Baobhan sith

The legend of Baobhan sith is a vampire of the British Isles. It's considered to be a type of succubus and a fairy with magical powers, but these are bloodthirsty female creatures. They appear as beautiful women that can transform into ravens. They wear long green dresses to hide their feet, which look like cloven hooves. These are chilling entities with plenty of stories about them in the Scottish Highlands. 

One of these tales include three Baobhan sith who visit a group of men that stay at a small hut while travelling. All seemed happy when they danced as music was played, until the Baobhan sith became hungry and wanting blood. Most of the men died after the Baobhan sith attacked them but only one man escaped as he was holding an iron coal scuttle. 

In a different story, there was a group of hunters staying in a bothy when they were visited by Baobhan sith. One of the men noticed that the women had hooves instead of feet, so he left the bothy in panic. Later the following day, he returned only to find to his horror that all his friends were dead. Their bodies were mutilated, with wounds at the neck.

On another story, men found a cave to stay in while they were out hunting, and it got dark and the weather turned bad. With them was a young man who brought along his dog. Each man talked about his home, as they were missing their loved ones. A group of Baobhan sith were close by, listening and they were jealous that the men had wives and girlfriends. So as the men slept, the Baobhan sith entered the cave and slaughtered most of the hunters, but they were unable to kill the man who was protected by his dog. Other things can protect against them such as iron and garlic.

She Wolf Night  

Pendle Witches

In Lancashire, England, is a grim landscape with looming Pendle Hill, full of dark history and hauntings. While today there are ghost walks in the misty gloomy woods on the hill, in the castles, graveyards and churches, it's most famous for it's witches. This is the infamous Pendle Witches and the witch trails that happened in the early 17th century. Besides ghosts, the hill has been a place of strange eerie lights, UFO's and unknown voices. Many believe that they've encountered the ghosts of the Pendle Witches who were executed in one of the most brutal witch trials in English history.

In 1612 many as 12 people were accused of witchcraft in that area, and they all came from different families. The accused were Elizabeth Southerns or alias Demdike, her daughter Elizabeth Device and grandchildren Alison and James Device; then Anne Whittle or alias Chattox and her daughter Anne Redferne; Alice Nutter; Jane Bulcock and her son John Bulcock; Katherine Hewitt (nicknamed "Mould Heels"); Isabel Robey, and Margaret Pearson. These are called the Witches of Pendle Forest. They were also accused of murder, theft and killing animals using witchcraft. People made accusations against them while some of the accused became convinced they were guilty. They were terrified.

What's also very curious is that a young girl named Jennet Device was their biggest accuser. She was the granddaughter of matriarch Elizabeth Southerns. Jennet claimed that her own grandmother had a familiar (a spirit in the shape of an animal) and it looked like a large dog with red shining eyes named Ball. She said this creature talked with her grandmother in English! She also made more accusations towards others, including Alice Nutter, a daughter of a wealthy landowner who was also among the group executed for witchcraft. There's a statue of Alice today in the Pendle village of Roughlee. The girl Jennet Device was feared and infamous as the one who testified against many people including members of her family. She became known as the Pendle Witch Child.   

Ten of those twelve who stood trial were executed at Lancaster Castle. Today the area of Pendle is a magnet for tourists who are eager to experience the spooky atmosphere and Halloween celebrations with witch themes. To this day, the Pendle Witches have not been pardoned. 

For a lot more info on this visit Pendle Witches page Wikipedia   

Info on the documentary The Pendle Witch Child at IMDB. 

She Wolf Night

Beware of Trick or Treat

This time of year expect costumes and sweets as the season of Trick or Treat is approaching. But it can be dangerous for both parties, the trick-or-treaters and the householders. And this post explains why.

There are many strange stories about trick or treating when kids have dressed as ghosts, witches, vampires, werewolves and other monsters. Police have warned parents to always check their kids' Trick or Treat bags because children were given nasty things. There were chocolates full of razor blades passed to kids who went out trick or treating over Halloween in the village of Finstock, England. In 1964, a woman in New York handed out sweets to kids who were trick or treating but the goodies really contained steel wool and ant poison. Some of the stories about poisoned candy is scary enough to put you off trick or treating. 

However, it's creepy on the other side too when scary trick-or-treaters come to your house. Except, sometimes they're not always as they seem. Gangs of teenagers have used the Halloween custom of trick or treat to terrorise neighbourhoods. Some residents including the most vulnerable are frightened of Halloween because of criminals knocking on their door at night. 

Then there are actual ghosts who stop by. There are many accounts posted by people who found strange looking children knocking on their door well past midnight. They've noticed that the children have hollow looking black eyes, and insist on entering the house. This is part of the Black Eyed Children mystery. Often people are overcome by a feeling of dread and they refuse to answer their door to these mysterious kids. No one knows who or what the Black Eyed Kids really are or where they come from but its believed there's something paranormal about them.  

Read 16 terrifying encounters with the "Black Eyed Kids" at Thought Catalogue. 

Poisoned candy myths on Wikipedia.  

Just be vigilant.

She Wolf Night 

Feldgeister: field spirits and corn demons

There are many sinister paranormal creatures in Germany called Feldgeister, which means "field spirits" or demons. They're part of folklore and it was believed that these field entities are connected to the land through agriculture. People leave some of the grains and fruits as offerings to them. It's viewed that the spirits live in the stalks of farm fields and they could be killed when the crops are cut so plenty of them escape from harvesters. Coming from this belief is the making of corn dolls to bring the spirits back to villages as this craft is also a staple part of Autumn customs. 

While there are so many Feldgeister spirits, it's a creepy subject for the season. The Kornkind are small children that are actually spirits of grain. There's royalty among these spirits such as the king and queen of oats, who dominate the field. There are many animal spirits of the field in the shape of birds, rabbits, deer, mice, foxes, horses and frogs. Most well known is a Weizenvogel that means wheat bird. A much darker bird spirit of the field is a "grain rooster" who lurks in the field and to peck out the eyes of children. Other nasty Feldgesiter animals includes the Roggenwolf (rye wolves), Kornhund (corn dog), Kornkater (corn cat), Roggensau (rye pig) and Pea Bear.  

Creepier still are the animal-human hybrid spirits such as "cat man" and evil "goat man". Most deadliest of the Feldgeister are the Roggenmuhme and Hafermann. The Roggenmuhme ("rye aunt") is a hag entity made of fire and tar, who carries a wooden stick weapon that causes lightning and she shapeshifts into animals. Known to kidnap children who pick cornflowers, and she is said to have demon dogs with her. She eats humans, and punishes farmers for a bad harvest since she lives on the grain. The Hafermann is scary "oat man" who wears black clothes and a hat. He carries a large stick and steals children in the field. 

Those are just some of the Feldgeister terrors. To learn more about these spirits and demons, visit the Feldgeister info Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feldgeister  

She Wolf Night   

  

Wildlife picture of the month

Each month I shall post pictures of wild animals doing funny and cute things. It would be themed to each month. For a year I posted a similar subject about wolves and now its time for any wildlife creature. 

Here is an autumn image of a little hedgehog playing in the autumn leaves. It's made for itself quite a pretty outfit! I'm so sure that its mother would be so proud.

"It's my Halloween costume," said the small hedgehog gleefully. Just beware of trick or treating at night though, little one. You don't want to get yourself in trouble making a mess.

The photo is from Pinterest.