The Last Rose of Summer..

More Paranormal / Cryptids posts coming in December...

The Last rose of Summer" 

By Thomas Moore.  1805

Tis the last rose of summer,
    Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
    Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
    No rose-bud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes
    Or give sigh for sigh!

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one.
    To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
    Go, sleep thou with them;
Thus kindly I scatter
    Thy leaves o'er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
    Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
    When friendships decay,
And from love's shining circle
    The gems drop away!
When true hearts lie withered,
    And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
    This bleak world alone?

The Nokk or Nokken..

 

 

 

  Nokken
(Longer version later)

The Nokken  is a dangerous and manipulative creature from Norwegian folklore.

The word nøkk comes from Old Norse and  means seahorse.

It lives  in rivers, ponds, small waters ways, and lakes.


According to legend, they are aquatic creaturs and prefer water with lilies, becaues it makes it easier to attract people closer to the water,
especially woman or children who try to collect the lilies.

The Nokken is a shapeshifter.

When he see's a  women, he changes into a handsome young man with a violin, which he uses to play beautiful, alluring music, to attract her closer.



It can also take the form of a beautiful white horse with opal black eyes and a radiant or ethereal shine around it.


it has also been known to  change into an old wooden ship or an  tree trunk.

These are all illusions though and the Nokkens true form is far  more monstrous , he is covered in moss and his eyes are bright yellow.

It has a large mouth with very sharp teeth, and its skin is like that of a drowned man, who has been underwater for a long time.

It is said that if one is captured by Nokken, his name must be said and he will disappear into the waters again.

However if you do not know his name you could give the nøkk a treat of three drops of blood, some brännvin (Scandinavian vodka)
or snus (wet snuff) dropped into the water, if he likes the gift he will let you go, he may even teach you his form of music.

The nøkk is also considered an omen for drowning accidents.

He would scream at a particular spot in a lake or river, in a way reminiscent of the loon, and on that spot, a fatality would later take place.
He was also said to cause drownings, but swimmers could protect themselves by throwing a bit of steel into the water.



Its better to just avoid him altogether, so stay away from ponds and shinny horses and if you see some rando in the woods just call the cops lol

Fjorulalli: The Shore Laddie .

 

 

 

                                             .......   ICELAND CRYPTID: The Shore Laddie.....
 

 Shore Laddie
 
The Shore Laddie, also known as the Fjorulalli or Beach Walker,
is a ram-sized creature found along the coasts of the Westfjords of Iceland.

It is sometimes said too resemble a large otter, others describe it as sheep/ram like in appearance and very hairy.

The Fjorulalli has brownish-grey fur  with mussels and barnacles growing on it,
a feature which lends it its distinctive scrape or “jingle” when it walks.

If you hear this jingle sound the creature may be near by.

In some reports the Shore Laddie has webbed feet and in other accounts it has hooves,
however which version is the most accurate is anyones guess.


The Shore Laddie is the most commonly sighted cryptid in Iceland.

This cryptid is most active during sheep breeding season and is thought to be responsible for impregnating some ewes and creating deformed lambs.

Fjorulalli has been sighted as far back as the 1700's.

Many believe it to be a  herbivore ( plant eater) although  the cryptid  has also been accused of feeding on sheep and even women, especially pregnant ones.

.........

Alleged enconters.....

“One early winter evening in Bjarnarhöfn by Breidafjordur, six men went out to see whether missing sheep had returned to the farm. They observed something moving by the shed and rushed to grap hold of the sheep and take it inside. When they came closer they realised that this was no sheep. They formed a circle around the creature which then took off towards the sea, pursued by the men, including my narrator. It ran as quickly as a dog and escaped into the ocean. It had a short, round head but otherwise resembled a dog rather than sheep. It had a hump on its back and jumped frequently as it ran.”

 

...........

The Shore Laddie is is rarely seen and its temperament can be very different with each new sighting, it may be timid and run immediately one time or somewhat aggressive the next.

Keep your eyes peeled on your next beach trip in Iceland you may just spot the Laddie..

The Headless Cabbie.

 

 

                                             Hey Arnold ...the headless cabbie
                                                (One of my Favorite episodes )

One night, a mysterious woman stopped the Cabbie asking to help find her lost dog.

She offered the Cabbie a scarf to help keep him warm.

They entered the park, the horses hooves echoing on the old cobble stone path.

As they were going down the road, their surroundings started  getting darker and foggier.
Then the woman heard her dog barking, and told the cabbie to go faster.

The dog ran through a tunnel, There he is, Follow Him! the woman told the cabbie.

They followed the lost dog through the tunnel, and soon after exiting the other side they encountered a crazed man with  a golden hook for an arm,  the large hook lunged out nearly missing the cabbie and his passenger.

However the  man's attack  caused  the Cabbie to var  off the path.

The carrage started moving faster and faster as the horse began to panic.

The woman was becoming frantic even  demonic in her appearance and demeanor .

Her voice getting louder and louder, she ordered the Cabbie to go even faster "We have  to find my doggie" Faster Faster she ordered.

As the carriage speed increased the Cabbie's scarf got caught on a low hanging branch,he had noticed to late.
 
The scarf twisted and snagged around the branch and tightened around  the Cabbie's neck until he was decapitated, thus transforming him into the Headless Cabbie.

This grim scene was followed by the crazed demonic laughter of the woman.

The legend says that on a dark, foggy night in the fall, the Headless Cabbie still haunts the park.

First,
 
The sound of the demon dog barking is heard; then comes a beating sound on the cobblestones; finally, the evil laugh of the ghostly woman is heard, and she is
seen being driven by the Headless Cabbie in his carriage.

 

Dying Of The Light..

 

 

 

                                                                  pic from Arknights.

 

Do not go gentle into that good night

By Dylan Thomas.

 

 

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Ungaikyo... The Demon reflecting mirror

 

 

 Ungaikyo...or the mirror beyond the clouds

Ungaikyo is a haunted mirror that is capable of revealing demons and monsters reflected in its surface.

Some believe the spirit that inhabitants  this mirror, as well as the countless spirits that have been reflected in it over the years, can manipulate the reflection and cause it to appear as anything they like. People who gaze into an ungaikyo might see a transformed, monstrous version of themselves looking back.


An ungaikyo can be used by humans to trap spirits.

On the 15th night of the 8th month in the old lunar calendar, water is poured
into a crystal dish to reflect the light of the full moon. (In the old days this was a popular way of admiring the reflection of the night sky.)

If that water is used to paint the image of a yokai onto a mirror, that spirit will then inhabit the mirror.


Ungaikyo appears in Toriyama Sekien’s book of tsukumogami Hyakki tsurezure bukuro. Sekien based this yokai on a mirror from an old Chinese myth. 

That mirror was called shomakyo (“demon revealing mirror”). It had the ability to expose the true forms of demons masquerading as humans when they were
reflected in the mirror. 

Shomakyo was used by  Zhou  to reveal that his consort was actually a wicked nine-tailed
kitsune, intent on runing his kingdom through her evil depravities.

Her true form revealed, she fled the country (setting into action a chain of events
that would eventually lead her  Japan as Tamamo no Mae). 

Shomakyo was used time and time again to reveal the true nature of disguised spirits.

Sekien believed that such a mirror might eventually pick up a little of the strangeness of each yokai and demon it reflected, eventually becoming one itself.

Perhaps the countless spirits that it has reflected over the years have slowly gained the ability to manipulate its reflections.

In more modern versions, ungaikyo is been described  as a normal mirror that has transformed into a living being upon reaching one hundred years of age, the mirror develops a soul and is transformed into a type of yokai called a tsukumogami.

The mirror  has also been portrayed as one of the many transformations performed by tanuki. 

 

By sucking in large amounts of air and inflating their bellies, a tanuki is able to display a picture on its bare belly similar to a television screen. This portrayal is not rooted in folklore however, but comes from Daiei Films’ 1968-69 yokai movies. 

 

Nonetheless, it has caught on and remains a popular variation of ungaikyo in many productions.

 

 

 

The Haunted Palace👻🏰

Edgar Allan Poe - 1809-1849

 

In the greenest of our valleys
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace —
Radiant palace — reared its head.
In the monarch Thought's dominion —
It stood there!
Never seraph spread a pinion
Over fabric half so fair!

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow,
(This — all this — was in the olden
Time long ago,)
And every gentle air that dallied,
In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
A winged odor went away.

Wanderers in that happy valley,
Through two luminous windows, saw
Spirits moving musically,
To a lute's well-tuned law,
Round about a throne where, sitting
(Porphyrogene!)
In state his glory well-befitting,
The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing
Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
And sparkling evermore,
A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty
Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
Assailed the monarch's high estate.
(Ah, let us mourn! — for never morrow
Shall dawn upon him desolate!)
And round about his home the glory
That blushed and bloomed,
Is but a dim-remembered story
Of the old time entombed.

And travellers, now, within that valley,
Through the red-litten windows see
Vast forms, that move fantastically
To a discordant melody,
While, like a ghastly rapid river,
Through the pale door
A hideous throng rush out forever
And laugh — but smile no more.