Meg Shelton

One of the most strangest accounts of the 17th century England is about a woman named Meg Shelton. In her life she was a witch but in death she's a zombie. Her grave is marked with a heavy block of granite as this was believed to prevent her from getting out undead, as this is what she used to do! But despite this she found a way to crawl up through the soil around the block to rise from the grave. Many people have seen her zombie walking around even to this day!

Her name is Margery (or "Meg" for short) Shelton. It's not clear when she was born and if she ever married and had children. She lived in a small village named Catforth in Woodplumpton, a district of Preston city, Lancashire. It's known that she died in 1705, and buried in the graveyard of St. Anne's Church in Woodplumpton. Stories and reports made during her lifetime only indicate her activities but none said anything about her family. Also she was nicknamed "The Woodplumpton Witch" and "The Fylde Hag".

She was troublesome and very unpopular within the community.  One of the things she got up to was theft. She liked stealing milk from cows until one day a farmer caught her at it red handed. Also she used magic to shapeshift into animals and inanimate objects so that she could steal things. She disguised her ceramic jug as a live goose to help her steal milk. Another time she turned herself into a rabbit and got bitten by a dog, then afterwards she always walked with a limp. Meg entered a barn and turned herself into a sack of corn, so that she could help herself to free food. The suspicious farmer poked her with a fork until she let out a scream. 

The witch of Woodplumpton was gruesome and liked boiling animals to eat with parsley and thyme. It's said that she was "trapped" by a girl who stuck bodkins attached with looms on her as she was sitting quietly in a chair at home. This here indicates that the woman was often bullied and assaulted by members of the village, and that she might also have been up to mischief with them. She was sent to trail for witchcraft, but was given brutal torture, She was then killed by being crushed to death between a wall and a big wooden barrel. She can't rest!

She Wolf Night  

Iele the Transylvanian nymphs

The nymphs of Greek and Roman mythology, including dryad and, naiads, and many more. are described as supernatural female nature spirits. There can be found similar versions of nymphs in different other parts of Europe, including in the infamous place associated with horror stories, Transylvania. The nymphs of Transylvania (and in Romania as a whole) are called Iele. The Iele are considered very beautiful female nature spirits, who resemble young beautiful women with shimmering hair, who dwell in forests, caves, mountains and up in the sky. 

They bath in fresh water,  springs and lakes, streams, rivers and marshes. Often seen at crossroads, this makes these roads quite interesting. The Iele tend to be nocturnal when they're most active at night, dancing in the moonlight and starlight. They wear anklets with small bells so it makes gentle sounds when they move. They carry illuminated candles and appear to be sparkling. 

Maple and walnut trees are special to the Iele, for they climb them and reach the tops, where they like to dance magically but never fall. They're also described as wearing anything from fine loose dresses to golden chainmail, or dressed scantily clad in only flowers, or wearing nothing at all. They're not malicious by any way, although their presence harms the soil. Whenever they've been seen dancing, the place turns to carbon. and the grass is dead and tainted. The leaves around the trees where they danced is burnt. When the grass later eventually grows back, it's not green anymore but red or black, where mushrooms sprout up although the animals won't touch that grass. 

They often gather in groups and are rarely alone. They can travel at fast speed, and sometimes they use fiery chariots that whirl in the air. Although not evil, they can have bad tempers, and they can cause sensations of delirium, faintness, fatigue and motion sickness. The Iele can be vengeful and they can drive people to insanity. People have worn talismans of protection against the Iele, including mugwort and the dance of the Calusari. Today in Romania it's thought that the Iele are responsible for many experiences with aliens and hauntings.

She Wolf Night

Another September disaster

Print by Jeramias Gath 1618

September is now remembered for the awful tragedy of World Trade Centre disaster on September 11th 2001. But most people don't know about an even more less known manmade disaster because it happened centuries ago at Plurs. It was believed that a very affluent village/town called Plurs had been beautiful and picturesque, with its inhabitants healthy and prosperous. 

Situated in an area that is part of Italy today, but back then it was Swiss, and nestled among greenery and hills, there was a Mount Conto nearby that the ancient people believed was the dwelling place of a powerful spirit. This mountain was considered sacred in pre-Christian times, and visited regularly by people at certain times of the year.to give offerings. They regarded the mountain as home of a god, whose identity might've been Odin, who was considered the chief god of the Lombards people. But it was also possible the god was Mercury, who was worshipped by the Romans. Apart from this, ever since the Dark Ages, the citizens of the large village Plurs remained faithful to the mountain and the deity who lived there, but since turning to the Church, people in Plurs forgot many of their old customs and traditions passed down since ancient times, and saw the mountain dweller as a demon or a spirit that should be left alone. 

It was during the Early Middle Ages that Plurs became a town, when people recognised that Mount Conto was filled with precious and valuable stones called "Lavazzi" (talcum). They mined for it, and this made them very rich. Mining wasn't quite understood very well, since they didn't fill in the tunnels or support the walls inside after making large caves. This would cost them badly. For it was one single night on 4th September 1618 that the mountain smoked and ejected lightning, collapsed, and buried the whole town of Plurs, killing between 1,000 and 2,500 people. Some believe that it was carelessness and others say it was the anger of the god in the mountain.   

I will briefly mention also another well known event like that was the Landslide of Goldau that happened on 2nd September 1806, but that was a natural disaster. In the area itself there had been a Medieval village of Rothen that disappeared under a landslide. The people of Goldau prospered and its nearby mountain Rossberg was the cause of the destruction. Share a thought to those long forgotten. 

My sources:

The disaster of Plurs Pdf

Landslide of Goldau 

Posted by She Wolf Night

Cryptid news September

I plan to deliver the latest and quickest bits of news on cryptozoology, mysterious creatures and sightings at the start of the month. The next post like this will happen next month and if interested, will keep it going.   

There's been two cryptid updates in the news, one is relating to the Loch Ness Monster and another is about Mysterious alien Big Cats. 

For info on the Loch Ness monster, visit this short video on Youtube: HERE

As this has been going on, there have been reported strange mystery big cat. To read the full article and make your own mind up, go HERE. 

And more Big Cat mystery sightings HERE on this news article.

For those in the UK you can check out Britain's mythical beasts page on Marvellous Maps HERE 

There is this book "The United States of Cryptids" by JW Ocker that can be purchased online. 

She Wolf Night