If mad or I go on vacation,
we'll give you a vacation catch up. If anything crazy happens, like what was it last year? I
sunken quicksand. Well, we talked about that on a patreon episode.
But you know, based on television when I was growing up, I thought that was going to be a
much bigger problem for me. Yeah, no joke. Well, and I've made it almost to 40 years old.
And that was the first time I'd ever experienced quicksand. Now it wasn't fun.
But I'm not dead. I don't think so. That's right. Yeah. It's just a little Adam's hat just sitting
on top of a. Yeah. Ashley standing there going, Oh my God. Then he comes walking up, picks up his
hat. What? Yeah. It blew off down the beach. And my hat there, and I've got my arm sticking up,
holding my vape up so it doesn't get wet. Yeah.
I don't want to go into the vape. Yeah, they're expensive. Yeah.
But you know, one thing we do on Patreon as well is we'll do follow up episodes on main episodes.
So maybe we'll dig a little bit deeper or we'll take a certain aspect of the show and we'll expand
on that. So we've done that several times. So yeah, it's a great time to jump in there,
support the show, but get a ton of bonus content. Whether it's the audio you're after, whether you
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We could not be doing this without the donations from our patrons. So go over there patreon.com
slash graveyard tales. All right, Adam, you know, one of my least favorite things is going
to the grocery store. Oh, yeah. And just below that is being asked, what do you want for supper?
You know, I had to do it tonight. I'm like, I don't know. But I'll tell you what, hello fresh
takes those two things off the table. I don't have to worry about going to the grocery store
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but I bet it's good. It's full fish like all fish. You don't. That's the only meat you eat.
Oh, well, see, I learned something new. You learned something new with hello.
Right. Exactly. And I actually learned something new tonight because before we recorded,
I made a miso apricot glazed barramundi fish. Oh, wow. And I have never had barramundi before.
I've always heard it was good. Never had it. So actually picked that one out for this week.
And I tell you what, man, that was good. We did a beef enchilada the other night.
And I'm going to tell you, man, Mexican food is my favorite type of food,
favorite genre of food. I guess if you give me the option, that's what I'm picking every time.
And hello fresh does an amazing job with all of their Mexican food, Tex-Mex style recipes.
It was so good. So you guys know how much Adam and I love hello fresh. If you want to get on board
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Now Matt, that's all I've got for the housekeeping. So why don't you tell us what are we talking
about tonight, brother? So tonight we decided we would do kind of a throwback episode.
One that's very similar to the first year of graveyard tales where we would cover
these broad topics and talk about it. Usually we did one on vampires, we've done werewolves and
dragons. So tonight we're going to discuss unicorns. There you go. Yeah. So if you're a big unicorn
lover, then you're probably going to love this show. Yeah. I mean, and I knew this prior to
getting into it, but it just needs to be reiterated. Modern depictions show
sparkle farting rainbow pooping unicorns. Historically, that ain't the case.
Which we'll get into. But now you think of unicorns and you think of, well,
unicorn fart sparkle and that's where sparkle and glitter comes from.
Right. And is unicorn farts and a rainbow is just a unicorn pooping.
That's not the case. And it just, it has to be reiterated because it can't be said enough.
That's not where the legends and stuff started. Yeah, exactly. And we're going to talk about
the difference and how the how the legends started. But we're even going to talk about what
what these historical figures that described a unicorn, what they were probably looking at.
So this one, this one ought to be a lot of fun. We're going to have some fun with it for sure.
So as we always say, go check our sources down the bottom of the show notes. You can find where
we found our information. You can continue the research if you'd like or you can just see the
original information from the person who dreamed it up or discovered it, whatever the case may be.
So go check out our sources in the bottom of the show notes. Now, fun fact, Matt, I don't know if
you know this. I didn't know this until starting the research. April 9th is National Unicorn Day.
I found that out too. Yep. And I had no idea. We're a little late, but I mean,
the thing is there's a national whatever day for everything. I mean, I think tomorrow is
National Naval Lent Day. I don't know why, but we got a day for that too. But April 9th is National
Unicorn Day. If that interests you, you can go fart glitter or something on people. I don't know.
I don't know what you do on National Unicorn Day. Now, some of this information here comes from
the St. Niat Museum because it was the best source I found on some of this history and stuff of
unicorns without too much editorializing. Now, it says the first dubious nod to unicorn mythology
comes from the Indus Valley civilization, which together with ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt,
they formed one of the three powerhouse civilizations of the ancient Near East, which was
about 3000 to 1300 BCE. Now, imagery on seals that like not the animal or the
Navy branch, but like seals, like a seal on something. imagery on these seals belonging to elite
members of society depict a horse-like animal shown in profile with a single horn protruding
from its skull. Granted, this early link to unicorns is, they say, a tenuous one,
and it's much more likely that these are instead representations of oryx, which was a type of
large wild cattle that formerly inhabited Europe, Asia, and North Africa. But, you know, it's a
horse-like animal with one horn. So, to me, that's the definition of a unicorn. Now, the first written
evidence that we have for unicorns appears in ancient Greece, not as you might expect in writings
of mythology, but in natural history writings. So, once again, this was on the ancient Near East.
So, it seems like we have a common ground for a lot of this stuff where the most of the early
unicorn sightings were the ancient Near East. So, it seems like this is an animal because it has a
home range, right? So, that's the first thing to keep in mind is these people are seeing something
and it seems to fit with the range of an actual animal. Now, the earliest accounts come from
writers like Tessius in the fourth century BCE in his book, Indica, on India, not what some of
you are thinking when I say Indica, not Indica and Sativa. Yeah. In his book, Indica, he said,
whoa, man. Man. I see a unicorn. Yeah. It all makes frickin' sense now, Matt. That's just,
it's start. Okay. Well, episode's over. We figured it out. We figured it out. Indica made people
say, okay, I'll keep going. Now, he includes one of the first references of a unicorn describing
them as a type of wild ass. So, a donkey, not Matt. Quote, fleet of foot having a horn,
a cubit and a half in length and colored white and red and black. So, that's interesting
coloration for an animal. Yeah. White, red and black. Sounds like a bird. Yeah, I was gonna say,
you don't see those colors together much in the mammalian world. Right. White and black. Yeah,
but you don't see red much in mammals. Yeah. At least if we're talking bright red, you don't.
Right. Yeah. It's usually closer to an orange or a bird brown color.
Yeah. Think of orangutans. Now, in the same writings, he also includes descriptions of the
oryx, which is a type of antelope with similar colorings described above. So, it's likely that
the two were one and the same according to this source. The source is saying it's probably
this dude is seeing an oryx. And if you've ever seen a picture of an oryx, they are colored that way.
It's a reddish brown and black and white, but the horns are the most
unique feature of an oryx because their horns are really long. And they're not,
I don't know how to describe it. They're not exactly, they don't branch out. They kind of go straight up.
Right. They've been called scimitar horned oryx for that reason because they're very close to the
center of the head and they kind of curve backwards very slightly. And so, if you were to see one in
profile or from a distance or not out in the wide open, you might only notice one horn.
So, you know, that his description may be exactly right if we consider that he was looking at an oryx.
Very true. Now, in the first century CE, plenty of elder rights of a fierce animal, he called the
monoceros or single horn, which is a word with entomological links to unicorn. So, monoceros
is what plenty of the elder called it, which quote, has the head of the stag, the feet of the elephant,
and the tail of the boar. While the rest of the body is like that of a horse, it makes a deep,
lowing noise and has a single black horn, which projects from the middle of its forehead
two cubits in length, end quote. So, plenty of the elder even saw a single horned thing.
Now, the feet like an elephant I have an issue with because it all depictions of unicorns have
a horse or closer to goat-like hooves, not elephant feet. So, I don't understand that part, but
now later in the 13th century, Marco Polo would add to this unflattering description of a unicorn
by adding that quote, they spend their time by preference, wallowing in mud and slime, end quote.
So, along with their, yeah, I mean, so we can see already that this is not the glitter-farting
unicorns. These are wild beasts that wallowing mud and slime, and I mean, that reminds me of like
a wild boar. Yeah, I mean, it doesn't really sound like anything mystical.
No, no, it doesn't. Now, along with their physical description, plenty is also amongst the first
writers to describe the unicorn's character traits, stating that they were amongst the fiercest
animals in India and impossible to be captured alive. This would become a running theme to their
mythology, particularly in the medieval period. So, that is something to keep in mind too, as we go
through these, that the unicorn originally was a fierce animal. You couldn't capture it,
you couldn't kill it, and it was mean, and it wallowed in mud and slime, but you know.
Right. Now, the unicorn is actually mentioned in the Bible nine times, in fact.
You know, there's some argument among scholars about the validity of these translations,
whether it meant what we know as a unicorn or whether it meant like a wild ox, but whatever the case,
since it's mentioned, we should look at it before we continue through our historical timeline,
especially since it's brought up. Anytime people are discussing the validity of unicorns,
they'll bring up, well, it was mentioned in the Bible. Right. So, we do need to look at what they
say, and then we'll continue our travel through history. Without the context of the surrounding
verses, we probably won't understand the implication of the verse, but for our purposes,
that's not important. So, these are the King James translations. So, Gerb, Gerb,
Gerb, bet you didn't know there was a book called Gerb.
Job 39, nine, will the unicorn be willing to serve the or abide by the crib? Job 39, 10.
It's going to hang out by your crib. Yeah. Yeah. No, it'll just abide by it.
I didn't realize that Job was so hip. Yeah, he is, man. Job had, Job had unicorns up in his crib.
So, he was on that MTV show too, for a while. You didn't see that episode of Job's crib.
I must have missed it. Well, yeah. Now, Job 39, 10. Can't still bind the unicorn with his band
in the furrow, or will he harrow the valleys after the Psalm 22, 21? But my horn shall
though exalt like the horn of a unicorn, I shall be anointed with fresh oils. Now,
what I found Psalm 92, uh, 92, 10 is the same as 22, 21. It's just a repeat.
Right. It's just a repeat. And if you know anything about Psalm, the book of Psalms, that happens.
Yeah. Sometimes. Yeah. Now, Deuteronomy 33, 17, his glory is like the first
cling of his Bullock and his horns are like the horns of unicorns. Numbers 23, 22,
God brought them out of Egypt. He half as it were the strength of a unicorn.
Numbers 24, eight, God brought him fourth out of Egypt. He half as it were the strength of a unicorn.
He shall eat up the nations, his enemies, and shall break their bones and pierce them through
with his arrows. So this is that verse is speaking on the
fierceness, I guess, of the unicorn mythology. Isaiah 34, seven, and the unicorn shall come
down with them and the bullocks with their bulls and their land shall be soaked with blood and
their dust made fat with fatness. So again, the fierceness of. Yeah. Now, the last one, Psalm 29,
six, he make of them also to skip like a calf, Lebanon and Syrian, like a young unicorn.
So nine times unicorns were mentioned in the Bible. And from what I was reading,
there may be some other books that run tangential to the Bible, teachings and stuff that also
mention unicorns more. Oh, like books outside of the the canon. Yeah, outside of the 66. Okay. Yeah.
But man, doesn't it sound like the with the descriptors they're using?
They are describing a creature that they expect the reader to know.
Right. Right. Exactly. I mean, you're not you're not going to, especially with
you know, all the mentions in Psalms, you're you're not going to write, you know, poetically
and use a descriptor that nobody's going to understand. Right. You know, it's like,
you know, the the grass was as green as the mole in my refrigerator. Well,
how many people are going to know that? Right. So you're you're going to use something that
the reader is going to recognize easily and can make that comparison. So all of those make it sound
like they're whether it's, you know, a creature that we have any kind of visualization in our head
or not, they're describing a creature that is real and that that people are aware of. Right.
And whether it be misinterpretation of an actual creature or not, it's a misinterpretation
that is wide, widely known because of that. Now, in the second century,
CE, a Greek Christian text known as the physiologous, widely seen as the predecessor of the popular
medieval beasties or books of beasts, further made popular, the allegory that unicorns were strong,
fierce animals, adding that their horn could purify poisoned waters. The book also strengthened
another popular belief that it developed, which was that unicorns could only be subdued with the
cooperation of a virgin maiden as unicorns were said to become loving and docile in their presence.
So this, along with their purifying characteristics, subsequently led to Christ himself being associated
with the unicorn and medieval artwork often depicted a unicorn as a metaphor for Christ.
Yeah. And if you look at artist interpretations of unicorns, even the ones that aren't all
fairy dust and rainbows, they're typically white and white signifies purity. And they're given these
special attributes of being able to purify water, alleviate poisoning, and even the idea that
you would need the assistance of a virgin maiden to be able to subdue a unicorn,
what is the symbolism behind a virgin maiden? Purity. And so that is associated with Christ,
so there's the connection there. But I think that's another aspect of how we've developed this
modern interpretation of a unicorn, being white, but being majestic and somehow being pure.
All of that is right in here. But not only with the biblical references to it,
I found, and you probably found this too, this idea. And it's a lot of people believe that this
could have happened is that the unicorn somehow got left off the arc.
Oh, yeah. And that, you know, they got wiped out.
Now the article I read, I was talking about this, said that would have, then unicorns would have
to be really stupid. Well, wait a minute, it wasn't like Noah was putting up posters.
Yeah, right. If you want to be saved, be here at the arc by this day.
Animals are all coming up going, what about are you going to get on this thing?
You pull the ticket and now you've got your ticket to go on the arc.
Yeah. But if that, if that is the case, then that statement actually follows along
with the legends of the unicorn that it could not be trapped. It could not be killed. So if you
were wanting to trap a unicorn to put it on an arc like Noah was trying to do, well,
how are you going to get a unicorn that can't be trapped? I mean, so it kind of follows along with
the mythology of the unicorn there. Now in medieval Europe, the unicorn became a symbol
closely associated with chivalry with heroic lovers and their lady companions often compared
to the doting relationship between the unicorn and a virgin. During the Renaissance,
in a move away from the Christian allegory, the unicorn became a secular symbol of chastity
and loyalty. From the 15th century, unicorns also started to become popular in heraldry,
frequently depicted as a horse with a goat's hooves and beard and a delicate spiral horn.
They're often also shown as collared with a broken chain, perhaps as a nod to their immense power
and ultimately untamable nature. In Celtic mythology, the unicorn is a symbol of purity,
innocence and power, and so became an obvious choice for Scotland's royal coat of arms.
So you've never seen Scotland's coat of arms, you should go and check it out.
There is a unicorn on there.
A unicorn.
A unicorn.
I think all I am, you McCorn's in my yard last night, I shot at him. He just caught the arrow
and his teeth and ran out. Now that's real quick. Look at the healing properties here
before I pass it off here to Matt. So the purifying qualities associated with the unicorn's horn
was such a popular legend that cups reputedly made of unicorn horn were highly valued by medieval
nobility as a protection against poisoning. In reality, these cups were most likely made from
rhinoceros horn or narwhal tusk. And unicorn horn as a means for protection didn't end there.
In the 17th century, London newspapers often contain advertisements from miracle elixirs
made of quote, true unicorn horn. These were said to relieve a full on list of diseases from
ulcers and scurvy to melancholy and fainting spells.
Well, we need a unicorn. I'm telling you, get a unicorn and a small like micro planer and just go
up to his horn every day, plain a little bit off into a cup and yeah, no diseases shall touch thee.
So I just, but because you brought it up, I just decided that I would go and take a look at
Scotland's coat of arms. And I'd never never really looked at it. And sure enough, yeah,
it's got unicorns on it. But what it also says is that the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.
I didn't, I didn't, I didn't realize that either. I didn't know you could, you could have a mythical
creature as your national animal. I would love for the United States to have a second national. I
don't want to get rid of the bald eagle. I love that the bald eagle is our national
thing, but I would like them to add Bigfoot. Yeah, Bigfoot. Yeah, why not? Bigfoot is our
backup national. Yeah, that's right. Okay. Anything happens to the bald eagle have a national
cryptid. There you go. But, you know, as Adam was talking about, there's all these different
attributes that have been assigned to the unicorn. And so I thought it might be a good idea to talk
about some different types of unicorns that have been described in different literature,
either in folklore. And one of these is even from a game, but we'll, we'll, we'll talk about that
when we get there. So the first one I want to talk about is the magic horn. Now, the magic
corn is a cross between a unicorn and a mage. The resulting creature is considered to be the most
powerful creature in the unicorn world. It's the most dominant and it likes all the others to fall
in line behind. And some refer to the magic horn as the leader or the ruler. So this imagery is,
I think, what most people have in their mind when you say the word unicorn, you know, this very,
very majestic, you know, whether it, you know, sparkly, you know, it gives off an aura,
you know, something that says, I am the unicorn. It's not some little sissy thing, you know,
with, like, see my horn? No, it, I mean, this is like powerful. The reason that Scotland would
have chosen it is their national animal. You know, it'd be like, you know, like having a teddy bear
as your national animal, you know, there's something that is powerful. You know, something is strong,
a leader, you know, that that's the magic horn. And that's what I kind of feel like is,
is what most people consider. But there's, there's others, the nightmare unicorn.
Now the nightmare. I met him once. You met him once. Yeah. He came to me in a dream.
But the night dream, the nightmare unicorn is actually a creature from the game Dungeons and
Dragons. Now, I know what you're going to say. Well, why did you include this? You know, what
you're just, we just know that this is all fictional. Well, why did you include this map? We just know
that. Oh, yeah. If, if you consider that when, when TSR develop the game Dungeons and Dragons,
what they, what they used to develop their, their creature lore and everything that's used in
playing the game, they gathered from other sources, folklore, and other literature. I mean, you realize
that there's actually a book that they had, they actually got sued over that included Cthulhu.
Yeah. So they're not just making up all of their own. Maybe they're adding attributes to it.
But I included it because there's a really good chance that they came across, you know, some imagery
of an evil unicorn or a one that was the opposite of this powerful, pure, white unicorn. Right. So
instead of being white, it is black and it is considered to be the offspring of a black unicorn
and nightmares. Now, I don't know how that plays out. But again, you know, you do what you want
with your game. But unlike general unicorns, nightmare unicorns thrive on causing pain and
suffering to those around them. They delight in torture and they prefer to live a nomadic life
across wastelands and war torn zones. That brings up another point that we've, we've never really,
gotten deep into is the aspect of paranormal activity around war zones.
Right. You and I have talked about doing, we need to do that.
Yeah, what we do. But there have been creatures like this, you know, with similar descriptions.
But in the case of the nightmare unicorn, they had a writer and this, this was even from World War
Two, where there were reports that soldiers saw something that would fit into this description.
Yeah. So, you know, maybe it's not just completely made up. Maybe it's not totally fiction.
But it says, unlike other unicorns, nightmare unicorns prefer to eat meat.
And they particularly enjoy meat that comes from a creature that they have frightened to death.
So kind of, kind of, it actually sounds kind of cool to me, you know.
Yeah, it sounds cool to me too. But unicorns aren't, they're not restricted by culture.
And other cultures have their own idea of a unicorn, like the killing that's Q-I-L-I-N.
Killing is the-
Q-I-L-L-I-N.
Yeah, no. I keep killing it.
I'm killing it. The killing is the Chinese version of a unicorn.
Now, it is said that no two killings look the same. They are most well known for their
deer-like body, who lives like a horse, a tail like an ox, and a head like a dragon.
At the center of the killing's head is a Fort horn that is similar to that of
the traditional imagery of a unicorn. But sometimes there is only-
sometimes there is only one horn, but on occasion they are described as having two.
Now, the killing is thought to bring peace and serenity to all those who see it.
They usually appear whenever a powerful ruler or a sage is being born, or when they have died.
The killings are known for their beauty and have been depicted in traditional Chinese art for centuries.
And, you know, that- the idea of the dragon head, you know, that's a very- that's very common
imagery in Chinese art. Now, this one is called the Straight Horned Unicorn.
The Straight Horned Unicorn is the most common type of unicorn that you would see.
And they- this article said this is the one that you see on merchandise.
When you go into a store, you know, you're taking your kids into Claire's boutique because they want
a diary with a unicorn on it, and they want a unicorn t-shirt, and they want unicorn earrings
and all that. Yeah. This is- this is what they say that that imagery is based on.
Right.
They are known for their horse body and long, straight horn that protrudes from the center of
their forehead. And some unicorns will have horns that are shorter, while others have some that are
really quite long. During medieval times, as Adam mentioned earlier, narwhals were especially
hunted because of their long, straight tusks that could easily be mistaken for a unicorn horn
in a marketplace. So maybe it's this reason that some stories say that straight horn unicorns
of the- are the offspring of ponies and narwhals. Again, I can't really see how that happens.
Yeah.
But such creatures are thought to feel more at home in cold and icy places.
So I'd say that because of where narwhals are, that's where that's associated with. I mean,
you know, there's- I don't know that- I don't think there's a tropical narwhal.
Now, but that's where they would be hunted. And so that's most likely where the horns were being sold.
Right. And I heard something and this was years ago.
And forgive me, if you have this, I'll cut it out if you touch on this later. But
I'll cut mine out, not yours. I'm not being that mean.
I heard a thing that said Vikings used to kill narwhals and then would sell their horns
to other communities as unicorn horns with magic powers.
Sure. And I always thought that was interesting. And they said, well, that's-
that's how the myth got spread. And at the time, I hadn't dug too deep into it. But that-
it's obviously not since the unicorn has been around since before the Vikings did their thing.
Right. But maybe that- maybe they did do that and it just perpetuated the myth of the unicorn.
Sure. But- Well, it makes sense if there was already, you know, it's one thing for-
for you to be able to say, hey, this is a unicorn horn and it's magic and it can,
you know, cleanse your water, purify your home, heal you from diseases.
It's another thing for you to go, hey, have you ever seen this? It's called a unicorn horn.
Let me tell you about a unicorn. Yeah, that- you're gonna be like, yeah, that sounds like
you're making it up. But if you've already had a general idea of what a unicorn might be,
then you could probably pass off this horn because what are the odds that the- the general
person had ever even seen a narwhal knew that they existed at all?
That's true. You know, in the time of the Vikings, you know, if they were,
if they were, say, moving southward and selling these- selling their wares,
whether it's, you know, weapons or clothing or narwhal horns, then the people would be like,
I've never seen anything like this. So I have no reason to disbelieve it.
Right. And you're right. That would have continued to perpetuate the mythology behind it.
Now, there's just a couple more here. The Embry Unicorn is considered to be the opposite of the
straight horned, where the straight horns prefer the cold and the ice. The Embry Unicorn's thrive
in hot and dry conditions, like a desert. These warm loving unicorns may be slightly more orange
or pink in color and keep a diet of mostly scarab beetles.
So- That's a weird diet.
This sounds like Egyptian imagery. Yeah, it does.
The Eastern European Unicorn is the shorter pony cousin to the traditional unicorn. This is the
little unicorn. And this is these adorable creatures are set apart by their short stocky frame.
They're known to be very cute with large round eyes and chubby features. I think Piper has one of
these. Oh, really? Yeah, it's like she'll pick it up and she'll do the thing from Despicable Me.
It's so squishy. You know, and that's what she's holding the unicorn. So, yeah, but despite their
appearance, the Eastern European unicorns are known for being very swift and nimble. They're
able to squeeze into small places to hide. And they prefer to find food by searching close to the
ground for berries or delicious herbs. Now, the rainbow unicorn, how could we not have the rainbow
unicorn? Now, unicorn and rainbow seem to go hand in hand and rainbow unicorns are the most
common ones that we would see today. They are everywhere from unicorn toys to unicorn lamps to
the giant unicorn squishmallow, which is what Piper has. But what sets rainbow unicorns apart
is the rainbow colored mane and tail. And their horn is often gold, but it has been known to be
silver or white. Rainbow unicorns are often thought to have power to control light, therefore
creating rainbows. And some are even thought to be able to control the climate.
Now, the last one is called the Rovis Unicorn. And the Rovis Unicorn is simply the proper name
of the traditional unicorn that we know and love. They're known for their white body,
long white horn. They're very, very fast and they're very good at hiding. The horn is known for
having magical properties, particularly in the area of healing. And it's said that if a unicorn
touches it horn to any liquid that that liquid would be imbued with the power to heal any disease.
So that sounds like if you got one, you're solid, you know, you get you get a whole one unicorn
horn, you're good, you don't have to eat it, you don't have to cut it up, you just touch it to the
water and then you drink it and then you get the powers just stir your coffee with it in the morning.
That's right. So, you know, be on the lookout. I'm going to have a unicorn horn for my coffee stir.
In fact, you know, I just gave it a laugh and get me one. Now, I'm going to release my own product,
which is a unicorn horn coffee stir, you know, and it'll have this little, this little legend
how it'll purify your coffee in the morning, give you power. You better trademark that.
Well, it gives me a high am unicorn coffee starter coffee stir, TEM.
So there you go. You're done. So back off. That's all you need. Just say TMTM and we're done.
That's right. That's right. All right. So, so enough of that that was, you know, kind of fun
talking about these different unicorns. Well, let's talk about the potential of there actually
being a real unicorn and what it would have been. So in 1663, a skeleton was found in a cave in Germany.
And a German scientist named Otto van Gürich believed that the skeleton had belonged to a unicorn.
An excavation in 1872 revealed that the bones of the skeleton had belonged to multiple animals,
and someone had reconstructed the bones to make a fake unicorn skeleton.
Now, for a long time, it was believed that Gürich was the one who reconstructed the unicorn skeleton.
However, research suggests that Gürich was not the one who did this. He was just the one that
found it. Now, interestingly enough, the fake unicorn skeleton is on display in the Museum of
Natural History in Maj. Maj. Berg, Germany, Maj. Berg, Mag. Mag. Mag. De Berg.
I should have looked up how to say that. It's Mag. De Berg, I think.
Well, here's the thing, Matt. Would graveyard tales be graveyard tales if we looked up how to
pronounce that column and everything? Hey, you guys wouldn't believe how many times that Adam
and I do exactly that and still mispronounce it.
Yeah. I know how to say it while I'm doing the research, and then as soon as we get going,
I'm like, they lived in Amorica. Whatever.
Yeah, just whatever. It's words, words, letters, words.
So, yeah, so they've got this fake unicorn skeleton on display.
So, I looked it up and I mean, man, this thing, it is absolutely ridiculous. I don't know
how anybody could have ever seen this and said, yeah, that's a thing. That's,
I mean, not even just a unicorn, just anything. I mean, when you look, if you look at the picture,
you'll see it and I bet you laugh. It's like, get this big head, it looks like a cow kind of head.
It's got this great big horn, but then it looks like it has come in that no neck, no body.
It's got two legs coming straight down from the neck. It's got like what looks like a human femur
and then like a human tibia, but much, much larger. And then from the neck going backwards,
it's got this big long curved spine, I guess. It's like, it's hardly even jointed and it has
maybe ribs coming off of it. It looks like if I asked a kindergartner to draw me a unicorn.
So it's like, I think I found the one you're talking about and it almost is like a two-legged
T-rex type. Yeah, that's exactly what a two-legged T-rex with a tail coming right out of its neck.
Yeah, its neck goes straight into tail vertebrae. Its hip bones are up at its neck.
And yeah, I don't know what the hell this is. And then it's got a conical horn that it looks like
somebody took a dowel rod and made it into a toothpick. Yeah, because it's perfect.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's perfect. It doesn't curve. It has no kind of grooves that I can see.
No, you have to image search unicorn skeleton museum and then you'll see it.
If you go unicorn skeleton, you get a bunch of Halloween stuff. I tell you, when I was like,
ooh, I want to look at this and what I thought I was like, good to Lord. You've got to look up the
unicorn skeleton Siberian though that one's interesting. They got like a little baby.
Yeah, a little baby unicorn. Yeah, now that you don't say any more about that.
Because we're going to talk about the sop
but the history of unicorn sightings doesn't end with this archaeological
finding in 1991, an Austrian biologist, and tall
physthetics claimed that he actually saw a living unicorn. According to him,
what happened in the hearts mountain in Germany,
that that what I said, according to him, he saw this unicorn in the hearts mountains in Germany,
which happens to be where the quote unquote unicorn skeleton was found as well.
So, you know, this guy says he saw one in 1991, even though it's the same area where they had the
fake one set up in 2012. 2012. The Korean Central News Agency broke the incredible news that
archaeologists in Pyongyang had discovered a unicorn layer.
Or rather, the report said that they had recently reconfirmed the layer of one of the
unicorns written by the ancient Korean king, Tongnayon, founder of the kingdom, which ruled
parts of China and the Korean peninsula from the third century BC to the seventh century AD.
The KCNA goes on to state that the location happens to be 200 meters from a temple in the
North Korean capital, adding a rectangular rock carved with the words unicorn layer
stands in front of the layer. So let's just advertise it. I'm telling you, when I thought,
ooh, this is kind of neat. You know, what an interesting story. Oh my god, they have put a stone
out there and carved the words unicorn layer. They didn't. The unicorn did that.
A wiz horn when it's horn.
Yeah. Now, this is, it says the carved words are believed to date back to the period of
the Corio kingdom 918 to 1392. Unicorn layer.
Now there's what they it's important to note that right around the same time in 2012,
there were a series of myths that were put out by North Korean news sources.
They had previously reported that Kim Jong-il was born beneath a double rainbow and that a new
star appeared when he was born, that Jong-il learned to walk at three weeks old and shot around of
golf that included 11 holes in one. So if you remember when Kim Jong-il was in power in North Korea,
it was not uncommon to hear these kinds of stories because he viewed himself as a deity.
So this would all be things that a deity would be able to do.
Well, I'm thinking, man, if you're a deity, you should add 18 holes in one.
Okay. Well, I only 11.
What was so hard about that par four that you didn't get a hole in one?
It was a par one and he choked.
But in 2014, a man who wishes to remain anonymous,
spoke out about seeing a unicorn roaming the Highland area
near Wick in Kethnes, Scotland. Now, it's not the first time such claims have been made,
although it was a first for Northern Scotland. And it came in the wake of the unicorn layer story
out of North Korea. Was this the video? I don't know if this one is the...
Okay. So what Adam is referencing is there is a video that's taken at a pretty good distance.
And you see all these lush hills and everything. And on an adjacent hill to where the person
taking the video is, you see what appears to be a white, a pure white horse with something
resembling a horn quickly go into the bushes where it goes out of sight.
Now, the funny thing about it is, like I said, it's at a distance. It's at a considerable distance.
So it seems highly unlikely that this particular unicorn would have realized that anyone was
actually looking and then decided to hide because the video is not like super short.
But the sighting of the unicorn is. So if the unicorn was just kind of standing there and he
pans the camera down, it's almost as if he caught the unicorn and the unicorn was like,
oops, and runs behind the bush. How would he know? I mean,
you know, miles away is what it appears to be. Unicorn magic.
Yeah, unicorn magic. Remember the really good at hiding.
So right. Un untrapable. Even on camera. Even on camera.
So Adam, I don't know if this sighting is in relation to that. Now, I know that this man
is is not the one that took that video. Okay. Now, if it's the same area, it could be the same
situation, but it's not this man's report. Okay. Because this fellow,
he says he was out hiking near the castle of Old Wick when he saw what he described as a unicorn
saying it was basically a horse with a horn and that he could hardly believe it.
But he didn't get a camera. He didn't have a camera, so he didn't get a photo of it or a video.
But the man did have one piece of advice for those wanting to find the creature,
which was that they shouldn't go looking for it. He believes that the unicorn came to him
precisely because he wasn't specifically searching for it. And in that way, it was able to trust him.
So you like unicorn sightings are are few and far between. And in the past,
it'd been confused with viewing of the extremely rare a Salah, which if you if you look at a
picture of an a Salah, it is very similar to it's like a large antelope looking kind of creature.
We did a patreon on it. Remember our patreon. Oh, yeah, the Asian, Asian unicorn. Yeah, that's
right. Or say, say, Allah, something like that. Hey, so just, you know, not not to have a shameless
plug here, but that gives you an idea of just how much content we have on patreon. I didn't even
remember that we had talked about this animal book. Okay. But but it is it is it is it is
considered to be the Asian unicorn. But it does it looks more like an antelope than a horse or a zebra.
But the unicorn was real in a sense. It's just not the way we commonly depict it. As we said at
the beginning of the show, this idea of a horse with this horn and magical powers and all this stuff.
That that's not what an actual unicorn was. And scientists now believe that they have discovered
the animal that is in these these ancient descriptions, whether it's a Pliny the Elder,
whether it's biblical references, they think that this could potentially be the animal that's
being described. And this is an ice age animal, the elastomerium cybericum or the Siberian unicorn.
It may have been the source of all these myths. But as it turns out,
e-cybericum actually shared a common ancestor with a group that includes
today's rhinoceros. And although no horns have been discovered,
analysis of the unicorn's skull shows a massive base where the horn would have
would have come out of what it would have sat. Right. Now contemporary rhinos way anywhere from
1500 to 3000 pounds as adults, the Siberian unicorn was way bigger. And it was probably
twice that size. So you're talking about a potentially 6,000 pound animal here.
You look at pictures of this thing, it's crazy. The horn on one of these things is as big as a
human. Yeah, it is not a little animal. But when you see the build of this thing,
this huge strong body fur covered with these more rhinoceros like feet. So that goes along with
the description of the elephant like feet. Yeah, from Pliny the Elder there. Yeah.
And rhinos are grazing animals that move at a slow pace. This Siberian ancestor had a shoulder
hump which indicated that they could run long distances in open landscapes. And its distribution
ranged from Kazakhstan to Siberia to the Ukraine and southwest Russia. So it covered a large area.
Now based on fossils found in Siberia, archaeologists initially dated the extinction of
e-cybericum to 350,000 years ago. But that figure has shifted since 2018 when researchers determined
that the Siberian unicorn may have survived up to roughly 35,000 years ago. And according to a study
published by Nature Ecology and Evolution, it suggests that they lived among Neanderthals
and modern humans. And that could help explain the fantasy idea of the unicorn that we're familiar
with today. Because we're basing it on these descriptions and at least for most of the descriptions,
the ancient descriptions the Siberian unicorn fits the bill.
And that makes me wonder since Pliny had such a detailed description of this thing
wallowing in mud, which allows my theorem on I see depictions of them saying it does.
It had elephant like feet. He didn't give it the crazy colors that some of the other people did.
It makes me wonder could there have like we've talked about in other animals,
other cryptids, could it be that there was a relic population still living a lot more recently
than science thinks? And ancient Greeks actually got to see like maybe the last remaining little
herd of these elasmotheriums. And could they have if the ark legend is true?
Could they have lived up until the Great Flood?
Yeah. Because I mean not pushing anything biblical here, but every culture has a story of a great
flood happening at around the same time. So it's almost assuredly that there was a great flood in
Earth's timeline around that time. And every society has their own, how did we deal with it?
So couldn't have actually lived up to that?
Yeah. And there's geological evidence of it happening too.
So the idea of the flood, like you said, Adam is not a biblical thing. The story of Noah is a
biblical thing. But the flood, based on the evidence we have really did happen.
Right. Because there's Native American legends of a man and woman in their family
writing out the flood in a hollowed out tree. So there's stories of how the human population
survived through that flood. But it makes me wonder, did the elasmotherium actually live up until
maybe the flood? And yeah, it didn't survive like the other animals did.
And that's why we have biblical references to a unicorn. And that's why we have Greek
references with plenty being such a detailed thing that is almost exactly what the elasmotherium
looks like. Yeah. I mean, it's almost right on the money. Scientists have actually carbon-dated
the Siberian unicorn fossils. They tested 23 fossils. So this isn't like a one-time thing.
It wasn't like we found this one. And this is it? No, I mean, 23 fossils they had to work with,
trying to learn more about this creature and that it split genetically from the modern rhino
during the Eocene period, which began around 56 million years ago. But during this time,
many modern animals began to make their first appearances, like giant birds,
hooved animals, and humans also began their first migrations to the area around that time as well.
So there is the potential for a little bit of overlap that makes it seem like these were
the, quote, dinosaurs that humans interacted with, that they saw.
When you think about the woolly mammoth and the saber-thoot tiger and those things,
we know they existed and we're able to tell roughly how long and where they live.
And they lived in a time where humans were appearing as well. So there's a really good chance that
this is it. It makes a lot of sense, especially based on the fossils that have been found. But
what is still unclear are the specifics behind the Siberian unicorn's extinction,
which we've talked about the flood. But researchers don't rule out the possibility of
human spurred extinction because of over-hunting. But we just recently talked about the
over-hunting of the stellar sea cow. And that's how it went extinct.
The evidence really points to shifts in climate that occurred at the time, which took out a lot
of animals like that, the similar species. But the unicorn, what they feel is this particular
Siberian unicorn probably ate grass and only grass. And it couldn't survive long, cold
winters that eliminated the animal's only source of food. So if it wasn't carnivorous and it survived
on grass, a long ice age could theoretically wipe them out. So around 43 million years ago,
during the Eocene period, the Siberian unicorn likely split from modern rhinos in the course of
evolution. Research suggests that the unicorn was a chrono species of modern rhinos. Now,
chrono species evolved from another species with slightly different characteristics over a long
period of time. And we've seen things like this before, where we talked about that
primates had this innate fear of things above them, of flying things. Why? Well, because
we believe that there was a flying predator that existed that was kind of the link between
modern birds of prey and dinosaurs. So we've seen it before, it begins to take a different path,
and it evolves into what we see today as opposed to how it looked back then.
But the scientists believe that as this divergence occurred, the environment wasn't suitable
for the survival of the original, and it drove it to a, what they term a pseudo extinction,
which is the process when one species survives an extinction in an evolved form.
Hence, we get the modern rhinoceros. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But just talking about that,
that is to me, that is fascinating, that they've been able to find this animal, but not only see
a potential living, a potential ancient ancestor of the rhinoceros,
but have been able to connect it with a time period that would have allowed it to be seen by
humans and described in these ancient texts. Right. Right. So I mean, they're basically saying,
hey, we think now that unicorns were real, but this is what they look like. Yeah. And it's a lot
different. You know, if you look up a picture of the Siberian unicorn, print it out and give it
to your daughter. If you've got a daughter and say, hey, look, I've got you a picture of a unicorn.
See what they say. Yeah. Yeah. I showed Piper, I was like, hey, this is what they believe that
the real unicorn is actually looked like. She was like, what? Why, why, why would we have a toy of
that thing? Yeah, that's that's exactly the the the horse with the horn is a lot more pleasing to the
eye. Yeah. Then the elasmotherium big, big necked brutish looking thing. But, you know, like we said,
the elasmotherium fits the early descriptions of unicorns. Yeah. And it fits the you can't kill it.
It can't be trapped. It's tough. It wallows in the mud. And it more modern depictions became this,
I guess, you know, like with chivalry being connected to it and everything they had,
oh, well, a horse is chivalrous. So let's make it look like a horse, not
this rhinoceros looking thing. Yeah. And you know, you can see an artist rendition based on these
ancient descriptions, just changing slightly over time. Just like Adam said to make it more
visually appealing. You know, it's what it's like, it's like dinosaur. Most likely dinosaurs
don't look didn't look like what we imagine they look like today. No, you know, there's a good
chance that a lot of them were covered in feathers or or some type of strange fur. And we always think
of dinosaurs as being lizards, you know, big reptiles, you know, skin, scaly, you know,
I'm like closer to angry chickens. Really angry chickens. Yeah. So we should come up with a new name
for them. That means angry chicken. I agree. Instead of thunder lizard. Yeah, thunder,
thunder chicken, thunder chicken. Man, that's if I ever started band,
it's going to be called thunder chicken. I bet you there's one out there.
It's already there. Yeah. Go to register the name. Yeah. They're there already around.
There's 14 thunder chickens, but no. Oh, man. But yeah, I mean, doing this research was a lot of fun.
You do come across a lot of silly stuff like Grand Rapids, Michigan, ran some articles of
wild unicorn spotings. And essentially, it's photographs taken of a guy wearing
the big rubber unicorn mask, which you're saying I've got one. You know, the the just it's a horse
head with a unicorn thing. And you just put it on. It's great. I mean, it looks awesome, but that's
what it is. I went and looked, you know, it's good for a laugh, you know, everybody had a time, but
that's when you go to research from that stuff, you find. Or you find a bunch of articles about when
they when they discovered the Siberian unicorn. But it was still it's still a lot of fun. And
like we said, this was kind of a throwback to some of our episodes where he used just a broad topic.
But it was kind of cool that just about a year after we started this show,
they discovered they discovered the East Siberian come and started making these connections.
So and we done this episode back when we did those, we wouldn't have found this information.
Right. Right. See, there's a reason we wait on things. Yeah, it may not be by our own doing.
Maybe, you know, somebody in in the ether said, don't do unicorn yet. Yeah. And we just we didn't
actually hear it. We just went, you know, probably shouldn't do unicorn yet. I don't know why I just
get this feeling. Well, I mean, we did we did mermaids and everything early on. Yeah, no kidding.
Yeah, we did. We just didn't do unicorn. Yep. But this is the time of the show where we ask,
you know, what do you think? What do you think about unicorn? Do you think this is a logical thing
that, you know, I can't say that word, Adam. What is it? Ethereum.
Elasmith theorem. Yeah. So what do you think? You think Elasmith theorem,
Sibericum is probably the creature that inspired the unicorn myths and legends? Or do you think
there was more likely an actual horse that had a horn that may or may not have had some magical
powers? Look at the look at all these antelope type animals with these very unique looking horns.
You could definitely see the connection there too. It's possible they find and at some point,
a horse body with a horn. Yeah. There could have been horned horses at one point. Who knows?
I mean, you think about it. Everybody's like, oh, you know that. I don't know. I mean, we've seen,
we've seen stranger stuff. I mean, you know, look at a deer. I mean, if you look at a buck with
a huge antlers, is it so far out of touch that there was a species of horse that had horns as well?
We see other animals that are similar that have horns. Why not? But who knows?
But as far as we know at this point, no. Sure. And like Matt and I have always said,
you can't count it out. The lack of evidence for something is not evidence of the lack of something.
Right. Right. Yeah. It doesn't prove anything really. You know, there's always a chance.
But tell us what you think. And the best way to do that is to get in our Facebook group. It's called
the graveyard. You go on Facebook, search us up thousands of members in this group.
And we have a lot of fun. There's a lot of activity. It's one of the most active groups I've ever
been a part of. And people are sharing, sharing jokes, they're sharing personal experiences,
even asking for help with, you know, strange occurrences in and around their home or, you know,
some of the nicest groups too. Yeah. Everybody's nice. Nobody's going to make fun of it.
Everybody in there's great. Yeah. We just want to hear those great stories.
And don't forget to go and write and review us on iTunes. It brings us up the chart so that when
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There's a better chance that graveyard tells is going to pop up, which just brings more people
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got so much I can't even remember what all we've done. But this was a lot of fun, Adam. I'm glad
I'm glad we did this. So yeah, like I said, let us know what you think. And until next time,
we'll save you a seat in the graveyard. See you soon.
Bye.
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