#haints

[mumblelard]

not eaten by wolves

only my second card in a month and i pulled moon on the day of the harvest eclipse

i ate a slice of brown bread with butter and sea salt before bed last night. i slept so deeply, my morning limbs were stiff from lack of movement. my dreams were fast, constant, bright

i dreamt of a large church in the middle of a field of mowed clover, miles from the nearest road, surrounded by treeless mountains

a toddler jumped off a high cliff into a slow wide river and swam slowly downstream, searching for family

laying in the sun, on a roof thatched in the black fibres made from the muscle tissue of dead machines

a pregnant teapot, weeping quietly with tiny shudders of grief, lactating a milky brown tea

[conjuremanj]

Hoodoo Wind Chimes For Protection.

Example Photo

This is something you'll see in the more lower, swampy areas of the deep south like Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, but not so much the main cities.

The Bone Wind Chimes: These can be made from any type of bones you find or attracted to, you can find your own bones or buy your bones. Bones are a good juju (see post on jujus). These wind chimes are made to help keep Haints away or from entering your home.

Then say a protection prayer apon it.

[fragmentedhekatean]

lmao I had a funny thought a bit ago because i was looking at Appalacian folklore since our family is originally from that area and its funny bec my grandmas porch was painted Haint Blue which is supposed to keep Haints or ghosts/evil spirits away and we live in IOWA

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

Tales from the red house: the first steps

Tw: talk of sa and child abuse

I don’t know why dad wanted us to move in this stupid fucking house. We had to move our old house away from all my friends and my old school all so we can move here.

At the fresh start, but I don’t know how fresh a start can be in a house like this. This has been in my dad’s family for over five generations. The house belong to my uncle Clayton, but he’s gone now he was the only good thing in the house now there’s nothing.

A lot of bad stuff happened in this house......lot of kids were hurt in ways that a child should never be hurt....

A lot of bad stuff happened to my dad and the siblings here, I know he doesn’t wanna be here, not really at least we only moved here because we were fucked out of our last house but the shitty landlord..

Seeing the house for the first time so long since Clayton died is hard. it’s not as bright and the energy just feels bad.. like it’s wrong without him...

Stepping into the house for the first time, it was so cold not just cold like house that was empty but cold, freezing cold like a ice box.

Don’t even get me started on the smell.. smells like rotten eggs and it just feels so heavy...like the air is heavy.. I’ve only felt that a few times and all those times were bad. I’m worried.

[marsinthecorner]

Some folks say if you see a door in the woods, never go through it. Y'all never know wherr you may end up.

[dzgrizzle]

Absolutely beautiful. Brought a tear to my eye. A true ghost story from Ann Hite.

[ausetkmt]

Many Validate The Claim That 'Jackson Square' In New Orleans' French Quarter Is HAUNTED

I was there on New Year's and I was also there on Halloween same year. And I can tell you that you hear all sorts of things and it's not The River.

[creativefya]

INDIGOTIC : Baby Blue

CEREMONY DESIGN : BIRTH & NEW BEGINNINGS

This event is a baby shower that takes place in North America, the U.S. The location is Charleston, SC. The event will occur during the day time around 3pm, in June. The venue is a historic beach home. The porch and outside areas for seating and activities will be used as well as the inside kitchen decorated and set-up as a serving area. The main color for this ceremony is indigo. There are shades of indigo with orange and natural colors. The theme is sankofa : meaning to go back and learn from the past in order to move forward. The activities will feature cotton onesies for guests to tie-dye with indigo blue dye and some adinkra stamps for a mudcloth. 

The mother is having a boy. Blue is a common color used for male gendered babies. This event will feature various shades of blue. Not just any blue Indigo blue. Not just any location but specifically in Charleston SC, where the Geeche Gullah people reside. Descendants of slaves, the Geeche Gullah of SC have a passion and deep root understanding for the color Indigo. 

SETTING

In the deep south, it is common to find this type of blue on porches and exterior decor of the homes. The blue is called haint blue.  Haint (haunt) blue. It is believed that the blue repels “haints'' or evil spirits, The bluish-green or light blue, sometimes even called Carolina blue, was often painted on the ceilings of porches to resemble the water. There is a strong belief that evil spirits can not cross water. The color indigo is mysterious and spiritual in meaning. It is the color of justice, creativity, and wisdom. Charleston SC, was a major slave port. Indigo and cotton, after rice were the major crops and work for Charleston slaves. The Indigo dye was such a demand that slaves with particular experience known as Indigo slaves, were often sought after when coming from West Africa. These slaves cultivated indigo from growth to transport.It was normal for some slaves to have blue hands from handling the dye.

This dye was also used to paint the porches, after being mixed to lighten it into haint blue. Another common thing to see In the deep south are haint blue bottles. These bottles are deeper in color but often seen on tree limbs (bottle trees) or hanging from the trees. It is believed that the spirits(haints) will get trapped in the bottles at night and die with the sunlight.

PROPS

Another option for the cotton material is to use stamps on pieces of cloth with a special dye made from mud. Adinkra is a form of symbolic language used by Africans and slaves that all have meaning. The baby shower guests have the option of choosing one they find meaningful to stamp on a piece of cotton cloth for the baby boy. The sankofa symbol is the theme.

The stamped pieces of cloth will be sewn into a special item called a mud cloth. The mud cloth is for the mother to wrap herself in after giving birth. It is believed that wearing it after childbirth will help relieve the new mother of stress and pain. The mud cloth representing earth and nature, the symbols being something with special meaning, is traditionally given by the mother to the daughter. This tradition also originated from West Africa and the secret symbols used by the slaves of Charleston SC, can be found to this day, on buildings and historic sites.

CEREMONY

The host will describe the history and meaning of each activity before guests say a prayer and eat. Guests will socialize and do the activities while enjoying the food and music. The food will include a wonderful rice and fish dish and some sweets with a blue (indigo) velvet cake. The ceremony for the baby shower will start with an introduction of the mother and a burning of sweetgrass.

The Sweetgrass was also something the slaves cultivated and made into baskets. Baskets will be used for serving food and decor. Sweet grass was an important aspect of everyday life for the Gullah Geechee, used to carry fresh foods, rice and even water. The sweetgrass is burned as a way to attract positive energies. It is used as a smudge to cleanse ceremonial areas, or cleanse a new home. It can also be worn as a protective amulet. Current sweetgrass basket makers create earrings and other forms of jewelry. The mother will wear a pair of gifted sweetgrass earrings to the baby shower. Sweetgrass basket makers still sell at the markets in Charleston, SC to this day.

REFERENCES

https://www.myrtlebeachtransplants.com/the-history-of-sweetgrass-baskets-and-the-gullah-people/

https://www.myrtlebeachtransplants.com/the-history-of-sweetgrass-baskets-and-the-gullah-people/

Andria Jones

Designing Weddings & Other Ceremonies

Birth & New Beginnings : Color Collage

Theatre 110  UNCG / Fall 2022

INDIGOTIC. of, relating to, or being of the color of indigo.

[the-gamling-dog]

see now THAT is definitely a haint

New York State Parks official IG posted about an owl they rescued but decided to use only the most wretched photos of this creature, including what EYE think is the best bird photograph ever taken

[saysmith-ranbir]

Recently read that the Gullah Geechee people paint every entrance into their homes with ‘haint blue’. It seems this pale blue-greenish color confuses the haints (ghosts) and they will past the home by.

[horrorhodgepodge]

The Reformatory

“A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead.” https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62919847-the-reformatory ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 5 out of 5. While Historical Fiction is outside of my usual genre, I’m glad I…

[conjuremanj]

Bottle Trees & How To Make One & How To Know If You Cought One?

Have you ever been driving through Louisiana, or any other southern states, and noticed a tree with colored bottles either hanging from it or stuck onto their branches? Natives of Africa have hung hand-blown glass on huts and trees to ward off evil spirits ( negative energy) since the ninth century, and maybe even earlier.

The Legend is told that the spirits are attracted to the sparkling color of the bottles, blue ones seemingly more enticing to spirits. The moaning sound that the bottles make by the wind is proof that a spirit ( Negative Spirit Energy) is trapped within.

Where Did Bottle Trees Originate:

Bottle trees originated in the Congo of West Africa and date back to at least the ninth century. Very soon after European colonizers noticed the practice in Africa, bottle trees were also observed in the Caribbean in Black communities comprised of people brought there from West Africa via the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Bottle Trees are traditional for a African Diasporic religion or practice like voodoo or hoodoo.

These early accounts the bottle trees were used to ward off a variety of dangers that could destroy a home, such as thieves, evil spells and bad spirits. If you hung bones and bottles in your mango tree, for instance, thieves wouldn't touch the fruit. Basically seeing the tree like this and not knowing what it is we're scared a person off the property.

Hoodoo and the Tradition of Bottle Trees:

Bottle trees are a practice in Hoodoo. The idea behind bottle trees in the Hoodoo tradition is that the world is full of marauding spirits, usually up to no good. In the south of of Louisiana where I'm at, we believe they can enter your house if you're not careful, wreaking havoc — However, these evil spirits are very interested in spangly glass bottles. If you hang them on trees outside your house, the spirits will check the bottle out and become trapped inside, and in the morning when the sun comes up, they will be destroyed in the bottle by the sunlight.

If you're not sure the light of day has really done its job, you can cork the bottle, take it to the river and throw it in the water. A bad spirit (Haint) has no chance against the river because, according to legend, they absolutely hate water. (In mist religions dark energies and or spirits don't like nor can cross running water)

What Are Haunts? Now you herd me mentioned the world Haint. A haint is a restless ghost (spirit) who has not left the world, but has remained behind to haunt the living with trickery that is most often harmless, but there are some that can be more sinister in nature. Due to the vengeful and tricky its intentions of haunts, warding them off is understandably a priority. Hoodoo, sometimes referred to as rootwork, conjure or even lowcountry voodoo, would offer protection from evil. But at night, the boo hag would shed the skin and go looking for a victim to "ride," depleting the victim's energy or possibly even suffocating them.

Make Your Own Bottle Tree:

Turn a tree in your yard into one. The bottle should be placed upside down with the mouth of the bottle facing the trunk. You can also hang them from branches.

Where can I get a bottle? Bud Light platinum bottle is the haint blue.

Do I Need It In A Tree? No you can have in a bush well. Some also place them on the ground.

How Do I Know If I Caught One? The bottom will tip over or you can light a incense around it and if the smoke flows into the bottom you cought one.

Bottle Trees Are Used to Honor the Dead:

Bottle trees also have a special connection to the venerated dead. " The distinctive blue bottles were placed on tree limbs to capture the energy, spirit and memories of ancestors." Important and beloved relatives and community members and when they died, their tombs would be marked with large bottle trees, all sorts of vessels — bowls, cups, bottles, pots and pans — as well as knives, forks and bracelets.

How Do I Know If I Caught One?

You will here a whistle sound like the wind blowing into it.

The bottom will tip over.

You can light a incense around it and if the smoke flows into the bottom you cought one.

[tales-from-a-little-witch]

The little girl in the graveyard

When I was very small, my family went to visit my great-grandmother's grave. It was in an old graveyard that wasn't well-taken care of. Being so small, I had no interest in standing around my great-grandmother's grave listening to my parents drone on about the past or hearing her life story repeated yet again. After all, I had heard the tales countless times before. I was also very young to truly understand why my parents were so sad.

They had always told me that when someone passes on, they aren't really gone, and that you can still feel their presence. But this was strange for me, because my great-grandmother had passed away in the fall, yet standing at her grave, I felt no sense of her presence at all.

To me, it was just a lonely grave, enclosing her cold, lifeless husk. My parents were standing with just a shell that had once held her soul, and that's how I saw it back then.

I didn't feel like crying over an empty vessel that had once housed her spirit.

If she wanted to visit me, she would, I believed.

I asked my parents if I could go and explore the graveyard instead.

I ambled around the graveyard, perusing the tombstones, caressing the flowers, and plucking grandfather's beard moss from the low-hanging branches of old trees. Suddenly, I noticed a girl peeking out at me from behind a grave, dressed in old, odd clothes. As a child, she reminded me of the girl from "The Secret of Roan Inish.''

I thought she looked beautiful, like a princess. She waved at me, and I waved back. I can't recall every single word she said, but I can remember us playing tag. Her smile was as bright as sunshine, her voice as sweet as a spring bird's song, and her laughter was downright infectious.

It felt as though we had been playing for hours upon hours. Time slipped through my fingers like grains of sand, as we darted around the graves, weaving in and out between trees and shrubs. I was left panting for air, but she never seemed to weary, seemingly possessing a boundless supply of energy.

I suddenly heard my parents calling out for me, telling me it was time to go. I remembered turning back to the girl, seeing the look of sorrow on her face, but I promised her that we'd play again next time. Then, I ran back to my parents, feeling almost a pang of guilt at having to leave her behind.

Once I was back with my parents, I told them all about the girl I had met and asked them when we'd be coming back. They looked at me, puzzled, and simply got in the car, offering no answers.

I relentlessly babbled on about my friend in the graveyard, both of my parents shooting concerned and confused glances at each other, until my mother finally spoke up.

"Nim-Nims, baby, there was no little girl playing with you."

she said looking back at me over her shoulder. I stared at her, puzzled and indignant, irritated at the thought that my parents were just playing a trick on me. They often pulled little pranks, and I believed this was just another one.

"You guys aren't funny; you're just being mean, I don't like these jokes...."

I protested, my face growing flushed with anger and frustration. Despite my insistence, my parents consistently refuted the existence of the girl. As we drove away, I pointedly gestured towards the precise spot where I had first laid eyes on her.

I was too young to recognize that I was actually gesturing towards a cluster of five small graves, each belonging to a member of the same family.

My parents abruptly fell silent after that, refusing to discuss it further. They told me that perhaps I would get to see her again the next time we visited.

[marsinthecorner]

I've lived in Kentucky all my life, safe to say it's influenced me a bit lol. Song lyrics are Southern Gothic by Dan Tyminski.

[localhollerhaint]

A lot of yall think that lady on that plane is just crazy, but the hillbilly that I am would've got off with her, I know better than to go doubtin people when they see a haint and I ain't flyin NO WHERE with no haints on the plane!! 🥲🙅‍♀️

[burins]

I know this is the Take Personal Responsibility for Systemic Issues website, but I keep seeing weirdly guilt trippy posts about libraries and ebook licenses, which are a labyrinth from hell and not actually something you personally need to feel guilty about. here are a few facts about ebook licenses you may not know:

in Libby/Overdrive, which currently operates in most US public libraries, ebook licenses vary widely in how much they cost and what their terms are. some ebooks get charged per use, some have a set number of uses before the license runs out, and others have a period of time they're good for (usually 1-2 years) with unlimited checkouts during that period before they expire. these terms are set by the publisher and can also vary from book to book (for instance, a publisher might offer two types of licenses for a book, and we might buy one copy of a book with a set number of uses we want to have but know won't move as much, and another copy with a one year unlimited license for a new bestseller we know will be really moving this year.)

you as a patron have NO way of knowing which is which.

ebook licenses are very expensive compared to physical books! on average they run about 60 bucks a pop, where the same physical book would cost us $10-15 and last us five to ten years (or much longer, if it's a hardcover that doesn't get read a lot.)

if your library uses Hoopla instead, those are all pay per use, which is why many libraries cap checkouts at anywhere between 2-10 per month.

however.

this doesn't mean you shouldn't use ebooks. this doesn't mean you should feel guilty about checking things out! we buy ebook licenses for people to use them, because we know that ebook formats are easier for a lot of people (more accessible, more convenient, easier for people with schedules that don't let them get into the library.) these are resources the library buys for you. this is why we exist. you don't need to feel guilty about using them!

things that are responsible for libraries being underfunded and having to stretch their resources:

government priorities and systemic underfunding of social services that don't turn a profit and aren't easily quantified

our society's failure to value learning and pleasure reading for their own sake

predatory ebook licensing models

things that are not responsible for libraries being underfunded:

individual patron behavior

I promise promise promise that your personal library use is not making or breaking your library's budget. your local politicians are doing that. capitalism is doing that. you are fine.

(if you want to help your local library, the number one thing you can do is to advocate for us! talk to your city or county government about how much you like the library. or call or write emails or letters. advocate for us locally. make sure your state reps know how important the library is to you. there are local advocacy groups in pretty much every state pushing for library priorities. or just ask your local librarian. we like to answer questions!

also, if you're in Massachusetts, bill h3239 would make a huge difference in letting us negotiate ebook prices more fairly. tell your rep to vote for it!)