Every culture/region has stories and myths about the things existing there. What are the ones you find the most spooky and/or interesting?
The Saci-Pererê is a Brazilian folklore about a one-legged man who lives in the forest, and loves to play tricks on people. He uses his cap* (autocorrect) to disappear and reappear elsewhere, sets animals loose, steals kid’s toys, etc. Not scary but it’s what came to mind.
Pretty sure you meant cap in place of cape, right? I’ll say that does sound pretty badass though!
Here’s a Wikipedia link for folks who want to read more.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunyip
If you were worried about dingos and drop bears when coming to Australia then you don’t want to know about the bunyip.
It’ll fuck you up.
We have the ättestupa in Sweden - the idea that we pushed the elderly off a cliff when they got old.
Dalafíflaþáttr (‘the story of the fools from the valleys’) in which one particular family is so miserly that they prefer to kill themselves than see their wealth spent on hospitality. In this tale, the family members kill themselves by jumping off a cliff which the saga calls the Ættarstapi or Ætternisstapi (“dynasty precipice”), a word which occurs in no Old Norse texts other than this saga.
Funny how this archetype has existed forever across many cultures
Ah I’ve seen this in Midsommar, thought it was completely made up. Still a shit movie
Not especially. If we’re talking horror as in scary, then yea, but it has to be more than gratuitous jumpscares. If we’re talking psychological, graphic horror, which I feel is what Midsommar was trying to be, then not too much. I felt it really lacked a purpose and existed only to serve shocking visuals. I found the director’s previous film (The Witch, I think?) to be way more compelling.
It’s perfectly possible to be a fan of a genre, but not of a particular film in that genre. Stop trying to make it weird.
Since most of us can’t afford retirement this should make a comeback.
Or we push billionaires down a cliff and use that money to take care of the elderly.
Wasn’t that the only way to get to Valhalla except dying in a fight?
And IIRC you had to jump yourself (sure gramps jumped all by himself!!!).
Nah this was a deliberately comedic scene in Gautreks Saga where members of a family keep sacrificing themselves for absurd reasons. There is some possibility that something like this could have happened in some parts of Norse society but there’s no evidence it was a requirement for entry into Valhalla (Old Norse Valhǫll).
In fact, whereas the Prose Edda (a 13th-century narrative guide to understanding skaldic poetry) does claim that those who fall in battle end up in Valhǫll, and this is supported by evidence from pre-Christian poems such as Grímnismál, Norse mythological sources are actually littered with attestations of people dying in combat but not going to Valhǫll, as well as people dying outside of combat but still ending up in Valhǫll.
One example of this is the character Sinfjǫtli from Vǫlsunga Saga. Sinfjǫtli is poisoned by his mother-in-law at a party, and his father Sigmundr carries his dead body down to the shore where a ferryman offers to take it across the water. Once the body is on the boat, it turns out the ferryman is Odin and he disappears with the body which is elsewhere confirmed to have ended up in Valhǫll in the poem Eiríksmál.
Scholar Jens Peter Schjødt theorized in Pre-Christian Religions of the North that entry into Valhǫll is predicated on a person being dedicated to Odin, which is something a person could do for themselves ritualistically (there are references to marking oneself with a spear for Odin) or could also be done to you by an enemy who has set out to kill you and intends to “give” you to Odin as a way of showing his own dedication.
It also seems logical that Odin wants the best warriors fighting for him at Ragnarok and would take precedence over dying in battle or not.
I need more information about your culture, if you’re willing. Are you in a western country? Are you actually in danger of being buried in salt? Is salt burial common in your country? In your religion? Is it a legal practice? I have so many questions, and if you’re open to answering them, you’d make me very happy. Lol. But if not, I understand.
I’ll take that bet but choose to modify instead of money, a fresh loaf of baked bread from scratch.
Ding ding ding.
I was raised in it. I take a little offense at calling it stupid but only a little. It’s like, you know how you can call your sibling lame/stupid but if someone else does it then you get annoyed?
Yeah, I’m not Wiccan but I get bothered when people bag on it because we faced serious (bodily injury, houses set on fire, preached about on the streets/in school lunchroom etc.) legit persecution for it in our hometown and that shit is hard to shake. No, not in the south or Midwest.
But yeah she was spewing up some nonsense most likely. Although she claims she got the lore from the local native tribe and to be fair, she (and we) were tight with a lot of tribal members. Her good friend, who may have been the source of the “legend”, is currently an elder of the tribe.
Look, I’m not saying it’s true I’m just answering the prompt 🤣.
Sorry to disappoint but things are a lot less mysterious than you may be thinking, lol. A comment below called it. United States, new-age/pagan and Gardnerian Wicca. I was raised in it but no longer believe.
Lol, no one is buried in salt for real. Salt is used for what they call “grounding”, and warding/protection, and cleansing (it’s versatile) which is what she was referring to.
I mean…I can’t say no one has ever gotten into a bathtub and filled it with salt but um…that’s not really what she was talking about. Or is it? Who knows.
I’d say Google it for more info but also I am absolutely afraid of what nonsense may come up and make the situation look more ridiculous than what actually was happening.
What she was saying was the equivalent of a superstitions person doing something to ward off the “evil eye” n whatnot. Think a long the lines of spitting on the ground after saying a bad thing, throwing salt over your shoulder, knock on wood, etc.
You were raised in it? I’d love to hear about that. I dabbled in Wicca years ago, as I have in most pagan traditions commonly found in the US. I like learning about religion, but I’ve never met anyone who was raised in it, only converts.
she probably just made it all up
Or stole it from the weeping angels on Doctor Who
There is an abandoned spruce plantation right behind my house. The trees move, for real. Not their roots but the branches. One day you can walk right though easy, then the next the path is crossed with branches. This happens for real and I’ve not found a cause or explanation online. Maybe it’s moisture content changing in the branches.
The story of Tanis as told by Nick Silver and the basis of the Blair Witch Project. Both supernatural prescence or reality breach in the woods.
I didn’t realize it was based on the Blair witch project. I should pick that podcast back up. the first season was a lot of fun!