Aoandon, blue flame spirit

 🦇🎃Happy 👻Halloween🎃🦇

                     Happy Halloween 🎃

              time for  ghost story,👻👻👻

Halloween is the best time of year for a good ghost story, Enjoy.👻

Aoandon (青行燈, Aoandon) is a creature illustrated by Toriyama Sekien in his Konjaku Hyakki Shūi. It was meant to represent the spirit that appeared during Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai meetings, after the last story was told...

Long ago during the Edo period, a popular summertime activity among the aristocratic classes was to gather and tell ghost stories, (ghost stories in the summer are still a popular pass time in Japan today)    hoping the chill of fear would stave off the intense midsummer heat. These ghost story telling parties were called hyakumonogatari kaidankai – a gathering of one hundred ghost stories. 

During these gatherings, one hundred candles would be lit and placed inside of blue paper lanterns, called andon, in order to create an eerie atmosphere suitable for storytelling.

 Throughout the night, guests would take turns telling progressively scarier stories about yokai, demons, ghosts, and other strange things. After each story, one candle would be snuffed out, until finally only the hundredth candle remained, its dim blue light casting long, creepy shadows, struggling to fill the dark room.

According to superstition, as the final candle was snuffed, a real ghost would appear out of the darkness to attack the participants, created out of the heightened emotional state and fears of guests. This ghost was called the ao andon.

The ao andon is the incarnation of mass human terror, formed out of the built-up fears of large groups of people. This fear takes the appearance of a demonic woman with long black hair, blue skin, blackened teeth, sharp claws, and horns. It wears a white or blue kimono, and glows with an eerie blue light.

The ao andon appears at the end of the gathering, when all of the lanterns have been snuffed out. It emerges from the smoke of the final candle and attacks the guests. What exactly it does is a mystery; whether it slaughters all of the participants in a brutal finale inspired by the preceding tales, or simply jumps out to give one last shock before the guests return home has never been recorded. 

 

The reason for this is that by the time the ninety-ninth ghost story had been told, the guests were usually too frightened to tell the final story, and the parties usually concluded at that point, before the ao andon could appear.

As the old proverb says (in both English and Japanese): speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. It was feared that merely talking about ghosts and spirits for long enough would cause them to materialize for real.

 

Hopefully you all enjoyed this month of monster's as much as I did, have a great 

🦇🎃🦇Halloween 🎃🦇🎃

 and the rest of 2023.

🦉M.

Because I could not stop for Death ...

 

Because I could not stop for Death

BY EMILY DICKINSON

Because I could not stop for Death –

He kindly stopped for me –

The Carriage held but just Ourselves –

And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste

And I had put away

My labor and my leisure too,

For His Civility –

We passed the School, where Children strove

At Recess – in the Ring –

We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –

We passed the Setting Sun –

Or rather – He passed Us –

The Dews drew quivering and Chill –

For only Gossamer, my Gown –

My Tippet – only Tulle –

We paused before a House that seemed

A Swelling of the Ground –

The Roof was scarcely visible –

The Cornice – in the Ground –

Since then – 'tis Centuries – and yet

Feels shorter than the Day

I first surmised the Horses' Heads

Were toward Eternity

Japaneses myths: The Vampire Cat

    

                         The Vampire Cat             

            The Cat of Nebeshima..  

The Prince of Hizen a distinguished member of the Nabéshima family, lingered in the garden with O Toyo, the favorite among his ladies. When the sun set they retired to the palace, but failed to notice that they were being followed by a large cat.

O Toyo went to her room and fell asleep. At midnight she awoke and gazed about her, as if suddenly aware of some dreadful presence in the apartment. At length she saw, crouching close beside her, a gigantic cat, and before she could cry out for assistance the animal sprang upon her and strangled her. The animal then made a hole under the verandah, buried the corpse, and assumed the form of the beautiful O Toyo.

The prince, who knew nothing of what had happened, continued to love the false O Toyo, unaware that in reality he was caressing a foul beast. He noticed, little by little, that his strength failed, and it was not long before he became dangerously ill. Physicians were summoned, but they could do nothing to restore the royal patient. It was observed that he suffered most during the night, and was troubled by horrible dreams. This being so, his councilors arranged that a hundred retainers should sit with their lord and keep watch while he slept.

The watch went into the sickroom, but just before ten o'clock it was overcome by a mysterious drowsiness. When all the men were asleep the false O Toyo crept into the apartment and disturbed the prince until sunrise. Night after night the retainers came to guard their master, but always they fell asleep at the same hour, and even three loyal councilors had a similar experience.

During this time the prince grew worse, and at length a priest named Ruiten was appointed to pray on his behalf. One night, while he was engaged in his supplications, he heard a strange noise proceeding from the garden. On looking out of the window he saw a young soldier washing himself. When he had finished his ablutions he stood before an image of Buddha, and prayed most ardently for the recovery of the prince.

Ruiten, delighted to find such zeal and loyalty, invited the young man to enter his house, and when he had done so inquired his name.

"I am Ito Soda," said the young man, "and serve in the infantry of Nabéshima. I have heard of my lord's sickness and long to have the honor of nursing him; but being of low rank it is not meet that I should come into his presence. I have, nevertheless, prayed to the Buddha that my lord's life may be spared. I believe that the Prince of Hizen is bewitched, and if I might remain with him I would do my utmost to find and crush the evil power that is the cause of his illness."

Ruiten was so favorably impressed with these words that he went the next day to consult with one of the councilors, and after much discussion it was arranged that Ito Soda should keep watch with the hundred retainers.

When Ito Soda entered the royal apartment he saw that his master slept in the middle of the room, and he also observed the hundred retainers sitting in the chamber quietly chatting together in the hope that they would be able to keep off approaching drowsiness. By ten o'clock all the retainers, in spite of their efforts, had fallen asleep.

Ito Soda tried to keep his eyes open, but a heaviness was gradually overcoming him, and he realized that if he wished to keep awake he must resort to extreme measures. When he had carefully spread oil-paper over the mats he stuck his dirk into his thigh. The sharp pain he experienced warded off sleep for a time, but eventually he felt his eyes closing once more. Resolved to outwit the spell which had proved too much for the retainers, he twisted the knife in his thigh, and thus increased the pain and kept his loyal watch, while blood continually dripped upon the oil-paper.

While Ito Soda watched he saw the sliding doors drawn open and a beautiful woman creep softly into the apartment. With a smile she noticed the sleeping retainers, and was about to approach the prince when she observed Ito Soda. After she had spoken curtly to him she approached the prince and inquired how he fared, but the prince was too ill to make a reply. Ito Soda watched every movement, and believed she tried to bewitch the prince, but she was always frustrated in her evil purpose by the dauntless eyes of Ito Soda, and at last she was compelled to retire.

In the morning the retainers awoke, and were filled with shame when they learnt how Ito Soda had kept his vigil. The councilors loudly praised the young soldier for his loyalty and enterprise, and he was commanded to keep watch again that night. He did so, and once more the false O Toyo entered the sickroom, and, as on the previous night, she was compelled to retreat without being able to cast her spell over the prince.

It was discovered that immediately the faithful Soda had kept guard, the prince was able to obtain peaceful slumber, and, moreover, that he began to get better, for the false O Toyo, having been frustrated on two occasions, now kept away altogether, and the guard was not troubled with mysterious drowsiness. Soda, impressed by these strange circumstances, went to one of the councilors and informed him that the so-called O Toyo was a goblin of some kind.

That night Soda planned to go to the creature's room and try to kill her, arranging that in case she should escape there should be eight retainers outside waiting to capture her and dispatch her immediately.

At the appointed hour Soda went to the creature's apartment, pretending that he bore a message from the prince.

"What is the message?" inquired the woman.

"Kindly read this letter," replied Soda, and with these words he drew his dirk and tried to kill her.

The false O Toyo seized a halberd and endeavored to strike her adversary. Blow followed blow, but at last perceiving that flight would serve her better than battle, she threw away her weapon, and in a moment the lovely maiden turned into a cat and sprang onto the roof. The eight men waiting outside in case of emergency shot at the animal, but the creature succeeded in eluding them.

The cat made all speed for the mountains, and caused trouble among the people who lived in the vicinity, but was finally killed during a hunt ordered by the Prince of Hizen.

The prince became well again, and Ito Soda received the honor and reward he so richly deserved.

Vampire family of North Carolina

 

 

                                      

🦇  Vampire family of North Carolina 🦇

 

Anywhere you go there are going to be other people relatively close by, but beyond the standard Hello
or other random greeting, what do we really know about our neighbors?

This  account takes place in the 1780's and involves a seemingly normal family, a doctor and his wife and son.



In the early Spring of 1788 Dr Alfort and his family moved to the small town of Dillsboro, North Carolina
and soon established his medical practice along with a pharmacy ran out of his home, within
a few months people in towns started showing up more and more for a variety of treatments however one
day a few of his patients that had just recently received treatment suddenly passed away without any explanation.


Some members of the community blamed the doctor and anger was building however the minister was able to claim down the town at least for the moment.


But one night the ministers wife well getting ready for bed, noticed the door to there young daughters room slightly open  after entering she saw a dark figure standing over the bed and began to scream for help, the figure then fled through the open window, sadly as the minister arrived  with his lantern they discovered the girl was dead with two large  puncture wounds in her neck.

During the next few nights the towns people claimed to see a large flying creature overhead, fear griped the small community and soon windows that where previously left open stayed shut and locked, well family's huddled together in one room for safety.

One evening an elderly couple were suddenly awoken by frantic beating on their front door only to find their grandson  frightened and screaming that a monster had attacked his parents.

A posse was soon formed and they left for the child's home, upon arriving they  discovered the bodies of not only the parents but also the two young sisters as well.

They had all died of blood lose resulting from wounds on their mutilated necks.

The town raised money for an extensive investigation of the home and surrounding area, but no culprit was found.

Over the next six months the situation had eased a bit and everyone had began to relax again as there had been no  further killings.

It seemed all was well in Dillsboro.

Until February of 1789, one night two brothers heard terrible screaming coming from their neighbors home, they armed  themselves with farm tools (pitchfork, an  ax etc) then made there way next door.

As they entered the home they saw a dark shape exit through a window leaving behind the lifeless body's of a young couple  that lived there.

Angered the brother's perused the creature on foot and it lead them straight to Doctor Alforts home.

The town angry and living in fear for months soon formed a large group and stood watch outside the home until morning when even more showed up from neighboring settlements to help.

Soon after sunrise nearly  one hundred men swarmed the home armed with anything they could use as a weapon..

The mob began searching the home, they found nicely made beds like no one had even sleep there the previous night.

Not yet satisfied they continued there search, until a trap door was discovered leading into a dark basement, still full of anger and now a bit of fear, they cautiously made their way down into the cellar.


The lanterns light revealed nothing at first besides an empty basement until the shown on three large wooden crates.

They where shocked to find Doctor Alford and his wife asleep in two of these large box's well the third remand empty and their 15 year old some was no where to be found.

The mob pulled the couple out of the box's and an angry Miss Alford began to hiss and scratch at the men.

The doctor remained quiet as he and his wife where brought outside, he refused to answer any questions well his wife continued to hiss and  shriek in anger.

The group soon decided to execute the couple and leave there bodies in the house they had build well it was burned to the ground.

With the deaths of the Alfort the mysterious killings stopped, there where a few reports of a shadowy figure moving through the town at night but these reports soon died down.

The son was never seen again.

The town went back to normal, but it just goes to show, there could be monsters right next door and you would never know until its to late..

                                                         Have  a fun and Safe Halloween 

Ulalume by Edgar Allan Poe

 

     Ulalume by Edgar Allan Poe 👻

.The skies they were ashen and sober;

      The leaves they were crispéd and sere—

      The leaves they were withering and sere;

It was night in the lonesome October

      Of my most immemorial year;

It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,

      In the misty mid region of Weir—

It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,

      In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

Here once, through an alley Titanic,

      Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul—

      Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.

These were days when my heart was volcanic

      As the scoriac rivers that roll—

      As the lavas that restlessly roll

Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek

      In the ultimate climes of the pole—

That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek

      In the realms of the boreal pole.

Our talk had been serious and sober,

      But our thoughts they were palsied and sere—

      Our memories were treacherous and sere—

For we knew not the month was October,

      And we marked not the night of the year—

      (Ah, night of all nights in the year!)

We noted not the dim lake of Auber—

      (Though once we had journeyed down here)—

We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,

      Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.

And now, as the night was senescent

      And star-dials pointed to morn—

      As the star-dials hinted of morn—

At the end of our path a liquescent

      And nebulous lustre was born,

Out of which a miraculous crescent

      Arose with a duplicate horn—

Astarte's bediamonded crescent

      Distinct with its duplicate horn.

And I said—"She is warmer than Dian:

      She rolls through an ether of sighs—

      She revels in a region of sighs:

She has seen that the tears are not dry on

      These cheeks, where the worm never dies,

And has come past the stars of the Lion

      To point us the path to the skies—

      To the Lethean peace of the skies—

Come up, in despite of the Lion,

      To shine on us with her bright eyes—

Come up through the lair of the Lion,

      With love in her luminous eyes."

But Psyche, uplifting her finger,

      Said—"Sadly this star I mistrust—

      Her pallor I strangely mistrust:—

Oh, hasten! oh, let us not linger!

      Oh, fly!—let us fly!—for we must."

In terror she spoke, letting sink her

      Wings till they trailed in the dust—

In agony sobbed, letting sink her

      Plumes till they trailed in the dust—

      Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.

I replied—"This is nothing but dreaming:

      Let us on by this tremulous light!

      Let us bathe in this crystalline light!

Its Sybilic splendor is beaming

      With Hope and in Beauty to-night:—

      See!—it flickers up the sky through the night!

Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,

      And be sure it will lead us aright—

We safely may trust to a gleaming

      That cannot but guide us aright,

      Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night."

Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,

      And tempted her out of her gloom—

      And conquered her scruples and gloom:

And we passed to the end of the vista,

      But were stopped by the door of a tomb—

      By the door of a legended tomb;

And I said—"What is written, sweet sister,

      On the door of this legended tomb?"

      She replied—"Ulalume—Ulalume—

      'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"

Then my heart it grew ashen and sober

      As the leaves that were crispèd and sere—

      As the leaves that were withering and sere,

And I cried—"It was surely October

      On this very night of last year

      That I journeyed—I journeyed down here—

      That I brought a dread burden down here—

      On this night of all nights in the year,

      Oh, what demon has tempted me here?

Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber—

      This misty mid region of Weir—

Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber—

      In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."

Said we, then—the two, then—"Ah, can it

      Have been that the woodlandish ghouls—

      The pitiful, the merciful ghouls—

To bar up our way and to ban it

      From the secret that lies in these wolds—

      From the thing that lies hidden in these wolds—

Had drawn up the spectre of a planet

      From the limbo of lunary souls—

This sinfully scintillant planet

      From the Hell of the planetary souls

Jeff Boiler's Terrifying Bigfoot Encounter

 

 

                                              Jeff Boiler's Terrifying Bigfoot Encounter

 

 

 Jeff Boiler is a former marine and later police officer in Oregon, he appeared on the scify channels "paranormal witness'"to recount his terrifying encounter..

Jeff boils bigfoot

America is a fast landscape of scenic mountains and lush forests especially our national parks.

But that beauty may be hiding a far more insidious secret.

If you are a fan of mysteries and strange disappearances then you have likely heard of the Missing 411 book series
and the many odd and possibly paranormal disappearance's 

But there are also hundreds of sightings involving cryptids ranging from bigfoot, werewolf/dogman, reptilians,
feral humans and even vampires.

Todays post is a terrifying bigfoot encounter in the pacific north west, Involving a former Marin turned deputy named Jeff Boiler.
...................................


Jeff moved to Oregon in 1997, he had  always loved nature and just decided to find a nice place away from it all.


One of his friends was the sheriff of a small town in northwest Oregon and offered him a job as a new deputy sheriff, which Jeff excepted.



A few months in,  and he was really enjoying his new life surrounded by nature.

Then one day work was slow and he got off early, so he decided to take a trip into the mountains, Jeff had a fiend that had passed away some
20 years prior and he planed on visiting the site to pay his respect.

The place he planned on visiting was an extremely remote area of the cascade mountains.

He started his trip early and took a map and compass with him, as  his planned hike was unmarked and
far off the beaten path.


After around two hours of trekking through thick undergrowth and heavy terrain he decided to take a short break.


Before his break he had found a creek and took a moment to refill his water bottle and check his map once more, but as he was looking upward and checking his compass he noticed  something looking back at him from the  edge of a slight cliff just ahead of him partially concealed by a tree and the rocky terrain.

In a moment of disbelief and confusion Jeff tilts his head to the side in a curious manner, and to his shock the  creature mimics is action and tilts its head too.

 

Then what Jeff describe as a large hairy creature about 8 feet tall and on two legs steps out from be hide the tree.

Now startled Jeff, pulls his side-arm(Gun) and the thing run's off at an incredible speed.  

Jeff then climbs up the the location he had seen this thing in search of track's or hair samples, but finding nothing significant decides to start walking off in the same direction it had fled in hopes of seeing it again to try and better understand what he had witnessed.


Jeff had been walking for an hour or so in the same direction, and hadn't seen anything odd when all of the sudden he hears a loud crack followed by what sounded like a falling tree off to his right.

Now sure that it had doubled back and was now following him, be starts to worry as the bigfoot can see him,but he can not see it.

This is the perfect opportunity for an ambush!

Not a good situation to be in!

As he starts back tracking his path back out of the forest he hears another loud crash and knows this thing is following him.

Jeff now fills that he is being hunted and begins to run, as he's running he enters a clearing, and notices a deer just standing there staring at him, then it looks behind him and runs away as fast as it can in the opposite direction.

He slowly turns to look behind him but is still unable to see where this thing is but realizes it could grab him at any moment and he need's to go Now.

He makes a frantic dash back to  where his truck is and the crash's and breaking tree limbs are getting loader and closer by the moment.

His only thought is just get to the truck, he wants some steel between him and this thing, but once he's within a  hundred yards of his truck everything just stops, he thinks to himself this is it, its right up on me and is about to attack.


But nothing. he finally gets to his truck slams the door  and leaves.


Once back in town he stops by the sheriff's office and tells him about the encounter, to his surprise the sheriff  tells him "I get reports like that up here all the time." you can file a report on it but chances are its never  going to be followed up on(investigated).


Jeffs story is a terrifying encounter with something many don't even believe to exist, but it also make's you wonder how close he was to becoming just another missing person in the wilderness?

How many people encounter these things and just never live to tell the tale.

Jeff Boiler was on a show called Paranormal Witness, if you would like to hear his first hand account just look that up, it's a great ep.

Warai Onna, The Laughing Woman

 

 

 

 Warai onna
The Laughing Woman.


Long ago, a samurai named Higuchi Kandayū ignored the villagers’ warnings and went hunting with his retainers on Mount Tōkō on the ninth day of the month. On the trail, a beautiful woman around seventeen or eighteen years old appeared before him. She pointed a finger and laughed at him. 

As she laughed, her voice grew higher, and louder, and fiercer. Soon it seemed to Kandayū that the entire mountain was laughing at him. The trees, the rocks, the rivers, and even the wind seemed to echo her laughter. Kandayū and his retainers fled in terror, and when they finally exited the mountains, his retainers all fainted. Although he escaped successfully, Kandayū was haunted by that laughter, which echoed in his ears until he died.





The  Warai onna or Laughing Woman is a Yokai that resides in the mountains of the island of Shikoku.

The legend of the Warai onna come's from the folklore of Kōchi Prefecture. 

 

They only appear in the mountains on certain days: the first, ninth, and seventeenth days of every month. Because of this, locals will warn others to stay out of the mountains on those days.

As far as appearances, she looks just like any other average young women in her late teens or very early twenty's.

Her laughter can be heard late into the night by travelers who find themselves in the mountains after sunset.


Those that dare to tread into her mountains take thire chances and hope for the best. Those unfortunate enough to meet a warai onna run thr rist of
permanent madness or even death.

She will smile and laugh at a person when they meet. 

However her laughter is infectious, and often causes those who see her to laugh along too.

 Though, even after she leaves, the people who laughed along with her will continue to do so, to the point of sever laughter leaving them rolling on the ground laughing until
they are out of breath and unable to even stand. These is followed by  a sever  fever which, after a few days, will kill the victims.


Even those who somehow resist laughing along with her are not safe. Just hearing her laughter is enough to induce psychosis.  

 

They begin to hear a mocking laughter. Those who survive an encounter are still doomed to hear her laughter everywhere for the rest of their lives.



There is a male equivalent to the warai onna , called the warai otoko. They behave exactly the same way as warai onna.

A kerakera onna (“cackling woman”) has almost the exact same features as warai onna, except she only appears in red light districts not the  mountains.

A Dream By Edgar Allan Poe

 

A Dream

BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

In visions of the dark night

I have dreamed of joy departed—

But a waking dream of life and light

Hath left me broken-hearted.

Ah! what is not a dream by day

To him whose eyes are cast

On things around him with a ray

Turned back upon the past?

That holy dream—that holy dream,

While all the world were chiding,

Hath cheered me as a lovely beam

A lonely spirit guiding.

What though that light, thro' storm and night,

So trembled from afar—

What could there be more purely bright

In Truth's day-star?