Harvest celebration of werewolves

 

There are some traditions during Harvest period, late Summer and early Autumn, connected to werewolves. Some I've included are the Green Wolf, Stirling wolves, Lame wolf and the Rodnovery "days of wolves". 

The Green Wolf is celebrated in Normandy. It's an ancient Pagan tradition. This occurs during harvest festivals, and the Green Wolf makes an appearance who leads a magical dance, until a fire is lit. The Green Wolf is a man dressed up in green decorated in foliage, sometimes leaves, moss and spruce. Before the ritual itself, a man is carefully chosen to play the part of the Green Wolf. He represents nature and the change of season, the wilderness and feral forests. Once a fire is created after games and crescendo, the Green Wolf is then symbolically thrown on the fire, which is probably a toy likeness made from plants. The Green Wolf burnings can help a future harvest and protect everyone from werewolves. 

Read Strange werewolves of Normandy on Normandy Then and Now.

This is probably linked to a legend of the Green Wolf of Jumièges. A story about a woman and a wolf. This was about a donkey that was eaten by a wolf, and the donkey belonged to a nun. Sainte Austreberthe soon made the wolf replace the donkey and carry out similar work, which was tamed and lost its primal instincts. The wolf even turned vegetarian. This caused a movement called the Green Wolf Brotherhood who celebrate during solstices and equinoxes. Today there's a carving of wolf and woman at the abbot church in Jumieges. A magical tour along the Green Wolf Hike in the location in Boucles de la Seine Nature Park. 

The Stirling wolves are based on a Scottish legend that wolves howling alerted people in the villages of approaching Viking raiders. It was in a village of Stirling that it happened when Vikings crept along using stealth to give a surprise attack during darkness. One Viking accidentally stepped on a hidden sleeping wolf, causing it to yelp in pain, followed by an entire chorus of wolves howling. The loud noise woke up the villagers including the prince brothers, who chased off the fleeing Vikings. In appreciation and thanks, the royal brothers made a wolf on their banners. Today Stirling has grown from a village to a city with the wolf as a guardian. You'll find wolf gems all over, symbolisms of wolves in the city of Stirling. Even their rugby union team are nicknamed "Stirling wolves."  Look at The Tale of the Stirling Wolf at Stirling City Heritage Trust.

The Lame Wolf appears in Romanian folklore as a symbol of misfortune and one of the most scariest entities of Autumn. The character is connected to the three fates, who decide a person's life and death, but the third Fate is the one said to the Lame Wolf. These would be the Ursitoare, three female spirits who are weavers of a person's entire life from birth. Unlike others in different mythologies, such as the Fates and Norns, the Ursitoare resemble beautiful fairies dressed in white. They're called Weaver, Spinner and Cutter. The wolf is the shadowy force creeping around the third fate, where death lingers with the Cutter lady. 

Rasturnyak or Dispersion is a celebration ritual of Summer and Autumn, honouring the Days of Wolves. During this time, souls of the dead take forms of wolves. This unnerves the living, who fear the threat of wolves and so they put out offerings for them to keep them away for the cold months. These would be bread, sometimes meat or mutton, also sacrifices. This is similar to the mystical Benandanti werewolves from Italy who were actually protectors and guardians of harvest.   

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The Gandillon family

The 1500's were a truly brutal and frightening time. Mostly because of werewolves and especially the dreadful werewolf trials. An entire family of werewolves became known about and they were the Gandillon family. There is a very eerie true story about them that sends chills.

In 1598 two small children were picking wild strawberries beside the Juan Mountains, France. They were attacked by a large ferocious wolf, even though the kids tried to defend themselves. The screams alerted some men out hunting in the forest, who quickly ran towards the scene but it was too late. The men saw the wolf bounding away through the trees. They chased in the direction the wolf took, but once they soon reached the location and cornered it, the wolf became human! 

The men were shocked by what they saw. They were chasing down a wolf and once they reached it, the beast was in the form of a woman. They recognised her as a local resident of St Claude named Perrenette Gandillon. She was considered strange by other people. She displayed bleeding knife wounds on her arms, which was caused by the unfortunate children that just lost their lives by a wolf attack. That wolf had been Perrenette. 

This enraged the villagers who got wind of it. The people were angry, sickened and grieving the deaths of the children. So they sought Perrenette out and once they found her, they killed her. However, the people as well as the authorities didn't finish. They turned their attention upon Perernettes' own family! 

Perrenette's brother, sister and nephew were all targets, and something convinced everyone that they were all werewolves. Antoinette, sister of Perrenette, dabbled in sorcery and witchcraft. She was taken into custody, while the brother (Pierre) and nephew (George) mentioned having dealings with the Devil and were arrested. Both father and son walked on all fours and became wolves. It was then decided that the Gandillon family would be put to death and they were all burned at the stake. A violent ending to depravity. 

In more details and conclusion, read more on the Gandillon family of werewolves at The Horror Collection. I personally know they were scary times. 

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September ghosts

September is a time when it becomes darker and chilly. Plenty of ghosts appear this month, far too many to list here but I'll mention a few of them.  

There is a regular haunting at Old Bawn Road in Dublin. A spectral scene of six headless horses pulling a black coach is believed to happen during September, mostly occurring every year on the 8th. It's best not to even look for it! It's believed that someone who witnesses it is doomed to die within 366 days. Now this area is centred on the Dodder national park, and the river itself is haunted with an eerie atmosphere in Autumn. The ghostly region has a townland called Bohernabreena with famous hauntings that include echoes of an ancient battle and Da Dearga's Hostel mystery. The September hearse of headless horses travels along that road. It's said to contain two footmen and Archdeacon William Bulkeley who was responsible for building Old Bawn House in 1635. 

Another September haunting that happens every year is the ghost of a bride name Janet Dalrymple, or the "Bride of Baldoon". It was during the 17th century that a pretty girl named Janet Dalrymple fell in love with a young man called Lord Archibald Rutherford. They each wore pieces of the same golden coin as tokens of their love. However, Janet's parents disapproved of their relationship and insisted she marry someone richer and more powerful. It was Janet's controlling mother who broke up the romance between Janet and Archibald. This caused a lot of distress in Janet. It was on the wedding night when Janet became furious and stabbed her unwanted groom. He survived but Janet because depressed and died. Her ghost always appear at the castle on 12th September.

Newark Castle is full of terrifying ghosts on the 12th and 13th September. It's believed this is a dark place where innocent women and children were murdered there by soldiers during a massacre.

Sir Walter Raleigh haunts Sherborne Castle in Dorset every 28th September. His ghost is often seen beside a tree on the grounds, as the tree was named after him. (Sir Walter Raleigh's ghost is very busy and has even been seen during a sinister phantom Wild Hunt!)

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The fire demon of Felixstowe

 The coastal village of Felixstowe in Surrey, experienced something weird on a chill September night in 1965. A strange glowing fiery object was seen floating in the sky. There were a number of people living in the area who reported seeing strange flying lights at the Walton Avenue area. It was described as an orange sphere that flew with an eccentric bizarre movement. There was a humming sound and brief electric blackouts across the village. 

Three people in particular witnessed the orange lights and a frightening entity. They were Geoffrey Maskey, Mavis Fordyce and Michael Johnson. Geoffrey was driving his car and giving his friends a lift when he pulled over to watch a strange light in the nearby sky. It was then they watched as a flaming figure appeared. They described it as standing 7 feet tall, humanoid in shape, with large sloping eyes that shone with an inner light. They were terrified but Mavis passed out from fear. After coming round, she noticed some burn marks on her clothing.

There was a feeling of "immense dread" when they looked at the flaming entity. It moved in a strange manner that didn't look natural. The alien being gave off intense heat. The friends suffered nightmares for weeks after their encounter, they visited doctors. There was no answers to what the entity might've been other than others finding rational explanations. They felt the group hallucinated and/or mistook ball lightning, car headlights, swamp gas, atmospheric conditions or bonfires. Even so the friends who witnessed it were traumatised. 

Felixstowe is very close to Rendlesham Forest, which would later become known as the UK's Roswell. There was a strange event that happened there in 1980. Felixstowe is also the location of the lost sunken city of Dunwich, which is the UK's Atlantis. It's said on stormy nights, chilling ghost bells can be heard ringing from the shore. Felixstowe has even got it's very own black shuck hellhound! A small place with so many scary legends. 

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Spooky quicks September 2025

 

Hello and howls for September. To begin the month with various unknown and mystery news related stories, paranormal and weird and other things for ahead. 

A grim discovery of human ashes in the Mojave Desert, Nevada, was found everywhere even covered over cactus plants. It's about 70 cremated human ashes were scattered over there. There was also broken urns and zip ties. Whoever dumped the ashes there and why remains a mystery.

On the 20th September will be a Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant. This is a celebration of a cryptid entity that became known in the mid 1960's after multiple sightings of a strange large winged creature. 

A 32 year old man Oliver Alvis hasn't been asleep for two years and it's causing him health problems. He's become poorly, with impaired vision, headaches and inability to function. He's often desperate for sleep and envies even homeless people that are found asleep outside. Perhaps the recent black moon (a second new moon of 2025 last week) could help. 

Onto this, the full moon (Corn Moon) in September 2025 will have an eclipse. This will be a significant time for the moon, as it will become a Blood Moon. At the same time Saturn will emerge. 

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