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I saw this on the BBC website and just couldn't resist!

Many moons ago I too, used to research the strange areas of our day-to-day existence in the
hope that it would help me formulate how this world really works.

So here's one for our valued member, Mystic Wanderer.
..................................

Serpents, owl men and demon dogs.

'Phantom dogs, spring-heeled demons and a half-man, half-owl hybrid - these are just some of
the strange and mythical creatures from English folklore that have inspired writers for centuries.

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It was while novelist Sarah Perry was driving through Essex with her husband that she first heard
the story of giant serpent, with teeth "very white and sharp".
The myth of a 9ft (2.7m) snake which terrorised the county's cattle had been told for centuries.
Inspired, she produced her novel The Essex Serpent, which won her the Waterstones Book of the
Year prize last year.

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The tale of the giant serpent first surfaced in a pamphlet from 1669, which claims its antics were
"attested by many credible persons".
"It's a great unsolved mystery," says Perry, who lives in Norwich.
"Some say it was all a hoax, a monster that was hand-built by a man and his son.

"Others say it was a crocodile - some such creature which escaped from the [royal menagerie
housed at the] Tower of London and made its way to the Essex marshes."

Regardless of its authenticity, myths and the "dark places that inhabit the corner of your eyes"
have always interested her.
She is not alone.

Fellow author Karen Maitland drew on the tales of the Owlman - a relatively modern Cornish story
first recorded by paranormal researcher Tony Doc Shiels.

According to Shiels, two girls, aged nine and 12, saw the creature hovering near Mawnam church
in 1976, describing it as large like a man but with pointed ears and red eyes.
The story party inspired Maitland's work The Owl Killers. She said she wanted to include the Owlman
in her thriller for its links to the occult.

"The owl was once a symbol of female power that had been subverted... used by the church and by
local cults."

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Another writer inspired by local legend was Bram Stoker.
The Dracula author had his head turned by the legend of the Lambton Worm, which was said to have
terrorised the County Durham village by snatching away small children and devouring sheep.
(I know this one very well! -BIAD)

He wrote The Lair of the White Worm, published in 1911, based on the myth of the monster, which
was described as large enough to coil itself around a hill.
It was later turned into a Ken Russell film, featuring Hugh Grant in one of his earliest roles, Amanda
Donahoe and an unfortunate boy scout.

Similarly, Arthur Conan Doyle drew on the story of Black Shuck - the demon dog that apparently
appeared at churches in Bungay and Blythburgh in Suffolk during a thunderstorm in August 1577.

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'...The animal apparently killed two parishioners and left scorch marks on a church door, and became
one of the inspirations for the Sherlock Holmes novel, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

It also inspired Essex writer Martin Newell, who wrote a poem named after the dog.
He says more and more writers are being drawn to mythology "as society becomes more secular
and the younger generation, who never go near a church, are looking for mystery in life".
"I grew up with the stories of Black Shuck from my granddad. When I was writing [the poem]
someone said to me to 'be careful'," he adds, with a nod to the grip the story still holds on people.

Other demonic creatures to be immortalised in print include Spring-Heeled Jack, who struck fear
in the hearts of Victorians.

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'...Sightings of the mysterious light-footed man, who could leap over 9ft (2.7m) fences, were
recorded from Chichester to Liverpool and were first reported in The Times in the 1830s.

Prof Rohan McWilliam, an expert on Victorian culture at Anglia Ruskin University, said popular Gothic
fiction turned monsters such as Spring-Heeled Jack into unlikely heroes - partly in reaction to what
was happening culturally at the time.

"In the 19th Century you had a high tide of rationalism and these horror stories, and these monsters,
acted as a counterweight to the rationalism," he said.
The devilish ne'er-do-well, who terrorised people and chased a gardener, according to a report from
1838, went on to inspire a novel named after him, written by Philip Pullman.

While the story is almost 200 years old, the motif of a mysterious, shadowy man continues to be
used in modern-day tales.

Slender Man, a horror character created on the internet by Eric Knudsen in 2009, is a present-day
example of a mythological creature.
"The Slender Man is unique only in the fact that he was generated via online forums," says Shira
Chess, assistant professor of mass media arts at the University of Georgia.
"This affected the speed of his spread but not the essence of his story. In many ways, the Slender
Man resonates with older styles of storytelling, fairy myths, and other modes of folklore."

Downes says even though it was created in the digital world, the Slender Man bears the hallmarks
of old-school folklore and looks likely to influence writers in generations to come.
Maitland agrees and says novelists, poets and songwriters are likely to continue finding inspiration
from these creatures of old and new folklore.

"Ever since man first sat around telling stories these shadowy creatures have been a big part of
those stories," she says.
"Writers are drawn to these creatures because they stir something primeval in us."..'
SOURCE:
WOW   minusculespooked BIAD, you have just given Mystic enough ammunition and fuel for 10 more articles.
Interesting to note from where these "myths" originated.  minusculethumbsup2

I'm sure most people who have ever delved into the paranormal will recognize these creatures in the stories we still hear to this day, however being a bit twisted from the original tale. Funny how certain things survive the test of time.

The owl man was one I hadn't heard.  However, there was a member on a previous board who told his story of walking down a dark lane one night when he heard something he couldn't quite describe, but it sounded like it was in pain.
He followed the sound until he came to a neighbor's garage, where he found what he called a "bird-man" crouched down in the corner whimpering.

He walked over to the creature to offer his help, but when he reached out to it, it bit him.  Needless to say, he left; his presence was clearly frightening the creature even more. 
He said he figured it was something not from this world and it was dying, unable to live in our atmosphere. 
He didn't know what became of the creature, but he never saw it again.

Strange things appear to handful of people to witness, only to be labeled as a crazy person when they relay their story to non-believers. 
Some people just can't wrap their minds around anything beyond what they consider "normal" in their own reality, or else, the thought of it being true scares them so bad their mind won't accept it.



Myth?  Who knows. 
From what I've learned, most "myths" originated from someone's reality once upon a time.

Thank you BIAD.  Nice thread.   tinyinlove
The Lambton Worm And Reality.

In regards of The Lambton Worm, one of the main things that tends to endure is the lack of an actual date.
The reason for this is connected to 'The Crusades' which is an ambiguous title because there was more
than one. But it's generally agreed that the legend appeared sometime during the 14th century, although
the incident is set in a far-more distant time.

Here's a basic outline:
A young boy from the noble family of Lambton in the North-East of England went fishing and caught a
small, strange eel-like creature in the nearby river. After ignoring a warning from an unknown old man
that appeared, the kid threw the animal in a well on his way home.

From a couple of accounts, the warning was that John Lambton should keep the black, oily 'thing'
and not ignore the responsibility.

John grows and goes off to fight in 'the Crusades' and on return, discovers the local village is being
terrorised by a huge beast that is inferred to be the same creature he had discarded in his youth.

Deciding to slay the monster, he consults a wise woman (Witch) who suggests that due to the animal's
ability to rejoin parts of it's body that is cut off, he should fashion a suit of armour covered in spikes to
stop the beast coiling itself around the valiant knight and when he chops at the monster, any pieces
should be thrown into the fast flowing river that it haunted.

However, a price is to be paid for such esoteric knowledge and the same Witch relates that if John
is successful, he is to kill the first living thing he sets his eyes on after the battle.
To ignore this is to bring a curse upon his family, a curse that states that no Lambton will die in their
bed.

The beast is slain and a plan was hatched earlier to release one of the family's dogs to run to it's owner
and be killed. But in the relief, John's father -or in some accounts, a woman that has John's heart, races
out to greet him and John's moral conduct prevailing, he doesn't fulfill the magical spell.

Of course, to back-up the claim that the curse has some merit and ensure that the underlying principles
are understood by any listener to the tale, no male Lambton has ever died peacefully in their beds.
Allegedly.
...........................

Of course the storyline is generic, with a chivalrous Knight, a terrible animal and a curse being valid
because of a lack of respect for 'the old ways' These facets are very important within a myth or legend
as it shows the many levels that a community evolves from.

For Britain at the time of this story, Christianity was still being heavily nudged into the hamlets and villages
around the countryside and as anyone from the advertising industry will agree, if possible, 'it's best to
go along to get along'

It's been difficult to research this legend in the hopes to place it in any real timeline. The Lambton family
of the time seems to have vague origins and are mainly reported as James Lambton 1st Earl of Durham
in the 19th century being the official beginning.

It's been suggested that the story was created to endorse the rights to the estate when King Henry II was
perusing his kingdom looking for land that had no written rights attached to them. A Lambton of the time
devised a ritual where the Bishop of Durham was obligated through tradition, would visit Lambton Hall
and accept the fabled sword that slayed the brute from the River Wear.

At the end of the preeminent visit, the dignitary would hand the weapon back and every impression was
given that this ritual stemmed from ages before. Ergo, implying the lands and properties were intrinsically
connected to the Lambton name.

With religion being an important bone in the spine of social control, the theory of using a revered Bishop's
compliance that the Lambtons were rightful overseers of the lands is certainly a weighty tactic to dissuade
a King from licking his lips for the property.

The rational conclusion became that if the ritual existed, a 'dragon-killing' sword with a narrative that held
names of local landmarks was also involved, then it only stands to reason the dragon was real too!
The cart was placed before the horse in the name of power!

Personally, I believe it's something to do with expelling the religion of paganism from the area by the church.
The many versions offer different aspects that are no doubt that the teller's perception of the yarn.
But one piece of detail is often mentioned and never wavers.
The marks on Penshaw Hill.

'...In some versions of the story, the hill is Penshaw Hill, that on which the Penshaw Monument
now stands, but locally the credit goes to the nearby Worm Hill, in Fatfield.
In most versions of the story, the worm is large enough to wrap itself around the hill seven times.
It is said that one can still see the marks of the worm on Worm Hill...'
SOURCE:

Just as the Tor hill at Glastonbury, chiselled labyrinths on rocks and the many turfed-mizmaze mazes around
England, there were rituals that pre-dated the arrival of Christianity. What these areas provided when a
person walked or traced the mazes, is still debated even today.
SOURCE:
SOURCE:

I think this was the true slaying that's celebrated in the story of the Lambton Worm and because of  the need
to not step on the toes of potential believers in Christianity, the yarn was created to 'rationally' explain the
rutted path that rises around the hill in a manner that the supposed ignorant peasant can understand.

It would be easy for a wandering Priest or monk to allign the killing of the evil serpent by a virtuous nobleman
of the Crusades with the socially-moral aspect of 'good' conduct being better than 'bad'
The real reason of destroying one belief system to promote another follows without being uttered and has the
added value of nurturing self-social engineering.

Phew! What's next...? Oh yes, the Owlman.
The Owl-Man of Cornwall.

This particular legend has the burden of involving a renown trickster who bolstered the story of two young
girls encountering a strange creature in the grounds of a village church of Cornwall, England.

Tony 'Doc' Shiels is well-known in the worlds of paranormal, supernatural and cryptozoology. Mr. Shiels is
an elderly man who enjoyed the Barnum-style of offering the public views of the stranger side of modern-day
society. He's an artist, was heavily involved in stage-magic and for a time, a noted paranormal researcher.

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Living in the area of Falmouth, I'm sure the many tales of water-monsters, ghosts, goblins haunting forgotten
tin mines and wind-blown stone circles along the rocky coast, didn't go unnoticed by this man who allegedly
took a photograph of the Loch Ness Monster in 1977.

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The Owl-Man legend actually fore-dates the commonly-known account of the girls at the church encounter in
the same year Mr. Shiels took the famous 'muppet' Loch Ness photo.
A report in the now-defunct Cornish Echo newspaper recorded that two boys in 1926 were chased by 'a very
large, ferocious bird' that repeatedly attempted to attack them whilst the lads hid behind a metal grating.

Mawnan is actually a parish (an area that a church presides over) of South Cornwall and because most legends
need specific  points that a casual listener can appreciate, Mawnan Smith -the real village name on the northern
side of the Helford River, became merely 'Mawnan'
SOURCE:

During early April of 1976, two young sisters of nine and twelve years-old respectively, were holidaying with their
parents and  during an early-evening visit to Mawnan church, witnessed a large winged creature hovering above
the church tower.

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June and Vicky Melling fled from the sighting of a "feathered bird-man" and related the story to their father who
cut short the vacation. Somehow, Tony Sheils became aware of the incident and requested a drawing of the
creature from one of the girls.

According to Mr. Sheils, two more females encountered the fierce feathered figure in July of the same year.
This time, Sally Chapman and Barbara Perry -both fourteen year-old girls, were camping when a "a big owl with
pointed ears, as big as a man" with glowing eyes and black, pincer-like claws was witnessed and once more,
drawings were offered.

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More sightings were reported for years afterwards and the usual explanation is that it was a large eagle owl.
Eagle owls are not indigenous to Great Britain, but the Royal Society of the Protection of Birds (RSPB) state that
these large birds were held in captivity as far back as the seventeenth century.
SOURCE:

A Hoax...? Regional promotion? There are many supernatural stories that are firmly embedded in that southern
tip of England and with Bodmin Moor just waiting to the north, Conan Doyle's 'Hound of The Baskervilles' demands
we look at the ghostly canines that haunt certain areas of Britain.
The Black Dog, Hellhound of Yore.

We all may know of someone who knows someone who's seen this creature and supposedly with it's fleeting
appearance, bad luck and death are not too-far away. From reading about the Black Dog, I was surprised by
the amount of nicknames attributed to this large supernatural animal with glowing eyes and the many areas
around the world this creature has been witnessed.

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Those who research the paranormal world tend to believe that the Black Dog phenomena came from folk tales
of old Scandinavia that spoke of Odin owning a black hound. With Vikings raiding and then settling up and down
the British coast, it's fairly possible that stories were developed around the faithful beast of the Norse God.

Yet, many lands around the world have reported a huge black-furred beast roaming the night and are we to
equate these sightings with the Vikings be able to travel such distances?  Can this animal be merely evidence
of man's ability to voyage beyond what is accepted as the norm?

It's more reasonable to assume that these legends were always there across the globe as dogs being titled
'man's best friend' is an ideal character to use in a story when warning children of how trust is to be managed.

Loyalty is based on a symbiotic relationship and this relationship between man and dog is an excellent example
of working together as a community and family is beneficial to all, but one should always be on one's guard not
to take it for granted.

El Cadejo of Central South American and Mexico is supposed to be a canine that holds the distinction of having
paws in each moral construct. A black dog of evil, a white one that represents good and an in-between individual.

The Black dog has the burden of being perceived as Satan and drags red-hot chains in it's wake. Many believe the
name 'Cadejo' derives from the word 'cadena' which means 'chain'.
The White Cadejo protects travellers and will guard drunks from being robbed!

The third is a cross-breed that is merely a dog... a real dog. This piece of information is important as it lends the
teller of the tale that such scary creatures of the other-world can be killed. And a real dead dog is proof, yes?!

The United States has 'Coyote' of Native American legend. A creature of dog-like appearance that is renown for
being mentioned in stories of trickery that define culture and society wisdom. A constant in all folklore.

The Chinese have Guardian Lions or 'Foo Dogs' whose legends spread widely across Asia. These stone creatures
adorn temples and palaces, with many other social cautions and advice attached to them.

Mainland Europe holds many of the Black Dogs tales of course, from the icy lands of the north all the way down to the
Mediterranean Sea. But it seems that an English 'misty moors' background tends to be used when presented in
a variety of literature. 

Therianthropy is the ability of humans to be able to change into animals and I would suggest that the usual suspect
when a man becomes a beast is a canine for a reason that isn't random.
The faithfulness of the dog has been with us since the wolf first stepped out of the dark and sat beside lonely man
at the campfire. We have travelled together through time and distance and it's allegiance is beyond reproach.

Could it be that even in this age of cynical, materialistic faithless melancholy, the shadow of this creature is still
around to warn us that our time here is short and shouldn't be wasted?
Or maybe the world as we know it isn't what we know?!

[Image: attachment.php?aid=1379]
A weathervane in Bungay, Suffolk.
Ah yes, the Hell Hound.   tinyhuh 

My friend told me about an experience she had while living in the thick forests of West Virginia.  Her family's house was isolated, with the heavily wooded area at the  back of the landscape.  She said she went out into the edge of the woods one day around dusk for a walk and she heard a sound that sent chills down her spine.
To her astonishment, she saw two huge black "dogs" coming out of the forest, running toward her at an incredible speed and "barking", if you can call it that, a sound that was so evil, it could only come straight from  hell itself!   tinysurprised 

She froze in her tracks, and during the brief seconds she had before knowing the dogs would reach her, she contemplated how she would die... being torn to shreds by these large, evil black creatures.  tinycrying There was no time to make it back to the house, so she figured "this was it". 
She said, just before the creatures were to her, her dog ran out barking at them.  One went to the left, and the other went to the right, and they simply disappeared. 

She ran back to her house, amazed at what had just happened, and very happy to be alive.  I'd say the dog that saved her got some well-deserved love and praise after that experience. tinybiggrin



As for the coyotes, we have them here... all around us. I suspect them to be the murderers of some of my kittens in the past that belonged to the stray cat outside that adopted me. 
Their howls will send shivers through to one's very soul.  They run in packs, so when they all start howling at the same time to let other packs know they are nearby, it sounds very eerie indeed!
I've got an old paperback book down at our holiday flat called "The Hell Hound and other True Mysteries" or similar.

The Hell Hound story in that was quite chilling...

As far as I can remember...
A courting couple were out walking, chaperoned by the girls mother...
The Girl screams as she sees a HUGE BLACK DOG with FLAMING RED EYES running towards them, but neither her suitor or her mother see a thing! It's getting closer and closer... so she panics and grabs a hold of her companions arms... Then, INSTANTLY... THEY can both see the Hell Hound too!!!
The man pulls away from his girl and steps forward to confront the beast and it instantly disappears from his view... but SHE can still see it and faints as it reaches them!!!
They don't come to any harm, but no one could see the beast unless they were in physical contact with the girl!!!!

Weird. But GREAT topic.

G
From my above post...


Quote:As for the coyotes, we have them here... all around us. I suspect them to be the murderers of some of my kittens in the past that belonged to the stray cat outside that adopted me. 

Their howls will send shivers through to one's very soul.  They run in packs, so when they all start howling at the same time to let other packs know they are nearby, it sounds very eerie indeed!

Here is an article about how bad the coyote problem is.  They even have them running around the Knoxville Mall parking lot!  YIKES! tinysurprised


Quote:Coyote breaks into coop, kills 23 chickens and two turkeys
Posted: Mon 6:33 PM, Mar 13, 2017

[Image: Social-Facebook-34.png] [Image: Social-Twitter-34.png] [Image: Social-LinkedIn-34.png] [Image: Social-Google-34.png] [email=?subject=Coyote%20breaks%20into%20coop,%20kills%2023%20chickens%20and%20two%20turkeys&body=http://www.local8now.com/content/news/Coyote-breaks-into-coop-416068593.html][Image: Social-Email-34.png][/email] [Image: Social-Print-34.png]
SEVIER COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) -- A Sevier County family woke up shocked and devastated when their entire chicken flock was killed by a coyote Saturday.
[Image: coyote+one.jpg]
Misty and Billy Baker have raised their chickens with their young son for about a year.
The family felt their coop was strong, but a determined and large coyote pushed through a small door only the chickens use. Misty Baker said only one coyote was caught on camera, but there could have been more.

"They left nothing behind, all that we had left was feathers," Baker said. "There was no meat left whatsoever."
Zoo Knoxville said coyotes are thriving in areas where there are people.

"They are one of those animals that seem to thrive in human impacted areas," Zoo Knoxville's Director of Animal Care Phil Colclough said. "They do really well in an urban setting, we've got them in downtown Knoxville, we've got them in West Town Mall parking lot."
Keith McAlum with Smokey Mountain Chicken Tractor builds coops for a living and said people that keep chickens need to make sure that have strong wood, wire and roof.

"Any kind of point of weakness they're gonna go for," said McAlum.

"It's disturbing for people when they lose their flock because they've got so much invested in it," he said. "Your chickens become more like your pets than farm animals, you know."

The Bakers said they plan to start a new flock and will be keeping a closer eye out for the coyote, which is still roaming the area.
"It really scares me for my son, especially because he loves to let the chickens out in the morning and he loves helping me lock them up at night. That makes me very nervous knowing that it could be right there behind me," said Baker.

Zoo Knoxville experts stress that coyotes are not a danger to humans, and that they will usually run away if they hear humans.
"Make a lot of noise," Colclough advised. "I wouldn't walk up to the animal for sure, that's how most bites are occurring. They can take small dogs and small cats. They're nocturnal and spend most of their time at night hunting."

The TWRA said that coyotes are highly adaptable and can survive in any area where there is food available.

Source