#FolkloreThursday - #GhostStory Bites for Your Reading Pleasure...

It's October! Time for some ghost stories....
I've gathered these little tidbits from around the globe. Enjoy!

Photo by Glen Bowman

The Radiant Boy
Northumberland, England. 

Chillingham Castle is a 13th-century castle reputed to be the most haunted place in the world. The most famous ghost in the castle was the "Radiant Boy" who used to haunt the Pink Room. His cries would emanate from a spot near where a passage was (later) found. As his cries faded away, a bright halo of light appeared, followed by the figure of a young boy dressed in blue. During some renovation work, they found the bones of a young child behind the wall, wrapped in decaying fragments of blue cloth. The child was given a proper burial and the hauntings ceased.

Used by Permission via Mr. Harman

Resurrection Mary 
Chicago, Illinois 

There are many hitchhiker ghosts reported across the USA. The most famous resides near Resurrection Cemetery on Chicago's Southside. Since the 1930s, many have reported picking up the blonde, blue-eyed young woman dressed in a white party dress. Once the driver reaches the cemetery, the young woman asks to be let out and then disappears. She is thought to be the spirit of Mary Bregovy, who died in a 1934 auto accident in the Chicago Loop, or possibly Anna Norkus, who died in a 1927 auto accident while on her way home from the Oh Henry Ballroom.

Used by Permission via McKarri

Flying Dutchman 
Oceans of Europe, Asia, and Africa

The Flying Dutchman is a legendary ghost ship doomed to sail the oceans forever, unable to make port. The myth likely originated from the 17th-century golden age of the Dutch East India Company. The ship and its crew became eternally cursed when its Dutch captain refused to take safe harbor during a storm despite pleas from the crew and passengers. Instead, the captain challenged God to take them down. There are many sightings and literary references to this ship. If hailed by another ship, the crew of the Flying Dutchman will try to send messages to land, or to people long dead. In ocean lore, the sight of this phantom ship is a bad omen.

Blackbeard's Flag
Used by Permission via Fred the Oyster

Blackbeard's Ghost

Oracoke Island, North Carolina

Ocracoke Island is an inlet off the coast of North Carolina. The inlet is reported to be the favored spot where Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, anchored ship. It's also said to be where he met his end. Some say his ghost haunts the spot to this day. On moonlit nights, people have reported that the ghost of Blackbeard (Edward Teach) can be seen swimming around Ocracoke Island cove where he died. It was rumored that after being shot and stabbed repeatedly, his headless body swam three times around the boat before it finally sunk. Many people report seeing a strange light moving beneath the waters of the cove. This ghostly light is thought to be Blackbeard's spirit searching for his missing head.

Eleonore Zugun (right)
Used by Permission via Unbekannt, Wien

Eleonore Zugun 
Teleorman County, Romania

In 1926, Eleonore Zugun, an illiterate 13-year-old Romanian peasant girl, suffered spontaneous attacks of poltergeist activity and stigmata. Fearing she was possessed by the devil, the villagers locked her away in an asylum. She was brought to London for a series of experiments at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research. Conclusions were made that the stigmatic markings (ranging from a whip, scratch or teeth bitemarks) were spontaneous and she was not consciously responsible for the production of the marks. According to the report, she could also move small objects without physical contact. There were over 1,070 recorded instances of either stigmata or poltergeist activity. The activity soon diminished and by 1928, Eleonore returned to Romania where she later married and was said to have lived a “normal life”.

Used by Permission via KatyaMSL

La Llorona ("The Weeping Woman") 
Mexico

The story tells of a woman by the name of Maria who drowned her children in order to be with the man she loved. The man would not have her, and she ended up drowning herself in a river in Mexico City.  Maria was not permitted to enter the afterlife until she found her children. Trapped between the living and spirit world, she wanders the Earth for all eternity. Her constant weeping as she searches for her children has earned her the name "La Llorona."

Portrait of Lady Dorothy Walpole
by Charles Jervas,  circa 1805
Public Domain 

The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall 
Norfolk, England

Said to be the ghost of Lady Dorothy Walpole (1686–1726). She became one of the most famous hauntings in Great Britain when photographers from Country Life magazine claimed to have captured her image in 1936. Lady Dorothy Walpole was the second wife of Charles Townshend, who was notorious for his violent temper. The story says when Townshend discovered that his wife had committed adultery, he punished her by locking her in her room. She remained at Raynham Hall until her death in 1726 from smallpox.

#FolkloreThursday - Fairy Rings

A "fairy ring" is a naturally occurring ring of mushrooms. Found in forested areas and grasslands, there are two different kinds; free and tethered. Free rings are usually found in meadows, fields, or lawns and aren't connected with any other organisms. Tethered rings show up in forests, usually with one or more trees in the center, and have a symbiotic relationship with the roots of the tree. A fairy ring is caused by mycelium, which advances away from the center of the ring at about 6-18 inches per year. In Belfort, France, one such fairy ring was estimated to be over 700 years old and spanned a quarter of a mile in diameter.

Fairy rings are the subject of worldwide folklore—particularly in Western Europe. Thought to be the result of elves or fairies dancing in the grass, straying into a fairy ring was often seen as dangerous. It could bring on disease, bad luck, or put one at risk of being captured and enslaved within the fairy realm. On the lighter side, the dew from the grass of a fairy ring was prized as a cosmetic skin treatment, and used as an ingredient for love potions. In some cultures, building a home within a fairy ring would bring good luck to the family. In other cultures, it was believed that fairies buried their treasure within the fairy ring itself.

Beliefs such as these have been around for hundreds of years - some still believe in them today.

So, next time you see a faerie ring, will you stray inside, or give a wide berth?

#FolkloreThursday - Fauns and Nature Spirits

Photo courtesy of daniel.stark via Flickr

In Greek mythology, fauns were associated with the god Pan. Fauns were connected to nature, particularly the forest, and reputed to be quite unpredictable. Travelers were said to encounter these spirits in lonely, wild or remote places. Depending on their mood, fauns could either be helpful or a hindrance.

Some feel fauns transcend the mythological horned and goat-legged creatures. Fauns have also been equated with unseen nature spirits. Such deities are present in many cultures. They are effectively the “living soul” of a tree or place. These spirits are thought to be otherworldly, often glimpsed in a darkened wood or flash of sunlight through the forest canopy. Nature spirits are said to act as the guardians and life force of an area. They are not necessarily bound to one spot, but can venture a short distance away. Legends tell of people becoming unsettled in certain forests at night. It is said that nature spirits roam those woods, searching for unwary travelers.

Happy Spring, everyone. Enjoy that walk in the woods...

#FolkloreThursday - Ursula Sontheil (Mother Shipton)

Public domain photo

Mother Shipton was said to have been an English soothsayer and prophetess from the 15th-16th century. The story goes like this:

Ursula Sontheil (1488 - 1561) was born in a cave beside the river Nidd in North Yorkshire, England. Some reports say that her mother gave her up to live in a convent, while others say the woman died in childbirth. Ursula's father was unknown.

The child exhibited prophetic and psychic abilities from an early age. Fostered by woman who lived on the outskirts of town, many stories were told of her odd childhood. In one, Ursula and her crib went missing from the house. When the villagers were called upon to look for her, they were attacked by supernatural forces. Ursula was eventually discovered in her crib half-way up the chimney, unharmed.

At 24 years old, she married a local carpenter and became a village prophetess and healer. To avoid persecution for the crime of witchcraft, she wrote her prophecies in rhyme and verse. Her fame soon spread and she became known as Mother Shipton. In 1559 she wrote an epic poem that would become famous down through the ages.
Many of her visions came true within her own lifetime and in subsequent centuries, including these:

The dissolution of the Catholic Church under Henry VIII
The fall of Cardinal Wolsey
The untimely death of Henry’s son Edward VI
The reign of “Bloody” Mary I
The ascent of Queen Elizabeth to the throne of England
The Great Fire of London in 1666
The defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588
The advent of modern technology.
Her own death in 1561.

Many of her prophecies were composed by others after her death. The most famous version was published by Richard Head in 1641. Head later admitted to inventing almost all Shipton's biographical details. Since 1641 there have been more than 50 different published editions of her poems.

Gleaning the real from myth and folklore in this case is difficult. Her original poetry is difficult to find and supposedly kept from being viewed by the public. With the passage of time and lack of historical evidence, there is debate as to whether she existed at all. Village wise-women certainly existed and were called upon for simple cures and herbal remedies. It's not a stretch of the imagination that there may have been one who was famed in her local area for having exceptional powers. Regardless, the real truth about Mother Shipton will probably never be known.