For more folkloring and Rå and Näcken conversations, listen to my conversation on the @folkloringpodcast.bsky.social
www.folkloringpodcast.com/2275302/epis...
#Folklore #FolkloreThursday #WyrdWednesay #Norse #SwedishHistory
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.
Merry (belated) #FolkloreThursday!
Here’s Cheshire legend THE WIZARD OF ALDERLEY EDGE!
In illustrated form: youtu.be/4-m4nxySABM?si
And retold by Brother Bernard: youtu.be/9s2K7k_-96A?si
🧙♂️🏴🏴🏴📚
MISSING: Veronica — actress, poet, former lead singer of Dark Skies. Last seen Utah, 1980s. Known for stage plays and poetry contests. Vanished without a trace. Stories, photos, clues welcome. Reply or tag #urbanlegend #folklore #folklorethursday
Alekoko fishpond, said to have been constructed in the 15th century by the Menehune - Creative Commons image by Collin Grady
In Hawaii, the Menehunu are dwarf-like and live in the deep forests. They are said to be master craftsmen who have built temples, ponds, roads, and more. They only work at night, and if they do not complete their project by dawn, they'll abandon it and leave the project unfinished
#FolkloreThursday
Meet 3 famous witches of legend with @icysedgwick.bsky.social pca.st/episode/918c... #folklore #witch #folklorethursday
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
When the forest spirits left the Schömberg region, they altered the appearance of the local sparrows so that the locals would remember them.
#FolkloreThursday
wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Forest_Spirits_...
Deep in Appalachian lore, stories tell of something watching from the trees... not quite animal, not quite human. People speak of hearing footsteps that match their own, just a second too late, as if something is learning how to follow. #FolkloreThursday
Art: Craig Bone
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
A strange light hovers over moody marshland at dusk
Whether you know them as will-o-the-wisps, corpse candles, or lantern men, following these strange lights often will lead you to your doom...
Illustration - A mirage in a marsh by C. Whymper
#FolkloreThursday
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
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
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
Mermaids on medieval misericords. The symbol of vanity, these are from Ripon and Carlisle Cathedrals. #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.
Hello #FolkloreThursday 🦋
As most of you know, Bluesky has experienced interruptions and outages today. Apologies if we missed your posts!
This is @shanonsinn.bsky.social. I'll do my best to reshare today's theme of "Guardians of the Forest: Spirits, Deities & Creatures of the Woods”
1875 W Crane
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
![[…] were in the birch-woods that still cluster round the southern end of that loch and extend up the sides of the high ridge to the west. There are grassy glades, dense thickets, and rocky fastnesses in these woods that look just the very place for fairies. Loch a Druing is on the north point, about two miles from the present Rudha Reidh lighthouse. The Gille Dubh was so named fromthe black colour of his hair. His dress, if dress it could be called, was merely leaves of trees and green moss. He was seen by very many people and on many occasions during a period of more than forty years in the latter half of the eighteenth century. He was, in fact, well known to the people, and was generally regarded as a beneficent fairy. He never spoke to anyone except to a little girl named Jessie Macrae, whose home was at Loch a Druing. She was lost in the woods one summer night. The Gille Dubh came to her, treated her with great kindness, and took her safely home again next morning. When Jessie grew up she became the wife of John Mackenzie, tenant of Loch a Druing farm, and grandfather of the famous John Mackenzie who collected and edited the Beauties of Gaelic Poetry.
It was after this that Sir Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch invited Sir George Mackenzie of Coul, Mackenzie of Dundonnell, Mackenzie of Letterewe, and Mackenzie of Kernsary, to join him in an expedition to repress the Gille Dubh. These five lairds repaired to Loch a Druing armed with guns, with which they hoped to shoot the fairy. Most of them wore the Highland dress, with dirks at their side. They were hospitably entertained by John Mackenzie, the tenant. An ample supper was […]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vmd2oqboco524fhpqdu7pnbn/bafkreihwmvmewqjrjshxdng36ffswfj43o734uo7lo4lpji5qzjyhj6dqq)
[…] were in the birch-woods that still cluster round the southern end of that loch and extend up the sides of the high ridge to the west. There are grassy glades, dense thickets, and rocky fastnesses in these woods that look just the very place for fairies. Loch a Druing is on the north point, about two miles from the present Rudha Reidh lighthouse. The Gille Dubh was so named fromthe black colour of his hair. His dress, if dress it could be called, was merely leaves of trees and green moss. He was seen by very many people and on many occasions during a period of more than forty years in the latter half of the eighteenth century. He was, in fact, well known to the people, and was generally regarded as a beneficent fairy. He never spoke to anyone except to a little girl named Jessie Macrae, whose home was at Loch a Druing. She was lost in the woods one summer night. The Gille Dubh came to her, treated her with great kindness, and took her safely home again next morning. When Jessie grew up she became the wife of John Mackenzie, tenant of Loch a Druing farm, and grandfather of the famous John Mackenzie who collected and edited the Beauties of Gaelic Poetry. It was after this that Sir Hector Mackenzie of Gairloch invited Sir George Mackenzie of Coul, Mackenzie of Dundonnell, Mackenzie of Letterewe, and Mackenzie of Kernsary, to join him in an expedition to repress the Gille Dubh. These five lairds repaired to Loch a Druing armed with guns, with which they hoped to shoot the fairy. Most of them wore the Highland dress, with dirks at their side. They were hospitably entertained by John Mackenzie, the tenant. An ample supper was […]
![[…] served in the house. It included both beef and mutton, and they had to use their dirks for knives and forks, as such things were very uncommon in Gairloch in those days. They spent the night at Loch a Druing, and slept in John Mackenzie's barn, where couches of heather were prepared for them. They went all through the woods, but they saw nothing of the Gille Dubh!
The existence of water-kelpies in Gairloch, if perhaps not universally credited in the present generation, was accepted as an undoubted fact in the last. The story of the celebrated water-kelpie-it was sometimes spoken of as the Each Uisge, and at other times as the Tarbh Oire-of the Greenstone Point is very well known in Gairloch. The proceedings for the extermination of this wonderful creature formed a welcome topic even for the Punch of the period. The creature is spoken of by the natives sometimes as " The Beast." He lives, or did live in the fifties, in the depth of a loch, called after him Loch na Beiste, or Loch of the Beast, which is about half-way between Udrigil House and the village of Mellan Udrigil.
Mr. Bankes, the then proprietor of the estate on which this loch is situated, was pressed by his tenants to take measures to put an end to the beast, and at length was prevailed upon to take action. Sandy Macleod, an elder of the Free Church, was returning to Mellan Udrigil from the Aultbea church on Sunday in company with two other persons, one of whom was a sister (still living at Mellan Udrigil in 1886) of the well-known John Mackenzie of the Beauties, when they actually saw the "Beast" itself. It looked something like a big boat […]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vmd2oqboco524fhpqdu7pnbn/bafkreicdkq2rfvj3djewv74ljveye75rpa5nxudopdljqkwtlqflifkx74)
[…] served in the house. It included both beef and mutton, and they had to use their dirks for knives and forks, as such things were very uncommon in Gairloch in those days. They spent the night at Loch a Druing, and slept in John Mackenzie's barn, where couches of heather were prepared for them. They went all through the woods, but they saw nothing of the Gille Dubh! The existence of water-kelpies in Gairloch, if perhaps not universally credited in the present generation, was accepted as an undoubted fact in the last. The story of the celebrated water-kelpie-it was sometimes spoken of as the Each Uisge, and at other times as the Tarbh Oire-of the Greenstone Point is very well known in Gairloch. The proceedings for the extermination of this wonderful creature formed a welcome topic even for the Punch of the period. The creature is spoken of by the natives sometimes as " The Beast." He lives, or did live in the fifties, in the depth of a loch, called after him Loch na Beiste, or Loch of the Beast, which is about half-way between Udrigil House and the village of Mellan Udrigil. Mr. Bankes, the then proprietor of the estate on which this loch is situated, was pressed by his tenants to take measures to put an end to the beast, and at length was prevailed upon to take action. Sandy Macleod, an elder of the Free Church, was returning to Mellan Udrigil from the Aultbea church on Sunday in company with two other persons, one of whom was a sister (still living at Mellan Udrigil in 1886) of the well-known John Mackenzie of the Beauties, when they actually saw the "Beast" itself. It looked something like a big boat […]
The Gille Dubh is a woodland fairy from around Gairloch in NW Scotland. Although shy, he can be helpful, especially to lost children – so naturally a bunch of #C18th landlords decided to try to shoot him
—Osgood Mackenzie, 100 Years in the Highlands
#FolkloreThursday
archive.org/details/hund...
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 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 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
