Helen presenting a VR exhibition, with Dee Dee and attendees watching in The Cultural Futures Hub.

Helen giving a talk with attendees watching in The Cultural Futures Hub.

Helen presenting in The Cultural Futures Hub, with Dee Dee watching.

Huge thanks to @helenerwin.bsky.social for her fantastic deep-dive into Swedish forest folklore at @culturalfutureshub.bsky.social yesterday!
And thank you so much to everyone who came along. What a fantastic afternoon!

Such a shame that Bluesky was down for so much of #FolkloreThursday yesterday.

An illustration of a night scene in the forest. A girl who looks princess-like is sitting on a stone in front of a small body of water. One of her bare feet is dangling in the water. She is wearing a white dress and has long blonde hair. A small blue songbird is perched in her right hand.

Thank you #FolkloreThursday 😅

Today's theme was "Forest Guardians: Spirits, Deities & Creatures of the Woods.” Huge apologies, as we certainly missed posts w. nothing showing up in feeds for an hour.

This is Shanon signing off! Wishing you a happy new moon. Until next time ✨

1882–1918 John Baur

An illustration of a Sasquatch-like figure standing with a painted forest behind him or her. Their mouth is open revealing sharp fangs. Their hands are up as if they are about to grab the viewer. Their eyes look fierce.

Since time immemorial, Indigenous people in BC have had stories of humanlike giants & little people covered in fur

Many are called Sasquatch now, a Salish name that includes modern accounts of a forest being some believe is real

My depiction of an 1887 report where 2 people died #FolkloreThursday

an angry looking mouse that is about to explode!

Kodama-nezumi live in the mountain forests of Tohoku in Japan. If you anger the mountain gods, these spherical mouse yokai will inflate like a balloon until they explode with a noise louder than gunshot and splatter their innards everywhere! #folklorethursday
art by our own @lilichin.bsky.social

A Wood Woman Mourns Her Husband

Every time you twist a tree, a wood spirit will die.

#FolkloreThursday
wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/A_Wood_Woman_Mourns...

Public Domain illustration by Margaret Ramsey Tryon from the 1910 book Fearsome Critters

In old logger lore, the Whirling Whimpus was a carnivorous beast of the woods. He hunted his prey by spinning about so fast that it created a hypnotic humming, drawing animals (or humans) to find the source. His fists, like massive paddles, pulverize anyone who draws near.

#FolkloreThursday

black and white drawing of a creature that's kind of like a chunky short snake. from the Shinano Kishōroku via Wikipedia

The tsuchinoko lives in deep mountain woods in Japan. It looks like a snake that's very fat in the middle, but it doesn't slither- it ripples up & down and can spring into the air. Some say it chirps, snores, moans and grunts, and some tales claim it can speak. #FolkloreThursday

a sketch of the jersey devil surrounded by explorer's instruments

Given this week's #FolkloreThursday theme of "Spirits, Deities & Creatures of the Woods” I thought I'd mention that my new book "A Catalog of Curious Creatures" covers 80 fearsome critters of old logger lore, cryptids and mythological creatures from woods, mountains, swamps, and more.

Green man roof boss in Rochester Cathedral. It shows the face of a bearded man with green foliage growing out of his mouth and leaves on his forehead.

The Green Man, a common carving in medieval churches, is seen by some as a forest guardian figure. The carving does seem more common in heavily wooded English counties. Others feel the image may represent Christ, may be a warning against sin or just a decoration. #FolkloreThursday #folklore #weird

n case you failed to appease Askafroa, the ash wife, on Ash Wednesday with a sacrifice, at least do not break branches from the ash tree or grave illness will follow.

🎨 Johan Egerkrans

#FolkloreThursday

Typical landlords 🫣

In many European traditions, ancient oaks were seen as meeting points between worlds, their roots reaching into the underworld while their branches touched the sky. #FolkloreThursday

Art: Ester J. Williams

The Hounded Forest Woman

The Wild Huntsman relentlessly hunts the spirits of the forest.

#FolkloreThursday
wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Hounded_Forest_...

In a forest landscape--a tree, a lake, and a pile of cut trees are in the background--a man in a hat, striped sleeves, and an apron, holds an ax while he speaks with a woman in a long dress, with a white apron, kerchief, and headscarf. She holds her hands behind her back to disguise her cow's tail - she is a huldre or troll-woman.

#FolkloreThursday The skogsrå (Swedish) or hulder (Norwegian) is a seductive supernatural woman of the forest. She looks beautiful, but has a hollowed-out back and a cow's tail. If a man follows her, he will be taken into the mountain and lost forever, but if he hears church bells he will be saved.

Even today, certain forests carry a presence that feels older than language. A stillness that suggests something is watching, waiting, or simply existing beyond human understanding. #FolkloreThursday

Art: Lutz Baar

Ogre is a French word, linked to the Etruscan god Orcus. These legendary giants are famous for their unfortunate cannibalistic tendencies, foul body-odor, rotten teeth, and rancid halitosis. They dwell in deep forests and mucky swamps.

#FolkloreThursday #BookologyThursday

photo of ceiba tree roots in Ghana

In Jamaican folklore duppies (spirits) are reputed to live among the roots of the mighty cotton tree (aka silk-cotton tree/cottonwood tree). They emerge between 7pm and 5am and again at midday.
#FolkloreThursday

The Beautiful Fir Tree

The life of certain forest spirits are bound to specific trees.

#FolkloreThursday
wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Beautiful_Fir_T...

An unknown artist's depiction of Humbaba, showing a bird-legged, furry torso'd, lion and bull-faced figure with a kind of baboon overture on that face, lacking skin and just showing hideous muscles in bright red beside his sharp teeth. Snakes emerge from his asshole and penis as replacements for both.

In the Great Cedar Forest of Mesopotamian myth, there lives a giant, who is a mixture of animal parts and who devours men in gory fashion. When came Gilgamesh to gather cedar planks, Humbaba had to die: and this became his undoing. #FolkloreThursday

The Dragon of St. Leonards Forest, from "Old Speech And Manners In Sussex." By Mark Antony Lower in Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol.XIII, 1861. #FolkloreThursday

Artist Alan Lee's depiction of Merlin as Myrddin, a wild man in the woods. A thin man with wily balding hair and beard, he stands in a combination of ragged clothes, mostly deteriorated to his waist, and a cloak that is as much bird feather and vine as it is cloth. His arms raised, he looks like a giant shrub in this brown-green-white image.

Foundational to the creation of Merlin is Myrddin Wyllt, or Myrddin the Wild, a bard who in Welsh poetry went mad after a battle and fled to the Caledonian Forest far to the north as a wildman, contemplating his former life but gifted with prophecy. #FolkloreThursday

🖼: A. Lee

The Black Poodle in the Haslen Forest

The Haslen Forest is haunted by an evil poodle.

#FolkloreThursday
wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Black_Poodle_in...

Pan (the Piper at the Gates of Dawn) holding his pipes and staring intently at the viewer.

‘The Greeks figured Pan, the god of Nature, now terribly stamping his foot, so that armies were dispersed; now by the woodside on a summer noon trolling on his pipe until he charmed the hearts of upland ploughmen.’
— R.L. Stevenson, ‘The Pipes of Pan’ #FolkloreThursday

🎨Arthur Rackham

A black and white illustration of a forest. there is a couple standing before a circular break in the trees showing a clearing with more trees.

According to lore, any lone tree is attractive to fairies, but the most irresistible combo is oak, ash, and hawthorn trees, called the fairy triad. One should be especially wary of venturing into a forest featuring this trio of trees.

#FolkloreThursday
🎨Edmond Hédouin

In Japanese folklore, kodama are spirits that dwell within ancient trees, their presence marked by echoes in the forest. Cutting down a tree believed to house one could bring misfortune that lingers for generations. #FolkloreThursday

Glowing Oven in the Forest

Some forest spirits can be fire hazards.

#FolkloreThursday
wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/Glowing_Oven_in_the...

In a clearing within the forest, the lilac/'Fairy 🧚 & elf tree' flowers in #spring. Its sweet fragrance bridges the thinly veiled threshold between the human & spirit worlds. Intoxicating #lilac scent drifts into the #forest, cleansing & protecting areas from negative energy.
#folklorethursday

The Celtic Green Man appears carved into stone across Europe, his face emerging from leaves and vines. He represents the eternal cycle of growth, decay, and return... nature watching through its own reflection. #FolkloreThursday

Art: Simina Coman

How A Burgher Mistook A Dead Cow For A Beautiful Woman

Some forest spirits can be more disturbing than they initially appear.

#FolkloreThursday
wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/How_A_Burgher_Misto...

In Greek myth, the dryads are tree-bound spirits, their lives tied to the fate of the oak or ash they inhabit. To harm the tree is to harm the spirit, making the forest itself something sacred and alive. #FolkloreThursday

Art: Josephine Wall