Folklore and Mythology, The Four Leaf Clover 🍀

The four leaf clover is commonly considered a good luck charm in many places around the world.

The shamrock itself is wildly recognized as a symbol of Ireland largely do to St. Patrick's use of it's three leaves as a symbolic representation of the holy Trinity. 

However  the four leaf clover  is associated with Ireland just as much and also has use dating back to ancient Celtic times .

The four leaf clover was used as a way to see fairies,Irish Folklore claims carrying this charm would allow the holder to see through glamours ( fairy illusion magic) or to recognize witches in the crowd.

During the middle ages it was used as a protective charm to ward off not just bad luck but curse's as well, the same way the ancient Celtic druids did.

 St Patrick used a three leaf clover to symbolize the Holy Trinity (the father, the son and the holy spirit) but because of the popularity of the four leaf even after the christianization of Ireland the church also accepted the four leaf as a symbol of hope, faith love and luck.

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Another old saying is that  four leaf clovers were "gathered at night-time during the full moon by sorceresses, who mixed it with vervain and other ingredients, while young girls in search of a token of perfect happiness made quest of the plant by day.".

In an 1877 letter to St. Nicholas Magazine an 11-year-old girl wrote, "Did the fairies ever whisper in your ear, that a four leaf clover brought good luck to the finder? 

The Clover has also been used as the logo for many companies and advertising around the world.

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A survey done in multiple European countries figured The odds of finding a four leaf clover on average.

 The odds of finding a four leaf clover are around 5000 to 1 (one 4-leaf clover for every 5076 normal 3-leaf clovers), almost twice the commonly stated probability of 10,000 to 1. According to this survey, the frequency of a 5-leaf clover is 24,390 to 1, and that of a 6-leaf clover is 312,500 to 1.

Happy (early) St. Patrick's Day 🍀

The Hopkinsville Goblin's

 

Just over 70 years ago,a strange possibly extraterrestrial encounter took place on a rural farm in Kentucky.

On the night of August 21, 1955, five adults and seven children arrived at the Hopkinsville police station claiming that small goblin like alien creatures from a spaceship had been attacking their farmhouse and that they had been holding them off with gunfire "for nearly four hours". Two of the adults, Elmer Sutton and Billy Ray Taylor, claimed they had been shooting at a few short, dark figures who repeatedly popped up at the doorway or peered into windows.

 The Kentucky New Era, the first paper to report the incident, increased the number of creatures to "12 to 15," and this continues to be the number most often reported.

The report of gunfire and unknown creatures triggered a large police response that included local city police officers,  state troopers, deputy sheriffs, and even four military police officers from the nearby United States Army Fort Campbell  to the Sutton farmhouse located near the town of Kelly in Christian County.

There were dozens of eyewitnesses to the incidents, which included two families present at the farmhouse and others in the area; other civilians, some of whom had no connection to the families and even one in another state. the witnesses also included several local policemen and a state trooper who saw and heard strange phenomena including unexplained lights in the night sky and noises the same night.

The family present in the farmhouse all claimed that they were terrorized by several creatures similar to gremlins, which have since often been referred to as the "Hopkinsville Goblins" in popular culture. 

The possibly otherworldly creatures were described as about three feet tall, with upright pointed ears, thin limbs (the beings' legs were said to be almost non functional or devolved, even in a state of atrophy), long arms and claw-like hands or talons. The creatures were either silvery in color, or wearing something metallic. ( Skeptics claim the witnesses were seeing large owls and simply mistook them for something else)

Their movements on occasion seemed to defy gravity with them floating above the ground and appearing in high up places, and they "walked" with a swaying motion as though wading through water. Although the creatures never entered the house, they would pop up at windows and at the doorway, waking the children in the house up to a hysterical frenzy. The families fled the farmhouse in the middle of the night to the local police station and sheriff Russell Greenwell noted that they were visibly shaken. 

The families returned to the farmhouse with Sheriff Greenwell and several officers, yet the occurrences continued. Police saw evidence of the struggle and damage to the house, as well as seeing strange lights and hearing noises themselves. The witnesses additionally claimed to have used firearms to shoot at the creatures, with little or no effect, and the house and surrounding grounds were extensively damaged during the incident. There are no known photographs of a Hopkinsville Goblin.

The Michigan Gnome.

 

 Michigan Gnome.

One of the most well known cryptids in the state of Michigan is the Dogman, but did you know there have also been several other cryptids sighted there including a gnome.

 Most of these sightings seem to come from the Southeastern parts of Michigan. 

The Gnome is usually described as standing  between 3 to 5 feet tall and  human like in appearance, most often spotted  at either dawn or dusk. 

Several reports claim that once  spotted the gnome will freeze up, standing perfectly still as if you can no longer see him if he doesn't move. 

Unlike other gnome or fay the Michigan gnome doesn't seem to be aggressive of mischievous. Unlike it's less pleasant cousin in Chicago (Nain Rouge (The Red Dwarf): A famous Detroit legend dating back to 1701 .)

There also seems to be a colony or at least a good size family of them living in the region as young and loder gnome have been seen there.

Though the Southeastern part of Michigan seems to be the most active area, gnomes have seen in multiple areas around the state. There have been reports in forests, nature reserves, parks and cities.

Some of the other locations.  

Aside from wooded areas gnomes have been seen in and around Detroit as well as Bowers School Farm, Rolling Hills Park Dearborn-(also lots of dogman sightings there)   and several other locations throughout the state.

So if your out and about in the Michigan woods keep a good lookout you never know what you may encounter .