By Dara Barnwell
Do you have a deep dark fear? Spiders? I catch them and throw them outside. Clowns? Never really bothered me and I have read Stephen King’s It several times. Witches? I make handmade soaps and lotions and have been known to use plants to heal insect stings and bites. I’m a sassy educated woman. I would have been one of the first they drug up gallows hill in old timey Salem. Snakes? Only bother me if they get in the house.
Small humanoid creatures who are clearly malevolent and seem to hunger for blood and death? Now I’m getting nervous. When I was little I read “Rumpelstiltskin” by Paul O. Zelinsky. I loved that book for the simple fact that it could scare me. Why on Earth would she trust some imp that could appear and vanish at will? One that demanded her first born child? I really doubt he was going to give the child a loving home. Probably make a baby souffle or something. The villain was very small. He could hide under your bed and lick your toes! UGGHHHH! Not cool, Rumple! Not cool!
Rumplestiltskin seemed to be an Imp. An imp is a smaller lesser demon that derived from German folklore. Being a demon they caused all kinds of mischief and sometimes downright harm and evil. (Hence the give me your baby thing.)
All kinds of folklore and religions have imp like characters. There are hobgoblins, gnomes, gremlins, and my favorite and the subject of this article: Redcaps.
Redcaps are small murderous humanoids who deal in death and despair. They are often found in old bloody battlefields or places of wicked deeds. Small with long nasty talon- like fingernails and sharp pointed teeth, their identifiers are the red caps they wear on their head, and many say the source of their power, the cap is red from its many victims. A redcap will lure a victim to its doom then will dip its cap in its victim’s blood. If the cap ever dries out the redcap will die.
Sounds like a fairy tale told to scare children right? Well, what if it isn’t? What if these things existed and possibly are still around?
In the Tuileries Palace in Paris, France a being was said to haunt the walls. Catherine de Medici was said to encounter a startling spirit once in 1564. She described it as a gnome-like creature all in red with an aura of bad luck about it. Catherine was a bit of a troublemaker and at the time of the sighting she had already started some trouble between the Protestants and Catholics in France. Her misdeeds would lead the king to be massacred on St. Bartholomew’s Day.
The next person to see the little red man was none other than Henry IV. He was also of the opinion the wicked little red man was a harbinger of disaster. Soon after he was assassinated by Catholic zealot, François Ravaillac.
Then in 1792 the palace chambermaids were horrified to see the little red sprite in the bed of Louis XVI. Not long after Marie Antoinette saw the little red demon, just before the French revolutionaries stormed the castle and imprisoned her and the King. Guards were startled to see the entity in the prison where the former monarchs were housed. Not long after the people of France claimed their heads.
The next to see the little red man was none other than the emperor himself, Napoleon Bonaparte. However, he didn’t feel the little imp was bad luck. He began to call the being his “Little Red Man of Destiny”. Legend says he made a deal with the entity. For ten years Napoleon would enjoy victories across Europe. What the little red demon was promised is not said. Napoleon greedily accepted the deal and for ten years he seemed to be unstoppable.
The little imp would pop in from time to time and seemed to advise Napoleon. Guards, servants and even Napoleon’s wife, Josephine, were said to have sightings of the thing. Even Napoleon’s most trusted general had an anecdote of the red man of destiny:
“ Jean Rapp is reported to have found Napoleon in his quarters staring intently through the window. Upon making himself known, Napoleon didn’t respond, so Rapp approached him, worrying he was having some kind of faint.
Then, Napoleon gripped Rapp by the arm, asking if he too could see the “red star of destiny, almost as large as the moon and brilliant”. He went on to describe how the star had never abandoned him and often came to him in the form of a man.”
A place of wicked deeds? Check. Gnome like appearance? Check. Trying to lure his victims to their doom? Double check.
After the Battle of Wagram in 1809, the little red man of destiny appeared in Napoleon’s quarters. Napoleon’s ten years was up. Time to collect. Napoleon being Napoleon asked for a five year extension. For some reason the little man agreed with a caveat. Napoleon could never launch a campaign in Russia. Perhaps the little being knew Napoleon wouldn’t be able to resist and it would give him more victims? Because Napoleon launched a disastrous campaign in Russia and was met with a defeat that some experts think was worse than his defeat at Waterloo.
January 1, 1814 the small red demon made his final appearance. Legend has it that Napoleon again begged for more time. The redcap gave him a paltry three months and three months to the day, Napoleon’s enemies forced him to abdicate his throne and he was exiled to Saint Helena. He died in 1821. In 1871 the palace was destroyed by fire and the little red man of destiny was never seen again.
Or was he? To be continued….
©2023 Dara Barnwell
Have a true spooky experience you’d like to share? Seen a cryptid or a UFO? We are looking for TRUE submissions! Email Dara at eerieriftblog@gmail.com
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