#folklore and legends

[longreads]

In today's new Longreads essay, Elizabeth Friend examines the vanishing hitchhiker tale, and one spooky North Carolina story in particular: the tale of a young woman named Lydia. 

There are countless variations on Lydia’s story. Sometimes her dress is a specific color. Sometimes a different family member opens the door. Sometimes the young man drapes his jacket over the girl’s shoulders, only to find it later on her grave.

Elizabeth explores how folklore passed down over generations reveals our anxieties during times of change. The ghost story of Lydia reflects the shifting expectations of American women in the first half of the 20th century. 

Read “The Lessons of Lore” on Longreads.

[phinnsyreads]

"The Deadname Meme"

by Queerious

Our Pride episode for 2024 has been released, featuring guest @demilypyro and returning guest @circeofjagd, as well as @iridethedirt, Lee Daniel, and Breck Wilhite!

You can find more of Demily on Twitch (https://twitch.tv/demilypyro) and the ruins that were once Twitter (https://twitter.com/demilypyro).

Happy Pride!

[fallbabylon]

Devils and the Mouth of Hell details from South Leigh doom painting 15th C- South Leigh, UK

[catboygirljoker]

hi.

[candela888]

Legends and folklore from Mexico by region

Legends from Northern Mexico

Legends from Mexico City

Legends from the Baja California Peninsula

Legends from Southern Mexico

Legends from Central Mexico

Legends from South-Central Mexico

Legends from the Yucatan Peninsula

Legends from Mexico

[bluebellowl]

I had this great realisation that Sneasel sounds mad close to ‚weasel‘ and whoops I went deep into the Japanese folklore of the Kamaitachi, which are lightning fast blade wielding weasels who cut your legs in cold climates.

There‘s a great 16 min youtube podcast that explains the folklore far better. Go show them some love!

[illustratus]

Faust and Mephistopheles by Gaston Cervelli

[strangeoctober]

I find it interesting that people talk and write about fairies these days like they're these horrible, Machiavellian monsters that you mustn't ever risk dealing with. Even saying your name near them will forever put you in their thrall, forever! (Or something to that effect) But when you dig into the folklore, you find countless stories of fairies just getting dunked on in just the daftest ways.

I've been reading "The Lore of Scotland", by Jennifer Westwood and Sophia Kingshill, and when I noticed this trend, I started taking count of who wins in fairies vs. human confrontations. I'm only about a fifth through, and while it's not clear cut, the humans are winning by three points!

By way of example, let me tell you one of my favourite stories so far. Once upon a time, a young woman was abducted by the fay and carried away to a fairie mound. There, she was placed in the arms of the great fay giantess who ruled those halls. "I've got you now!" said the giantess, "I'm going to hold you as tight and as close as vine on tree, forever more!" Certainly in a pickle, the young woman considered her dire situation and simply replied, "I wish it was shit you were holding." The fay giantess was so completely appalled and disgusted by the coarse manner of the young woman that she let her go immediately and had her taken back to her home.

Not only do I find this really funny, I enjoy the fact that even centuries ago, the forthright manner and direct problem solving of Scottish women was well established.

[ollyrewind]

The stars tell us of a great king. They rise, the pole star will ascend the heavens with the constellations of the king's namesake upon the higher cycles of the Earth, foretelling his rise and the golden age that he will bring. His age will go on and on and reach its peak in the far future when the pole star comes to occupy the truest central position in the heavens.

Like Every Tree Stands on Its Own by wonderful @mightybog

[igorlevchenko-blog]

Portrait of a Satyr

Digital painting. Photoshop. 2019

[flwrkid14]

The Weight of Stories in the Infinite Realms

Danny has always known ghosts were shaped by their obsessions. That’s Ghost 101. The more powerful the emotion, the stronger the ghost. Desire. Rage. Guilt. They don’t just linger—they define.

But legends? Legends are something else entirely.

Ghosts are remnants of the people they were. Even the worst of them—the ones twisted beyond recognition—still have that core, that personhood. You can track their past, their cause, their tether to the living world.

Legends don’t have that.

Legends are built from belief.

Danny’s seen it before, how stories spread through the Infinite Realms like wildfire, how whispers in the dark can manifest into something real. It’s not just the ghosts of the dead who take shape in the Realms—it’s the things that never lived in the first place. The things that shouldn’t exist but do because people believe in them.

Slenderman. The Black-Eyed Children. The Vanishing Hitchhiker. Stories people made up and told so many times that the Infinite Realms listened.

Danny once stumbled across the Headless Horseman galloping through the Ghost Zone like he belonged there. He wasn’t the ghost of some long-dead soldier—he was the story of the Horseman, made real. Danny half-wonders if there are multiple versions of him, shaped by different retellings. Maybe one with a pumpkin head, maybe another wielding a fiery sword.

Because that’s the thing about legends. They evolve.

And that’s what makes them dangerous.

Normal ghosts are predictable. You can track their origins, find the moment of their death, figure out what makes them tick. But legends? How do you fight something that exists only because people think it does?

You can’t reason with a legend. You can’t find its unfinished business and solve it. You can’t lay it to rest. It doesn’t want rest. It doesn’t want anything—it just is.

That’s why La Llorona was different.

Danny and Tim went to Mexico expecting a ghost. A vengeful spirit. Maybe a lost soul. But when Danny reached for his ghost sense, it flickered uncertainly, confused, like even the Realms weren’t sure what she was.

Because she wasn’t just a ghost. She was a story given form.

Her obsession wasn’t personal—it was collective. It was every mother who had lost a child, every whisper of warning passed down through generations, every child who grew up afraid of hearing her cry. Her entire existence was built on belief.

And you can’t exorcise belief.

Danny’s fought a lot of things, but how do you fight something shaped by the weight of a million voices? By centuries of fear? How do you kill a story when the world itself is determined to keep telling it?

…Maybe you don’t.

Maybe, instead of fighting a legend, you change the story.

[byjove]

Me: This is a really cool Neolithic monument, does anyone know who built it?

Irish folklore: Fionn mac Cumhaill.

Me: Ah. Interesting. This is a gorgeous and unique geographical feature, I wonder how it came to be…

Irish folklore: That was the work of Fionn mac Cumhaill as well.

Me: Ok. Wow. He was a very busy guy. Any idea who constructed this Neolithic tomb?

Irish folklore: Fionn mac Cumhaill. He did it.

Me: Is all of this…

Irish folklore: Yes. It was all Fionn mac Cumhaill.

[marzipanandminutiae]

seriously though, when DID 3 AM As The Spooky Hour enter folklore?

some sources online insist that it's traditional, but I never heard of it until maybe high school at the earliest (2008-2011). and then it was often phrased as "many people think midnight is the Spooky Hour, but AKSHULLY it's 3 AM!!!!" like a diversion from normal ideas, not something that had been in the zeitgeist forever

sadly nobody has done a deep dive into this online, with actual sources, and I don't really have the resources to do more than poke around on Google Books and be like "well, no English-language writing from the 19th century that's been digitized in this specific database mentions it!"

thoughts?

[briefbestiary]

A strange critter, galloping on all eight legs to great effect. Old Spider legs was only sighted the one time, running out of sight.

[candela888]

After much research I have decided that vampiric entities in the Americas come in three different types, based on region. If u have any questions feel free to ask.

Vampiric entities of Mexico & Southwest USA:

Ojai vampire

Chupacabra (dog-like variety)

Tlahuelpuchi

Lechuza

Vampiro de Belen

Cihuateteo

Witch-like or animalistic. Tend to feed on defenseless children or animals. Many can shapeshift, usually into animals like wolves or owls.

Vampiric entities of South America:

Pishtaco

Abchanchu

Peuchen

Chonchon

Capelobo

Patasola

Tunda

Boraro

Animalistic and monstrous, many of these are barely even humanoid, usually horiffic to look at. Tend to go after adults, and are usually malicious. Many have backwards feet.

Vampiric entities of the Atlantic Coast:

New England Vampire panic

NYC vampire sightings

Hag, Ole-Higue, & Boo Hag

Chupacabra (alien variety)

Vampiro de Moca

Loogaroo/Rougarou

Soucouyant

Asema

New Orleans vampire sightings

Jacques St. Germain

Almost always humanoid, usually undead, sometimes witch-like, tend to attack people of all ages.

[fallbabylon]

Published in 1928 'The Hodag: and other tales of the logging camp' documents American folklore in and around Wisconsin where the titular beast calls home. The Hodag is a fearsome beast with horns and spines, believed to be a product of the ashes of a cremated Oxen that had suffered at the hands of its owners. Carnivorous in nature it is said to have a particular taste for white bulldogs. Rhinelander in Wisconsin has The Hodag as a mascot and statues as well as a store can be found dedicated to this unique cryptid.