Throughout history, stories have been told of a 'spirit creature', a many-headed snake, that appears out of nowhere, devouring animals and people. To the nomadic people of the Sahara, it was the 'Sand Devil', in Native American stories 'Llao, the spirit of the below world. The Aboriginal people of Australia had their own name for it, as did the tribes of the South African svelte who left sacrifices of goats and oxen to placate it. When a rotund lady mayoress is whisked from the stage at a village fete into a hole in the sky, it is photographed for the first time and sets off a chain of events that will rock the world.