Sometime ago, I took an unofficial poll of the members of a discussion group that I belonged to as to how many believed in the bogeyman as a child. The majority not only believed in the bogeyman but also had fear of him instilled into them as a form of control. Some bogeyman memories were quite cruel as well.
As a child, I not only had the fear of the bogeyman to contend with, but also I had monsters of my own invention. The most feared were the "Grabhanders," cold, ugly disembodied hands, which I was certain lurked around the sides of my bed at night. I believed the hands could grab my exposed feet, hands or other body parts not under the protection of the bed covers. I did not even want to think about what the hands might do after they grabbed me, so no matter how hot and sweaty I became, I always kept myself under those covers.
My beliefs were quite typical of all who have believed in invisible beings. Every race and group of people in history have believed in different kinds of them and kept those beliefs alive through their children. Passing them from generation to generation is what gave them power over us, and only in more recent times have we begun to come out from under those fears. The beliefs evolved into particular, almost real, characters with names, special attributes, and purposes. Allow me to present this brief list of some of those invisible beings from history:
Bogeyman - vague in appearance, shapechanger, usually a malevolent creature, although some are harmless. Bogeymen have no distinct habitat and can appear out of nowhere. They usually haunt families but have been known to become a friend and playmate for children. Bogeymen might have come from the word "bugis" which were pirates from Indonesia and Malaysia. Sailors told their children that if they were bad, the bugismen would come and get them. Over time, "bugis" became "bogey."
Fairy - probably a combination of the words "fae," friend and "eire," green, meaning "green friend." A fairy's appearance can be beautiful. They are said to bestow gifts upon newborn children. They can only be seen clearly by animals unless they use what is known as "glamour," which is the name of their power, to enable humans to see them. The Fairy Folk of Ireland are the Daoine Sidhe whom legend says were members of the Tuatha de Denann that decided to stay in Ireland after they were defeated by the Milesians. Their name means "people of the mounds" where they are said to live.
Other names for fairies include: Hag, a fairy from the British Isles. She's the personification of winter during which she is old and ugly, but she becomes younger and beautiful when the seasons change. Sprite, a creature around water and found only in serene and cool places. Their job is to change the colors of a tree's leaves in Autumn. Bean Sidhe or Banshee, woman of the hills. She foretells death by wailing. The phrase, screamed "like a banshee," comes from this legend. She is said to have long hair and be dressed in a gray cloak.
Elf, a supernatural being shaped as a human, either beautiful or ugly, and worshipped in trees, mountains and waterfalls. Names of some elves include: Fir Darrig, malevolent elf who plays tricks; Ghillie Dhu, Scottish elf who lives in birches; Urisk, Scottish elf who lives in remote pools and rivers; Apicilnic, knee-high "little people" whose presence is an omen of danger and who also steal children; Hedley Kow, shapechanging elf who played naughty tricks; and Mazikeen, winged elf-like beings.
Brownie, brown elves who live in farmhouses and other country dwellings in Scotland. Protective creatures that become attached to families. Children can see them. While their human family is asleep, they perform various labors for them.
Gnome, small creature that dwells under the earth, guarding treasures. Related to goblins and dwarves. They cannot stand the light of the sun, which turns them to stone.
Goblin/Hobgoblin, a grotesque variety of gnomes. Mostly playful yet can be evil and seriously harm people. Originated in France. Usually live in mossy clefts of rocks and roots of ancient trees. "Hobgoblin" is believed to be an abbreviation of "Robin Goblin," the name Druids gave to the first goblins when they entered Britain.
Leprechaun, small sprites believed to bring good luck and fortune. These are known as fairy cobblers because they make shoes for elves but not a pair of shoes, only one. Their name comes from "leith brogan," or maker of one shoe. Legend says they possess a pot of gold. A human may obtain it if they capture a Leprechaun. But capture is extremely difficult, and the captor may not take his eyes off of him for an instant lest he vanish.
Dwarf, small humanoids, half the size of a man. Skillful with their hands, they made beautiful and magical objects including Thor's hammer and Odin's magical ring. They live in caves, holes in the ground, and hollow trees. Can be hostile.
Heinzelmannchen, a friendly German dwarf or elf.
Ogre, large creatures who eat human flesh.
Troll, ugly creatures who live in caves and hunt after dark. Particularly fond of human flesh. Enemies of mankind.
Phynnodderee, a combination of the Scandinavian troll, the Scottish brownie and the Irish leprechaun. Drives sheep home and helps in the harvest if a storm is brewing.
Pixie, little people who are said to live in the downs and moors of Cornwall, England. Playful and like to steal horses and ponies and ride them at night.
Nymph/Satyr/Faun Nymphs are female spirits of nature represented as young maidens who rule over different parts of nature: forests; springs and rivers; ocean and sea; mountains; meadows; lakes; marshes and swamps; and valleys. The male counterpart of the nymph is the satyr (half human in the upper body and half beast in the lower, usually goat). The Italian version of the satyr is the faun.
Centaur, a creature with a human torso and head and the body of a horse. A follower of the wine god, Dionysus. Known for drunkenness and carrying off young maidens.
Green Man, pagan deity of the woodlands of Britain and Europe. Represents spirits of trees, plants and foliage.
I hope this list helps to explain the differences in these mythical beings. When my children were born, I decided that I would start a tradition of making sure they understood that all of the above (including Santa Claus and my own Grabhanders) were in the pretend world of make believe, although Hollywood can make them seem very real. It is a terrible thing to control a child with fear.
Sources:
Encyclopedia Mythica
Heinzelmannchen by Definition by Ginger Gehres
Showing posts with label Legend. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Legend. Show all posts
Friday, April 11, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Strange Disappearances: Here One Minute, Gone the Next
I recall an episode of The Twilight Zone where a little girl tumbles out of bed and falls through a portal into another dimension that had opened up in the wall of her bedroom. Her rescuer reached through and pulled her back. Of course, that is fiction. Or is it? Legend is full of stories just like this where people are here one minute and gone the next, never to be seen or heard of again.
In recent history, science has provided enough evidence of space holes and other dimensions that this Twilight Zone scenario is much more believable. We pretty well accept that a worm hole can lead to either another time or place in the galaxy. Why is it, though, that mankind has suspected this was true even before anyone knew about the science behind it? Probably because history is laced with strange disappearances.
Keep in mind that the following information may or may not be authenticated and all fall into the category of Legend.
Take the case of the Eskimo Village, for example, where the entire population of over 2000 vanished in 1930. A tracker who had been camping in the wilderness returned home to find everyone was gone. The village was still there as if the people could have returned at any moment. Cooking pots simmered on the stoves and rifles and kayaks remained where they always were. Would the whole community have walked away? And why? But there were no tracks leading away from the village and none of the missing tribe could be located anywhere. Only two mysterious clues remained. All the sled dogs were found buried deep in a snow drift in the area. They had all starved to death. Also the graves of the tribe's ancestors had been opened (which would have been extremely difficult with the ground frozen in ice) and the bodies had been removed.
In Bennington, Vermont, during the period of 1920 and 1950, several unexplained disappearances took place. A Mr. Tetford, who lived in the Soldier's Home in Bennington, disappeared from inside a bus where he was sitting with 14 other passengers. They all had seen him sleeping in his seat, but when the bus arrived, Mr. Tetford was nowhere to be found. All his belongings remained as they were, including his bus timetable lying open on the adjoining seat.
Other Bennington disappearances included an 18-year-old student who vanished off a trail in Glastenbury Mountain and an 8-year-old who went missing suddenly off his parent's farm. Neither were ever found.
Dozens of disappearances like these around Bennington caused the area to become known as the Bennington Triangle. Native Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries, believed this Glastenbury wilderness to be a haunt of evil spirits, and they only used it for a burial ground. According to their legend, this spot was a place where all four winds met and an enchanted stone would swallow anything that passed by. But the strange disappearances in this so-called Bennington Triangle have ceased since the last one in 1950.
One of the most well-known disappearances in history is the case of David Lang. On September 23, 1880, David was walking in a field near his home in Sumner County, Tennessee. He was in full view of his wife and two children. His brother-in-law and a local attorney were approaching nearby in a horse-drawn buggy. Suddenly, David Lang vanished before their very eyes. It was said that a circle marked the spot where he vanished. Nothing would ever grow there and animals and insects avoided going into it. It was also reported that his children claimed to hear their father's voice once when they ventured into the center of the circle.
Another disappearance on the order of David Lang's was reported in "The Difficulty of Crossing a Field" written by Ambrose Bierce in 1909. This disappearance occurred in July, 1854, involving Orion Williamson who vanished, like David, while walking across a field.
Quite the reverse of disappearing from our realm is the story of the Green Children of Woolpit who are said to have appeared from somewhere else. Sometime between 1135 A.D. and 1154 A.D., two children were found near a pit at Woolpit, England. Huddled together, the boy and girl were terrified and screamed in an unknown language. Their clothing was made of an unknown material and the children's skin was green. They were taken to the home of Richard de Calne where by trial and error, it was found the only thing they would eat were fresh bean pods which they ate exclusively for quite sometime. However, the boy died soon after they were found. The girl thrived and lost the green hue in her skin when she started eating the local food. She learned English and finally was able to say where she and the boy had come from. She described a land with no sun where the people were all green and lived in perpetual twilight. The two children had heard bells, then found themselves in the pit and emerged into the light of our world. The girl lived long and eventually married, but was never able to explain her origins.
Two accounts of the Green Children of Woolpit were written around 1200 A.D., nearly 60 years after the time it is said to have happened. The names of these writings are 'Historia Rerum Anglicarum' by William of Newburgh, and 'Chronicon Aglicanum' by Ralph of Coggeshall Abbey. These were not eyewitness accounts of the green children but merely included in these collections of stories the authors had heard.
Of course, I cannot fail to mention the most notorious place of disappearances and that is the Bermuda Triangle, an area of 750,000 square miles in a triangle shape from Florida to Bermuda to Puerto Rico and back to Florida. It is said that the first report of a strange occurrence in that place was recorded by Christopher Columbus in 1492. He saw a ball of fire fall into the sea, then his compass did not work properly. Over 50 ships and 20 airplanes have been known to disappear there.
One reference found in the Bible, Acts 8:39-40, could fall into the category of a strange disappearance. Philip may have disappeared from the sight of the eunuch he had just baptized. Then he reappeared at the city of Azotus.
Strange disappearances and appearances are found throughout historical records. Are they based in fact or fiction? Urban legend? Hard to say, but at least the freight train that may be running through your living room in another dimension does not keep you awake.
In recent history, science has provided enough evidence of space holes and other dimensions that this Twilight Zone scenario is much more believable. We pretty well accept that a worm hole can lead to either another time or place in the galaxy. Why is it, though, that mankind has suspected this was true even before anyone knew about the science behind it? Probably because history is laced with strange disappearances.
Keep in mind that the following information may or may not be authenticated and all fall into the category of Legend.
Take the case of the Eskimo Village, for example, where the entire population of over 2000 vanished in 1930. A tracker who had been camping in the wilderness returned home to find everyone was gone. The village was still there as if the people could have returned at any moment. Cooking pots simmered on the stoves and rifles and kayaks remained where they always were. Would the whole community have walked away? And why? But there were no tracks leading away from the village and none of the missing tribe could be located anywhere. Only two mysterious clues remained. All the sled dogs were found buried deep in a snow drift in the area. They had all starved to death. Also the graves of the tribe's ancestors had been opened (which would have been extremely difficult with the ground frozen in ice) and the bodies had been removed.
In Bennington, Vermont, during the period of 1920 and 1950, several unexplained disappearances took place. A Mr. Tetford, who lived in the Soldier's Home in Bennington, disappeared from inside a bus where he was sitting with 14 other passengers. They all had seen him sleeping in his seat, but when the bus arrived, Mr. Tetford was nowhere to be found. All his belongings remained as they were, including his bus timetable lying open on the adjoining seat.
Other Bennington disappearances included an 18-year-old student who vanished off a trail in Glastenbury Mountain and an 8-year-old who went missing suddenly off his parent's farm. Neither were ever found.
Dozens of disappearances like these around Bennington caused the area to become known as the Bennington Triangle. Native Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries, believed this Glastenbury wilderness to be a haunt of evil spirits, and they only used it for a burial ground. According to their legend, this spot was a place where all four winds met and an enchanted stone would swallow anything that passed by. But the strange disappearances in this so-called Bennington Triangle have ceased since the last one in 1950.
One of the most well-known disappearances in history is the case of David Lang. On September 23, 1880, David was walking in a field near his home in Sumner County, Tennessee. He was in full view of his wife and two children. His brother-in-law and a local attorney were approaching nearby in a horse-drawn buggy. Suddenly, David Lang vanished before their very eyes. It was said that a circle marked the spot where he vanished. Nothing would ever grow there and animals and insects avoided going into it. It was also reported that his children claimed to hear their father's voice once when they ventured into the center of the circle.
Another disappearance on the order of David Lang's was reported in "The Difficulty of Crossing a Field" written by Ambrose Bierce in 1909. This disappearance occurred in July, 1854, involving Orion Williamson who vanished, like David, while walking across a field.
Quite the reverse of disappearing from our realm is the story of the Green Children of Woolpit who are said to have appeared from somewhere else. Sometime between 1135 A.D. and 1154 A.D., two children were found near a pit at Woolpit, England. Huddled together, the boy and girl were terrified and screamed in an unknown language. Their clothing was made of an unknown material and the children's skin was green. They were taken to the home of Richard de Calne where by trial and error, it was found the only thing they would eat were fresh bean pods which they ate exclusively for quite sometime. However, the boy died soon after they were found. The girl thrived and lost the green hue in her skin when she started eating the local food. She learned English and finally was able to say where she and the boy had come from. She described a land with no sun where the people were all green and lived in perpetual twilight. The two children had heard bells, then found themselves in the pit and emerged into the light of our world. The girl lived long and eventually married, but was never able to explain her origins.
Two accounts of the Green Children of Woolpit were written around 1200 A.D., nearly 60 years after the time it is said to have happened. The names of these writings are 'Historia Rerum Anglicarum' by William of Newburgh, and 'Chronicon Aglicanum' by Ralph of Coggeshall Abbey. These were not eyewitness accounts of the green children but merely included in these collections of stories the authors had heard.
Of course, I cannot fail to mention the most notorious place of disappearances and that is the Bermuda Triangle, an area of 750,000 square miles in a triangle shape from Florida to Bermuda to Puerto Rico and back to Florida. It is said that the first report of a strange occurrence in that place was recorded by Christopher Columbus in 1492. He saw a ball of fire fall into the sea, then his compass did not work properly. Over 50 ships and 20 airplanes have been known to disappear there.
One reference found in the Bible, Acts 8:39-40, could fall into the category of a strange disappearance. Philip may have disappeared from the sight of the eunuch he had just baptized. Then he reappeared at the city of Azotus.
Strange disappearances and appearances are found throughout historical records. Are they based in fact or fiction? Urban legend? Hard to say, but at least the freight train that may be running through your living room in another dimension does not keep you awake.
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