I mean, where was the Scooby-Doo episode where Shaggy and the gang were trying to solve a succubus mystery? Where was the payoff at the end where the gang rips the mask off a villainous townie who posed as a succubus seducing the locals? Where was the “…and I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you meddling kids.”

Full disclosure: that episode resided—in heavy rotation—in my pubescent dreams. And to be honest, the fantasy still lingers like an ever-smoldering ember, owing heavily to my early fascination with the succubus.

The more common Scoob fantasy at that time can be best represented by the debate over who was hotter between Velma and Daphne, or between Shaggy and Fred. It is still hotly discussed in some circles to this day.

But I digress—back to the succubus. Now, when you mention the succubus, you must certainly bring the incubus into the discussion. At this point a defining of terms seems appropriate.

Succubus vs. Incubus

Succubus-
The contemporary version of the succubus—a sexy, stunning, cunning, scantily-clad seductress with only bat-wings, horns, talons, and/or tails giving clue to their demonic pedigree—has little in common with the succubus of the past.

To quote Prof. Geller’s article found on Mythology.net, “From the dawn of their legend well through the medieval ages, Succubi were considered hideous, deformed creatures. They were somewhat smaller than average people, and they stooped and crawled instead of walking upright. Their feet were like raptors, their faces like gargoyles, and their fingers tipped in ragged claws.

The modern succubus differs from the succubus of past in motive as well. The contemporary version being a charismatic beauty who, although you wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of, “ultimately takes pride in her ability to please and manipulate men” (Geller).

As an adolescent what could be more perfect than being visited by a succubus?

“The ancestors of today’s Succubi, on the other hand, had personalities as nasty as their looks. They were sneaky, controlling, and malicious. Despite being sex-crazed, they had no interest in pleasing men. Instead, they used sex for their own purposes—to please themselves, to corrupt the pious, to gain life force, or even to have children!” (Geller)

Incubus-
To simplify, the incubus is the male version of a succubus. For purposes of this article, I will use the term succubus to refer to both for reasons of simplification as well as other reasons forthcoming.

Now let’s address my early fascination with the succubus. Think of it, as an adolescent what could be more perfect than being visited by a succubus? During this stage of human development, you’re being awoken to sexual desires and urges that can be confusing, shameful, and even scary—especially in our Puritan-based culture that offers little in the way of support or education on such matters.

Enter the succubus.

Imagine your own clandestine guide to show you the ropes, the ins-and-outs, all without judgement, guilt or any chance of becoming fodder for the bullies and beasts of the middle school years.

The above-mentioned sentiment can best be encapsulated by an old-time ditty (by underrated singer-songwriter Alan O’Day) that I came across in my research. Give it a listen:

“Undercover Angel” or Demon? Why not both?

As referenced in a past article (Why do ghosts hang out in corners?), there seems to be a propensity to make broad-sweeping generalizations about supernatural entities. And just as it is dangerous to do so with the living, so too it is to do so with the undead.

They have always been non-binary, they have always been gender fluid, taking whatever form best suits their needs.

I mentioned earlier that there were other reasons for referring to both succubi and incubi as succubus, and the reason can be found in my theory of what succubi are:

In the same manner that humankind has evolved since the Middle Ages, so too have the succubi. But even in accepting their evolution, I believe that since their inception the succubi/incubi have never been as binary as depicted. They have always been non-binary, they have always been gender fluid, taking whatever form best suits their needs.

Regarding “whatever form suits their needs,” there exists a double-sided scenario of good and bad, depending on the succubi. Just as in the realm of the living, there are “good” succubi and there are “bad” succubi. This is an oversimplification, but a necessary one to keep in mind.

There are succubi who are the hideous, demonic soul suckers of old with little regard for the humans they exploit. I can imagine these spirits genderswapping mid-encounter and even engaging in what I have coined ghost rape. Some are simply addicts that have a gluttonous thirst for Oxytocin. Some are spirits that, though they’ve left their shell behind, still like to get a little “freaky-deaky” with the living—basically supernatural nymphos. And, most likely, a mixed bag of innumerable variations exists as well. So be careful in wishing for a succubus as, like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’ll get and what you get may be more of a nightmare than the fantasy you imagine.

In summary, the ghost stories about the succubus do exist, but they simply have not been told for reasons listed below:

1. Victims of succubi sexual misconduct fear reprisal from the succubi, mockery by the public or general disbelief by the same.
2. Humans involved in succubi encounters are engaging in self-inflicted slut-shaming.
3. The humans involved feel they have a good thing going and don’t want to ruin it by telling others.

Well, that should about do it.

And in parting, I would like to offer you this…

Sweet Dreams.

Image: Detail from The Bathers. William Adolphe Bouguereau. 1884. The Art Institute of Chicago

The post Musings on the Succubus appeared first on Homespun Haints.

What is a chupacabra?

Have you ever thought about how there are animals that seem the product of an evolutionary hiccup? Examples of animals that blur the line between taxonomic classes come to mind. We’re looking at you, duck-billed platypus, armadillo, bat, and pangolin. And I believe we can add the chupacabra to the list.

Pronounced (chew•pah•cah•brah), the creature is legendary in Latin America. Puerto Rico, Mexico, and the Southwestern United States seem to be particular hotbeds of activity.

Cryptid or taxonomic anomoly?

The earliest documented chupacabra sightings occurred in the mid-1990s. This makes the chupacabra a somewhat recent addition to the world of cryptids. But what is a cryptid? Cryptids are creatures which some of us believe to exist, but whose existence is not proven by hard evidence. Some examples of popular cryptids include the Bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, the skunk ape, and the Jersey devil.

Translated from Spanish, chupacabra means “goat sucker.” It probably sounds cuter in English. The name is because its victims tend to be smaller livestock, such as goats and sheep. Alleged chupacabra victims have one thing in common: they’ve had their blood drained through three puncture wounds to the chest. These puncture wounds are large enough in circumference to push an adult finger into. Keep that in mind.

Above all else, the chupacabra is a bloodsucker like a lamprey, tick, flea, or leech. Physically, it has more in common with the oxpecker, vampire finch, and vampire bat. The oxpecker and vampire finch are birds that puncture their prey with their beaks and then drink the victim’s blood. The vampire bat, a mammal, uses its sharp teeth to slice open its victims and then laps up the blood like a kitten with a warm saucer of milk.

Similar to the duck-billed platypus and the bat, the chupacabra stands on a bridge between being avian (bird) or mammal. Most sightings indicate the chupacabra is a mash-up of both.

Sightings put the chupacabra at around 5 feet tall when standing on its hind legs. And powerful hind legs they are.

Be it dog or bird?

Skeptics comment that the sightings of the hairless chupacabra are actually sightings of dogs with mange. They might not be wrong. Just about all the photos online are of dogs with mange.

Categorizing the creatures in these shoddy “evidence” photos as chupacabra ignores the question roaring in the room. What about the three large puncture wounds to the chest? These wounds could not have been rendered by any dog as we know it. Casting further suspicion on these photos is the fact that the chupacabra is a nocturnal beast. Most “evidence” photos tend to be of the daytime variety.

So is the chupacabra a bird?

Enter the cassowary, oft-labeled “the world’s most dangerous bird.” Standing at roughly six and a half feet tall and weighing in at around 160 pounds, the cassowary is a large, squat bird similar to an emu or ostrich. Existing mainly on a diet of fruit, the cassowary might seem an unlikely candidate for comparison with the bloodsucking chupacabra. However, the similarity between the two lies not in diet but in physicality.

Sightings put the chupacabra at around 5 feet tall when standing on its hind legs. And powerful hind legs they are. Many reports include the chupacabra’s ability to leap and bound about like a kangaroo. 

Throw in a thirst for blood like that of the vampire finch, oxpecker, or vampire bat and—voilà—you have the chupacabra. 

Like the emu and ostrich, the cassowary’s legs are incredibly strong, and here is where its potential to inflict mortal damage begins. The legs end with three long, dagger-like claws.

By nature a shy, mellow, and solitary creature, when the cassowary is cornered or agitated, the switch is flipped and it’s game on. The large bird leaps up and throws its talons at its antagonizer. The powerful strike can disembowel a human in an instant.

A mashup of different creatures thrown into one

Earlier I mentioned the chupacabra stands on a bridge between bird and mammal, and exists as a mash-up of both; well the bird would be the cassowary and the mammal would be the kangaroo. Throw in a thirst for blood like that of the vampire finch, oxpecker, or vampire bat and—voilà—you have the chupacabra. 

Reports often contain descriptions of the nocturnal chupacabra as hairless, with spines along its backbone and large red eyes. The spines and hairlessness are a throwback to more avian/reptilian form (perhaps prehistoric). The eyes are not red but reflect as red at night—just like an alligator’s. One does not need to stretch the imagination much to grasp the plausibility of the chupacabra’s existence.

Chupacabra sightings in the suburbs

In the beginning, I mentioned that I thought the chupacabra was incorrectly classified as a cryptid. Here’s why: as we move through this millennium the human population expands not only in numbers but also in landmass occupied. Inch-by-inch we encroach, usurp, and inhabit which forces encounters with species known and yet known.

A prime example is the Bili ape (a.k.a. the Bondo mystery ape). Around the same time as the first chupacabra sightings, a new species of ape once thought more legend than reality was being “discovered” in the Congo by the western world. The Bili ape resembles a chimpanzee that is about the size of a gorilla (standing around 5.5 feet). It has characteristics of both the chimp and gorilla, but is clearly neither. The locals call the mystery ape a “lion killer.”

Animals robbed of the land that was their territory now make their way into suburban and urban centers on a more and more common basis. And this will only increase. 

I believe that we will come to realize that many species now considered creatures of mystery, myth or lore will be proven real before they fall quickly into extinction—and I believe the chupacabra is one such species.

For more cryptid stories, stream paranormal podcast episodes like Filipino Folklore: Manananggal, Engkanto, and Duwende, Oh My!, A Traveling Home for Wayward Haunted Dolls, The House of Octagons, The Weirder The Better, Horror in Massachusetts, What Bit Me?, Something’s Lurking in Vermont, Charlotte is spookier than you thought, Is the Windigo real?, What is a Pukwudgie? or Pukwudgies, Goatman, and Shadow People. Do you have a chupacabra sighting or another cryptid story? If so, we’d love to hear it! Submit your story and you could star in the next episode of Homespun Haints!

The post Chupa…what? The elusive chupacabra appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Now, before proceeding I feel the need to put forward the following: We can assume that, like the people they once were, ghosts are a population just as unique, just as diverse, and just as riddled with myriad personalities and behaviors. And myriad reasons why they do what they do. So what follows is by no means meant to be a broad-sweeping generalization, but rather a focused look at the ghosts who engage in this sort of behavior.

Within the realm of true ghost stories, several theories float around (sorry, couldn’t resist) about why ghosts prefer to hang out in corners. The one I’m presenting hinges upon the bad pun found above.

Running across almost all cultures is a deeply rooted notion that ghosts exist in a state of physical suspension. And this state of physical suspension may be why corners are so alluring for this particular variety of undead.

Listen to our episode about a ghost girl who “lives” in a closet

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Energy-charged air is like water for the undead

At first glance, freedom from gravity seems appealing, but a constant state of floating presents several issues for the ghost encumbered by it. Primarily, how can you settle into a spot when you want to? The situation is one similar to that of the shark—some of their species must continuously move to stay alive. It’s not quite the same, but kind of.

The fact that humans are constantly surrounded by currents, vibrations, waves, and energies has little effect on pushing the living about. The same is not always true for ghosts. These ghosts are forever affected by a subtle barrage of light waves, sound waves, electromagnetic waves, solar waves, microwaves, ultraviolet waves, infrared waves, and even forces as simple as wind currents.

For these ghosts, corners offer some refuge. Once positioned in a corner most of the waves, currents, and energies flow over the ghost which helps to hold them in place. Also, corners are typically void of human activity and attention which make corners that much more an oasis for ghosts.

Imagine rolling a toy car horizontally along a wall towards a corner. If the car continues this trajectory to its inevitable end, it will run into the opposing wall and be stopped in its tracks. Now imagine the same situation, but in a room with rounded corners, or even a circular room—the car would move easily along the curves and rounded corners with little or no diminishment, disruption or disturbance of energy. Depending on the radius, there wouldn’t be much a corner for a ghost of a certain ilk to nestle into.

Perhaps the ghosts get stuck

Up to this point, I have focused on the type of ghost who seeks the comfort and rest a typical hard corner provides, but now let’s shift the spotlight onto an altogether different sort of ghost.

They felt this would make the spirits feel more welcome and this, in turn, would make the spirits more communicative.

The George Stickney House

In his article, George Stickney House, Eric Grundhauser introduces the George Stickney House in Woodstock, Illinois. A two-story mansion, “The house was built in 1836 by George Stickney and his wife Sylvia, both of whom were staunch believers in spiritualism, which roughly meant that they thought spirits not only could but wanted to speak with and through them” (Grundhauser).

The couple’s commitment to spiritualism was above reproach, and here is why: “In the building of the structure, they made sure that there would be no sharp corners, and with every angle rounded. This was supposedly done in an effort to allow the spirits to travel unhindered through the house, as corners have often been thought to hide ghosts” (Grundhauser). Take a look around your home or workplace, and unless you live in a yurt or literally work in a silo, you are most likely surrounded by sharp edges, angles, and corners. This should give you some inkling of how strong the couple’s beliefs were.

The Stickney’s believed the house’s design would allow spirits to flow smoothly and freely through their home without sharp edges to get snagged on or hard corners to get stuck into. They felt this would make the spirits feel more welcome and this, in turn, would make the spirits more communicative. For some spirits, this could be true, for others—not so much.

What the couple seemed to be assuming was that all spirits want to continuously flow freely about, being, dare I say, “free spirits.” I believe the key distinction between the type of ghosts I began the article with and these free spirits can be found in the word “free.” I think the word applies both literally and figuratively to this lot. They are free to roam as they see fit, but also they are free from burden or curse.

Listen to an episode about a haunted house that’s also shaped like an octagon

[podcastplayer feed_url=”https://www.spreaker.com/show/5199458/episodes/feed” filterby=”house of the octagons” accent_color=”#9D6E3C” hide_download=”true” apple_sub=”https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/homespun-haints/id1464464952?mt=2&app=itunes” spotify_sub=”https://open.spotify.com/show/6z2RNMlMad1f5Q45hbaxXA” google_sub=”https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3ByZWFrZXIuY29tL3Nob3cvNTE5OTQ1OC9lcGlzb2Rlcy9mZWVk”]Short Description [/podcastplayer]

In reports, records, lore, and literature there is an abundance of these free spirit types. But just as common are the spirits/ghosts who, for whatever reason, are shackled to a building, place, or location. I believe the ghosts bound to a building are the type likely to crave the corner.

There are many who want the run of the place and are all too happy to do whatever they can to get the humans out.

Unlike free spirits, these ghosts are unable to flit about like a hummingbird searching for nectar, and once resigned to their fate, these less than gregarious spirits are satisfied with hunkering down in a corner and taking a more voyeuristic approach to human engagement—like the idiomatic “fly-on-the-wall.” This is not to say that all ghosts confined to a particular space take this approach. There are many who want the run of the place and are all too happy to do whatever they can to get the humans out. Real ghost stories like those about Amityville come to mind. My direct experience with a ghost was with one that had leanings more towards this type. Well, these are just some thoughts, some possibilities, some insights into the spirit world, and some things to ponder in regards to why ghosts like to hang out in corners.

Listen to the author’s experience with his own corner ghost

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The post Why do ghosts hang out in corners? appeared first on Homespun Haints.