Japanese legends, The Oni Kidomaru 👹

 

 

 

 Kidomaru

 

Kidomaru is an oni who first appeared  in Kokon chomonju (“A Collection of  Tales Old and New”), a Kamakura Period complication of myths and legends of the Heian Period. He was a member of Shuten doji’s clan,  and is said to be Shuten doji’s son. He is known for his attempts to take revenge on the samurai who defeated his father.
 

 

According to myth  he was born after the Minamoto no Yorimitsu (also known as Raiko) after his party of heroes had defeated Shuten doji and freed all of the women captured by his gang of oni. 

 

The women were grateful to the samurai for rescuing them, and returned home to their villages. One of the women, however, didn’t return to her home. Instead, she traveled to the village of Kumohara, where she gave birth to a baby oni—  Shuten doji’s son!

The boy was named Kidomaru. He was born with a full set of teeth, and an oni’s strength. By the time he was 7 or 8 years old,
 

he could slay a deer or a boar by throwing a single rock at it. He was apprenticed as a temple servant to Mt. Hiei, just like his father was.And just like his father, he was eventually expelled from the temple for being a wicked individual . 

 

He fled into the mountains and lived in a cave, and eventually started robbing people to survive. He also  studied magic and honed his powers in his secret hideout.

Many years later, Raiko was visiting his younger brother Yorinobu. Yorinobu had captured the oni bandit Kidomaru and locked him in  his bathroom. Raiko scolded his brother for being so careless and not properly subduing the oni with ropes and chains. Raiko showed Yorinobu how to tie up an oni, and made sure Kidomaru couldn’t escape. Then Raiko spent the night just to make sure nothing bad would happen.

That night, Kidomaru easily broke the bonds that were holding him. He wanted revenge, so he snuck up to Raiko’s room and spied on him.
 

 

Raiko noticed the oni spying on him and decided to lay a trap. In a loud voice he told his attendants that the following morning they would ride  to Mount Kurama to make a pilgrimage. Hearing this, Kidomaru ran ahead to Kurama to plan an ambush for Raiko. On the road outside of Ichiharano,
Kidomaru slaughtered a cow and climbed inside of its body to hide and wait.

When Raiko and his companions arrived at Ichiharano, they easily saw through Kidomaru’s disguise. Raiko’s best archer, Watanabe no Tsuna, shot an arrow through the cow’s body, injuring the oni. Kidomaru emerged from the cow’s corpse and charged at Raiko with all of his might.
 

 

However, Raiko was too fast: he cut Kidomaru down with a single stroke of his blade.

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New Posts every Friday..👻🎃🐈‍⬛

Ghost stories.. La Llorona, the weeping woman.

La Llorona, The Weeping Woman or The Cryer, is a popular Latin American legend about the ghost of a woman who steals children to drown them. 

 

There are several versions of this tale In the Southwestern United States, the tale of La Llorona is told to scare children into good behavior, sometimes specifically to deter children from playing near dangerous water. 

 

They are also told her cries are heard as she walks around the street or near bodies of water to scare children from wandering around, resembling the stories of El Cucuy. (more on hime in a later post) 

 

 In Chumash mythology indigenous to Southern California, La Llorona is linked to the nunašɨš, a mythological creature with a cry similar to that of a newborn baby. 

The legend of La Llorona is also deeply rooted in Mexican popular culture, her story told to children throghout the countery to encourage them not to wander off after dark, "La Cihuacoatle, Leyenda de la Llorona" is a yearly waterfront theatrical performance of the legend of La Llorona set in the Xochimilco borough of Mexico City, established in 1993 to coincide with the Day of the Dead.

 

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                             Standard version of the legend..

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After giving birth to, and raising two sons, an aging wife felt that her husband fell out of love with her and only loved their sons. After catching her husband cheating on her with a younger woman she was consumed by grief and anger, so she drowned her sons in a river to punish her husband, then drowned herself as well. She was refused entry to Heaven and sent to Hell where she was tricked by Ramiel that told her her son's souls were lost, but she would be granted entry to Heaven if she found their lost souls and brought them to Heaven where they belonged. 

Ramiel knew that her son's souls were in Heaven, so the woman would be stuck in the land of the living trying to find her sons forever, crying constantly for the sins she committed. After having spent a long time without finding her sons, her grief, and her desperation to just be able to die and be at peace caused her to start taking other children's souls by drowning them.

Another variation, 

 

In a rural village in Mexico, there lived a beautiful young woman named María. She came from a poor family but was known around her village for her beauty and grace. One day, an extremely wealthy nobleman was riding through her village and stopped in his tracks. He had traveled all over the world and has never seen anyone as beautiful as María. He was mesmerized by her. He knew that he had to win her heart. María was easily charmed by him and he was charmed by her beauty, so when he proposed to her, she immediately accepted. Eventually, the two married, and María gave birth to two sons. Her husband was always traveling and he stopped spending time with his family. 

When he came home, he only paid attention to the children and as time passed María could tell that her husband was falling out of love with her because she was getting old. 

 

Then one day he returned to the village with a younger woman, and bid his children farewell, ignoring María.

María, angry and hurt, took her children to a river and drowned them in a blind rage. She realized what she had done and searched for them, but the river had already carried them away. Days later, her husband came back and asked about the children, but María started weeping and said that she had drowned them. Her husband was furious and said that she could not be with him unless she found their children.

Now she spends eternity looking for her lost children. She is always heard weeping for her children, earning her the name "La Llorona", which means "The Weeping Woman".

 

 

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OLDER VERIATIONS.

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The earliest documentation of La Llorona is traced back to 1550 in Mexico City, though there are theories that her story can be connected to specific mythologies of the Aztecs, including some creation stories. The Aztec creation myth of “The Hungry Woman” includes a wailing woman constantly crying for food, which has been compared to La Llorona’s signature nocturnal wailing for her children.

 

 The motherly nature of La Llorona’s tragedy has also been compared to Chihuacoatl, an Aztec goddess who was considered a deity of motherhood. 

Her search for children to keep for herself is also significantly compared to that of Coatlicue, known as “Our Lady Mother” or Tonantsi 

One of the first texts that mention a woman with the characteristics of La Llorona a be found in the Florentine Codex, also known as Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España. The Florentine Codex is composed of twelve books and was put together in 1577 according to the Laurentian Library of Florence where it is currently located. Some of the text in its books, however, can be dated earlier. Book twelve was originally written in Náhuatl language in 1555 according to Fray Bernardino de Sahagún. 

Mexican historian Miguel León-Portilla calls this section of the Florentine Codex, Testimonios de los informantes de Sahagún. Native students from Tlatelolco collected first-hand testimonies from native elders with the supervision of Sahagún. In book twelve of the Florentine Codex, native elders stated that ten years prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, the Mexica (Aztecs) and in particular Motecuhzoma (Moctezuma II), began to witness a series of omens. 

These prophecies signaled the arrival of men who waged war and the downfall of Tenochtitlan. Omen number six states that a woman was heard crying and screaming at night many times, "My children, we now have to leave far away!" Other times she would say, "My children, where shall l take you?" The passage is accompanied by an illustration of the native woman, crying, barefooted, and clutching her hands.

The first and eighth books of the Florentine Codex state that the woman crying at night, worried for her children, is none other than the goddess Cihuacóatl, whose name means "serpent woman". 

 In chapter six of the first book, Sahagún narrates some apparitions by Cihuacóatl. He describes her attire as "white, with her hair as if she had horns crossed above her forehead." The original version of this passage, written in Náhuatl, states that Cihuacóatl was covered in “chalk” and would “appear at night dressed in white, walking and crying”. 

Book eight of the Florentine Codex says that a terrible famine occurred for three years during Motecuhzoma's reign prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, and "the devil who is named Cihuacóatl would appear and go around crying through the streets of Mexico.” The Náhuatl version of this passage mentions that everyone would hear her crying and saying, "My beloved children, I'm going to leave you now." 

The eighth book also states that during the sixth omen, a voice was heard crying and saying, "Oh, my children, we are about to be lost." The voice would also cry, "My children, where shall I take you?" At the beginning of the text describing the sixth omen, an illustration shows Cihuacóatl. She has the head of a woman, her hair combed like horns and the body of a snake. Chapter two makes a terrifying assertion that took place after the conquest; Cihuacóatl ate a child that was in his crib in the town of "Azcaputzalco.

 

 

 There are two other texts, also from the 16th century, which mention a woman with the characteristics of La Llorona​ and refer to a set of pre-colonial omens, The Durán Codex and La Historia de Tlaxcala. The Durán Codex, also known as Historia de las Indias de Nueva España e Islas de Tierra Firme, is dated 1579 according to the Biblioteca Nacional de España where it is currently located.

 

 The text states that Motecuhzoma summoned all of the leaders of the "barrios" and asked them to tell all of the elders that from now on they are to report to him what they see in their dreams. Motecuhzoma also asked the leaders to tell those who have a habit of wondering at night, that if they were to run into "that woman whom people say wonders at night crying and moaning, to ask her why she cries and moans.

 

 La Historia de Tlaxcala, dated 1592 according to Dr. Francisco Ramírez Santacruz and Dr. Héctor Costilla Martínez, was written by a mestizo descendant of Tlaxcaltecan nobility named Diego Muñoz Camargo. The text states that during a sixth omen, many times and for many nights, you could hear the voice of a woman crying and sobbing loudly, "Oh my children! We will now lose everything..." and other times she would say, "Oh my children, where can I take you and hide you

 

 In short, be very careful after dark...stay away from rivers and don't talk to ghostly crying lady's

 

American Cryptid's: The Jersey Devil

   

                                                    THE JERSEY DEVIL

The Jersey devil is a cryptid that has haunted  the Pine Barrens for hundreds of years now.

Legends of the creature possibly pre date colonial settlements..

The local  Lenape tribes called the area "Popuessing" meaning "place of the dragon".
Later Swedish explorers named it "Drake Kill" ("drake" meaning  dragon, and "kill" meaning channel or arm of the sea (river, stream, etc. in Dutch).


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Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon, is also claimed to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Borden town estate around 1820.

 

Joseph Bonaprte's sighting:

"One snowy afternoon, [Joseph Bonaparte] was hunting alone in the woods near his house when he spotted some strange tracks on the ground. they looked like the tracks of a two-footed donkey. Bonaparte noticed that one foot was slightly larger than the other.
 

The tracks ended abruptly as if the creature had flown away. He stared at the tracks for a long moment, trying to figure out what the strange animal might be."

At that moment, Bonaparte heard a strange hissing noise.

Turning, he found himself face to face with a large winged creature with a horse-like head and bird-like legs.
 

Astonished and frightened, he froze and stared at the beast, forgetting that he was carrying a rifle. For a moment, neither of them moved. Then the creature hissed at him, beat its wings, and flew away."

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1909 Mass Sightings....

During the week of January 16 through 23, 1909, newspapers of the time published hundreds of claimed encounters with the  Jersey Devil from all over the state. Among alleged encounters publicized that week were claims the creature "attacked" a trolley car in Haddon Heights and a social club in Camden. Police in Camden and Bristol, Pennsylvania supposedly fired on the creature to no effect. Other reports initially concerned unidentified footprints in the snow, but soon sightings of creatures resembling the Jersey Devil were being reported throughout South Jersey and as far away as Delaware and Western Maryland.
 

 

 

The widespread newspaper coverage led to a panic throughout the Delaware Valley prompting a number of schools to close and workers to stay home. During this period, it is rumored that the Philadelphia Zoo posted a $10,000 reward for the creature's dung.

The offer prompted a variety of hoaxes, including a kangaroo with artificial wings.
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Possible Origins......


As a result of the poor farming prospects new wealthy settlers coming into the region would avoided the area as much as possible leaving it to those of leaser means to settle in the pine barrens and later becoming known as "Pineys".
 
Made up of the outcasts and less reputable members of colonial society, this reputation gave those outside the Barrens even more of a reason to stay far from the Pine Barrens.

 

It is possible that the jersey devils  origins story and the Leed's family were a form of social discrimination taking the form of folklore. The creature's fearsome reputation, combined with the possibly bad reputation of the family it came from, would only encourage locals to avoid the region for fear of being caught by the Jersey Devil.

The Jersey devil is also known as the Leeds Devil.



Prior to the early 1900s, and before the mass  series of sightings in 1909, the Jersey Devil was called the Leeds Devil or the Devil of Leeds, either because of it's connection with the local Leeds family or the southern New Jersey town, Leeds Point.

Modern day  Leeds Point  is now Atlantic County, New Jersey, the area most  commonly associated with the Jersey Devil story.

By at least the late 1700s and early 1800s at the latest, the "Leeds Devil" had become a well known  legendary in the southern New Jersey area.

Into the early to mid-19th century, stories continued to circulate in southern New Jersey of the Leeds Devil, a "monster wandering the Pine Barrens".

An oral tradition of  the "Leeds Devil" eventually became a prominent myth in the Pine Barrens area

Although the "Leeds Devil" legend has existed since the 1700's, the more modern description of the Jersey Devil, wasn't  truly standardized in current form until the early 1900's
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Origins of the the Jersey Devil  very s slightly  depending on who's telling it..

Some claim "Mother Leeds" was a woman named Jane Leeds, in other versions her name is Deborah Leeds.

In ether case,  Mother Leeds is said to have  had twelve children upon learning she was pregnant for the thirteenth time, she cursed the child in frustration, crying out that the child would be the "devil".

In 1735, Mother Leeds was in labor on a stormy night while her friends gathered around her.

She soon gave birth, the child was born normal, but then started too change into a grotesque creature with hooves, a goat's head,  bat wings, and a forked tail.

Growling and screaming, the child then attacked and beat everyone in the room before flying up the chimney and heading into the woods where it is said to haunt to this day..

However it is entirely possible that the story of the Leeds devil is based on personal issues locals had with the Leeds family as opposed to a supernatural event resulting in a demon baby..

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In some versions of the tale, Mother Leeds was supposedly a witch and the child's father was the devil, himself. legend also state that there was eventually an attempt by local clergymen to exorcise the beast from the Pine Barrens.

The real "Mother Leeds" was most likely  Deborah Leeds.

 Deborah Leeds and her husband Japhet Leeds really had  twelve children that where named in Japhet's will that he wrote during 1736, which is compatible with the legend.

Deborah and Japhet Leeds also lived in the Leeds Point during that time period.

Japhet Leeds house was still standing  up to 1937 on Moss Mill Road, Leeds Point, Atlantic County, New Jersey.


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Others believe that a colonial-era feud/disagreement  involving early New Jersey politician, Benjamin Franklin, and Franklin's rival almanac publisher Daniel Leeds (1651–1720) resulted in the Leeds family being labled  "monsters", and it was that  negative description of Daniel Leeds' that later resulted the name "Leeds Devil", rather than an actual creature, that lead to the later legend of the Jersey Devil.

 

                                                                 Daniel Leeds

Much like the Mother Leeds of the Jersey Devil myth, Daniel Leeds' third wife had given birth to nine children, a very large number of children  for the time.

Leeds' second wife and first daughter had both died during childbirth.

As a royal surveyor with strong allegiance to the British crown, Leeds had also surveyed and acquired land in the Egg Harbor area,  located within the Pine Barrens. The land was inherited by Leeds' sons and family and is now known as Leeds Point in the Pine Barrens the region currently most associated with the Jersey Devil legend and alleged Jersey Devil sightings.

Also in the 17th century, English Quakers established settlements in southern New Jersey Pine Barrens. Daniel Leeds, a Quaker and a prominent person of pre-Revolution colonial southern New Jersey, became ostracized by his Quaker congregation after his 1687 publication of almanacs containing astrological symbols and writings.

Leeds' fellow Quakers deemed the astrology in these almanacs as too "pagan" or blasphemous, and the almanacs were censored and destroyed by the local Quaker community.

In response to and in spite of this blatant censorship, Leeds continued to publish even more esoteric astrological Christian writing and became increasingly fascinated with Christian occultism, Christian mysticism, cosmology, demonology and angelology, and natural magic.

In the 1690s, after his almanacs and writings were further censored and labeled as  blasphemous or heretical by the Philadelphia Quaker Meeting, Leeds continued to dispute with the Quaker community, converting to Anglicanism and publishing anti-Quaker tracts criticizing Quaker theology and accusing Quakers of being anti-monarchists.

In the escalating dispute between Leeds and the southern New Jersey Quakers over Leeds' accusations, Leeds was endorsed by the much-maligned British royal governor of New Jersey, Lord Cornbury, despised among the Quaker communities.

Leeds also worked as a councilor to Lord Cornbury about this time.

Considering Leeds as a traitor for aiding the Crown and rejecting Quaker beliefs, the Quaker Burlington Meeting of southern New Jersey subsequently dismissed Leeds as "evil".

During 1716, Daniel Leeds' son, Titan Leeds, inherited his father's almanac business, which continued to use astrological content and eventually competed with Benjamin Franklin's popular Poor Richard's Almanac. 

The competition between the two men intensified during 1733, Franklin satirically used astrology in his almanac to predict Titan Leeds' death on October of that same year. 

 

Though Franklin's prediction was intended as a joke at his competitor's expense and a means to boost almanac sales, Titan Leeds was apparently offended at the death prediction, publishing a public admonition of Franklin as a "fool" and a "liar".
 

In a published response, Franklin mocked Titan Leeds' outrage and humorously suggested that, in fact, Titan Leeds had died in accordance with the earlier prediction and was thus writing his almanacs as a ghost, resurrected from the grave to haunt and torment Franklin.

Franklin continued to jokingly refer to Titan Leeds as a "ghost" even after Titan Leeds' actual death during 1738. Daniel Leeds' blasphemous and occultist reputation and his pro-monarchy stance in the largely anti-monarchist colonial south of New Jersey, combined with Benjamin Franklin's later continuous depiction of Titan Leeds as a ghost, may have originated or contributed to the local folk legend of a so-called "Leeds Devil" lurking in the Pine Barrens.

During 1728, Titan Leeds began to include the Leeds family crest on the masthead of his almanacs.

The Leeds family crest depicted a wyvern, a bat-winged dragon-like legendary creature that stands upright on two clawed feet.
 

                                                             Leeds  Family Crest
 

The wyvern on the Leeds family crest is reminiscent of the popular descriptions of the Jersey Devil.

The inclusion of this family crest on Leeds' almanacs may have further contributed to the Leeds family's poor reputation among locals and possibly influenced the popular descriptions of the Leeds Devil or Jersey Devil.


The fearsome appearance of the crest's wyvern and the increasing animosity among local South Jersey residents towards royalty, aristocracy, and nobility (with whom family crests were associated) may have helped facilitate the legend of the Leeds Devi and the association of the Leeds family with "devils" and "monsters".

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         OTHER SIGHTINGS
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During 1859, the Atlantic Monthly published an article detailing the Leeds Devil folk tales popular among Pine Barren residents (or "pine rats".)

A newspaper from 1887 describes sightings of a winged creature, referred to as "the Devil of Leeds",
 allegedly spotted near the Pine Barrens and well known among the local populace of Burlington County, New Jersey:

    Whenever he went near it, it would give a most unearthly yell that frightened the dogs. It whipped at every dog on the place. 

   "That thing," said the colonel, "is not a bird nor an animal, but it is the Leeds devil, according to the description, and it was born over in Evasham, Burlington county, a hundred years ago. There is no mistake about it. I never saw the horrible critter myself, but I can remember well when it was roaming around in Evasham woods fifty years ago, and when it was hunted by men and dogs and shot at by the best marksmen there were in all South Jersey, but could not be killed. There isn't a family in Burlington or any of the adjoining counties that does not know of the Leeds devil, and it was the bugaboo to frighten children with when I was a boy.


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In 1934 near South Pittsburg, Tennessee a Phantom Kangaroo or "kangaroolike beast" was reported by several witnesses over a five-day period, and to have killed and partially devoured several animals, including ducks, geese, a German Shepherd police dog and other dogs. Kangaroos are typically unaggressive and vegetarian. A witness described the animal as looking "like a large kangaroo, running and leaping across a field." A search party followed the animal's tracks to a mountainside cave where they stopped.


On July 27, 1937, an unknown animal "with red eyes" seen by residents of Downingtown, Pennsylvania was compared to the Jersey Devil by a reporter for the Pennsylvania Bulletin of July 28, 1937.

In 1951, a group of Gibbstown, New Jersey boys claimed to have seen a 'monster' matching the Devil's description and claims of a corpse matching the Jersey Devil's description arose in 1957.

In 1960, tracks and noises heard near Mays Landing were claimed to be from the Jersey Devil.


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It  was also the main focus on an episode of the X-Files titled "The Jersey Devil".

However  the Jersey Devil in  the episode is shown  to be a feral humanoid or possible subspecies of humans.  the lack of special effects and lower budgeting in the early episodes of the X-Files forced the producers to make a more cost-effective version of the creature.

The jersey devil was also a featured cryptid on an episode of "Monster Quest".


Legends of the Jersey Devil predates printed newspaper accounts and belief in its existence still ongoing.

The latter is made evident not only by commentators who elaborate on this possibility but even by investigative programs such as Mother Leeds' 13th Child, In Search of Monsters, Lore  and Monsters and Mysteries in America.

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

🎃🎃Thats all for October, hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween🎃🎃

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

Ghost Stories; La Planchada, the ironed lady.

 

 

                                                   Ghost Stories; La Planchada

La Planchada also known as the  Ironed Lady, is a popular legend in Mexico.

The story dates at least as far back as the 1930’s

A nurse  named Eulalia was working  at the Juarez hospital in Mexico.

Her nures's uniform was always keept very clean and perfectly ironed.

She was said to be very good at her job and her patients felt enjoyed being under her care.

Then one day a new young and  handsome doctor joined the hospital’s staff, Eulalia and the doctor started seeing each other socially, and eventually  she fell in love with him and the two were engaged.

Not long  after their engagement, the doctor left to attend a medical seminar. To her shock and surprise, the doctor did not return the following week.  then another week passed and still he had not  returned. Eulalia became increasingly worried and felt something bad must have happened to him.
 
But several weeks later, the hospital received word from the doctor. He had met a new woman during the seminar and the two had recently married.

Upon hearing the news Eulalia was heart-broken and fell into depression. Her work began to suffer and she started to neglect the patients that were  under her care. As a result, one of her patients died. 

Realizing her terrible error, Eulalia became ill. She did not have the fight in her to survive  and died shortly after in the very hospital she worked in.


After her death strange things started to happen around the hospital. Patients, nurses, and even doctors started seeing a nurse in the emergency
room area.

Some versions of the story  claim that she appears to glow and floats instead of walking through the hospital corridors.

Others state she appears to walk normally, but no footsteps can be  heard. Eventually the hospital staff decided to call the apparition ‘La Planchada’ because she always appears wearing a clean, white, pressed uniform.

Several patients have reported seeing her and state that this ghostly nurse will appear at night on the ward she died in, too looks after the patients that appear to be neglected. 

In the morning these patients are well enough to be moved to less intensive care rooms.
When asked how they are feeling, they reply, “a nurse came in and healed me.”

Some people believe Eulalia returns as a spirit because of a sense of guilt.

Now it  seems she is forever doomed to pay for her mistakes in life.

There are a few other versions of this story.

One version claims she  was a cruel woman who treated her patients badly, so when she died, her punishment was to take care of patients for eternity.

In another version, Eulalia was never engaged to the doctor, this version states he rejects her advances and marries the other woman that he was already engaged to. She then takes her disappointment and anger out on the patients, resulting in several of them dying.

In any case it's an interesting story.


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More ghost and monster posts coming soon.

American Cryptids: The Whirling Whimpus

                                                  ===The Whirling Whimpus===


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The Forest and mountains are full of strange and particular beings, cryptids, monsters
and everything in between.
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No doubt most of you know of the cranky whirling tornado of destruction
from the old loony tunes cartoon named Taz-- the Tasmanian devil ...

and

We've all heard or Bigfoot and The Yeti.

But what if you came across a creature that by all accounts is some odd combination
of the two...

Then you've just meet the strange and powerful cryptid called the Whirling Whimpus.

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 Legend's of the Whirling Whimpus come from the Lumberjacks and woodsman of the Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee.

This cryptid  is a bigfoot like  creature that hunt's the wood's of North America and
is believed to  be responsible for many of the strange  disappearances woodsman, campers and wayward hikers

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The whimpus has been described as very  gorilla-like in appearance .

It stands at around 7 feet tall, with a black fur and a large or fat upper body.

In many accounts the whimpus legs are said to be horse-like with hooves.

It's  favorite meals seems to be people.

But it also hunts turkey, deer, cows, even bears.

 It's said to  spins at a stunning 2,150 r.p.m. and usually only dose this at sundown

.this speed also creates a humming sound and blurs the creature to the point that is is
almost entirely invisible.

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--Hunting Habits--------------------------------
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When it senses prey approaching from a nearby trail or path, it hides, usually justy at the bend of the trail.

Then when the victim comes close enough, the Whirling Whimpus begins to spin around on one foot or hoof at a  rapid pace As it does this, the wind emits a low droning  or humming  sound that seems to be coming from the trees above.

As the prey looks up, trying to locate the sound, the Whimpus attacks and kills target with rapid powerful strikes, beating it into a past  and slurping up the remains !

The Whirling Whimpus is also called (Turbinoccissus nebuloides).

American Cryptids, The Beast of Busco

 

 

                                        BEAST OF BUSCO GIANT SNAPPING TURTLE



The Beast of Busco is a cryptid legend from Churubusco, Indiana.

The Beast of Busco aka Oscar by all accounts is a very large  snapping turtle first seen in 1898,
However despite a month long hunt in 1949, the "Beast of Busco" was never found.

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The Beast of Busco also called Oscar in honor of the original eyewitness in Churubusco,
Indiana, is a giant snapping turtle that lived in a seven acre lake.

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According to legend, one day in 1898  a farmer named Oscar Fulk saw what he described as a giant turtle living in the seven-acre lake on his farm  near Churubusco.

He told others residence about the creature, but eventually just decided to leave it alone.

Then fifty years later  in July, 1948, two Churubusco citizens, Ora Blue and Charley Wilson, reported
seeing a huge alligator snapping turtle (weighing an estimated 500 +pounds) while fishing on the same lake,  that at this point had been named Fulk Lake.

A farmer named Gale Harris now owned the land.

Harris and several others reported seeing the creature.

News about this strange massive beast soon spread, and several expeditions were held to try and capture the big beast  or at least remove it from the the lake.

Methods  included draining and motor boating the lake and diving with no success, many believe he still lurks beneath the waves of that small  lake others claim he has moved to newer waters  the Beast of Busco.

So what was Oscar ? was there really a massive turtle or turtle like creature in that lake?

Many people claim the Beast of Busco never really existed and the story was just Oscar's (the farmer not the turtle) way of making his small town a bit more lively.

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The Beast legacy......


Today, Oscar is honored in the turtle days festival each June.

It includes a parade, carnival and even turtle races.

A turtle shell labeled "Beast of Busco" hangs in the Two Brothers Restaurant in Decatur, Indiana.

 and

A small concrete statue of a turtle sits on the sidewalk at the main intersection in the center of Churubusco. 

                                        Turtle Days Festival 2021 will be on June 16-19th..

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  More Busco info
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At one point future town councilman surveyed the lake from a plane.

Reporters from the Indianapolis Star and a Fort Wayne gazette—along with a representative from the Cincinnati zoo—confirmed having seen the beast, A photographer from Life magazine even came to cover the story, though his pictures were never published.

At it's peak during the spring of 1949, there were as many as 400 cars an hour counted passing the farm that spring with the Harris family selling coffee and hot dogs  to the sight-seers.

Helen Harris, Gale’s wife, described those frenetic days in a story posted in a booklet commemorating the 25th anniversary of Oscar. Here are some excerpts: “After the newspapers started printing the story about Oscar, people started coming to our farm from everywhere. If you never had an experience similar to this you wouldn’t believe the actions of the public. We couldn’t sit down and eat a meal in peace or get our work done on schedule. I remember one morning we were in the barn milking and a reporter came out and wanted us to quit milking and answer some questions. We told him we had to finish milking first.”

The 400 acre farm was sold in 1950.

Once the U.S. Coast Guard got involved and diving began; and attempts to hunt and trap the beast elicited responses from the Noble County  Game Warden and the Indiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Eventual  a 200-pound female sea turtle was introduced into the lake to lure out Oscar to no prevail. 

The town of Churubusco began celebrating Turtle Days the following summer, and adopted the nickname “ Turtle Town U.S.A.”

Monsters, cryptids and yokai: The Rusalka..

                                           
 Rusalka by daekazu on deviantart https://www.deviantart.com/daekazu/art/Rusalka-187551820
 ===================
==============
=========

The Russian Mermaid ...
She is as dangerous as she is beautiful 

Rusalka or Pusalka is commonly described as  a water nymph^..

The Rusalka is a female spirit in Russian / Slavic folklore and their  equivalent of a mermaid. though she has two leg's insted of a finned tail and in some versions can walk on land and even climb tree's..


She has different names in various cultures: rusalka (in East Slavic cultures) vila (Czech, Slovak), wiła (Polish).

According to most accounts the rusalki were a type of fish-women, who lived at the bottom of rivers and lake's.

In some legends she would leave her watery home late at night together with other Rusalki she would walk out to the bank and dance in meadows. If they saw handsome men, they would  enchant them with songs and dancing, mesmerize them, then lead them away to the river and to their inevitable  death.

                               

                                               Art by Anna Vinogradova Kransndar 1975
=========================
A Rusalka most often  appears as a beautiful young women, she will site by the shore of a lake usually coming her hair or sometimes singing this is done as a means to lure in her prey..

In some version's she is a type of water spirit in other's she is a young woman that was ether murdered by her lover of  who committed suicide by drowning due to an unhappy marriage or who were violently drowned against their will (especially after becoming pregnant with unwanted children), and now  must live out their time on Earth as rusalki.

However,in some  Slavic versions  not all rusalki encounters were linked with death from water It is accounted by most stories that the soul  of a young woman who had died in or near a river or a lake would come back to haunt that waterway.

Though this version of a  rusalka is not invariably malevolent or evil, and would be allowed to rest in peace if her death is avenged.
========
In some versions she has green sea week like hair....

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



Her main purpose is, however, to lure young men, seduced by either her looks or her voice, (Similar  to a Siren or a Succubus)  into the depths of the waterways where she would entangle their feet with her long hair and submerge them. Her body would instantly become very slippery and not allow the victim to cling on to her in order to reach the surface.

                                           

 ======
She would then wait until the victim had drowned, or, on some occasions, tickle them to death, as she laughed. 



 It is also believed, by a few accounts, that rusalki can change their appearance to match the tastes of men they are about to seduce  although a rusalka is generally considered to represent universal beauty, therefore is highly feared yet respected in Slavic culture.

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


                                 
                                                Ivan Kramskoi, The Mermaids, 1871
======
In some of the older stories the Rusalka was a symbol of fertility and not consider evil in the old pagan beliefes



 They came out of the water in the spring to transfer life-giving moisture to the fields and thus helped nurture the crops.



 =====

=======================
Celebrations: Rusalka Week..
=======================

The Rusalki  are believed to be at their most dangerous during the Rusalka Week in early June. At this time, they were supposed to have left their watery depths in order to swing on branches of birch and willow trees by night. Swimming during this week was strictly forbidden, lest these  mermaids would drag a swimmer down to the river bed.
                                             

                                                    

                                                       Rusalka by Ivan Bilibin - 1934
===========================================

A common feature of the celebration of Rusalnaya was the ritual banishment or burial of the rusalki at the end of the week, which remained as entertainment in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine until the 1930s


=====
Other mediums ..
============

 The Rusalka trilogy of novels by C. J. Cherryh feature and revolve around a rusalka named Eveshka.

 Rusalka is an opera by Alexander Dargomyzhsky. - 1856

"Rusalka" is a poem by Mikhail Lermontoy 1831.


Nikolai Medtner's Third Piano Concerto is based on Mikhail Lermontov's ballad.

A Rusalkas is the main character in "The Surface Breaks", a YA novel and retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" by Louise O'Neill.

 Rusalkas appear as monsters in the Action Role playing game The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing.


 "The Last Wish " by Andrzej Sapkowski, a Polish novel from the Witcher series, in which Geralt briefly encounters a Rusalka that has fallen in love with a cursed man.

 "Fatima Rusalka", a single by alternative metal band Alesana  ..

There are many many other examples of Rusalka in modern media  bedside's the one's i mentioned here.. :)
.================
===============
==============

Monsters, Cryptid and Yokai :.. Devil Monkeys

                                        .......   The Devil Monkey .........


The Devil Monkey, is a Baboon like canin cryptid, spotted in several state's through out  the United States, most recently in  the south...
 

An eye witness account claims  that she noticed her dog was acting very agitated when they we're on they're hike through Mt. Elden forest trail, when she noticed a small group of primate like creatures scurrying through the rocks.

She described them as 4-5 feet tall, very quick and agile.

 

There have also been other sightings in other states such as New Mexico, Utah and Colorado. Unique breeds of monkey have been described as being about 3 to 4 feet tall, although some eyewitnesses have sworn that these things  can reach  a terrifying  height that is in excess of 7 feet tall.

The first reported encounter with this fast, dangerous predator occurred in 1934, in South Pittsburgh, Tennessee.


According to the reports — which were allegedly published in national newspapers — eyewitnesses described a mysterious beast that could “leap across fields” with “lightening speed.” This ability to jump great distances — up to 20 feet according to some accounts — have led some to speculate that these animals may have something in common with the Kangaroos that have  allegedly been seen throughout the United States for decades.

The suggestion is that those who think they’re seeing kangaroos from a distance are, in fact, seeing Devil Monkeys. While these 1934 encounters may or may not be associated with this phenomenon, the first “official” Devil Monkey sighting occurred in 1959, while a couple by the name of Boyd were driving through the mountains near their home in Saltville, Virginia.

According to their account, an ape-like animal  attacked their car, leaving three scratch marks on the vehicle.

The Boyd’s daughter, Pauline, described the terrifying attacker:  It had light, taffy colored hair, with a white blaze down its neck and underbelly… it stood on two, large well-muscled back legs and had shorter front legs or arms.” Boyd went on to describe a second Devil Monkey encounter that occurred just days later in the same region: “Several days after this incident, two nurses from the Saltville area were driving home from work one morning and were attacked by an unknown creature who ripped the convertible top from their car.” Luckily the nurses — though surely frightened out of their wits — were unharmed.

In 1969, esteemed mystery ape researchers Johnn Green looked into accounts of a long-tailed “monkey” beast that eyewitnesses claimed was lurking near Mamquam, British Columbia.

 This creature was said to have left a series of distinctive, three toed tracks — much like those attributed to Devil Monkeys as well as the legendary Bigfoot— in its wake.

In 1973, famed cryptozoologist and author Lauren Coleman investigated reports of three, black bushy-tailed “giant monkeys” that were said to have slaughtered livestock in Albany, Kentucky. Coleman mentioned the event in an interview with Animal Planet: “I investigated that case in depth. I interviewed the people, who were very sincere.

 In the whole context of devil monkey reports, it seemed extremely sincere.

 You have these reports of hairy, monkey-like creatures with tails, very different from Bigfoot.” In 1979, there was a spate of reported encounters with a bipedal, monkey-like critter known as the Bigfoot which hailed from the rural depths of Georgia. One female eyewitness described it as: “The ugliest looking thing I've ever seen… (it had a tail) like a beaver’s, but it’s bushy.” She also claimed in bore “a face like a dog.” These traits are all known to be Devil Monkey characteristics.

 There have been several  eyewitnesses that have describe this cryptid  as resembling a wild dog at a distance, which would suggests that they  may be capable of   both bipedal and quadrupedal movement...

Norwegian Myth and Legends St. Lucia Day, and Christmas

Merry (early ) Christmas everyone. 

OR God Jul, if your from Scandinavia :) 

----------------------------------------------

 With December 13th approaching, i decided to do a post about St. Lucia Day. Those of you with Scandinavian ancestors, or anyone that has been in Norway or Sweden during the Christmas seasons will have heard of Lucci at least once. 

 

The legend of St. Lucia comes from a combination of old Norwegian myth's and folklore, mixed with the christinization of the old viking world. 

 

The modern Christian holiday, St. Lucia's day is celebrated with a candlelight procession through the streets with one kid in the group placing a wreath with lit candles on their head and then walking through the school or church in prayer Because of the old practice of staying indoors with all the candles lit and a fire in the hearth to ward of the evil spirits, the church's official St. Lucia's day is also associated with candles and light, and during this night you will see candles in the windows of homes and even along the sidewalks throughout the city.

 

 ========================= NORWAY ================= 

 

 Norwegians considered what they called Lussinatten (December 13th) the longest night of the year and no work was to be done. 

From that night until Christmas, spirits, gnomes and trolls roamed the earth. Lussi, a feared and powerful witch or possibly a demoness, would punish anyone who dared work.

 Legend also states  that farm animals talked to each other on Lussinatten, and that they were given additional feed on this longest night of the year. 

 

The Lussinatt, the night of December 13th, was largely forgotten in Norway at the beginning of the 20th century, though still remembered as an ominous night, and also celebrated in some areas, especially in Mid, Central and Eastern inland.

 

 It wasn't until after World War II that the modern celebration of Lucia in Norway became adopted on a much larger scale.  It is now observed all over the country.

Like the Swedish tradition, and unlike the Danish, Lucy is largely a secular event in Norway, and is observed in kindergartens and schools  (often through secondary level). However, it has in recent years also been incorporated in the Advent liturgy in the Church of Norway. 

The boys are often incorporated in the procession, staging as magi with tall hats and star-staffs.
Occasionally, anthems of Saint Stephen are taken in on behalf of the boys.

For the traditional observance of the day, school children form processions through the hallways of the school building carrying candles, and hand out lussekatt buns. While rarely observed at home, parents often take time off work to watch these school processions in the morning, and if their child should be chosen to be Lucia, it is considered a great honor. Later on in the day, the procession usually visits local
retirement homes, hospitals, and nursing homes.

The traditional Norwegian version of the Neapolitan song is, just like the Danish, not especially Christian in nature, the only Christian  concept being "Sankta Lucia". Excerpt: "Svart senker natten seg / i stall og stue. / Solen har gått sin vei / skyggene truer."

 ("Darkly the night descends / in stable and cottage. / The sun has gone away / the shadows loom."


You will also see Lucia crown cakes and Lucia buns this time of the year :)

 ...Crown cake...

 

 ....Buns...

 

 

 

 

 The English word “Yule”   originated from one or more of seven spellings in Old English, which meant the months of December or January. 

Around the year 900, “Yule” came to mean Christmas and its festivities. Further back, these words came from the Old Norse jól, which in addition to being the root of the modern Norwegian word “jul,” is the root of the word “joli” in French, meaning lovely, nice, or pleasing, and from it the word “jolly” in English.

===========

We all know of Santa and his reindeer, but how many of you know about the Julebukk (“Christmas Goat”) of Norway, known as Julebock in  Swedish, Juleged in Danish, and Olkipukki in Finnish.

Originally the Julebukk was a goat that was slaughtered at Christmastime to celebrate
the end of the agricultural work year.

However over time, it meant a person who led a costumed procession from house to house, to entertain
the residents and be rewarded with food and drinks.

In the early 19th century, the Julebukk also became the bringer of presents,
and was the predecessor of the Julenisse, equivalent to Santa Claus in English.
 
Jul Goat..and St. Nicholas

-------------------

Today the Julenisse and Santa Claus have taken over present-bringing,
but effigies of the Julebukk can still be found all over norway and sweden, most of them are made of straw,  and the largest one is  a giant statue in Gefle, Sweden.

Giant Jul Goat.

Also if your ever in the area you could check out the city of Rovaniemi at the Arctic Circle in Finland.
 

It's About six miles north of the city you will find Santa Claus Village and theme park, located just two short miles from the Rovaniemi Airport.
==

 

 

 =================================
Christian version of st lucia.
=================================

St. Lucy was a young Christian martyr who died in the early 4th century in Italy.
She quickly gained a widespread following and is the patron saint of virgins.


Saint Lucy's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Lucy, is a Christian feast day observed on 13 December.
The observance commemorates Lucia of Syracuse, an early-4th-century virgin martyr under the Diocletianic Persecution, who according to legend brought food and aid to Christians hiding in the Roman catacombs, wearing a candle lit wreath on her  head to light her way and leave her hands free to carry as much food as possible.

Her feast day, which coincided with the shortest day of the year prior to calendar reforms, is widely celebrated as a festival of light.

Falling within the Advent season, Saint Lucy's Day is viewed as a precursor of Christmastide, pointing to the arrival of the Light of Christ in the calendar on Christmas Day.

Saint Lucy's Day is celebrated most widely in Scandinavia and in Italy, with each emphasizing a different aspect of her story.
 

 In Scandinavia, where Lucy is called Santa Lucia in Norwegian and Danish and Sankta Lucia in Swedish, she is represented as a lady in a  white dress symbolizing a baptismal robe and a red sash symbolizing the blood of her martyrdom, with a crown or wreath of candles on her head.

 In Norway, Sweden and Swedish-speaking regions of Finland, as songs are sung, girls dressed as Saint Lucy carry cookies and saffron buns in  procession, which symbolizes bringing the Light of Christ into the world's darkness.

In both Protestant and Catholic churches, boys participate in the procession as well, playing different roles associated with Christmastide,  such as that of Saint Stephen. 

The celebration of Saint Lucy's Day is said to help one live the winter days with enough light.

 

 

 

 A special devotion to Saint Lucy is practiced in the Italian regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Trentino-Alto  Adige, in the north of the country, and Sicily, in the south, as well as in the Croatian coastal region of Dalmatia. 

 

In Hungary and Croatia, a popular tradition on Saint Lucy's Day involves planting wheat grains that grow to be several centimeters tall by Christmas Day, representing  the Nativity of Jesus.


--------------------------------------------------
============================================
Now onto a darker myth.......

 Lussi the witch/ demon.

 

 =======

=========

 

 

Nils Bergslien, Julereia, 1922: Lussi is shown stealing a child while riding her broom

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

Tis the season to be jolly, unless you enconter one of the most feared jul tide monsters,
and i'm not talking about Krampus... though a goat hooved, horned anti santa is not an ideal
Christmas guest ether lol.

 

 

=======

In the old days people believed that ghost both good and bad along with demons and monsters walked the earth and could interact with us  just the same as the living do. 

Winter was an especially feared time of the year, dark cold and bitter whether, shorter days and monsters to contend with, not exactly  a merry Christmas.

 

Winters in midevil Norway were dark and cold, and the myths and legends from the region are equally so.
 

Just like the Germanic Wild Hunt, Lussi and her demon hordes would haunt the night, taking anyone they encountered during one of their nightly raids.
 

Starting December 13, in some versions this would go one all the way up until Jul/Yul.

 

 

The Wild Hunt. 

In the old Julian calendar the longest night of the year was December 13th.

Lussis night.

Lussi, Lussinatta, or just the Lussi Night, was marked on   December 13. when it was believed that  Lussi, a demoness or possibly  a powerful witch would ride through the cold winter night  with her minions, her and her followers,  called Lussiferda, Preying on  anyone foolish enough to be outside after the sun goes down, or anyone who had not finished their preparations for Jul.
 
Lussi was  also seen as a sort of anti-Santa, coming down the chimney to take away bad children. similar to Krampus a Germanic anti Santa that accompanied St. Nicholas and punished bad children.

 

 

 Older triditions

This itself might be an echo of the myth of the Wild Hunt, called Oskoreia in Scandinavia, found across Northern, Western and Central Europe.

Between Lussi Night and The cow, trolls and evil spirits, and in some accounts even the spirits of the dead,  thought to be active outside.
It was believed to be particularly dangerous to be out during Lussi Night.

According to tradition, children who had done mischief had to take special care, since Lussi could come down through the chimney and take them away,
and certain tasks of work in the preparation for Yule had to be finished, or else the Lussi would come to punish the household.
The tradition of Lussevaka – to stay awake through the Lussinatt to guard oneself and the household against evil, has found a modern form through
throwing parties until daybreak. Another company of spirits was said to come riding through the night around Yule itself, journeying through the air,
over land and water.

There is little evidence that the legend itself derives from the folklore of northern Europe, but the similarities in the names ("Lussi" and "Lucia"),  and the date of her festival, December 13th, suggest that two separate traditions may have been brought together in the modern-day celebrations in  Scandinavia. Saint Lucy is often depicted in art with a palm as the symbol of martyrdom.,

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

The best way to avoid meeting  monster Lussi was to stay up all night long, indoors with all the lights on.



In short, if you don't want to meet Lussi just say inside with a warm fireplace and a lot of light maybe some hot chocolate, and just  watch a good Christmas movie or something :)

=====================
=====================
St Lucia Day poem.

English

The long Lussi-night,
The long Lussi-night, nothing to be afraid of.
God protects farm and land,
The fishes in the water and the birds in the grove.
Nothing to be afraid of, the long Lussi-night.

The long Lussi-night, nothing to be afraid of.
Cows and horses and pigs and goats
will be healthy, round, and fat.
Nothing to be afraid of, the long Lussi-night.

The long Lussi-night, nothing to be afraid of.
Holy Mother of Good Christ,
free from death and the devil's list.
Nothing to be afraid of, the long Lussi-night.


=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=-=-=-=-=In Norwegian=--=-=-=-=-=-=

Lussi-natti lange
Lussi-natti lange, intet være bange.
Gud beskytte gård og grund,
fisk i vand og fugl i lund.
Intet være bange, lussi-natti lange.

Lussi-natti lange, intet være bange.
Ku og hest og svin og geit
blive karske trinn og feit.
Intet være bange, lussi-natti lange.

Lussi-natti lange, intet være bange.
Hellige Moder gode Christ,
fri fra død og djevels list.
Intet være bange, lussi-natti lange.

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



Merry Christmas and have a safe and fun new year everyone, hopefully 2021 will be a great year.