Encyclopaedia Of The Impossible: Bluebeard (Or, The Robber Bridegroom) (Or, Mr. Fox)

Previously: The Hachioji Cemetery Haunted Phone Booth.

Type: MK (Maiden-Killer).

Period/location of origin: In its most well-known form: France, 1697. However, tales of subject — known, variously, as Bluebeard, the Robber Bridegroom, and Mr. Fox, among others — may be found threading their way through a wide variety of countries and cultures throughout history.

As such, it is not known precisely how old subject may be, or where he is from.

It is also not known whether there is simply one of him, reappearing over and over and over again, or whether there are many.

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Appearance: Subject appears to be a male-presenting human, finely dressed and apparently quite wealthy.

However, not unlike previous Encyclopedia subject the Pied Piper, Bluebeard’s appearance may vary, largely depending on whether or not he is referred to as, well, Bluebeard. When he is referred to by this moniker, his defining physical characteristic is his beard, which is, as the name suggest, blue. Precisely which shade of blue is not typically specified.

Modus operandi: Subject targets young women of marrying age, typically conventionally attractive, although not necessarily of financial means. According to some reports, they may be from wealthy families; however, they may also be from working class families, according to others. The economic backgrounds of each of subject’s targets likely has more to do with how probable his chances of success in ensnaring them might be than with any particular preference.

Once subject has acquired a target, one of several situations may play out:

In Situation The First, subject will do everything in his power to impress said target: He will issue forth honeyed words; he will bestow gifts upon target and target’s family and loved ones; he will throw lavish, week-long parties full of decadence and opulence at one of his seemingly many estates; and so on. His goal is to convince target to accept his hand in marriage — something which target may resist at first, due in part to subject’s appearance and in part to rumors that subject has been married several times before, only for his previous wives never to be seen again. (Their fates remain mysteriously unknown.)

However, many targets will find this display of wealth and affection attractive, and may accept the proposal.

Should target accept subject’s proposal, and should target go through with the marriage, subject will first allow target a period of roughly one month to become accustomed to life in the sizeable estate which will have become target’s home. Then, subject will inform target that he has been called away on business, and will be away from home for a substantial period of time — at least six weeks, perhaps longer.

Subject will encourage target to keep herself busy and to invite her friends and family to visit the estate during this time. He will also impart to her the keys to virtually every part of the estate, telling her precisely what lies behind each lock and inviting her to explore to her heart’s content — except for one specific lock to one specific door. Subject will tell target only that the key belongs to a little closet in their home — but not what the closet stores — and instructs her that she is not, under any circumstances, to open the closet or look inside it.

This is clearly a test. It is also a test that is designed for target to fail.

Should target’s curiosity get the better of them — and should target therefore open the closet, and look inside, and venture further within — target will see the remains of subject’s previous wives. The scene will be shocking and bloody, and target will almost certainly quickly retreat.

However, target will discover that the key to the closet has become stained with blood and cannot be cleaned by any standard method. Additionally, target will receive word shortly that subject will not only be returning early from his business trip, but that he will be returning that very day.

The expedience of subject’s return is somewhat suspect, and may be the result of something supernatural, perhaps connected to the key itself.

Upon subject’s return, he, knowing full well that target has failed his test, will instruct target to present him with the keys he left her with. Should target fail to present the keys — or even should present all keys except the key to the bloody closet — subject will proceed to inform target he is aware that she opened the forbidden closet. She must, therefore, now take her place among those within.

Should target have no allies nearby, this is precisely what will occur.

Should target have allies nearby, her story may end somewhat differently. See: Containment.

In Situation The Second, subject will convince target’s parent or parents to promise target’s hand in marriage to subject, regardless as to whether target desires this or not.

Target may stall the impending marriage, at which point subject may invite her to visit his home, which he informs her is deep in the woods, in order to make her more at ease with the idea of marrying him. Target will likely not wish to make the journey, although it is highly probable that target’s parent or parents will force her to go in spite of her reticence.

Along the journey, target may encounter a bird — either in the woods, or in a cage upon arrival at subject’s home — which, oddly, will speak to target in a human voice. The bird may say any number of things, including but not limited to:

• “Turn back, turn back, you young bride; you are in a murderer’s house.”
• “Be bold, be bold, but not too bold, lest that your heart’s blood should run cold.”
• Or, “Pretty maiden, be bold, but not too bold.”

Alternatively, target may encounter these words written in various places within subject’s home — for instance, above the front door, going up the stairs, and at the threshold of a specific room within the house.

When target arrives at subject’s home, one of two things may occur:

If subject is in residence when target arrives, target will not leave the premises alive.

If subject is not in residence, however — and should target take the opportunity to enter the house and explore — then target may discover precisely what subject has been up to.

Target may encounter an old woman who is employed — or perhaps trapped, or perhaps both — in subject’s home, or target may not. Should target encounter the old woman, the old woman will inform target that she is, in fact, in a murderer’s house, and that subject intends to bring her to a bloody end. If target does not encounter the old woman, target will simply discover a room full of the remains of subject’s previous fiancées, similar to the bloody closet in Situation The First. 

At this point, target may attempt to escape the house. Should the house remain empty, target may run. However, should subject choose this moment to arrive home, target will have no time to get away, and no choice but to hide. Should target have encountered the old woman, the old woman will help her to hide; should target have not, target must find a place to hide on her own.

Should target fail to hide in time, or fail to hide well enough, target will not leave the premises alive.

A successfully hidden target, however, will observe a young woman similar to herself meet the aforementioned bloody end at the hands of subject, possibly (although not necessarily) aided by several accomplices.

Should target be patient, and remain silent, and stay hidden, and wait, target may eventually be presented with the opportunity to escape — namely, subject may fall asleep, or else be… coaxed into sleep by the old woman. It is highly recommended that target seize this opportunity — but also that, before leaving, she acquire evidence of subject’s misdeeds. This evidence will be necessary to enact containment procedures. See: Containment.

Containment: Subject may be contained in a number of ways, depending on the situation in which subject has been encountered:

In Situation The First, should target have allies nearby at the moment of subject’s sentencing her to take her place within the bloody closet, these allies may arrive in time to come to target’s aid. Should this occur, and the allies be present and accounted for and ready for action, subject may run — or may attempt to run. Should target’s allies catch subject, subject may be subdued by the normal means: Swords, other sharp objects, etc.

Should this occur, subject will be dispatched, and target will inherit all of subject’s considerable wealth, due to subject having no heirs. Target may then do with this wealth as she sees fit, and live, as it were, happily ever after.

In Situation The Second, should target have escaped, evidence in hand, target may then enact the following containment procedures:

Target should proceed with the engagement as expected. On the day of the wedding, target — at this moment, the bride — should ensure that she has the piece of evidence hidden on her person. When the bride, her bridegroom, and all their guests are seated together at the celebration table and telling stories in their merriment, the bride — formerly target — should, when prompted, tell her audience and her bridegroom about a curious dream she had.

In the dream, she should say, she traveled through the woods to meet her bridegroom at his home.

In the dream, she should say, she met a bird, or encountered an old woman, or saw some writing on the door: Turn back, turn back, you young bride; you are in a murderer’s house. Be bold, be bold, but not too bold, lest that your heart’s blood should run cold. Pretty maiden, be bold, but not too bold.

In the dream, she should say, she discovered a room in the house — a bloody room, where bloody deeds had occurred.

In the dream, she should say, she witnessed her bridegroom arrive home, and commit another bloody deed.

In the dream, she should say, a hand bearing a bracelet — or, perhaps, a finger bearing a ring — became… separated from the woman upon whom the bloody deed was performed.

And here, she should say, is the bracelet.

Here, she should say, is the ring.

And here, she should present her evidence — including the hand or finger to which the piece of jewelry has been affixed — to the crowd.

They will do what is required.

Subject will be contained.

And the merry widow — no longer a target, no longer a bride — will live happily ever after.

Additional notes: The most well-known account of subject may be found under the title of, in the original French, “Le Barbe Bleue” (in English, “The Blue Beard”), written by Charles Perrault and first published in 1697 in his volume Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités, or Stories Or Tales From Past Times, With Morals. This volume is sometimes also referred to colloquially as Contes de ma mère l’Oye, or Mother Goose Tales; this is the title borne by the earliest extant manuscript of work, which is dated 1695.

“Le Barbe Bleue” is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther (ATU) index of folktale plots as type 312: That is, it is a “Maiden-Killer” story (hence, subject’s classification). It also serves as something of a type codifier, as it sets the necessary story beats, elements, and plot points that other tales filed under this type also regularly include.

Folklorist D. L. Ashliman further describes type 312 stories as “folktales… about women who narrowly escape from their ruthless husbands or abductors.” In addition to Perrault’s version of the Bluebeard tale, other stories that fall under this heading include an alternative version of Bluebeard out of Auvergne, as well as numerous tales with similar elements from locations such as Germany, Italy, and India.

Closely related are stories filed under ATU type 311, “The Heroine Rescues Herself And Her Sisters.” These types of stories include “The Fitcher’s Bird,” first collected in Germany by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812 and published in its final version in 1857; and “How The Devil Married Three Sisters,” originally published in German in 1866 but popularized as an Italian story upon its publication in Thomas Frederick Crane’s Italian Popular Tales in 1885.

More closely related still are ATU type 955 stories, “Robber Bridegroom” tales. These stories include the Grimms’ version, also titled “The Robber Bridegroom,” which was first collected in 1812 and published in its final incarnation in 1857’s Kinder- und Hausmärchen, or Children’s And Household Tales. Similarly to “Le Barbe Bleue,” this story may be seen as a type codifier; however, it is also worth noting that a wide variety of English tales also exemplify type 955 stories under the moniker “Mr. Fox.” “Mr. Fox” was in circulation as early as 1598, as evinced by its mention in the Shakespeare play Much Ado About Nothing (I.i.212-2014).

As laid out in the Modus operandi and Containment sections above, Situation The First is demonstrated in “Le Barbe Bleue,” while Situation The Second is demonstrated in “The Robber Bridegroom” and the many versions of “Mr. Fox” in existence.

In none of these tales, however, is it apparent why Bluebeard, or the Robber Bridegroom, or Mr. Fox, or whatever name he goes by, dispatched his first wife. It is possible that, even then, the gift of the key and the tantalizing suggestion of the closet was a test — a test that this first wife failed. Why subject felt the need to test this first wife — this first target — remains unknown.

Perhaps he was looking for an excuse.

Perhaps he has always been like this.

It has been suggested that connections exist between Bluebeard and several historical personages. Among them are Gilles de Rais, 15th century knight, lord, and confessed serial killer; Conomor, an early medieval ruler of Brittany who, according to legend, kept relics of three of his deceased wives in a hidden room; and Henry VIII, the 16th century King of England who became infamous due to the treatment of his six wives (“divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived,” as the rhyme goes — although technically the two “divorces” were actually annulments).

These connections are somewhat tenuous. Gilles de Rais’ crimes were not against any wives, or even any adult women; additionally, there has been some debate in recent years over how trustworthy everything accepted as fact about de Rais might be in the first place.

The case for Conomor is, as historian Mike Dash notes, stronger, as elements of the specific Conomor legend associated with Bluebeard do line up a bit more neatly. It is, however, worth noting that although Conomor was a real person, there are a wide variety of tales associated with him that edge more into legend or myth.

And Henry VIII? Well, although he was certainly Bluebeard-like in his behavior, the association seems more to have been bestowed upon him later on.

However, it is worth noting that Bluebeard-like stories exist almost everywhere, and at almost every time. The book Bluebeard Tales From Around The World by Sur La Lune Fairy Tales’ Heidi Anne Heiner gathers more than 100 such tales; meanwhile, academic Casie E. Hermansson’s Bluebeard: A Reader’s Guide To The English Tradition tracks the Bluebeard story from its principal variants up through modern incarnations of the tale.

So, although subject is typically depicted as human, and may be dispatched or contained by human means…

…Well. Maybe he’s harder to get rid of than one might think.

Recommendation: Be bold, be bold…

…But not too bold.

You know how it goes now, right?

Resources:

D. L Ashliman’s Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts: Bluebeard and The Robber Bridegroom.

“Le Barbe Bleue” in the original French.

“Bluebeard,” annotated at Sur La Lune Fairy Tales.

Bluebeard-Related Tales at Sur La Lune Fairy Tales.

Bluebeard Tales From Around The World by Heidi Anne Heiner.

Bluebeard: A Reader’s Guide To The English Tradition by Casie E. Hermansson.

Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version by Philip Pullman.  

The Modern Movement To Exonerate A Notorious Medieval Serial Killer at Atlas Obscura.

The Breton Bluebeard at A Blast From The Past.

Some interesting literary riffs:

• Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi.
• The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood.
• The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter.

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[Photos via Wikimedia Commons (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), available in the public domain.]