Houtsunomuh

The Enohountsun tell a story that Matamyat, who is Evil Itself, descended to the Land That Ecsou Made in a great sphere of fire, and caused great sorrow to the People of Ecsou, sending up such great smokes and ashes and darkness that Noutsaxama, the Sun Daughter, hid away in her house in the Mountain of the Sun. But Matamyat used it's black smoke to hide the Land That Ecsou Made from the watchful eye of Ecsou.
Then, Matamyat crept into the house of Utemsonohoup, the Girl Who Was Wise, who was the daughter of Ecsou. Taking the shape of a great and terrible warrior, Matamyat frightened Utemsonohoup and then impregnated her.
Angry at the smoke and fire, Ecsou waved his great fan, and made a whirlwind which cleared the skies. Then, he commanded Noutsaxama to come forth and light his way.

'It is too dark to see!' complained Ecsou. 'Where is my daughter?'

Noutsaxama walked before Ecsou until they came to the house of Utemsonohoup. Ecsou stepped inside, and saw Matamyat savaging his daughter.
With a great shout, Ecsou took hold of the head of Matamyat and tore him asunder, and cast his legs over the edge of the world and his body into a deep pit in the seas.
But Utemsonohoup hid herself from her father, the Great Ecsou, because she was ashamed, and fled into the Great Desert, and then the Great Forest, and then the Great Sea, and then the Great Mountains, and then into the Great City, and then the Great Lake, and then the Great Pit. In each of these places, Utemsonohoup gave birth to a hideous and deformed child, the demon-children of Matamyat, who are the Eight Great Monsters. Finally, there was no other place to hide but the graveyard where the People of Ecsou buried their dead. There, Utemsonohoup gave birth to Houtsunomuh, who was so horrid that Utemsonohoup recoiled in horror and died of fright.

Because he is the last born, Houtsunomuh bears most the curse of the spawn of Matamyat. Therefore, he is the most hideous and deformed of the Eight Great Monsters, and also the most abominable. He is the lord of the crawling things and the things that go by night. He is the master of evil things that live near graves. He is the master of sorcerors and poisoners. He is a cannibal, who eats human flesh from graves. When a man dies with his eyes open, it is Houtsunomuh who he is staring at. When a man feels a chill go up his spine, it is the clammy hand of Houtsunomuh.
He is a resentful and vicious god, who wishes only evil on the People of Ecsou, who he blames for the death of his mother and his wretched state. He is also terribly lonely, for none can stand to look upon him for long nor remain in his presence.

Houtsunomuh looks like a deformed and grotesque corpse, with stretched skin and a sunken nose. His empty eye sockets crawl with maggots. His entire skin is covered in coarse, filthy hair that hangs to his feet and drags on the ground like a robe filled with insects. His skin is cold and clammy and white, and foul white slime drips constantly from his slack tongue. Overall, he resembles somewhat the shrunken and dried corpse of a huge brown ape. He has a hideous smell of rotting meat, vomit, offal, and the foul vapours of the grave.

Houtsunomuh is not venerated by the Enohountsun, except those evil People of Ecsou who turn to witchcraft and venerate the Eight Great Monsters. Enohountsun ward off Houtsunomuh by placing wreathes of berries by the gates of tombyards and by making the proper offerings to their ancestors during the daylight. No Enohountsu goes into the graveyard at night- that is the time when Houtsunomuh rules the places of the dead. Because Houtsunomuh is so lonely, it is said that singing a song to him from the other side of the graveyard fence will quiet him and send him away to another place for the time being. But the Stalker of Graveyards never stays away for long- he has visited every graveyard a thousand times, and will visit them again a thousand thousand more times before the End of Times.

It is said by sorcerors that calling upon Hountsunomuh and making offerings to him of rotting flesh and grave earth and gold can give to you the powers of the Eater of the Dead- to obtain sustenance from the soil of the graveyard, to travel like a shadow in the water so that no man can see you, and to hear the whisperings of the dead who do not lie still.

Those who truly displease Houtsunomuh, by preventing him from digging up graves, or by wounding him by night, are taken by him to his frightful underground lair, where he keeps the leftover pieces of all the corpses he has ever eaten.