melonheads
i'm particularly interested in comparing a certain cultural/social phenomenon between different countries: the US is rife with legends about outcast groups like inbreds and mutants that live in very rural areas (like appalachia, and the southwest US), and countless horror movies are made from this (the Hills Have Eyes (both versions), Wrong Turn, Deliverance-- off the top of my head, there's many more!!) and i was pondering whether the UK has this kind of stuff, b/c it's a much smaller country containing quite a population.
what brings this up: i have a very interesting book, called WEIRD US by Mark Moran, and it discusses several outcast group legends, particularly Melonheads. i've heard of these, although it was not a big local legend as i am from northern virginia and melonheads are most 'prevalent' (if they exist) around ohio. as the main story goes (of course, there are many different versions), a Dr. Crow was commissioned to treat children sufferin from hydrocephalus-- a condition in which large pockets of water gather around the brain-- but he grossly mistreated them by performing experiments on them and neglecting them, and eventually they became little more than animals. they eventually killed him and now roam the woods of northern ohio. reports and sightings still come in, and some people claim that they attacked them.
hydrocephalus is a real condition, and it looks very strange, so i'm sure that people with this condition do not want to be viewed by people and thus live out of the way of 'normal people' (altho my understanding is they don't live very long). it's unfortunate that people are cruel and misunderstanding enough to spread stories of these people being violent and attacking others, but it would be intriguing if there was any truth to any of these stories....
so, are there any similar stories in the UK or elsewhere? i'd love to hear about it!!
there's much more to this if anyone is interested, plus the book also discusses 'Jackson Whites' and Melungeons, so this all is for another post if i get enough encouragement to go into it