#graftons

[big-low-t]

West Virginia Cryptids

[shadyufo]

Cryptids & Creatures of Folklore Drawtober Day 7 — The Grafton Monster

A newspaper reporter named Robert Cockrell who worked for the Grafton Sentinel in Grafton, West Virginia, was driving home from work late one night in June of 1964 when he had to slam on his brakes after rounding a sharp bend in the road. His car's headlights illuminated an enormous figure slowly lumbering across the road in front of him.

Cockrell described the creature as being between 7 and 9 feet tall, massively muscular with enormous arms and torso, small and stocky legs, a slick white hide, and no visible head. As the creature wandered off the road, it let out a shrill whistling sound.

Cockrell immediately went back to the Grafton Sentinel's office and persuaded two of his coworkers to come back to the scene of the sighting with him. When they returned, the creature was no longer in sight but the ground and foliage was noticeably trampled where it had last been seen and they could still hear the whistling noise off in the surrounding woods.

The reporter published his encounter in the paper and dozens of other reports of similar creatures started coming in from the local area as well as surrounding towns. A father and son claimed to see the creature lumber past them while they were felling trees and in the 1980s another man claimed a creature fitting the same description came up from the water beneath him while he was fishing at night and knocked him out of his boat.

The farmer who just put in this new fence is gonna be so mad but I bet the cows won't mind letting the Grafton Monster lead them to greener pastures.

[usafphantom2]

One for the Navy, A-6 Intruder

@BollingerTodd via X

[grandkhan221b]

Just found out the asoiaf wiki uses ai art for some of the character's page image 😭 most of them look horrendous too :

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Category:Images_created_with_Stable_Diffusion

They say in the header they prefer images created by actual artists if possible - brb gonna make it my life's work to draw each of theses characters

[dubmill]

Clapham, London; 13.8.2020

[unteriors]

Griggs Avenue, Grafton, North Dakota.

[gothgleek]

🦀Prunella and Prudence Celtigar🦀

These two minor characters are the only named women of House Celtigar, one of the three houses of Valyrian descent so naturally they caught my attention. Given the Valyrian supremacy of the other two houses, none of them married a Celtigar? Very strange.

Prudence appears to be the eldest sister since she got married first in 52 AC to Lord Grafton in the Vale. She also seems the braver of the two as she was stabbed by Septas while protecting Alysanne at Joquil’s Pool. Her dress is inspired by Burgundian gowns and her hairstyle is based on Ukiyo-e hairstyles from Japan’s Edo Period.

Prunella is likely the younger sister. She was married in 55 AC to Lord Peake in the Reach. This was recorded as an ‘exceptional match’ so the two were most likely in love. Her dress is inspired by the Italian Renaissance and her hair is inspired by the squash blossom hairstyle of the Hopi women.

[cryptid-quest]

Cryptid of the Day: Grafton Monster

Description: In 1964, reporter of the Grafton Sentinel Robert Cockrell was driving home from work at around 11:00pm on Riverside Drive along Tygart River when he saw something, “7-9ft tall, 4ft wide with seal-like skin”. Soon, massive search parties were formed to find and capture the monster. Today, the creature is known for its appearance in the video game Fallout 76.

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Three-toed snake-tooth skink (Coeranoscincus reticulatus)

Grafton, New South Wales, Australia

By Tyler Monachino

[ma-pi-ma]

Ci sono giorni insopportabili, ma le cose belle torneranno.

La felicità è una stagione, come tutto il resto.

Aspetta.

Sue Grafton

[sweaterkittensahoy]

TERFs out here saying you can't be a woman if you don't have a uterus. I didn't realize I was non-binary until my late 30s.

At 31 (family record), I had a full hysterectomy so I could function as a person. Do you have any idea how much pain you have to be in to be 31, no kids, and get your uterus removed?

It's a lot.

Anyway, I had a TERF tell me once (before I was identifying enby, so she was only mostly terrible) that, yes, she did see me as less of a woman because I had removed my womb.

Other than fuck TERFs (and radfems and tradfems, the world's worst appetizer platter, truly), I don't know that I had a point here.

Oh! Wait! It's been 10 years! 10 years without crushing pain and depression every fucking day because I could barely walk for two years due to said pain!

And some fuck said I was lesser for making my choice.

Fuck 'em. It ain't parts. It's you. You make yourself who you are, you got me? You.

[glorpmcgloople]

I've gotten really into Fallout 76 recently since the show reawakened the Fallout need. Everyone told me it wasn't very good but I've been having a great time. I've always been a fan of the Wild Wasteland weirdness in the Fallout games so it's great to get to see all these cryptids.

[hotmalecelebsdaily]

Colin Grafton

[briefbestiary]

A cryptid of 1964, its large form was described as a "huge white obstruction".

[asongofgoldenfireandblackblood]

Six moons subsequent to the coronation of Westeros’ first Ruling-Queen, ravens have once more been sent to summon every caliber and shade of the kingdom’s noble families back to Court at The Red Keep...

...This time to celebrate the wedding of Queen Rhaenyra’s heir, Crown Prince Jacaerys, and his cousin, step-sister, and betrothed of nearly twenty years, Princess Baela. They have flown out, however, to meet a Realm steeped in far more tension, ambition, and gossip than most could have dreamed half a year ago.

The soon-to-be-newlyweds are, of course, a source of much of the whispers and more, many speculating the only reason such a pairing has only lasted so long because of the new Queen’s desperation to restore favorability towards her family’s Valyrian looks in her son’s progeny after her own poor luck in the matter, the Prince held only by his duty to a union made when he had hardly learned to walk, and the new Princess wholly satisfied with such an otherwise suspect arrangement because of her own intent to rule not with but through her blushing groom. Another couple amongst the Targaryen Royals, Prince Aemond and Princess Rhaena have set gossip of their own aflutter, with a courtship lasting all these past six moons and no proposal seeming to dawn on the horizon, spectators have proposed the second son may have been more infatuated with the chase than its subject, while others murmur the proclaimed Pearl is only using him as a shield until someone better comes along…or comes of age.

All the while halfway-reliable reports that Prince Aegon the Younger has been spotted on many an evening gallivanting through the streets of Fleabottom, his younger brother Prince Viserys has grown fond of playing kissing games with his own, male companions, and their sister Princess Visenya has been all but neglected during her Queen-Mother's latest pregnancy, causing the girl in turn to act out with uncharacteristic misbehavior and grow sour towards the nearing arrival of her new siblings. More worrying still, in the five moons since his betrothal to Lady Alannys Greyjoy, Prince Joffrey has spent more and more of his time with the Ironborn. Some say this is his way of rejecting the Faith of the Seven, leaving the Gods for the Drowned God, becoming more barbaric because of their influence on him, and leaving behind the kind and courtly boy he was in trade for the temperament of a Greyjoy.

Queen Rhaenyra herself has, unsurprisingly, sparked even more whispers throughout her court and across the kingdom than all her children combined. After the very first weeks of her reign were marred by an attempted poisoning, a speculated miscarriage, a shock pregnancy announcement, and even more shocking political appointments, her Grace could not be faulted for attempting to draw the public eye anywhere else, but she has not. While her supporters and detractors alike found the new installation of stained glass in the high windows of the Red Keep's Throne Room honoring The Seven unveiled during her coronation to be impressive, it was not hard to notice the wrought iron seven pointed star which had hung above The Iron Throne for nigh on two decades had been replaced by the Targaryen sigils that had not hung there since Septon Barth became Hand to King Jaehaerys.

Meanwhile the new Queen's closest ladies have caused gossip of their won to fly between loose lips and the cracks in the Red Keep's walls; Lady Roslin Vance believed to be conspiring with the head housekeeper and whispered witch of her brother, Lord Larys', stronghold at Harrenhall to kill him via magical means after a long string of failed assassination attempts in vengeance for her assertions he was behind the deaths of their father and older brother. The interim hand of the Queen and her lead Lady-in-Waiting, Lady Calla Celtigar has further drawn rumors that she has soured since Queen Rhaenyra's coronation at odds with Her Grace over her pregnancy, others speculating she dislikes the public attention she receives as Hand, and the boldest claim that she was scorned in illicit advances by one of the Lords of the Small Council. These murmurings accompanied by whispers that the Lady Celtigar has been taking keen note of powerful Lords of the Realm, especially those who seek high positions on Queen Rhaenyra's council, and her judgment as thorough as it is fierce.

As the Dowager-Queen Alicent has all but entirely absented herself from Court in favor of spending her days on Dragonstone and tending to the affairs of her children and grandchildren, speculation has grown that the new Queen's disregard towards The Faith showcased in everything from her change of heraldry, to the appointment of Dalton Greyjoy to her small council, and now the invitation of a Dornish Envoy to attend the wedding and restart diplomatic negotiations between the two kingdoms has driven Queen Alicent to flee her own home of the past three decades over the hostility. Although, those less charitable in their views on the Dowager claim she has done so not from Rhaenyra's hostility, but out of self preservation, as to spare herself the prying eyes of the continuing investigations into who was behind the attempt on her stepdaughter's life the night of King Viserys' funeral. All the while, the head of the aforementioned party from Sunspear, Ruling-Princess Aliandra, is believed to have arrived looking for a Westerosi groom of her own, perhaps even from the long time rival-Kingdom's royal family itself.

Speaking of Dragonstone, the elder Prince Aegon has been causing his own, characteristic share of speculation; most pressingly that he has been harboring several aggrieved parties in familial disputes between fathers and their daughters and wives, slowly building up his own harem for Seven only know what ends, without a care in the world as to what Lords he angers in the process. Meanwhile, since Queen Rhaenyra ascended the throne, Princess Helaena has been involving herself in the ruling of Dragonstone more often than noticed before causing claims this is because Helaena feels she is robbed from her right to be Queen, and she is making up for this by ruling Dragonstone. Or, worse yet, she is readying herself for the duties of being The Queen. Princess Rhaenya too has been acting most unusually spending long hours on the island's sept and eliciting rumors that she has already lost her tongue as punishment after a secret admire made her with child, though the Princess herself did finally come to threaten any more slander against her would be met with dragon fire. Her twin, Prince Daeron, on the other hand, who has spent the past half year serving as the commander of the City Watch for his older sister's new reign, has casually confirmed but not yet to which one it has seems that the Prince Daeron has gotten over his fear of the sea and been traveling on many days to Storm’s End to see his future wife, whoo he's been heard calling his "shining light". Even one of the youngest amongst the family, Princess Jaehaera is whispered to be dabbling in Valyrian blood magic, seeking to use ancient and forbidden practices to enhance her connection with dragons, some claiming even to resurrect a dragon long believed to be dead whilst conducts strange rituals in the dead of night, and using her own blood in these experiments.

Across the bay on Driftmark, the most unexpected news was announced by Princess Rhaenys, that the five and fifty year old is pregnant once more, causing speculation of dangerous treatments from Asshai, a plot to produce a new heir for Driftmark over Prince Lucerys, and turmoil within the Princess' and Lord Corlys marriage. The Sea Snake himself has recently been making frequent appearances at court without his wife, which while catalyzing rumors of turmoil in and of itself, has now become fuel to a raging fire of gossip and conspiracy over whether he has set off on a voyage to Qarth against his own will on orders of the Queen, or in a purposeful attempt to absent himself from his wife's potentially perilous labors. Meanwhile—the so-called "White Worm"—Lady Mysaria, has purportedly welcomed home her own bastard daughter with Prince Daemon, once believed to have died in her cradle, Zhaerina, after many years spent away from the Crownlands. And in the midst of it all, whispers are growing that a girl from Spicetown has claimed the wild dragon called "Sheepstealer" on the isle's shores, perhaps a royal bastard claiming a perceived-denied inheritance, perhaps something even more dangerous.

Throughout the Kingdom the most widely remarked upon matter has quickly become the negotiations to maintain peace between The Iron Islands and The Reach. While most of the conditions are expectedly concerned with safe passage and trade agreements, wards, though some have claimed hostages, have been exchanged on both sides in the form of Lord Dalton Greyjoy's youngest daughter by one of his "salt-wives" Alla Florent, the legitimized bastard Penny Greyjoy, and the Castellan of High Garden and late-Lord Lorence's eldest cousin Jon Tyrell's son, Henley. The Lady-Regent Clarice Tyrell, for her part, has seemed significantly more pleased with this arrangement than either Ser Jon or Lord Dalton, leading many to believe the once gentle and fair image of the Lady Regent of the Reach has soured through using these children as her pawns. Not least of all because by taking away her greatest detractor’s heir, the highborn and common folk alike speak on the evilness of her ways in which she ensures that Jon Tyrell is brought to heel. A seemingly never-ending source of gossip as of late, however, the Lady-Regent has also drawn many judging eyes for the long visits she's taken with Lady Sabitha Frey over the past half year, and while both women's supporters claim it is simply Lady Clarice supporting her newfound friend through a twin pregnancy, the boldest amongst their opponents claim Lady Sabitha's pregnancy is a sham all together to hide that she has truly fallen in love with The Golden Rose.

The little Lady Penny has even sparked gossip of her own, reports highly divided in claims that she brought an entire boat of wild animals she claimed to be "pets" in accompaniment to her wardship at High Garden, rebuked by glowing praise she is stunningly poised for a girl her age, much less one of Iron Islander origin, and has won the hearts of all those who reside in and visit her new home with her compassion and sweet wit. Lord Dalton, in turn, has been spending a remarkable amount of time on the island of Dragonstone with Prince Aegon after the pair first grew close around Queen Rhaenyra's coronation, sparking many a rumor that all of his salt-wives are, in fact, simply a facade to true his true amorous feelings; rumors not assisted by the fact Princess Helaena has begun to grow most wroth at the Lord Greyjoy's presence. Further, The Lady of House Hightower and wife to it's elderly head, Lord Ormund, Lady Sam, has purportedly been evading her own embarrassment that—while one of the harshest voices at the table in the peace dealings between The Reach and The Iron Islands—her eldest sister, Lady Sansara Serry, has grown near-mad with love for Lord Dalton, going so far as to beg to run away with him in secret before she and her husband left court after the Coronation.

There has been no shortage of rumors concerning the young ladies of Court either. Lady Cerelle Lannister was claimed to have been buying poisons a few moons ago, and only a fortnight before the ravens were sent was accused by the Red Keep's chief ratcatcher of kidnapping many of the castle's cats for hereto unknown purposes. Meanwhile, Lady Maris Baratheon was recently speculated to have wed in secret to a rich man and possibly taken the spot as the heir of Storm’s End though Princess Rhaenya has finally spoken and defended her close friend on this rumor, alongside Lady Maris reaffirming she will not be the heir. More recently, however, she was caught seen holding hands, with the Lady Elaena Snow while the two were extremely close, embroidering beneath the Red Keep's heart tree while Princess Rhaenya was away from her ladies' side and purported to have been out with the yet to be identified man she's whispered to be hoping to marry soon.

The third Baratheon sister and Lady in Waiting to Princess Rhaena, Lady Ellyn, has been noted to be away from court interactions for an advance of a moon's time, a rarity for the Baratheon daughter, who was most seen at court. Reportedly, Lady Ellyn had a public spat with her elder sister Cassandra that caused her lord father to withdraw her from public outings and causing her not to have spoken to her family and friends except her elder sister, Maris, the Princesess Rhaenya and Rhaena, alongside her Lord Father. The two Baratheon sisters have reportedly been in each other's company for an abnormally advanced time, even for sisters. Though, the most scandalous whispers have been elicited from two of Princess Baela's Ladies in Waiting, Lady Alannys Greyjoy and Lady Teora Grafton. With their recent betrothals to Prince Joffrey and Ser Petyr Mooton respectively, the notably sharp witted, cunning, and some claim wild young women have given many cause to believe they intend to secure their unions with an heir or two as quickly as possible, and then—one way or another—dispose of their grooms to live in comfortable widowhood where no may question their notoriously strong wills.

The young Knights and Lords of Court may still outdo them, however, Lord Cregan Stark's continued frequenting of Court combined with his distaste for it's politics showing no signs of fading has caused must speculation he has continued to be drawn back to the so-called nest of vipers by a woman who has earned his heart's affection. Amongst the Manderly sails, sailors speak on the position and strength of the Greyjoy fleet among the ships of Westeros. They question the Queen for Lord Dalton Greyjoy's position as Master of Ships and the favor offered to his children. Torrhen Manderly shares their words and often speaks of concern over the strengthening of House Greyjoy. Torrhen himself, however, has been a recluse at court, more often found at the docks of King's Landing. He only comes to the castle for his lady sister and accompanies his liege lord, Cregan Stark, but most believe Torrhen himself wishes to be away from the 'nest of vipers' known as King's Landing. He is in turn, not the only young heir who has turned their ire towards the Lord of the Iron Islands, Joss Westerling earning the court's attention for over a moon in his show of uncharacteristic bravery in defending his House and home from the Lord's seeming carelessness for other's hard earned gains.

Amongst the prominent Rivermen in King's Landing, Oscar Tully caused quite a scare amongst the Court disappearing for a fortnight with no trace and drawing speculation of kidnapping or even an accidental death before returning unharmed, gossip only sparking further when it was discovered his older brother and heir to Riverrun, Kermit Tully, was mostly unconcerned with his disappearance, and only moderately pleased when Oscar returned. One of Crown Prince Jacaerys' closest friends Ser Willam Vance has drawn speculation he is carrying on a secret affair with a highborn lady already married to a powerful lord. Several witnesses claimed they have spotted the two meeting in secluded corners of court gatherings, exchanging stolen glances and secret notes also that Willam has secretly been considering renouncing his position as heir to House Vance, wishing to free himself from the responsibilities and pressures of nobility, to flee with his forbidden love. All the while the heir to the Iron Islands himself, Toron Greyjoy, has spent the past half year under the command of Ser Steffon Darklyn, learning the ways of the sword of mainland Westeros as a way to inconspicuously remain at King’s Landing. However, voices have begun to grow in the claim that he is preparing to assassinate Daemon Targaryen if the need to meet the mainland’s biggest military asset with force draws near should the Iron Islands go to war with the Crown...

...And so begins Arc II of A Song of Golden Fire and Black Blood.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Grafton bridge and Harbour of Auckland, New Zealand

British vintage postcard