Gello: Child Eating Demoness

Gello exists in several cultures, under several names, such as Gyllou, Gylou, Gillo; many folklore experts and historians believe the Gello is the source of many vampire beliefs. Gello is a female demon that causes infertility, spontaneous miscarriage, and an eater of children. Walter Burkert, an expert on ancient mythology, established a link between the Gello, and her earliest form in Babylon, as the ‘gallu,’ an early origin for the ghoul, that simply branched off into a female figure. The ‘gallu’ brought sickness and death, whereas the Gello, as she developed, specializes in children and babies.

The Greek influence over ‘gallu’ gradually connected her to reproductive monsters and demons, such as the Gorgon, because of the word’s etymology, the ‘gal’ root associated with mockery, as the Gorgon was said to have a perpetually mocking expression. Reproductive demons were usually associated with the sea, or the abyss, –Gylou was closely related to Abyzou, who came “from the deep” or “from the abyss”. One can easily see how mermaids are eyed with suspicion in most folklore.

Gello is a Greek name, and when she finally gained her name, she also gained a story of original; her own Greek ‘aition’. According to Greek mythology, Gello was a virginal woman killed while still very young and beautiful. After her death she became an evil ghost who attacked virgins, and pregnant women, –as time passed, she became more monstrous, such as Lamia, and Mormo, who strangled, and murdered babies, made women barren, or prevented lactation.

Gylou became a demon during the Byzantine era, associated with one of the number of demons in Lucifer’s court. She appears in many medieval Byzantine texts, fighting her greatest adversary, the Archangel Michael. Gylou established herself in several complex threads throughout the Hebrew, Christian, Catholic theologies, where her character as a infant killer, and attacker of pregnant women remains fairly consistent, despite subtle changes in her name.

In ancient medical texts, the gello was attracted because a child is conceived in the mother’s blood and the father’s seed: the gello hungers for blood, so the sooner the child is removed from the mother’s side, the safer he or she will be from gello. Also  making instant baptism pretty important, not just to save the child from an eternity in purgatory (as bureaucratic civil servants), but from a blood drinking female demon.

The last role is the most well-known, and it’s this version of Gello that appears in modern Luciferianism; basically, the followers of Lucifer. Luciferians venerate Gello, such as in The Bible of the Adversary by Michael W. Ford, where he uses Gello as one of Lilith’s many forms, Lilith being the representative of Vampyrism, and a desire for eternal life.

By annimi

Ashley writes for Vampires.com, Werewolves.com, and other sites in the Darksites Network. She's involved in several seedy and disreputable activities, smokes too much, and spends her late nights procrastinating for work on her first novel.

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