A short history of Witches ...

                             ---Halloween pinup witches rarity by alkven- on deviantart---



The Halloween season is in full swing and what's one of first images that comes too mind
 when you think of Halloween, ?..

For most people its a witch flying across  the moon light sky ...

Witches to today are seen as one of the most iconic symbols of this holiday .




But in the past those unfortunate enough to be labeled as such often met with a gruesome end.
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Deep in the forest lies a cabin surrounded by tree's and often shrouded in the mist..this is where you find the woodwives or the forest witch...

In times long ago  people sought out witches for versus reasons some for medicinal  cures,  others for  potions and  tonics and even curses.

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Some would shoot arrows into the forest with messages attached,  hoping for the witches within too grant there wishes.

No matter where you go, witches exist is some form or another, In the UK the druids and Celts, in Europe before Christianity took hold those that practiced the old ways could be found all over the continent .

In modern times witchcraft / wicca is not viewed as poorly as it once was.

However witchcraft in many regions around the world  is still largely views as evil do to the stigma placed upon it by the church.

However that was not always the case, witches at one point were healers and nursemaids, versed in herbal cures.

Some were said to have the ability of prophesy or divination foretelling events that have yet to occur..
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History and biblical accounts.....


Exactly when the term "witches" was first used in a historical scene is unclear, but one of the earliest records of a witch can be found in the Bible in the book of 1 Samuel, thought to be written sometime between 931 B.C. and 721 B.C.

It tells of a time  when King Saul sought the Witch of Endor to summon the dead prophet Samuel’s spirit to help him defeat the Philistine army.

The witch was said to have brought forth Samuel, who then prophesied the death of Saul and his sons. The next day, according to the Bible, Saul’s sons died in battle, and Saul committed suicide.

                                    Saul and the witch of Endor


Other Old Testament verses condemning witches, include the well known verse from Exodus 22:18, which says, “thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Additional Biblical passages caution against divination, chanting or using witches to contact the dead. basically if  the church doesn't support it it's Eeeevvviiillll....

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============== The Malleus Maleficarum================
The Witches Hammer..Or Hammer of Witches depending on translation
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The Malleus Maleficarum was written by a Catholic clergyman named Heinrich Kramer (under his Latinized name Henricus Institoris) and  submitted to the University of Cologne on May 9th, 1487 then then later  published in the German city of Speyer shortly after.

Between the years 1500 and 1660, the witch hystaria claimed the lives of up to 80,000 suspected witches in Europe.

Roughly 80 percent of the victims  were women thought to have formed a pact with the Devil. Germany had the highest witchcraft execution rate, while Ireland had the lowest.

The “Malleus Maleficarum"  tells of ways  to identify, hunt and interrogate suspected witches.

"Malleus Maleficarum" labeled witchcraft as heresy in the eyes of the church, and quickly became the go to source on information for Protestants and Catholics trying to flush out witches living among them.

For more than a century, this book out sold every other book in  Europe with the exception of  the Bible.

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Scoltland would go on to have it' own version of the Malleus Maleficarum Written by King James the first called Demonology.

One of the earliest Scottish witch trials was hat of Janet Boyman a local  healer who was charged with sorcery, witchcraft and consorting with fairies.

Boyman, who was executed in 1572, predicted the death of the country’s regent, bore “five bairns” allegedly without feeling any pain and appealed to elvish spirits in hopes of curing a sick man.


Scotland experienced four major witch hunts between roughly 1590 and 1727.

Horne and her daughter were both  arrested and imprisoned in Dornoch in Sutherland on the accusations of her neighbors. At the time Horne was showing signs of senility, and her daughter had a deformity of her hands and feet.

The trial was conducted very quickly; the sheriff  had judged both her and her daughter  guilty and sentenced them to death by means of being  burned at the stake.

The daughter managed to escape, but Janet was stripped, smeared with tar, paraded through the town on a barrel and then burned alive. Nine years after her death the witchcraft acts were repealed in Scotland.

 Janet Horne was the last person in Scotland to be executed for witchcraft, she was burned at the stake in 1727.


The Witch's Stone in Littletown, Dornoch, marks the alleged spot of Horne's execution.

During the Scottish witch craze as many as 4,000 people lost there lives..

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Britans Last Witch..

                                                                  Helen Duncann

Helen Duncan a spiritual medium famous at the time for her séances, was arrested and tried and jailed for witchcraft... she is now best known as the last person to be imprisoned under the British Witchcraft Act of 1735


In November 1941, Duncan held a séance in Portsmouth  when she claimed the spirit materialization of a sailor told her that the HMS Barham had been sunk^.

 Because the sinking of HMS Barham  was revealed, in strict confidence, only to the relatives of casualties, and not announced to the public until late January 1942, the Navy   took an interest in her activities as a possible thereat.

Soon after two lieutenants were seated among her audience at a séance on 14 January 1944. One was  Lieutenant Worth who was not impressed as a white cloth figure had appeared behind the curtains claiming to be his aunt but he had no deceased aunt. In the same sitting another figure appeared claiming to be his sister but Worth replied his sister was alive and well.

Worth was disgusted by the séance and reported it to the police. This was followed up on January 19th, when undercover policemen arrested her at another séance as a white-shrouded manifestation  appeared.

This proved to be Duncan herself, in a white cloth which she attempted to conceal when discovered, and she was arrested.

In 1944, Duncan was one of the last people convicted under the Witchcraft Act which made falsely claiming to procure spirits a crime. She was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment. When convicted, she cried out "I have done nothing; is there a God?"


On her release in 1945, Duncan promised to stop conducting séances, but she was arrested during another one in 1956. She died at her home in Edinburgh not long after

 Duncan's trial almost certainly the main contributing factor  to the repeal of the Witchcraft Act, which was contained in the Frauulaent Medium Act of 195, promoted by Walter Monslow, a  Labour party Memmber of Parliament for Barrow-in-Furness However the campaign to repeal the Act had  been led for the most part by Thomas Brooks  another Labour MP, who was a spiritualist. Duncan's original conviction still stood, and it was the subject of a sustained campaign to have it overturne

Helen Duncan passed away on December 6th 1956.


                                         ===========================
                                       =====American Witch Hysteria ======

As the witch hysteria was slowly dying down in Europe, a new form was about to take hold in the New World...

The witch trials held in  Salem Massachusetts in 1692  were arguably the most well know in the US but not the only one to take place here.
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In 1647 a woman named Alse Young from Windsor, Connecticut was the first person in America to be executed for witchcraft. Before Connecticut’s final witch trial took place in 1697, forty-six people were accused of witchcraft in that state and 11 were put to death.

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The Salem Trials.....


The  Salem Witch Trials are one of Americas darkest moments in history it all began when 9-year-old Elizabeth Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams began suffering from strange fits, body contortions and uncontrolled screaming (today, it is believed that they were poisoned by a fungus that caused spasms and delusions).

As more young women began to exhibit symptoms, mass hysteria soon too root, and three women were accused of witchcraft: Sarah Good, Sarah Osborn and Tituba, an slaved woman owned by Parris’s father. Tituba confessed to being a witch and began accusing others of using black magic.

 On June 10, Bridget Bishop became the first accused witch to be put to death during the Salem Witch Trials when she was hanged at the Salem gallows. By the time this all died down, roughly 200  people were accused and 20 were put to death. most of the accused were woman but there were also  six men  convicted in all over 200 were accused and jailed (Many  died in jail before there trial)  19 were executed at the gallows and one has crushed to death with heavy stones.

Home of Judge Jonathan Corwin  Corwin served on the Court  hearings that ultimately sent 19 Innocent people to the gallows. -----

NOTE Bridget Bishop the first victim was sentenced under Judge Nathaniel Saltonstall, who resigned after her  execution.
==============================

In 1711, after judge Samuel Sewall and others involved in the Salem witch trials had admitted wrongdoing, the colony restored the good names of all accused and granted restitution to their heirs.


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People in Virginia at the time seemed far more rational about witches. In Lower Norfolk County in 1655, a law was passed making it a crime to falsely accuse someone of witchcraft. Still, witchcraft was a concern. About two-dozen witch trials (mostly of women) took place in Virginia between 1626 and 1730. None of the accused were executed.


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Modern witch hunts....


Three woman were surrounded and beaten, in Gujarat in 2014, sadly this was one of thousands of witch hunts that take place in India on a regular bases .

More than 2,500 Indians have been chased, tortured and killed in these hunts between 2000 and 2016, according to India’s National Crime Records Bureau. Activists and journalists say the number is much higher, because most states don’t list witchcraft as a motive of murder.

Witch hunts primarily target women and exploit India’s caste system. The accusations of sorcery are used to oust women from there land  Witches is  also blamed for the  rising infant mortality rates and deaths from malaria, typhoid and cholera.

Modern day superstiton and stigma can be just as harsh and violent as it was in the
midelages...

Salem The Series : S.A.L.E.M. The Secret Archive of Legends, Enchantments and Monsters ..

        

           :) Kickstarter Active October 15th - November 14th :)
                                        Links below
                   Awesome rewards available to all backers!

-============================================
---------UPDATE Kickstarter was a success first ep sometime in October 2020..further updates when    available -------------
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                             Salem: The Secret Archive of Legends, Enchantments and Monsters
                                                ................................................................

                               Kickstarter --> thesalemseries.com
                               Salem Trailer --> Anamatic Trailer for Salem the series
                               Follow them on Instagram -->Salem The Series Instagram
                               Salem Creator Sam Sawyer  Salem Creator Sam Sawyer aka sincerely_sami
                              Salem Twitter give'm a follow  Salem Series Twitter


Cryptids from myth and legends to modern media


No matter where you go, there are always going to be stories of monsters
and the unexplained.

The world is full of encounters with strange monsters also known as cryptids, they can be found
in many different forms legend's, myths folklore first hand accounts campfire tales and modern tv and movies.

From Bigfoot in the Six Million Dollar Man too the hit paranormal series Supernatural,

 From The Originals and The Vampire Diaries too Teen Wolf and Sabrina the Teenage Witch and everything in between.

People have always been fascinated with the unexplained and the possibility that there is far more
in the world then what we usually consider  normal.

I 've  always loved reading and watching almost anything regarding the odd or supernatural.

Documentary, Drama's Cartoon's and and more. So when there's a new show about this particular
interest i'm all but guaranteed to check it out.

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That brings us to the topic of today's post.

There is a new Paranormal series i have taken an interest in called "Salem The Series" this show is by a creator and artist named Sam Sawyer, the show is about a group of young friends named Oliver Petra and of course Salem.


                         S.A.L.E.M.. The Secret Archive of Legends, Enchantment and Monsters

Oliver in a young photographer with an interest in cryptids and the supernatural, Petra is
the big sister of the group and a psychic/medium and Salem is a cute little cryptid and
 the daughter of  the Boogeyman, One day Salem learns that she is in fact not a Boogeyman.

The show revolves around adventures of Salem and her friends as they journey into the
strange world of cryptid with the hope of discovering exactly what kind of cryptic
Salem really is.

From the anamatics and info i have, this look's like a really cute and fun paranormal based series and i  highly recommend checking it out !!

Created and Written by Sam Sawyer and anamatics by Alyssa Gerwig.

Please check out and follow the links below and if possible consider donating to the Kickstarter and help get the first fully animated ep finished, if you can't donate cash don't fell bad
 just check out the official accounts and Like, Follow and share ... :D

.

...Links Below....


~~Kickstarter  now active  thesalemseries.com

Salem Trailer-------------- -->    Anamatic Trailer for Salem the series

Follow them on Instagram --> Salem The Series Instagram

Salem Creator Sam Sawyer ->  Salem Creator Sam Sawyer aka sincerely_sami

Salem The Series Official Twitter--> Salem Series Twitter
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Salem The Series was created by Sam Sewyer

The Series star's the voice talents of Laura Bailey as Salem Larura Baily Twitter

and

Rob Paulsen as The Boogeyman  and Salem's magic book official Rob Paulson page- rob paulsen instagram

Also staring Adam Mcarthur as Oliver.Adams Mcarthur Twitter

Petra's VA in the Anamatic's is Emily Yup but i'm not sure if she is the full time va for petra yet

:   Can not wait too see this series animated ! :D

Please Tweet, share and Re-Post the links and help support the Kickstarter anyway possible and let's get this show funded! :) 

Also  

 :) Happy Halloween!! :)

American Cryptids: The Boogeyman

                   

                                                 ==========The Boogyman=====



The Bogeyman (also spelled boogyman, bogyman, boogieman, boogey monster, or boogeyman) is a creature that appears in folklore  in almost every corner of the world different names but pretty much the same cryptid ... (See previous post)

The bogeyman has no specific appearance, and the conceptions of this cryptid can vary drastically from one country to the other,  even from household to household within the same community; in many cases he simply has no set appearance in the mind of a child, but is just an amorphous embodiment of terror.

Bogeyman can be used as a derogatory term to denote a person or thing of which someone has an irrational fear of.

Parents often say that if their child is naughty or misbehaved , the bogeyman will get them, in an effort to make them behave.

The modern  bogeyman legend may have originated in  Scotland, where they  are sometimes called bogles, boggarts, or bogies.

Bogeyman stories vary by region.

In some places the bogeyman is male; in others, female.

In the Midwestern states of the United States, the bogeyman scratches at the window.

 In the Pacific Northwest he may manifest in "green fog."  or hide under the bed or in the closet and tickles children when they go to sleep at night. It is said that a wart can be transmitted to someone by the bogeyman.

Bogeymen may  target a specific kinds mischief – for instance, a bogeyman that punishes children who suck their thumbs – others may target children that play  prank's  or just general misbehavior.

The word bogey is most likely derived from the Middle English bogge/bugge (also the origin of the word bug), and  is generally thought to be a cognate of the German bögge, böggel-mann (English "Bogeyman").

The word could also be linked to many similar words in other European languages; Buse (Nynorsk), bòcan, púca, pooka or pookha (Irish Gaelic), pwca, bwga or bwgan (Welsh), puki (Old Norse), pixie or piskie (Cornish), puck (English), bogu (Slavonic).
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                                        Monster High - Twyla Bogeyman  art is Monster Haus,
                                        by blacklottus on Deviantart.



Aside from scary story's to tell your kid's, The bogeyman has also appeared  as a main character in works of children's fiction, including Raymond Briggs' book Fungus the Bogeyman, and the film Monsters Inc. in which bogeymen are portrayed as workers for power-utility company, who harvest children's screams and fear as a source of power.

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                                                             TV and Movies -----

New upcoming action, Paranormal / Cryptids show that i'm looking froward too called
Salem the Series--- staring Salem  bogeyman and friends :)
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The villain in The Nightmare Before Christmas .

Monster High--  Twyla Bogeyman

These are   just a few references but there are many more......
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In Horror novels like , "The Bogeyman"  a short story by Stephen King, in which a man attempts to get himself committed to an asylum after his family is murdered by the Bogeyman.

Kentucky Blue People...The Fugate's.

 

 

Today we talk about The Fugate's. Not cryptids or paranormal but still a very interesting case...

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The Fugate's are a family from  the hills of Kentucky  known as the "Blue Fugates" or the Blue People of Kentucky, They are the  carriers of a rare  genetic trait  that led to the disease, methemoglobinemia this disease causes a  blue-tinged to the skin.

Methemoglobin is a nonfunctional blue version of the healthy red hemoglobin protein that carries oxygen. In most Caucasians, the red hemoglobin of the blood in their bodies shows through their skin giving it a pink tint.

For the Fugate family, the excessive amount of blue methemoglobin in their blood turned their skin color blue.

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===Blue People of Kentucky ===

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In  1820 Martin Fugate a french orphan became the first Fugate in the US.

He later settled in Troublesome Creek, in the hills of East Kentukey.

He eventually met Elizabeth Smith and was soon engaged..

Martin Fugate and Elizabeth Smith married and settled near Hazard, Kentuky  However they were both carriers of the recessive methemoglobinemia (met-H) gene, as was a nearby clan with whom the Fugates descendants intermarried. As a result, many descendants of the Fugates were born with
met-H.

Descendants with the gene continued to live in the areas around Troublesome Creek  and Ball Creek into the 20th century, eventually coming to the attention of the nurse Ruth Pendergrass and the hematologist Madison Cawein III, who made a detailed study of their condition and ancestry.
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===1960's  Oward...

 By the  1960s, some members of the Fugate family had begun to resent their blue  skin.

Not only did their skin mark them as different, but by that time, people had already begun to associate their skin color with the family’s history of inbreeding.

It was then that two Fugates approached Madison Cawein, a hematologist at the University of Kentucky’s medical clinic at the time, in search of a cure.

=============================


“They were really embarrassed about being blue,” Cawein remembers. “Patrick was all hunched down in the hall. Rachel was leaning against the wall. They wouldn’t come into the waiting room. You could tell how much it bothered them to be blue.”

Using research collected from studies of isolated Alaskan Eskimo populations, Cawein was able to conclude that the Fugates carried a rare hereditary blood disorder that causes excessive levels of methemoglobin in their blood.


Cawein treated the family with methylene blue which seemed to decrees some of their symptoms and reduced the blue coloring of their skin.

 He eventually published his research in the Archives of Internal Medicine  in 1964.

As travel became easier in the 20th century, and families spread out over wider areas, the prevalence of the recessive gene in the local population reduced, and with it the probability of inheriting the disease.

 -----------Fugate Family Tree---------



^{------------------------------------}

Benjamin Stacy, born in 1975, is the last known descendant of the Fugates to have been born with blue skin, and lost his blue skin tone as he grew older.

Having this recessive gen on both sides of the family combined with isolation and the fact that   many of the Fugates began to marry and have children within their own bloodline led to the bluse ting.

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“It was hard to get out, so they intermarried,” says Dennis Stacy, an amateur genealogist, and descendant of the Fugates. “I’m kin to myself.”

Benjy is descended from a line of this family that began when Martin’s son, Zachariah, married his mother’s sister.

  Today Benjy and most of the Fugate family descendants have lost their blue coloring and look like anyone eles you would see out n about...

                                                          Benjy at age 37
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It has been speculated that some other American sufferers of inherited methemoglobinemia may also have had Fugate ancestors, but searches for direct links have so far proved inconclusive.

American Cryptid: Evil Gnomes

                              ==========Evil Gnomes===============



Today we take a trip to sunny California, beach's sun tans and surfing.

But California is also home to some odd and sometimes not so friendly cryptids, we all know of Bigfoot and a lot of you have probably heard of the Fresno Night Walkers(strange alien like cryptids with very small body's and really long legs - post on them soon)

But what's the first thing you think of when you hear the word Gnome?

For most of us it's those strange little men on your neighbors front lawn keeping a watchful eye on the garden.

But what if that creepy little figure wasn't so inanimate, what if by some slim chance, you happen too see it move....or even worst it tries to attack you.

Gnome's much like fairy's have been seen all over the world in some form or another, there were a few videos from Mexico that appear to show a gnome (duende) or at least a diminutive human like creature, You can still find them on  youtube.

                                                                   ---Duende---


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Gnome's are thought to dwell deep within the forests and mountains, making there homes underground or in caves and abandon mine shafts.

Though they have been known to frequent old abandon homes and buildings.

Most are thought of as kind or at least reclusive enough not to be a threat to humans, but just like humans there are good and bad gnomes.

==========================================================================================English Legend's about a vicious and even murderous gnome called a red cap, (They are Very similar to Goblins) this is a gnome you definitely don't want too meet!In the midelages  they would make there homes in old abandon castles and towers and would kill anyone that entered there territory.

They look like a little old man. Are short in stature like all gnomes, have red eyes, sharp teeth and long finger nails and of course a long pointy red hat. the hat's are red because this  vicious  little creature has a nasty habit of dyeing there hats with the blood of there victims.American Indianans speak of legends involving a small and fierce tribe of little people.

                                                ===The Redcaps Gnome-===
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A burial site unearthed in Tennessee was said too contain at least 100,000, yes -- One Hundred Thousand, full grown body's no more the 3 feet or so in height.

                                            ===Tennessee Fairy Remains===

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There have been several sightings along the Tully river in California.

These creatures for the most part seem too be some what foul tempered or even malevolent.

One California family experienced this terror first hand.

In 1999 a woman named Tammy Thomas and her family moved into an old farm house with an old unused shed in the back,at one point she began to notice a few of her duck's and other small animals go missing.

She believed there was something in the old shed, but never approached it out of fear of what was possibly inside.

Then one night after returning home from  a trip to the store with her grandson, she was terrified too see what she describes as an "Evil Garden Gnome" cackling in the dark.she grabbed her grandson and and ran to the house, once inside she could still hear noises on the porch and when she opened the curtains and to her horror the creature was staring back at her.

This incident frightened her, and fearing for the safety of herself and her grandchildren she eventually moved to a new home.

However people in that area still claim too see this odd little man from time to time, he is sometimes spotted moving lawn ornaments around in peoples yards, or catching and eating fish from the river or local ponds.

Some even say they hear him singing late at night. Another evil gnome like creature in California is called a Water Baby, it's a water dwelling creature, gnome like in appearance and if angered will sneak into your home and smother you.

They are said to live in the Tully river.California also has sightings of small hairy human like creatures that have been seen running across the road at night, So the next time you take a scenic hike through the forest of the golden state just remember Bigfoot may not be the only cryptid roaming the woods


........................................................................................................

On a side note California has one of the largest clusters of missing people in the country, Yosemite national park seems to be a real active location for disappearance, stay safe and hike/camp responsibly and always ALWAY's let some one know were you are planning on going. For more information on the strange disappearance check out The Missing 411 series by David Palides, very informative and well researched
 .---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

American Cryptids: Oklahoma Octopus

American lakes and river's seems to be full of odd creatures...

From serpent's to aquatic humanoids, but is it possible that there my in fact be an octopus
or at least an octopus like creature stalking it's prey in Oklahoma..

Sounds far fetched i know, but is it really more outlandish then people claiming  that there are sharks
in the Mississippi river or lake Michigan (There actually is)


Bull sharks have been 'know to swim up river from the golf of mexico and some smaller one's have even be caught in Lake Michigan.

When you mention the word Giant octopus most people probably thing of The Kraken, but the Oklahoma octopus is often described as being roughly the size of a horse, that may not exactly be a giant but its still a very large predator.

Its said to have  a thick reddish brown leather like skin.

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...........

                                    ----The Legendary Giant octopus.--- The Kraken------


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The beast seems to be very reclusive, and is rarely seen, People do go missing in state parks and lake's but keep in mind there are some very large alligators in lakes and rivers in the south that could contribute to at least some of the missing or drown swimmers....


As far as cryptids go the Oklahoma Octopus is not all that remarkable, it's basically just a very large octopus.


Similar to the Lusca or monster of the blue holes in the Caribbean. normally octopus in that area only grow to  around three feet, however in 2011, the body of what appeared  to be a giant octopus was found washed ashore on Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas.  if fully intact would have been over twenty feet long, many times the average length of a Caribbean octopus.



                                              .... Lusca home the Caribbean Blue Holes....

=====================================






The Oklahoma Octopus according to legend can be found in these tree lakes....

Lake Tenkiller, Lake Thunderbird, and  Lake Oolagah, which are all fresh water man-made lakes . But  they also seem to have a high number of drawing deaths for some reason....

=========================================================================================================


In 2003 a man named John Mazurek captured a live octopus at the Lake Conway Dam just outside of Mayflower Arkansas.

Well not as large as it's Oklahoma cousin is reported to be, it's at the very least proof that there was a  smaller variations living near the area....


========================

Next time you visit Oklahoma keep a watchful eye on the water alligators may not  be the only thing you have to worry about...

Fairy Myths: The Dullahan

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This will by my last Fay/ Fairy post for now, my next post will be Paranormal..Cryptid's and Monsters at least until  Halloween. anyway Enjoy :)
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                                            monster musume - lala by angellmoonlight on Deviantart

                                                  The Dullahan: Ireland's Headless Rider.



The Dullahan  is a type of fay from Irish Mythology it's  often seen as a harbinger of death.

This creature is depicted as a headless rider usually on a black horse or is some versions riding in a black horse drawn coach. The Dullahan is also refered to as Gan Ceann which means "Without a Head".



The headless rider is known too carries their own head under one arm. typically the Dullahan  is described as male, but there are some female versions.


The Dullahan has limited  speech capability's.

Its disembodied head is permitted to speak just once on each journey it undertakes, after that it only the ability to call the name of the person whose death it heralds.

A dullahan will stop its snorting horse at  the door of a house and shout the name of the person about to die, drawing forth the soul at the call.

 He may also stop at the very spot where a person will die.

On nights of Irish feast days, it is advisable to stay at home with the curtains drawn; particularly around the end of August or early September when the festival of Crom Dubh reputedly took place. If you have to be abroad at this time, be sure to keep some gold object close to hand.


The origins of the dullahan are unkown, but he is thought to be the embodiment of an ancient Celtic god, Crom Dubh, or Black Crom.

Black Crom was worshiped by the prehistoric king, Tighermas, who ruled in Ireland about fifteen hundred years ago and practiced human sacrifice.

Unlike the banshee, the dullahan does not follow specific families and its call is a summoning of the soul of the dying,  rather than a death warning.

 There is no real defense against the dullahan because he is death's herald. However, an charm or trinket made of gold may frighten him away.

 The  Dullahan's mouth is usually seen  in a sinister or hideous  grin that stretches from ear to ear. Its eyes are constantly moving about and can see across the countryside even during the darkest nights.

The flesh of the head is said to have the color and consistency of moldy cheese.

In some tales the Dullahan is believed to use the spine of a human corpse for a whip, and it's ghostly wagon is adorned with funeral objects: it has candles in skulls to light the way, the spokes of the wheels are made from thigh bones  and the wagon's covering is made from a worm-chewed pall or dried human skin.

The ancient Irish believed that where the Dullahan stops riding, a person is going  to die.


 The Dullahan calls out the person's name, drawing away the soul of his victim, at which point the person immediately drops dead.

Some legend's say that golden objects can force the Dullahan to disappear.These tales are coming from ancient times, where gold was very valuable and most commoner's / villagers did not have it.




It was thought that by .leaving  behind the gold as a sort of sacrifice  the soul could be spared.



 ====================================================================






Dullahans have also been main charterers in modern anime and manga's...




Durarara, Interviews with Monster Girls and Monster Musume to name a few.

Fairy Myth: The Banshee

                                              ~~~~Scarah Screams by ashiori_chan ~~~~

                                                          Banshee from Monster High..


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The Banshee / Bean Si or Wailing Woman is seen as a harbinger of death, and is often said too haunt specific Irish family's though this is not always the case.

The legends  of the banshee can be traced back at least  as far as the early eighth century.

These story's  were based on an old Irish tradition where a women would sing a lament to signify a persons death.


In Scottish Mythology there is also a similar creature it's known as a the Bean nighe or ban nigheachain (little washerwoman) or nigheag na h-àth (little washer at the ford).

In Welsh mythology, She is  called the Hag of the mist.



===========================================


There are even stories of banshee's or banshee like creature in  America dating back to as early as the late 18th century.

 The most common area for the American Banshee is the Tar River in Edgecombe County, North Carolina .

Though unlike her Celtic counterpart,  this version of  the banshee is more like  a ghoul, as opposed to a spirit or messenger of death.

In one version of this legend a man named Dave Warnen was killed by the British and on his final breath cured them, as the  legend goes a banshee soon appeared and lead his killers tohe river were they drowned. She is said to still haunt the area.
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Another version of the American  Banshee can be found in the badlands area of South Dakota, where  people claim to hear a banshee's wail from a hill near Watch Dog Butte.

                                                            Banshee of the Badlands
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Many people in our modern time see the myth of the banshees as little more then entertaining Folk lore, something akin to campfire tales  while others believe wholeheartedly  in their existence.

Do Banshee's cause  death or simply foretell it, there have been reports of heart attacks or drowning and other sudden deaths of otherwise healthy individuals within  weeks following what was thought to be the sound of a banshee’s cry.

One of the most famous example of this is King James I of Scotland who was murdered soon after he reported having been approached by a strange Irish seer. 
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---King James 1 Banshee encounter------
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 In 1437,King James 1 of Scotland was approached by an Irish seer or fortune teller who was later identified as a banshee She foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl.
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There are records of several prophets believed to be physical  incarnations of  banshees attending the great houses of Ireland and the courts of local Irish kings.



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-----Family said to be haunted by a Banshee----------------
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A banshee’s cry is often believed to predicts the death of a member of one of Ireland’s five major families: the O’Grady’s, the O’Neills, the O’Briens, the O’Connors or the Kavanaghs. Over time as families blended, it was said that most Irish families had their own banshee.

It is also said that the banshees followed their families as they emigrated from Ireland to other places across the globe, though some stayed behind to grieve at the original family estate.

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The Banshee that haunt's the O'Brians Family's was believed too be go by the name of Eevul, and was the apparently the leader of of at least  25 other banshees who would always be at her attendance. .

In later versions, the banshee might appear before the death and warn the family by wailing.

When several banshees appeared at once, it would  indicated the death of someone great or holy.

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In some versions a Banshee is a type of fairy,  in other story's she  was a ghost, often of a specific woman that had been murdered, or a mother who died during childbirth.

Banshees are usually described as dressed in white or grey, often having long, pale hair which they brush with a silver comb, a detail scholar Patricia Lysaght attributes to confusion with local mermaid myths. This comb detail is also related to the centuries-old traditional romantic Irish story that, if you ever see a comb lying on the ground in Ireland, you must never pick it up, or the banshees, having placed it there to lure unsuspecting humans, will spirit  you away.

Other stories describe the banshees as being dressed in green, red, or black and often with a grey or dark cloak.
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In traditional Scottish Gaelic mythology, the banshee is known as the bean sìth or bean nighe and can be  seen washing the bloodstained clothes or armor of those who are about to die. Similar beings are also found in Norse, and Welsh mythology.
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..Other Media ...

The America paranormal drama Teen Wolf

                                               Teen Wolf --  Lydia Martin the Banshee
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Monster High resident banshee named Scarha Screams..

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 and another well know charter the villain know as Silver Banshee from DC Comics

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Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers had a banshee in the Episode called "The Last Leprechaun"

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and

Tiny Toon Adventures had an ep featuring a banshee as well . "Pluck of the Irish"

Hope you all enjoy these post's, starting next week i will be doing mostly Cryptid/ monster post  until Halloween or a little after. Happy early Halloween lol

Fairy Myth : Leanansidhe - the vampier fairy

                                          ~~Irish Myths and Legends...The Leanansidhe~~




The Leanansidhe

Leanansidhe (Lhiannanshee) Leanan Sidhe: The Lhiannan Shee of the Isle of Man is said to be a vampir like  fairy who attached herself to one man, to whom she appeared irresistibly beautiful, but invisible to everyone else. If he yielded to her, he was ruined body and soul.

She is both a muse and a demon of sorts,  In Celtic lore the Leanan Sidhe is one of Ireland’s mythological vampires.

The fairy was a beautiful woman who was said to give inspiration to poets and musicians – but at the price of their lives.




She can often be found around wells or natural springs.

According to some legends she would make an artist her lover, sharing with them her intelligence, creativity and magic, but when she left, the men would be so depressed, they'd die. Leanan Sidhe would then take her dead lovers back to her lair.


Rather than directly suck the blood of her victims, Leanan Sidhe got creative, and collected their blood in a giant red cauldron, which was the source of her beauty, youth and artistic inspiration.

In other versions of this myth she takes is energy, like a type of energy vampier, ether way he die's..

As with Dearg-due, to prevent the undead Leanan Sidhe from rising, one must put a cairn of stones over her resting place.


The Irish Leanan Sidhe is known as the inspiration of poets and minstrels. She would roam the night, searching for romantic men to inspire with eloquence of word and beautiful music while in her embrace, and would draw from their life force until he would die.

Both names mean "fairy Sweetheart". In Scotland, the Leannan Sith was a term used to denote a fairy lover of either sex. In fact, the translators of the Bible into Scots Gaelic used this term, and the Scots took this as Biblical proof of the existence of fairies.

The Lhiannan Shee of Ballfletcher was the tutrelary fairy of the Fletchers, and gave them the fairy cup, which was drank from every Christmas in her honor.