Already familiar enough with the science of sleep paralysis?

Scroll down for 5 podcast episodes where we interview regular folks who have seen a demon during sleep paralysis, or had other sleep paralysis experiences that felt unexplained by current scientific theories.

What Is Sleep Paralysis?

People describe sleep paralysis as waking up, unable to move or speak, and feeling like they’ve been cast in a twisted game of “freeze tag” with their worst nightmares. This temporary paralysis can last from a few seconds to several minutes, long enough for you to rethink all your life choices and reconsider if that late-night horror movie marathon was such a good idea as you lay there unable to move. It’s often accompanied by vivid hallucinations, just in case the paralysis alone wasn’t terrifying enough.

Imagine waking up to find yourself immobile, with an invisible force pressing down on your chest. You want to scream, but no sound comes out. Your eyes dart around the room, and then you see it—a shadowy figure lurking in the corner. This is the quintessential sleep paralysis experience, a real-life horror story that leaves many wondering if they’ve just had a brush with the supernatural.

Sleep Research

Ongoing studies continue to shed light on sleep paralysis. For instance, research has found that sleep paralysis may be linked to disrupted REM sleep cycles, which can be caused by stress, irregular sleep schedules, and sleep disorders such as narcolepsy and sleep apnea. Stay updated on new findings with publications like Sleep Medicine Reviews.

Brain Activity During an Episode of Sleep Paralysis

Brain activity during sleep paralysis involves a curious mix of wakefulness and REM sleep, creating a strange blend of consciousness and dreaming. During REM sleep, the brain remains highly active, which can lead to the vivid and lifelike experiences that characterize sleep paralysis. Research into this interplay between REM sleep and wakefulness provides valuable insights into how they might be prevented.

The REM Sleep Connection

To understand sleep paralysis, you need to know about the sleep cycle. Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep is the part of the cycle where you do most of your dreaming. During REM sleep, the part of the brain responsible for muscle tone decides it’s a good idea to paralyze your muscles to prevent you from acting out your dreams. Because who would want to wake up smashing their nightstand in horror, thinking there’s a monster there? You may experience sleep paralysis when this muscle immobility persists as you wake up or fall asleep, making you a temporary prisoner in your own body.

The brain is responsible for sleep paralysis. During REM, the brain sends signals to inhibit muscle movement, preventing you from acting out your dreams. Sleep paralysis occurs when these signals continue after waking or before sleep onset. So, if you want to blame someone, blame your brain for this late-night horror show. Understanding the sleep cycle and how REM fits into it is crucial for demystifying these frightening experiences.

Experience Sleep Paralysis

Lifetime prevalence rates for sleep paralysis vary, but studies suggest that a significant portion of the population will experience it at least once. Knowing that you’re not alone in this can provide some comfort and reduce the isolation that often accompanies these experiences.

People experience sleep paralysis differently, but common elements include an inability to move, a sense of pressure on the chest, and frightening hallucinations. These sleep related hallucinations can be as benign as the feeling that someone is standing by your bed, or as terrifying as seeing a supernatural entity coming to get you.

Characteristics of Sleep Paralysis Hallucinations: Know Your Enemy

Understanding the characteristics of sleep paralysis, such as muscle paralysis, hallucinations, and the transition between sleep and wakefulness, can help demystify the experience. Knowledge is your best defense against the fear and anxiety that often accompany these episodes.

Meet the Sleep Paralysis Demon

Many victims of sleep paralysis report encountering sleep paralysis demons, sinister figures that seem all too real in the moment.

A sleep paralysis demon is a common hallucination during these episodes. It’s the brain’s equivalent of a haunted house attraction, complete with an malevolent entity, often shadowy and menacing, lurking in your room. The sensation of being watched or suffocated by this entity adds to the terror, because nothing says “sweet dreams” like a demonic creature staring into your soul.

Intruder hallucinations, where people perceive an malevolent force or alien abduction scenario, are common during sleep paralysis. These vivid experiences can be linked to our brain’s attempt to make sense of the paralysis and the fear it induces. Because when you can’t move, why not spice things up with a little alien probing or ghostly intrusion?

Hypnagogic and Hypnopompic Hallucinations

Hypnagogic hallucinations occur as you are falling asleep, while hypnopompic hallucinations happen upon waking. Both types can occur during sleep paralysis, because why should nightmares have a monopoly on scaring the pants off you? Between sleep and wakefulness, these hallucinations can blur the line between dreams and reality, creating terrifying experiences.

A common hypnopompic hallucination involves seeing shadowy figures or intruders in your room as you wake up. It can make you wonder if you’ve stepped into a real-life ghost story, and fuel beliefs in sleep demons or supernatural entities. During the transition of falling asleep, these vivid images of sleep demons can feel overwhelmingly real.

Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry

Waking nightmare hallucinations are basically nightmares one experiences during sleep paralysis episodes. The night mare can add frightening hallucinations, or sensing impending doom, on top of the already frightening situation of feeling paralyzed.

Sleep Disorders and Sleep Paralysis Episodes

Sleep paralysis may occur as part of other nocturnal disorders, such as narcolepsy, or due to sleep deprivation. Certain neuropsychiatric disease, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, can cause one to experience sleep paralysis as a symptom. Sleep apnea, a condition where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, can also be associated with sleep paralysis.

Isolated sleep paralysis isn’t really a great concern, but when it becomes chronic, there’s definitely something wrong. Identifying underlying health and sleep issues can help one prevent sleep paralysis from recurring. Nothing says “get your life together” like waking up to a demon on your chest.

Mental Health and Sleep Paralysis

Sleep paralysis has pathologic associations with conditions that are common in the general population, such as anxiety, depression. Sexual abuse has also been linked to episodes of sleep paralysis, as does post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These traumas can lead to heightened anxiety and stress, both of which are triggers for the condition. Victims may experience specific fears during sleep paralysis, like hostile incubus hallucinations. Seeking support and treatment from a mental health professional can be beneficial for those experiencing recurrent/isolated sleep paralysis.

Sleep Hygiene and Prevention

Maintaining healthy snoozing habits is key to preventing sleep paralysis. Regular sleeping schedules, a comfortable sleeping environment, and avoiding stimulants before bed can improve sleep quality and reduce the likelihood of episodes.

Sleep Paralysis Demons

Transcultural psychiatry examines how cultural beliefs and practices influence the experience and interpretation of mental health conditions. Exploring these perspectives through transcultural psychiatry can provide a broader understanding of sleep paralysis and how it manifests differently around the world.

The interpretation of sleep paralysis varies widely across different cultures. Some see it as a purely medical condition, while others view it as a supernatural event, influenced by cultural beliefs and folklore.

The “Old Hag Phenomenon” is a term from folklore describing a demonic entity that sits on the chest of sleepers, causing paralysis and fear. Various cultures have their own versions, reflecting how sleep paralysis is always interpreted through a particular cultural filter.

One modern take on sleep paralysis involves space alien abduction scenarios. These vivid hallucinations reflect contemporary cultural fears and anxieties, showing how sleep paralysis can manifest differently across time and cultures. Whether it’s sleep demons or space aliens, even the sleeping brain knows how to keep things interesting.

Feeling an evil presence during sleep paralysis is a common experience among the general population. This sensation is likely a result of the brain’s attempt to make sense of the paralysis and associated hallucinations. Recognizing this can help you keep calm the next time a nocturnal intruder shows up.

Preventing Sleep Paralysis

Preventing episodes of sleep paralysis starts with good sleep habits. Ensure you have a consistent sleeping schedule, avoid caffeine and heavy meals before bedtime, and create a relaxing bedtime routine. Most of all, get enough sleep.

Poor sleep quality, whether due to stress, an uncomfortable sleeping environment, or other factors, can lead to an episode of sleep paralysis. Creating a sleep-friendly environment and addressing any underlying issues can help improve your sleep quality and reduce occurrences.

Sleeping position can influence the likelihood of experiencing sleep paralysis. Studies suggest that sleeping on your back increases the risk, so finding a comfortable side or stomach body position might help prevent episodes.

Relaxation

Relaxation techniques, such as progressive muscle relaxation and deep breathing exercises, can help reduce stress and anxiety, which are often associated with sleep paralysis. These techniques involve tensing and relaxing muscle groups to promote overall relaxation and reduce stress.

Guided meditation for goths

If you’re not the kind of person who can relax to typical guided meditations, we get you. Sometimes it feels like every guided relaxation session out there is basically the same. Well, not this one. Check out our Meditations for Goths on YouTube.

Central nervous system (CNS) drugs can help regulate sleep patterns and may reduce the frequency of episodes. Consulting with a healthcare professional can help determine if this might be a treatment option.

Supernatural Beliefs and Sleep Paralysis

Supernatural beliefs about sleep paralysis are common due to the vivid and often terrifying nature of the episodes. While science provides explanations, the cultural and historical contexts add layers of meaning to these experiences. Whether you chalk it up to ghosts, demons, or biology, sleep paralysis just feels paranormal.

There are also a few phenomena associated with sleep paralysis that lend some clout to its supernatural reputation.

Lucid Dreaming

Lucid dreams, or dreams where you realize that you’re dreaming within the dream itself, can sometimes overlap with sleep paralysis. These states involve heightened awareness and control within the dream world, which can be fun under normal circumstances. Becky has mastered the art of lucid dreaming by developing the habit of poking her left palm with her right index finger at regular intervals throughout the day. Her goal is always to punch right through her palm, like a receipt on a spike at a 24-hour diner. Because this is such a habit in daily life, she’ll continue to poke away in her dreams, but when the finger penetrates the palm, that means this must be a dream. In theory, you can develop this skill by starting an impossible habit of your own like Becky’s, although Diana hasn’t been able to quite get it to work for her yet.

Out of Body Experiences

Out of body experiences (OBEs) can also occur during sleep paralysis, adding another layer of surrealism to the condition. OBEs are like unintentional astral projection. These experiences involve a sensation of floating outside your body, which can be both exhilarating and terrifying. Embracing the adventure can help reduce fear through curiosity.

When Sleep Paralysis Demons Can’t Be Explained

So, does sleep paralysis stem from demonic forces? While the episodes can certainly feel like encounters with otherworldly beings, science offers more grounded explanations. Sleep paralysis, with its associated hallucinations and physical sensations, is a fascinating intersection of sleep, neurology, and culture. Understanding the mechanics of REM sleep, muscle paralysis, and the brain’s role in these experiences demystifies the phenomenon somewhat.

Podcast Episodes with True Paranormal Stories About Sleep Paralysis and Demons

Then again, there are sleep paralysis stories that cannot be easily explained.

What if the demon is always there, but we can only see it during sleep paralysis?

For example, one person we interviewed told us sleep paralysis didn’t cause her demons, but only revealed them. Danielle’s theory, based on her own teenage first-hand paranormal experiences, is that sleep paralysis may have a less common cause: ghosts. Because her entire family heard strange noises throughout the house and other strange events, she believes that the shadow people were there in her childhood bedroom all the time, but she could only view them when she was experiencing sleep paralysis. When the haunting stopped, and her family stopped noticing strange noises in the house, Danielle’s sleep paralysis suddenly resolved.

Listen to these first hand paranormal experiences of demonic shadow figures that were only visible during sleep paralysis.

What if many unrelated people in the same place experience a sleep paralysis demon at the same time?

Not all sleep paralysis demons can be explained as hallucinations, either. If feeling like you’re being physically attacked by a demon during sleep paralysis is a personal experience, then how do you explain the exact same thing happening to over a dozen young women in a dorm, at the same time of night, over the course of several weeks? And if you had been one of these women, would you be able to brush it off as a completely natural occurrence? Or would you accept that maybe, you too, had come face to face with an actual demon?

Listen to this story about the sleep paralysis demon that terrified an entire floor within a dormitory.

What if sleep paralysis demons only bother you when you sleep in one particular room in a house with other signs of a haunting?

One guest told us that her childhood friend’s house was haunted. For one, a full-body apparition disappeared from her friend’s porch in a streak of white light. Other paranormal things happened in the house, like intense loud window shaking for no discernable reason. Sleeping over at that same house, she experienced terrible sleep paralysis, featuring demons chanting, as though preparing her for a ritual of some sort. But she only ever experienced isolated sleep paralysis when sleeping in her friend’s mom’s bedroom. Interestingly, the paranormal activity significantly receded after her friend’s mom moved out. From then on, she was able to rest soundly in that room. Could it be that her friend’s mom was haunted, and not the house?

Listen to her story, plus other weird paranormal stories from East Tennessee.

What if other people can see the same demon?

Every night, a shadow figure emerged from Bill’s closet to stare at him. He knew he wasn’t having sleep paralysis, because he could move, but he was absolutely certain moving was a very bad idea. The entity in the closet began to make him groggy. It seemed to induce brain fog and even manifest physical illness. As a self-proclaimed horror-freak and the offspring of generations of Roma people with inherited psychic gifts, Bill is open-minded yet rational about the paranormal. Eventually, he wondered if he might be seeing a demon. By the light of day, Bill was able to convince himself there’s nothing too bad happening. That is, until his roommate and friend saw the figure, too.

Listen to his story about the corroboration that made him question his logical skepticism about the sleep paralysis demon.

What if the sleep paralysis entity interacts with physical objects?

One guest told us a story about a figure in a cowl-hooded robe that scurried around his bed at night. He’s seen this same strange entity throughout his life, usually during sleep paralysis, so it seemed like a typical case. Except that his encounters with the sleep paralysis demon only occurred after other strange things began happening in his house. Oh, and it stole things from him!

Listen to his story; it will make you wonder, can a sleep paralysis demon steal physical belongings from you?

Do You Have Something Visiting You During Sleep Paralysis?

Have you had sleep paralysis encounters that don’t seem to fit within the logical scientific explanation of sleep-induced hallucinations? Why not apply to tell your story on the next episode of Homespun Haints, so you can share your experiences with people who have had similar ones?

Whether you chalk it up to supernatural forces or mere biology, sleep paralysis and the demons who live there are fascinating things to experience. Until the next time we see you in your nightmares, have a spooky day!

The post Our Top 5 Podcast Episodes About Sleep Paralysis With Demons appeared first on Homespun Haints.

When were EVPs first discovered?

The first purported EVP was recorded in those wondrous wasteland days between J.B. Rhine’s work at Duke University and the wacky Midcentury government psy research ala The Men Who Stare At Goats. Just when the world thought it was about to move on from attempting to scientifically research the paranormal, Friedrich Jürgenson accidentally recorded what he believed to be the speaking voice of his deceased father. 

Who was Friedrich Jürgenson, the Father of Electronic Voice Phenomena?

Now, Jürgenson was not a paranormal researcher before he began taping ghost sounds. He was a philosopher, painter, archaeologist, linguist, and singer. Since that résumé reads like a neat mixture of Becky and Diana, we know how easily those career paths can tip over into speculating about ghosts. Unlike Becky and Diana, he was also a court painter to Pope Pius XII and a documentary filmmaker​, so paranormal investigation was far from his original career plan.

Jürgenson caught his first EVP accidentally in 1959 while attempting to record birdsong in his garden. To his surprise, Jürgenson discovered mysterious voices on the recordings, which were not audible during the recording process. Intrigued by this phenomenon, he began experimenting. Over time, he claimed to have captured the voices of both his deceased parents, among others. He knew the voices were theirs because they addressed him by the same nickname as his parents did when they were alive. Also, he claimed that he straight up recognized their voices when he heard them, even through the warble of magnetic recording tape. 

At first, Jürgenson recorded his first EVPs on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, but this must not have been the easiest equipment for spirits to talk through. How do we know? Well, the ghosts told him. One of the very voices he recorded advised him to switch to radio static as a source of EVPs. Jürgenson’s extensive work in EVPs, encompassing hundreds of tapes, has been influencing paranormal research ever since.

Inspired by Jürgenson’s findings, psychologist Konstantin Raudive took up the reins. Raudive collected and analyzed over 100,000 EVP recordings. When he published his research in his 1971 book “Breakthrough: An Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication with the Dead,” people started calling the ghostly phenomena “Raudive Voices.”

Why do spirits communicate through EVPs? 

The primary hypothesis we’ve heard from experts is that spirits of the deceased, or perhaps other beings from another plane of existence, use EVPs as a means to communicate with us because these entities exist in a state or dimension that doesn’t allow for direct physical interaction. The theory suggests that these entities can manipulate energy or electronic devices to imprint their voices onto recording mediums. This idea aligns with the broader concept that spirits are forms of energy and can interact with the electromagnetic spectrum or EMFs, which electronic recording devices capture.

How does the electronic voice phenomenon actually work? 

We’ve heard several theories as to how spirits communicate through EVPs. But what is an EVP, at its core? What is the practical nature of how a voice shows up on a tape when it wasn’t audible while that tape was recording?

Energy Manipulation

This idea is based on a broader concept that spirits exist as energy, and can therefore manipulate electromagnetic fields and energies, which in turn affect electronic devices. This manipulation could result in the imprinting of voices onto recording mediums, such as tape recorders or digital devices.

Frequency Resonance

Another theory is that spirits operate at different frequency levels than the living. These frequencies might only occasionally align with our electronic devices, leading to the partial capture of these voices on audio recordings. The concept here is that EVPs occur because spirits communicate on frequencies beyond our normal hearing capacity but within the detectable range of recording devices.

Intent of the Spirits

Some paranormal researchers suggest that spirits might be in on the gig, speaking through recordings as an attempt to provide tangible evidence of their continued existence and the afterlife in general. One result of the spiritualist movement of the 19th century was the promises that many believers made to come back and provide proof of their existence as spirits. Their ghosts may be consciously speaking into microphones in an attempt to bolster evidence, whether it’s to reach out to loved ones and provide comfort, or to gloat over being right all along that ghosts are real.

Are EVPs really real ghost voices?

Jürgenson’s and Raudive’s findings and conclusions are still debated in the paranormal community. Many paranormal investigators consider EVP recordings to be direct, purposeful communications from the dead. But why do people assume that EVPs are ghosts? 

EVPs as evidence of life after death

We’ve heard accounts and evidence from many ghost hunters that really make us say “huh!” Investigators tell us about EVPs that include names and facts relevant to the haunted location’s history. They play us recordings where a (presumably living person’s) voice asks a question, then a quiet (presumably dead person’s) voice answers that question with a brief but sensible answer. 

What are EVP if they’re not the voices of ghosts?

Speculating on potential alternative paranormal theories is what we do best. What if EVPs are hard to hear because the message is intended for a specific person, or a certain kind of person? Could EVPs be recordings of the past, as in the stone tape theory? Could they be communication from aliens, elves, or trolls who speak in a different frequency that we cannot hear with our puny human ears? What if they’re part of a prophecy from a deity, but heard only in snippets? What if they’re actually a form of telepathy, picking up and amplifying subconscious thoughts? Could they be the voices of time travelers popping in for an unseen visit? What if ancient alchemists, druids, and witches created a message etched into the fabric of time, to be played in the future?

Are EVPs fake?

Skeptics, however, offer more grounded explanations. They suggest that these EVP recordings might be the result of radio interference, unintentional recordings of ambient noise, psychological phenomena like pareidolia (where the brain interprets random patterns as familiar objects or sounds), or simply hoaxes.

How do you control for errors in EVPs?

When presented with skepticism, EVP proponents often modify their techniques in an attempt to control for mundane explanations. It’s probably not ambient noise or radio interference if it can be replicated with the microphone sealed in a soundproof box. EVP interpretation probably can’t be subjective based on priming with a question if the investigators are using the Estes method, and the person interpreting the sounds has no awareness of the question. Electronically generated white noise can’t pick up stray radio signals or ambient noise.

Also, many paranormal experts started out as staunch skeptics, converted to believers only when presented with what they saw as incontrovertible evidence. They’re probably less likely to perpetrate hoaxes if they themselves needed—and found—sufficient proof to believe in ghosts.

Why are EVPs so hard to hear, until they’re not?

Yet it’s undeniably true that EVPs can sound like garbled gobbledygook to the uninitiated. The whole reason ghost hunters call clearer EVPs “Class A EVPs” is because most EVPs are largely unintelligible…until someone makes a suggestion as to what they might be saying. As soon as we know what we’re listening for, we can hear it. Does that mean that we just need practice our EVP listening skills? Or does that imply that we only hear what we want to? 

Just like the human predilection to see faces in random patterns, there are reasonable evolutionary reasons why our brain might hallucinate human voices in random sounds. People with prosopagnosia who cannot instinctually recognize faces, can often instinctually recognize the voices of their loved ones. Like faces, there’s some sort of subconscious emotional attachment to human voices that causes them to feel weighted with extra meaning. Similarly, an English speaker listening to a lecture in a language they don’t speak usually has no trouble at all instantly recognizing a random English word thrown into the blah blah. 

What are the dead trying to tell us? 

If we truly believe that the spirits of our deceased ancestors are consciously and intentionally using whatever skills they have (including EVPs) to send us supernatural messages from beyond the veil, we have to assume it’s an important message, no? So then, why are so many EVPs seemingly random and confusing?

Perhaps most importantly, why don’t spirits communicate important overarching generic concepts that we all wonder about? Why don’t they explain to us what it feels like to die? How to make the choice between going into the light, or another option? What those options even are, and who gives them to us? Things they wished they’d done more of before their time was up? 

What messages are important to ghosts?

Perhaps what’s important to the spirit is just different from what’s important to modern, living humans. We tend to think of ghosts as being obsessed with their unfinished business. So obsessed that they give up their chance at infinite enlightenment, eternal freedom, and limitless happiness just to stick around here and chat half-assedly with strangers about the money they hid under their basement floor that someone already found decades ago. Perhaps whatever random circumstance was weighing on their mind at the hour of their death became an echo throughout the rest of their existence when they passed on, its singular importance never to wane? Maybe the ghosts forget that they’re dead, and just want to shoot the breeze after being ignored for so long? 

Maybe the deceased just don’t want to be forgotten. Many EVPs are names. If the first time we die is our physical death, and the second is the last time a living person speaks our name, or when the last living person who remembers us dies, then shouting one’s own name into the abyss for all eternity might feel like a form of immortality to some reluctant ghosts. Like most forms of immortality, this one feels like it would get pretty tiresome. That could explain why EVPs sound so mumbled, and why only pieces of messages seem to come through. 

How can I capture and identify EVPs? 

Are you sure you want to? Capturing EVPs requires a lot of patient waiting around in haunted places that are often dark, cold, lonely, and dirty or unsafe. If you want quality EVPs that can’t be debunked, it also involves a lot of setup, attempting to sanitize your environment of extraneous sounds. Worse, analyzing the recording while listening for EVPs can be tedious, as it involves listening to long, boring clips over and over at a volume that might occasionally blast your eardrums. After all that, all you have is a seconds long recording of what you think might be a spectral message that sounds vaguely like “Davey loves to vacuum Marlboros,” and the collective disdain of the majority of the scientific community.

If the desire persists knowing all that, congratulations, you were likely always meant to be a paranormal investigator. After all, it’s not a job; it’s a calling. If you have a haunted location to record at, here are some of the tips our guest Cyn Shrader of Elk Valley paranormal shared with us. As the author of several books on the subject and being an investigator herself, Cyn’s advice is both mystical and practical.

If you don’t have a haunted location to record in, psychicscience.org has provided this guide on how to use random white noise generators to create reproducible EVPs. 

Do you think EVP are real?

EVPs continue to intrigue paranormal enthusiasts and researchers. Curiosity about and experimentation with the intersection of technology and the paranormal is only growing, despite an abundance of unclear evidence of uncertain importance and dubious nature. The allure likely lies in the possibility that these voices might provide a link to passed loved ones, and a hope for continued consciousness after death. 

So next time you’re listening to a recording and hear something unexpected, take a moment to wonder – is it just interference, or could it be a call from beyond? The answer might just cause you to have a spooky day.

The post Ghosts in the Machine: The Truth About EVP appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Understanding the Evil Eye: Origins and Beliefs

The concept of the Evil Eye is nearly ubiquitously familiar, although it’s especially prevalent in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, South Asian, and European cultures. This superstition suggests that envious or negative glances cast upon someone can bring that person misfortune, bad luck, or harm. To counteract this, various cultures have developed wards for protection.

A ward can be pretty much anything that you believe has the ability to counteract the presence or happening of something supernatural and potentially harmful or undesirable. In other words, it doesn’t have to be a physical object. For example, to fend off jealous glances, you might practice negative mantras, like “I’m nothing special…I look hideous…nobody loves me…” Yikes, who wants to say that all day? Better perhaps to just wear an amulet.  

The Nazar: Warding off the Evil Eye with…another eye?

The Nazar, commonly known as the evil eye, is an amulet or talisman to deflect negative energy. This symbol, often found in jewelry, home decor, and even in architecture, specifically serves as a defense against the evil eye. You’ve seen it: a circular, blue-and-white eye-shaped symbol. It’s supposed to absorb malevolent glances and prevent them from causing harm. 

Hamsa Hand: Specifically about the number five.

The word “Hamsa” (or Khamsa) comes from the Arabic word for “five.” The significance of this symbol is not just the fact that it is a hand, but that the hand specifically has five fingers, all aligned. The Hamsa’s palm usually features an embedded eye, to provide defense against negative energies and misfortune. It’s kind of like a Nazar, but more overarching in its symbolism. The eye represents heightened awareness, insight, and protection from harm. The hand itself signifies blessings, strength, and the ability to push away negative influences. 

The Hamsa in different faiths

The Hamsa represents different meanings (and sometimes has different names) across cultures. In Jewish culture, it is the Hand of Miriam, and symbolizes divine protection. For Muslims, it represents the hand of Fatima, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and is associated with patience, loyalty, faith, and protection against the evil eye.

Some people use an upside down Hamsa to attract wealth and fortune, and one facing upright to protect against harm. In those instances, the position of the Hamsa represents various mudras, which are basically gestures intended to alter the flow of energy during rituals. This may be more common in Hinduism, Jainism, or Buddhism, or among yoga practitioners. In spiritual healing techniques hailing from these cultures, the five fingers of the hand can represent chakras, or elements. Some new-age energy healers use their hands like multipolar magnets, intending the energy flow direction to alternate in a beneficial way as it flows down one side of a finger and up the next.

Placement and Use

Hamsa or Nazar symbols are placed strategically within the home, usually at entrances or in central areas, to ward against evil. While positioning these symbols, individuals often focus on their intentions to shield their spaces from harm and negativity. The power of the ward comes from the belief or faith of the individual who puts it there, and so we tend to place them in areas we consider vulnerable to infiltration. That’s likely why the front door is a very common location for a Hamsa. It’s also wise to place a Hamsa in an area where you’ll see it frequently; reminding yourself that it’s there and working on your behalf is a great way to continually imbue it with the power of your faith in it. 

Maintenance and Upkeep of Protection Wards

You might, from time to time, feel the need to do a little extra Hamsa maintenance. When you’re feeling especially unlucky and downtrodden, a ritual cleansing for your physical wards can renew your intentions with them. You can cleanse and revitalize their protective energies exactly how you’d spiritually cleanse any other object. For example, try smudging with burning sage, incense, or palo santo, exposing the symbols to sunlight, or placing selenite on them. 

The Universality of Wards

The popularity of the Hamsa and Nazar reveal the universal human desire to safeguard against negative energies and spirits. They serve not only as protective amulets, but also as sources of comfort, strength, and a reminder of the power of energy—both positive and negative—within our homes and lives. 

People all over the world use symbolic wards. The Hamsa is one of the most widespread wards against evil globally. However, here are a few examples of wards from other cultures that share some characteristics with these hand-and-eye symbols.

The Eye of Horus (Wadjet) – Egyptian Tradition

The (usually left) Eye of Horus symbolizes protection, health, and royal power. The Wadjet provides safety, health, and prosperity. According to ancient Egyptian texts, the falcon god’s eyes were ripped out by the god Seth and then restored. Horus’s eye has served as a talisman against evil ever since. Even though the Hamsa, Nazar, and Eye of Horus all prominently feature an eye, it’s more because humans tend to ascribe mystical properties to the eye as a symbol, rather than implying a shared origin.

Crosses and Crucifixes – Christianity

Crosses and crucifixes represent faith and salvation for Christians, which is somewhat equivalent to protection from evil. Christianity sometimes equates protection from evil with submission to the divine plan. The crucifix often depicts Christ’s eyes upturned towards heaven, some say symbolically of his submission to God’s will. His outstretched hands, marred by wounds, can represent both his sacrifice to protect mankind from evil, and his message of being open, accepting, and loving towards others.

Christ’s hands, like Hamsa, carry much symbolic protective weight, whether praying, bearing stigmata, or laying on healing, but the meaning is more associated with the cross itself than Christ’s hands. So much has the cross become a protective ward in the Western world that, according to most vampire lore, crosses are objectively reliable protection from these avatars of supernatural evil, even if the bearer is not a Christian. Christians often wear crosses as jewelry for personal protection, or place them in homes to invoke divine protection and ward off evil spirits.

Dreamcatchers – Native American Tradition

Dreamcatchers are woven, weblike, 3D wards. Their use as a printed symbol is rarer, as they’re intended to act kind of like a spiritual colander, and it’s the passing through from one side to another that makes them work. Dreamcatchers filter out negative dreams and spirits, allowing only positive dreams to pass through. They function as wards to protect a home or its dreaming inhabitants during sleep. Dreamcatchers are often wildcrafted from natural materials.

Hagstones – Celtic and European Tradition

Also found in nature, hagstones are a symbol of good luck and protection in Celtic traditions. Basically any natural stone with a hole worn all the way through it counts as a hagstone. Hanging a hagstone outside your door or in your home can also ward against evil spirits.

Yantras – Hinduism and Buddhism

Yantras are sacred geometric symbols. In traditions like Hinduism, various versions of yantras can ward a home from evil. In Buddhism, yantras are more commonly referred to as mandalas. Their geometric patterns are intended to resonate with different energetic frequencies. By meditating on these yantras, practitioners can tap into these energies, fostering a connection with the divine and amplifying the yantra’s protective qualities. Each design corresponds to different aspects of the divine and is associated with specific deities, enhancing its effectiveness in guarding against malevolent forces.

Runes – Norse and Germanic Traditions

Norse and Germanic cultures used runic symbols for protection and divination. Each rune carries its own meaning and protective qualities. Carrying or inscribing certain runes can offer defense against evil and negative forces. According to one archived resource, some common runes for warding against evil include the following.

1. Algiz (ᛉ): The “protection” rune, Algiz, represents defense, protection, and warding off danger. Interestingly, Algiz often resembles an open hand with splayed fingers, similar to Hamsa. It’s often used to create a protective shield around one’s home or self.
2. Othala (ᛟ): Othala symbolizes safety of personal property.
3. Eihwaz (ᛇ): Eihwaz is associated with endurance, resilience, and the ability to overcome challenges. It can symbolize the physical form of a strong, trustworthy protector.

These runes are inscribed on talismans, amulets, or protective charms and placed in strategic locations around the home to enhance their protective qualities.

Do you use wards?

The widespread use of these protective symbols as wards highlights the universal human desire for protection from evil. While this need is universal for obvious reasons, it is curious that the symbolism of the eye and the hand transcends so many cultural boundaries to carry similar meaning as a ward against evil. Perhaps these symbols’ ubiquity implies that, regardless of the physical focus we use, the power to ward was within our innate human form all along.

If you’ve got a story to tell about wards, please submit to tell it on our podcast!

The post How to Ward Your Home Against the Evil Eye and Negative Spirits appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Draw a haunted mansion with me

The most reliable way to draw a haunted house is to draw a real one that everyone already associates with ghosts. The Winchester Mystery House is a great example of one of these famous haunted places. This quirky real haunted mansion is iconic in the eyes of haunted house aficionados.

The Winchester house itself also embodies many of the basic tenants of how to draw a scary drawing. Here is a video of Becky’s step-by-step realistic line drawing of the Winchester Mystery House, which Diana got to take a ghost tour of a few years ago.

Becky uses a straight edge to make clean lines and angles, because this is a realistic drawing. Almost all real houses feature standard architecture techniques, like right angles, straight lines, and peaked roofs. There are many parts of the Winchester House that are quite standard, which we think makes the more unusually constructed parts of the house even more intriguing.

I mentioned above that the Winchester house itself exemplifies the basic components of a scary drawing, making it an excellent example for this tutorial. But what are the basic components of how to draw a scary haunted house?

What is the difference between drawing a haunted house and a regular house?

Unnatural distortion

Unnatural distortion makes your drawing feel wrong and uncomfortable. This works best when it’s subtle. When something is mostly normal, but just a little bit off, we may not consciously notice the oddity. But our subconscious lizard brain is terribly uncomfortable with the dissonance. As we feel the subconscious discomfort, we could associate that with an intuitive sensation, much like the intuitive way we first recognize a haunting.

Translocation

Translocation makes your drawing feel strange and dangerous. The Winchester House’s famous Door to Nowhere is a very plain and normal doorway. It has a frame, a standard wooden door, a doorknob. Everything seems very banal and predictable about it. But when the door opens, it reveals not a room, or a hallway, or even a few steps down to a back garden. The Door to Nowhere actually leads to a tiny bit of the roof that was never meant to be stood on. Another step out would lead to a sheer drop off onto the pavement a full story below.

The same is true for the stairs that lead directly up to a solid ceiling in the Winchester. These seemingly normal architectural details put in entirely the wrong place or context tell us a house is beyond our comprehension. They imply either some mystical arcane knowledge we can only guess at, or a degree of unhinged behavior, which both feel dangerous and frightening.

Disparate meshing

Disparate meshing makes your drawing feel monstrous and paranormal. What are some things that just don’t belong on a house? This might be easy to add to a cartoon drawing of a haunted house. One could extend the front walkway to end in a giant dripping tongue, or turn the broken slats of a basement storm shelter door into the teeth of a jarring rictus.

Disparate meshing is a little more challenging on a realistic drawing, but a successful result is even spookier. Maybe the front windows and doors align in a way that subconsciously mimics an angry face. Even a vague face shape will trigger a natural human response called pareidolia. This phenomenon causes us to see human faces in random patterns.

This simple house displays a few different moods, does it not?

The front of the Winchester house is it’s most conventional part visually. Yet still, there are those two small, round windows, set symmetrically on either side of an arched doorway, with a small set of balusters only in front of the doorway, and a triangle shape above it. It’s not a very accurate face, so it wouldn’t immediately strike the viewer as an intentional face. But the subtle suggestion of a face can be enough to subconsciously imbue the house with a creepy sense of anthropomorphic agency.

Another example of disparate meshing is adding a disturbing situation to your house drawing. What could you add to the drawing to imply that some tragic event has taken place there? Remember, all haunted houses were normal houses before they became haunted. What event or circumstance created the haunting, and is there a way to display that in your picture? There are many ways to make a normal house look haunted because of the situation it’s in.

How to draw a unique, realistic haunted house

Realistically drawing the outside of a haunted house requires significant creativity. After all, most houses look pretty generic from the outside. It takes technical skill and imagination for an artist to imbue a sense of hauntedness onto a technically “normal” image of a house.

You don’t have to draw a real haunted house to create a realistic haunted house drawing. Indeed, the best haunted house drawings come from the imagination. The simplest way to start is to draw a mundane structure that people associate with creepy ghost stories. Perhaps you could sketch a cabin in the woods, or a classic Victorian cottage. Then, incorporate the above techniques as subtly as you can to create a subconscious sense of wrongness. The key to a creepy realistic scary house drawing is when you and I both know that the house is haunted, but we can’t quite put our finger on why we know.

Want to hear a story from a real-life medium who cleanses houses of ghosts before they go to market? Listen to this interview:

How to draw an easy, cute haunted house for beginners and kids

Even beginner artists can draw a cute cartoon Halloween haunted house using the above advice. For very little kids, a quirky house drawing embodies all the important elements that a haunted house drawing does for adults (disparate meshing, translocation, and unnatural distortion), but much more obviously, and minus the spooky elements.

How to draw a simple haunted house

The average cartoon haunted house drawing is more cute than scary. The overtly so cute additions and bright colors are why these types of kindergarten haunted house drawings aren’t scary per-se. Yet the elements that make them uncomfortable and unsettling subconsciously are all there. The following how-to video should make spooky house drawing easy for beginners.

A big benefit to learning to draw haunted house pictures with your kids is that children have such unbridled imaginations. Kids come up with wild concepts that are too illogical or fantastical for our censored and jaded adult brains to easily conceptualize. Quickly scribbling wildly distorted and unpredictable houses with your kids can be a great way to brainstorm for haunted house drawing ideas that could become more polished artwork later.

What are some ways to incorporate ghost folklore into a house drawing?

There may be circumstances where you want to illustrate a house within a universe where ghosts exist, but you don’t want to imply that house is haunted. In that case, adding some details associated with ghosts and folklore can be useful. One example from the American South is the addition of haint blue paint to the porch ceilings, doors, and window frames. (You do know what haint blue is, right? And what a haint is?) These videos of Becky painting houses with symbolic haint blue window frames are good examples of how to draw a non-haunted house in a scary horror scene that implies the threat of real ghosts getting in.

The house above isn’t necessarily haunted. In fact, one could argue it’s less likely to harbor spirits than an average house, given that there’s an obvious ghost repellant apparent in the image. The imagery invokes the thought of ghosts and the paranormal, without necessarily implying that the house in the image is haunted.

What should you draw on the inside of a haunted house?

If drawing the outside of a realistic haunted house is challenging due to its technical subtlety, that implies that the inside of a haunted house is much easier to portray. But why would this be?

How do you draw a haunted house on the inside?

What is the one thing every haunted house has in common with every other house? It’s that at some point in the past, it wasn’t haunted; it was just a regular house. The house became haunted at some point, either because of something that happened there, or because of something that came into the house. That means objects, people, and scenes within the house can clearly convey a sense of hauntedness by depicting the act of becoming haunted, or the consequences of a haunting.

Drawing a house full of haunted objects

There are only a certain number of items that are realistically visible from the outside of a house. Maybe a porch swing, with a pitcher of ice-cold lemonade set upon a white wicker side table. But not many of these items imply a haunting; at least not without delving into the absurd, like a potted venus flytrap, or the fantastical, like a spectral silhouette gazing out a window.

But there are thousands of items that could realistically be inside a house. What types of items might you find inside a haunted house? Maybe tools for occult rituals, that might be used to summon a specter. Or maybe objects that people feel are more likely to be haunted themselves, like antique furniture, or creepy dolls. The inside of a house also evokes a sense of vulnerability, which can contribute to that subconscious feeling of unease we associate with haunted house drawings.

Drawing people and ghosts

Another way to imply a haunting in a drawing is to include characters. Again, subtlety is key to a realistic drawing. Are the characters set apart in time from the rest of the drawing? Are they wearing period dress? Do they lurk in strange places wearing woeful expressions? Or do they show fatal injuries? Are they floating above the floor?

This step is risky if you’re going for realism. It’s hard to draw a realistic image of a ghost. That’s because, at their most realistic, ghosts just look like normal people. Drawing a normal person who is slightly transparent works, but that just doesn’t come across as easily in a black-and-white sketch the way it does in a photograph. The more obviously you try to draw a ghost, the more cartoonish the drawing is going to look.

How to draw a funny haunted house

Sometimes, adding images of ghosts to your drawing can make it instantly less realistic. But that’s not always a bad thing, depending on the desired effect. Becky’s drawing of a haunted bathroom is intentionally unrealistic to emphasize the hauntedness in a comedic fashion. The checkered floor, clawfoot tub, and shower curtain rod subtly imply that this bathroom exists in an old house with renovations. This is, to those in the know, a circumstance very associated with hauntings.

But to clue in the casual observer, Becky has decided to add some unrealistic macabre details. She includes a skeletal hand, a ghostly reflection, blood oozing from the toilet bowl, and emphasized sharp claws on the tub’s claw feet. The artist didn’t necessarily feel that the image wasn’t scary enough. Nor did she necessarily need those cheesy details to get the point across. She wanted to intentionally draw a silly, comedic picture of a haunted house.

Finally, if you prefer to have things drawn for you, rather than drawing them yourself, we get it. This massive detailed haunted mansion wasn’t an easy drawing to make. Diana doesn’t draw much at all either; she leaves that to Becky. Becky sells prints of some of her haunted house drawings, including the one of the Winchester mansion below, in our merch store.

Which video of how to draw a haunted house was your favorite?

We hope this tutorial has illuminated how to draw haunted houses, from easy cartoon haunted house sketches for beginners, to realistic and psychologically unsettling printable horror drawings for advanced artists. Rather than just an easy, step-by-step guide to the physical pieces, we wanted to provide you with deeper concepts. We hope that understanding these elements sparks your own unique artistic creativity.

If you haven’t already, please check out our YouTube haunted house direct draw videos, embedded above. Hopefully, they fill you with haunted house ideas to draw. Let us know if you can spot the three basic elements in the YouTube comments! Your feedback helps make our day a spooky day!

The post How to Draw a Haunted House With Process Drawing Videos appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Common myths about haunted houses

Before we go into signs of a haunted house, let’s talk about some common misconceptions of hauntings:

• Haunted houses do not need to be old. In fact, even new construction homes might harbor a spirit or two (remember Poltergeist and Stir of Echoes?)
• A house can be haunted even if no one died on the property
• Not all hauntings are malevolent. We’ve talked to people who love the ghosts they live with (though some professionals argue that it’s unhealthy to coincide with lingering spirits)
• Hauntings sometimes aren’t from the house at all–maybe you have a haunted object in your home
• The ghosts in a haunted house may not be there permanently–they could just be “passing through”

Scary things about hauntings that we’ve heard too many times not to believe

There are certain scary horror movie tropes that we used to think were myths, but they’ve happened to a lot of people we’ve talked to. If you think your house is haunted, have you or anyone you live with done the following?

• Recently remodeled your home
• Played with a spirit (Ouija) board or attended a séance of any sort?
• Recently visited a cemetery or a haunted location (yes, ghosts can follow you home!)
• Talked at length about ghosts, or watched a lot of horror movies

Okay, for that last point we need to make a clarification. Many people believe that talking about spirits will “give them strength” and make it possible for them to manifest more easily. Yeah, that’s not the way it works; at least not according to the data we’ve gathered.

What really happens is you become more attuned to the activity around you if you’ve been primed by recent conversations or things you’ve watched. Sometimes, horror movies can cause nightmares, too, if you have unresolved fears that the movie created.

Watch our video on how to dispel nightmares from horror movies before they manifest.

So how to know if your house is haunted?

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to know if a house is haunted before you purchase or rent it. Unless, of course, you or someone you know is a medium. Many hauntings start slowly and work their way into your lives over time, long after you’ve signed the contract saying you’ll stay there.

Some people know their house is haunted because they see or hear ghosts, in which case we’d love to talk to you on our show! But some hauntings are more subtle–and yet they can be just as menacing.

First of all, look for these signs within your house

• Unexplainable cold spots
• Things going missing or moving when you’re not looking
• Flickering lights
• Pipes bursting
• Strange smells
• Pets avoiding certain parts of the house or staring/growling at what seems to be nothing

These are all great things you can look for. However, as you know, some houses just don’t have good bones. Some houses have cold spots, flickering lights, and pinhole leaks because the contractor cut corners. Hauntings, however, can cause other, less physical problems for you and your family.

Next, see if any of the following happen on a regular basis

• Everyone keeps getting sick after moving into the house (please check for mold if this is happening).
• Healthy pets go missing or die.
• You feel “off;” nothing seems to be working out the way it should.
• You fight with your co-habitants more often over trivial things.
• Someone in your home has consistent nightmares.
• Children in the home have new imaginary friends.
• You are more tired than usual.
• A part of the home has an unusual, sudden infestation of some sort that you can’t seem to get rid of.
• In your gut, something feels wrong.

We all go through spells of bad luck. But if we experience particularly bad luck right after moving into a new home, even when we’re doing everything right, Occam’s Razor suggests the house is probably the cause. And that makes sense whether or not the house is actually haunted.

Listen to an episode about a house so haunted it caused a breakup (or did it?)

You determine your house is haunted. Now what?

In horror movies, the family never moves out of the haunted house until it’s too late. And you’ve seen a thousand tropes explaining why. But that doesn’t have to be you. You can take charge of your situation and keep it from getting so bad it becomes a real horror movie at a later date.

There could be a thousand things that appear to be a haunting. How to know if your house is really haunted could be that all the things listed above are happening, and you have a funny feeling in your gut that things aren’t right. Even then, you will probably have a hard time convincing yourself or others that you are living in Amityville. You and I both know this house is haunted at this point, but it’s reasonable to expect the majority of people to be skeptical of your claims.

What do you do if your house is haunted?

Time to take charge and go through the following steps.

Step 1: Rule out non-paranormal causes

Hire an electrician to look at the lights, and a plumber to see what’s up with those leaking, banging pipes. Get a mold inspection, check your HVAC system, and maybe find a better pest control service. Even if your house is haunted, you don’t want physical problems preventing you from finding the source of the haunting.

Step 2: Investigate the history of the area

Talk to your neighbors, especially the ones that have lived there forever. Find out what stories and lore surround not just your home, but also the neighborhood. Go to the local library and look at old maps–is your home on what was once a crossroads? Is your street called “Hidden Dead People Way?” These are clues about what might actually be going on.

Step 3: Look at your own life

Are you in over your head with rent or a mortgage and it’s causing stress? Did you just take a job you shouldn’t have? Is there a particular food that you used to crave, but now you think you’re allergic to it? Are you pregnant?

All of these things can cause profound change in our lives and our relationships, and not always for the better. If you want to combat the ghosts in your house, you need to combat your own personal demons first.

Step 4: Cleanse your home

You can hire someone to cleanse the ghosts from your home, or do it yourself. And “cleanse” means more than “clean” (though clean houses produce less stress, less places for ghosts to hide, and generally are healthier places so you should clean that house, too).

Smoke out your house with sage or some other herb, give your home a sound bath with a bell or singing bowl, sprinkle salt and water in the corners, etc. There are many guides on how to cleanse your home. Or, if you’re not confident on how to do it yourself, hire a professional who is.

Step 5: Protect yourself from future hauntings

The best way to keep the ghosts at bay is to keep a positive attitude and repel negative energy from your home. We wrote an article on folk knowledge for positive homes, which is a great place to start. Take care of yourself, eat healthy, and exercise.

Also, keep your home as clean as possible, open your windows and air out your home when it makes sense to do so. Some people like to place crystals around their home (selenite is good for repelling darkness and bringing light). Others swear by certain herbs such as eucalyptus and lavender (I keep dried bunches of both in my bedroom). Not only is this just general good advice for mental and physical health; it also makes your home less hospitable for the ghosts.

Should you move out of your haunted house?

We’ve had professional psychic mediums on the show who tell us that it’s not necessary to move out of a house due to a haunting. This is because earthbound spirits and shadow people can all be forcibly relocated by an experienced medium, or by some accounts, even by an intrepid homeowner.

There may be some types of hauntings, however, that can’t be completely eliminated.

Residual hauntings

For example, residual hauntings may be unlikely to stop after taking the above steps. This is because residual hauntings aren’t due to the current presence of spirits. They are usually attributed either to a time slip, or an event in the past that was recorded, almost like a cassette tape, onto the surrounding land. The recording plays, and the living witness the events as a kind of ghostly mirage. But the ghostly images we see in a residual haunting cannot interact with us, as they’re not conscious, or even technically present, any more than the image on a movie screen.

What to do for a residual haunting

Apart from removing all the mineral deposits from the property (a practically impossible task), we know of no good way to eliminate a residual haunting. The good news is, by the accounts we’ve heard, residual hauntings can’t directly harm the living. The bad news is, they often happen unexpectedly, giving us a startle. Or, they will occur at night, interrupting our sleep.

Many people just get fed up with watching the same recording night after night, and decide they’re ready to move out. We’d love to live in a world where it’s perfectly acceptable to list your house for sale as-is due to a “harmless residual haunting.” But in some places, such a statement would get you laughed out of the HOA. In that case, they might seek advice from a professional medium on how to sell a haunted house ethically.

Do you live in a haunted house?

We love haunted houses. From the real haunted houses we grew up in, to the ones we see in our nightmares, they all fascinate us. We made a tutorial all about how to draw a haunted house, and our first t-shirt design was of a cartoon haunted house that Becky drew.

If your house is haunted, we’d love to hear your ghost stories! Send us a note on our submit page, and we’ll be in touch. Until next time, have a spooky day!

Listen to our interview with a medium who had a hard time finding a non-haunted house to purchase:

The post How to know if your house is haunted appeared first on Homespun Haints.

The Loch Ness Monster, of course

The Loch Ness Monster might just be the most famous Western paranormal entity that involves water. 3rd century stone carvings near the lake depict a flippered aquatic beast. The monster was first documented in writing in 565 CE. In the 1930’s, a London surgeon took the first and by far the most infamous photo of “Nessie” rising out of Scotland’s largest lake. Ever since, there have been numerous sightings, and theories abound about what this creature might be.

One popular theory suggests that Nessie is a prehistoric creature that somehow survived extinction. Possibly a plesiosaur. This dinosaur went extinct about 66 million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period. Or perhaps, most of them did. Other Nessie believers attribute her to something more otherworldly. And, of course, many claim she’s just a hoax, with the famous “Surgeon’s Photo” now properly debunked.

What is so special about Loch Ness?

But is there something especially paranormal about this lake, in particular? Some special quality that would allow a unique creature to survive in this one single place and no other? Loch Ness is special in that the water is especially dark, due to peat runoff. It maintains a steady temperature, always cool, but always above freezing. It also sits on a fault line large enough to be visible from space, formed about 400 million years ago. None of those things are very unique in themselves. But perhaps the combination is just special enough to house a rare aquatic creature. Perhaps a random lucky dinosaur found a way to survive in the unique loch.

The idea that a prehistoric species could survive an extinction event by hiding underwater is not that far-fetched, is it? Some species of sea turtles and crocodiles survived the very extinction event (the K–Pg event) that killed off the plesiosaurs.

What is Nessie?

Sorry to bum you out, but out of 250 samples from Loch Ness, none of them contain any plesiosaur DNA. The most recent data on the Loch Ness monster suggests that, if Nessie exists, she’s probably an overgrown eel. Basically, Loch Ness’ freshwater eels usually move out into salt water to breed, and die after breeding. Some eels are born with a genetic mutation that makes them sterile. These rare eunuch eels are immune to peer pressure, and don’t head out to sea just because “everyone else is doing it, Nessie.” As almost every member of its species dies due to reproducing, it’s impossible to say just how large one could get or how long one could live unburdened by a ticking biological clock.

Even if Nessie is just a big old ace eel, she’d still be the largest freshwater European eel by about double. Please don’t stop believing in Nessie, just because scientists say she’s probably a massive eel. Her legend serves a purpose. The researchers at Otago University in New Zealand who surveyed the DNA in Loch Ness in 2018 believe they may never have had the platform to perform such a complex study, or ability to promote it to the public, if not for the fascination with finding the monster. Researching Nessie specifically, instead of just doing boring generic DNA surveys, inspired the general public to conceptualize the value of environmental DNA studies. Whether or not her resume is completely, partially, or in no way true, Nessie and Loch Ness are both unique. Plus, the legend of Nessie contributes about $80 million to Scotland’s tourism economy annually.

Scotland’s Stronsay Beast

The Stronsay Beast is another creature of the Scottish lochs. This one is different, in that the evidence of its existence is based on its beached body, rather than live sightings. The beast’s bloated carcass floated ashore on the Orkney Islands in 1808. It had thick, elastic gray skin, and was apparently quite blubbery. Its body was 10 feet around, and 55 feet long, even though it was missing part of its tail. It had several pairs of flippers. Its skin had many tiny backwards barbs, like a cat’s tongue. Longer bristles on its back and fins glowed in the dark when wet.

The Stronsay Beast must be real; it has a Latin name

At the time of its discovery, the Edinburgh Natural History Society deemed it a new species of sea serpent. They dubbed it Halsydrus Pontoppidani. Unfortunately, with no further evidence forthcoming, this one “real” aquatic animal reverted to cryptid status. Later, others have speculated that it might have been a supposedly extinct plesiosaur, like some call the Loch Ness Monster.

More likely, it’s an overgrown oarfish. But the largest documented oarfish ever found was 26 feet. The biggest could theoretically get as large as 36 feet, but with a fairly narrow diameter and no flippers. It might also be a very large, atypical basking shark. The largest documented basking shark was 40 feet long, and it certainly does not have glowing bristles.

If it is one of these two non-extinct species, its incredible size would make it the largest by far. “Sure, but this was 1808, so perhaps the measurements of the mysterious carcass were less than accurate,” you say? Well, all we can say is 2 farmers and a carpenter measured her. We usually trust them to be more accurate at measuring twice and cutting once than some educated society popinjay of the early 19th century.

Unfortunately for cryptid-lovers everywhere, in 1980, the even more trustworthy Dr. Geoff Swinney, fish, reptile, and aquatic lower vertebrate expert, confirmed that the Stronsay beast was just an overgrown basking shark. Or at least, it had a skeleton identical to a basking shark’s skeleton. Just to demonstrate our disappointment, here is a video of a basking shark pooping.

The Beast of Loch Oich

Loch Oich is connected to Loch Ness by a 4 mile river, so it’s reasonable to assume the Loch Ness monster might summer there. But accounts of the cryptid haunting the waters of Loch Oich are somewhat different. Bridge keeper Simon Cameron described seeing a beast with a shaggy dog-like head and a six-to-twelve-foot body. The beast dog-paddles with its flippers, and can apparently both propel itself out of the water and stand straight up in shallow water and on land. You could try to explain away the beast as a giant river otter. But then we’d also expect you to explain what it’s doing on the wrong side of the globe at up to twice its normal size.

According to late 19th century folklore, the Loch Oich monster attacks by standing on the banks, looking docile. Guileless children mount the beast, mistaking it for a deformed pony. It’s all fun and games, until the cryptid dives beneath the water, taking the children with it for goodness knows what purpose.

The Morag of Loch Morar in Scotland

One thing all Scottish sea monsters seem to have in common is each one is rare. They are therefore highly location-specific. So it’s not surprising that there exists a creature only ever spotted in Loch Morar. Even more specific, she only ever surfaces to portend the death or defeat of someone of Clan Morar.

In behavior, the Morag acts much like a banshee, howling and wailing in the night. In appearance, however, she’s more of a mermaid. Legend describes the Morag as a long serpent-tailed (or sometimes salmon-tailed) creature with the upper body of a human woman.

Imagine a dark form bowling through the moonlit water straight towards your boat. As she nears you, she surfaces, long yellow hair flowing out behind her. Her skin is the translucent white of deep water creatures, her huge boobs drip with cold loch water. She opens her mouth to release a horrible howl, long pink grilse tail propelling her ever closer, closer. Her howl ends in a sob, and she dives below the surface. Her 15-foot-long violently flipping tail rocks your boat dangerously, and the water’s surface stills. The howl ringing in your ears leaves you with the certainty that one of your clan will soon perish.

How to protect yourself from the Morag

This aquatic cryptid isn’t specifically dangerous, and is does not attack. She only portends death, she doesn’t cause harm. The Morag appeared in connection with several human deaths from 1887-1898. It was first documented in the writings of Alexander Carmichael, in 1902.

In 1948, nine people spotted a 20ft-long creature swimming swiftly alongside their boat on Loch Morar. She was also reportedly hit by a boat for the first time in 1969 (boat speeds have increased to near Morag speeds since 1898). The frightened sailors fending her off with an oar and a rifle. Interestingly, these witnesses may have never heard of the Morag, and might not have had a clue what they were reporting. Carmichaels writings were lost for a century, only turning up again in 2011.

There’s nothing super special about Loch Morar. But it is 1,017 feet deep in some places, making it the deepest documented freshwater body in the British Isles. Perhaps it is the depth which has allowed this legendary busty cryptid to hide so thoroughly in her dark aquatic refuge for over 130 years.

Lizzie of Loch Lochy

So, remember how we just called Loch Morar the deepest loch? Well, perhaps we spoke too soon. In 1977, Cryptozoologist Cameron Turner went monster hunting on Loch Lochy. The team’s sonar detected an 18-foot-long creature swimming hundreds of feet below the surface. As they chased the supposed monster, multiple sonar readings indicated random holes in the bottom of the loch, with total depths of over 2000 feet. These holes, if confirmed, would make Loch Lochy the deepest inland European lake by far.

Meaning of course an environment perfect for aquatic cryptids, right? Indeed, two game wardens spotted what they thought was a tree moving through the loch in 1929, only to presumably poop their pants when the tree turned out to be a giant beast. The mysterious beast swam alongside them for a mile. In 1960, ten people spotted a huge creature with flippers standing up in the middle of the loch. Only one of these witnesses had binoculars, and he affirmed that the creature was 30-40 feet long. A fisherman may have caught her with a fishing rod in 1996, but fortunately for him, she got away.

And as usual, not much is more Scottish than a deadly monster with a cute feminine nickname. “Lizzie” has the classic three-hump sea monster form. She’s black on top and pale underneath. With her giant flippers, she is as likely to be a plesiosaur (or an old ace eel) as Nessie is.

Loch Quioch’s Monster

Witnesses also see an enormous serpentine creature in the waters of Loch Quioch. The lore surrounding this copycat cryptid makes us peg her as the least unique aquatic monster of Scotland. Like her more famous Loch Lochy cousin, she is also sometimes called Lizzie. Like the other Lizzie, she looks like a long, flipper-less serpent with a horse’s head.

It is a challenge to track this one, since the original witness chose to remain quiet. Lord Whatshisname was fishing on Loch Quoich, when he saw a snakey beast laying on the shore. Instead of going public, he swore his fishing guides to secrecy, in fear of being called a crazy drunk. A separate local fishing party also spotted a large unidentified underwater animal around the same time, but perhaps not much came of it since they were likely unaware of the other hush-hush encounter.

It wasn’t until 1933—the same year the Loch Ness Monster rose to international fame—that several additional eyewitness accounts of the creature began to appear in the news. It’s almost like Nessie’s fame paved the way for her less remarkable relative to come out of the closet. We just want to say, you are valid, Other Lizzie.

The Muc-Sheilch of Loch Maree and Loch-na-Bèiste

The Muc-Sheilch is less serpenty, which is clear by the literal translation of its Gaelic name to “turtle-pig.” The fun part of the Muc-Sheilch legend is that the creature had its own Ahab-like pursuer, Mr. Banks. This monster hunter went to Wile E. Coyote lengths in the 1850s to catch the Muc-Sheilch. His tactics all failed, from poison to draining the entire damn loch. Little more is clear about Mr. Banks or the legendary aquatic “turtle-pig,” but we have to wonder if their rivalry was part of the inspiration behind the epic battle between Al Gore and Man-Bear-Pig.

The Nuckelavee of Scotland

So far, we’ve talked only about paranormal aquatic cryptids that could maybe, potentially, sorta be just normal sea creatures who presented themselves to witnesses in an unusual way. After all, there are likely many terrifying water beasts lurking in the dark depths whom we have yet to discover. But now, let’s get really weird. There is one lonely saltwater amphibious monster spotted in the sea lochs of Scotland only once. Once, I’m sure you’ll agree after reading this description, was enough.

Of all the weird mythical sea creatures in the Scottish islands, the rarest and absolute worst has to be the nuckelavee of Orkney. There is only one known first-hand account of this cryptid, which comes from an island farmer named Tammas. According to Tammas, the nuckelavee has a man’s torso attached to a horse’s back. The torso’s freakishly long arms hang all the way to the ground. Also, the man torso has a 3 foot wide human-ish head it can obviously barely support. The horse body has a 2nd, horsier head, with a single giant flaming red eye an a huge gaping mouth that exudes poisonous, pungent vapor.

And if you thought a centaur cyclops with 2 huge ugly heads, gorilla arms, and acid breath was bad enough, hold your horses. The nuckelavee also has no skin. That’s right; thick black blood courses through its yellow veins, strapped tight over exposed red muscles.

How can you see a nuckelavee?

Apparently, nothing pisses off the nuckelavee like the stench of burning seaweed. In 1722, the people of Stronsay began burning seaweed to create soda ash. This byproduct is an alkali mainly used to treat acidic soil, and in the making of both soap and glass. The pungent smoke emitted during the process must have enraged the nuckelavee, who took revenge by going on a wild rampage of plague-spreading.

The nuckelavee’s uber-nasty horse breath can wilt crops, sicken livestock, spread epidemics, and produce drought. In its revenge against the islanders for burning seaweed, the nuckelavee infected the horses on Stronsay with a deadly disease, which the islanders called mortasheen. The infection quickly spread to all the other islands involved in the soda ash industry.

How to defend yourself against a nuckelavee

Fortunately, the nuckelavee’s weakness is very plentiful in the area: freshwater. Tammas lucked out and was able to splash the fearsome cryptid with freshwater from the loch. This briefly distracted the monster, who can only tolerate salt water. The distraction, although not seriously harmful to the nuckelavee, inspired Tammas to wade out into a nearby channel of fresh water. This turned out to be the perfect move, since the nuckelavee wouldn’t cross the fresh water to pursue him.

So many Scottish water cryptids, so many questions

These are just the most famous of the many Scottish aquatic beasts of lore. Don’t forget the Croc of Loch Lomond, the lake-horse of Loch Arkaig, the 12-legged Beathach Mòr Loch Odha, the Seileag of Loch Shiel, and the Searrach Uisge of Loch Suainbhal, among others. What is it about the Scottish lochs that make them so ihabitable to aquatic cryptids? If they’re all just big old ace eels, why do they all look and behave so differently? Why are they so ubiquitous and yet so rare? Are there really holes in the bottoms of some of these lochs going down thousands of feet? Why, with all of our technology, have we never been able to take a reliable photograph of one of these beasts, or even catch one? What would happen if we did?!

Do rare deep sea creatures qualify as aquatic cryptids?

A cryptid is just a creature or species that exists only within anecdotal evidence, right? A being witnessed and believed to exist by multiple people, yet whose very existence is debated and mostly dismissed by the general public and scientific communities.

Plus, many of the creatures living deep in the ocean just feel supernatural or alien to us humans. We recently talked about a jellyfish that is the longest animal on the planet, and potentially psychic octopi. We might associate deep water creatures with the paranormal simply because they’re just so foreign to us land-dwellers. Each time we discover a new deep water creature, what was once an aquatic cryptid turns into a real species. Who knows if, someday, we’ll discover all of these aquatic Scottish cryptids are real? That will, for sure, be a spooky day.

The post Aquatic Cryptids of Scotland appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Holidays covered: International Rescue Cat Day, International Women’s Day, Barbie Day, Pi Day, and St. Patrick’s Day

NOTE: All images below are created by our Executive Ghost Wrangler and Assistant Editor, Amber. Feel free to download and share these images, and let people know where you found them!

March 2: International Rescue Cat Day

At Homespun Haints, we LOVE our rescue kitties (even if one of them recently destroyed our upstairs carpet). Celebrate this day by donating to your local shelter, fostering a cat, or becoming a forever home for a kitty in need.

Spooky March 8: International Women’s Day

All of March may be Women’s History Month, but March 8 holds a special place in the world. In celebration of this day, we present to you an alternate reality where the term “final girl” takes on a whole new meaning.

March 9: Barbie Day

Yes, yes, it is scary isn’t it? Luckily, we’ve created these terrifying 11.5″ doll images to soothe your dark soul and make March extra spooky.

March 14: Pi Day

What’s so scary about Pi Day you might ask? Well, it all depends on what’s in the pie! May your pie runneth over with forbidden fruits!

March 17: St. Patrick’s Day

Did you know the holiday of Halloween (Samhain, pronounced sou – when) came from Ireland? No wonder these leprechauns look so scary!

As time goes by we’ll be adding more images to our website. Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post What’s so Spooky about March? appeared first on Homespun Haints.

One theory posits that water amplifies spiritual energy. Water can have an impact on human behavior and emotion, in both normal and paranormal contexts. This same spiritual amplification makes it easier for ghosts and spirits to travel through liquid than solid objects, or even air. But instead of moving through he liquid by displacing molecules, ghosts may travel through water similar to the way electricity does. Many people believe that ghosts can use water as a conduit to interact with the living world. From lakes and oceans, to swimming pools and hot tubs, there have been countless cases of ghosts communicating with people through water.

Exploring the Link Between Water and Ghosts 

Because water is a medium between the physical and spiritual worlds, it is quite possible that ghosts use water as a conduit for manifestation. The theory suggests that by using the energy found within water, ghosts are able to create an environment where they can interact with the living world. Paranormal television shows and movies often depict water as being a source of ghostly activity.

For example, since ancient times, many cultures have believed that drowning victims become ghostly guardians who protect their surrounding waters from evil forces. Several cultures have practiced the intentional sacrifice of a living being at the construction of bridges. This construction sacrifice is believed to create a perpetual protector.

Listen to an episode about ghosts and bridges:

Do ghosts use water as a conduit for manifestation?

When it comes to ghosts using water as a conduit for manifestation, there are a couple of theories. Here are two of them. One theory suggests that when ghosts come into contact with large bodies of water, such as lakes or oceans, they are able to draw on the energy from those waters and use it to manifest themselves on earth. The other theory proposes that when spirits come into contact with smaller bodies of water like streams or rivers, they are able to draw on their own energy. This allows the ghost to create an environment where they can interact with the living world without drawing too much attention. 

In addition to providing a medium for ghostly manifestations, water also plays an important role when it comes to humidity and temperature levels in an area. When there is an increase in humidity or temperature levels in an area due to high levels of moisture in the air (such as near a river or lake), it can lead to increased paranormal activity. Sightings of apparitions or cold spots may be more common in humid areas. This could be because higher humidity makes it easier for spirits and other supernatural entities to manifest physically on earth. The ghosts are using the water vapor suspended in the air as a conduit.

Are there any famous places that are haunted because of water?

The Bermuda Triangle is perhaps one of the best-known examples of a paranormal phenomenon related to water. This area of ocean between Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico is notorious for its mysterious disappearances. Many planes and hundreds of ships have vanished without a trace there over the years. The disappearances have been attributed to everything from alien abductions to supernatural forces. Some believe that underwater geologic activity—such as powerful methane gas bubbles or unexpected currents—could be responsible for the disappearances in the Bermuda Triangle. And yet, there’s a strong air of paranormal mystery and fear surrounding the unexplained occurrences in the area.

Perhaps because of its vastness, the Earths oceans serve as hiding places for several mythical lands. One of the most famous supernatural places is the Lost City of Atlantis. Thought to be an ancient civilization with inexplicably complex technology, Atlantis purportedly disappeared beneath the sea, and yet still exists and flourishes today. Atlanteans may be normal humans, surviving underwater all this time because of (alien?) technology.

Some say they were chosen by a deity to survive bad times within a protective underwater environment. Perhaps they used their advanced technology to evolve somehow into something that’s no longer quite human. Or perhaps Atlantians were a cross-breed of humans and…insert your favorite paranormal entity here. Does their being not quite human, plus believed in by many yet never quite proven to exist, qualify Atlanteans as cryptids? Or are they a supernatural race that’s not quite corporeal, like elves? Either way, they’re not the only underwater-dwelling paranormal entities.

Water and paranormal entities

The Loch Ness Monster is probably the most famous paranormal entity that involves water in the Western world. One popular theory suggests that Nessie is a prehistoric creature that somehow survived extinction. It’s actually possible for a prehistoric species to survive an extinction event by hiding underwater. Others attribute her to something more otherworldly. And, of course, many claim she’s just a hoax. Most of the theories revolving around Nessie imply she’s an actual physical being, and not a spirit.

There are many more supernatural entities associated with water in Eastern mythology, both corporeal and non-corporeal in nature.

Many of the creatures living deep in the ocean just feel paranormal or alien to us humans. We might associate deep water with the paranormal simply because it’s just so foreign to us land-dwellers. But is there something special about water in general that allows supernatural creatures to flourish?

How does water help spirits manifest?

Static electricity increases when salt or other substances are added to water. This is due to the electrical current generated by ions in the water. The ions may also create an environment conducive to carrying spiritual energy from one place to another. It would thus make sense to assume that salt water is, on average, more haunted than fresh water. But on the other hand, bodies of freshwater tend to be much smaller than the vast saltwater oceans. It’s possible humans experience more freshwater hauntings than saltwater hauntings simply because we have interactions with a higher percentage of bodies of freshwater. There may be many hauntings deep in the ocean we’ve yet to experience.

Scientific studies have shown that bodies of water contain higher concentrations of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) than the surrounding air and land. We’ve covered in the past how ghosts may use EMFs to manifest or communicate with the living. The high EMFs of large bodies of water could explain why so many people report paranormal activity near lakes, rivers and oceans. Many people have reported seeing apparitions rising out of the ocean or lake just before dawn or at dusk – times when EMF levels are at their highest.

Listen to our episode about EMF fields:

These experiences are not limited to natural or large bodies of water. There are also numerous reports of supernatural experiences in bathtubs! Some people claim they have seen entities emerge from bathwater during deep meditation sessions—an experience which further suggests that EMFs play a role in connecting us with the spirit world. 

Do ghosts use water to travel?

It seems clear that water plays an important role in paranormal activity and ghostly manifestations. By understanding how spirits use water as a conduit for interaction with our world, we can better understand how they manifest themselves in our lives and how we can better protect ourselves from unwanted encounters with them. All things considered, it seems likely that paranormal entities may indeed make use of our vast waterways as a way to move freely between different locations across the globe without being detected by humans—if only we could figure out how they do it!

Our guests have had some theories, based on their first-hand experiences with the paranormal having to do with water. Listen to some of these spooky water-related ghost stories to inspire some thoughts on how ghosts and paranormal entities interact with water.

• What Do We Smell Like To Monsters?
• It Came Up The Drain!
• The Slimy Butt Burglar and other Distractible Creatures
• Haunted Waters of the Holston River

After you listen, please comment with your theories! We’d love to hear about your thoughts, and if you have any personal supernatural water stories, please consider telling them on our show! That way we can all have a spooky day.

The post How Ghosts Use Water as a Conduit for Manifestation appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Wait, Santa, there’s nothing on this list.

You probably know that the term “naught” means “zero” or “nothing.” That’s why I legitimately refer to the decade spanning 2001 through 2009 as “the naughties,” not because of a personal life phase. Naught probably stems from the PIE root word ne meaning “not” and wekti meaning “thing” (“not thing” is the Poetry for Neanderthals-acceptable version of the concept, all right). Possibly Old English nawiht may have contributed or been involved, as wight used to refer to a living creature or being, before it evolved to refer to a type of ghostly supernatural creature. Nawiht (or neowiht, the Old Saxon version) would refer to the concept of nothing or nobody.

In the late 14th century, the word “naught” spawned the adjective nowghty, noughti, referring to someone who has nothing. Nowghty was basically a synonym of “penniless.” Around the 16th century, the term took on a moral tone. Instead of having nothing, the term morphed to mean something more like “good for nothing.” The aristocracy viewed (or views?) the poor as lawless and malignant in nature. The upper class took to using the word “naughty” to describe a poor person who was poor because they were morally corrupt and therefore prone to committing crimes (certainly not the other way around).

Naughty becomes etymologically sexy…in a degrading way, of course.

Like all words that evolved a concomitant meaning for moral corruptitude, the word eventually expanded to describe women’s sexuality. “Naughty” as an adjective (or “naughty pack” as a noun) came to solidly refer to a sexually promiscuous woman after the 1860’s. The word’s harsh, judgy tone eased through the decades, however, the more it was applied to children. Now when “naughty” describes sexuality, it’s more in fun than in serious damnation. I’m guessing that’s sort of partially reclaiming the derogatory term as one of empowerment. It might be fun to point that out at office Christmas parties to up the awkwardness in the room. The patriarchy hates awkward etymology even more than it hates a naughty pack.

Is being nice really any better than being naughty?

But ironically, our favorite antonym for “naughty” also evolved using the same PIE root word ne. Add ne to scire (“to know”), and you get the Latin nescius, which means “ignorant.” From nescius blossoms the Old French nice, meaning “clumsy; weak; poor, needy (again!); simple, stupid, or foolish.” (c. 1100s).

Did you catch that?! That very word with that basic meaning entered the English language as the word “nice.” At the time, “nice” basically referred to a person who is impoverished and needy because (s)he is weak (perhaps morally) and foolish. The etymology of “nice” eerily crosses paths with the 16th century definition of the word “naughty.”

But I thought “nice” was supposed to be a good thing.

“Nice” has perhaps always been one of those English words that everyone uses, but whose meaning is slippery. “Nice” just keeps evolving in unpredictable and inconsistent ways, like a coveted Pokémon. Over the past millennium, the meaning of “nice” has morphed from “simple and needy,” to mean “senseless and weak” (c. 1200s); then to “fastidious” (c. 1300s.); then to “dainty” (c. 1400s); then to “precise, careful” (c. 1500s); then to “agreeable” (c. 1700s); and finally to “kind, thoughtful” (c. 1800s through today). English speakers since the 20th century have used “nice” mostly as a throwaway term with little meaning. Yet the word’s evolution hints at a moral judgement in its subtext, just not quite as finger-wagging as its more explicit counterpart “naughty.”

You’d better not pout; this is all your fault.

So, deep down, it seems like Santa’s infamous list really doesn’t sift the good from the bad, but merely into different flavors of degenerates. According to what we learned in our etymology lesson today, if you’re “naughty,” you’re trapped in poverty because you’re a sexually deviant criminal. But if you’re “nice,” you’re trapped in poverty because you’re a faint-hearted simpleton. Forgive us, Santa, but if we’re all going to the same Hell, we’d rather climb aboard the party-handbasket. 

References:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/naughty,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s,

https://www.etymologynerd.com/blog/nothing-is-naughty

The post Have You Been Naughty or Nice? appeared first on Homespun Haints.

The foundation of the church dates back to Viking times, in 1095. The building you visit today, however, reflects renovations conducted around 1685.

The crypts beneath the church date back to the 17th century renovations, and contain some unusual residents.

How to see St. Michan’s Mummies of Ireland

Visiting the mummies is a lot easier than I anticipated when I arrived for the last tour on a rainy Friday afternoon. And yes, in order to see the mummies, you must come during tour times and be prepared to pay in cash for your ticket (see below for opening times and costs). The guide asked us to wait for the tour to commence within the church’s sanctuary. I stared in awe at the magnificent stained glass windows and organ. The organ itself is also really old—still in use since 1742. Legend says Handel practiced and perfected his Messiah on this very organ.

The tour of the Ireland Mummies

After milling about in the church for a few minutes, a very enthusiastic guide came in and directed us to exit the church into the graveyard. Rain began to pour, but, being in Ireland, we just made a go for it amongst the drenched tombstones. I wish I could have spent more time hanging out with those graves, because they looked magnificent!

As the afternoon rain pelted the group, our guide ran to what looked like old-fashioned cellar doors on the side of the church. He instructed us to watch our heads as we hobbled down the uneven, Medieval stone steps into the crypt.

One by one, we filed into the crypt. Once underground, I instantly felt a difference in the air. Everything felt much drier, and my sixth sense knew instantly I was surrounded by dead bodies.

At this point our guide, no longer being drenched by the rain, began to tell the tales of the crypt. I need to interject just how amazing our guide was. In our small group of about a dozen people were visitors from Austria and Italy, and our guide seamlessly switched between English, German, and Italian as he told us of the tales of the crypt. He also used elaborate hand gestures to keep the conversation going, even when he spoke in another language. As a storyteller myself, I was very, very impressed!

Our guide told us to go to the end of the hallway, and there we saw the mummies.

The Mummies of Ireland

Originally, the four mummies were known as the Thief, the Nun, the Crusader, and the Unknown. However, in 2019 someone stole the body of the Nun (who would freaking do that?). When the church recovered the body, she was so badly damaged (and missing a head) that they decided to no longer display her for public view. So they replaced her with another mummy as apparently they had quite a few on hand.

In the photo above, the Unknown, a woman, lies to the far right on the raised casket. The Thief lies just left to her. Next to him lies the Crusader, whose hand outstretches from his casket (and before the 2019 burglary, visitors could touch his hand for good luck). To the left of the Crusader is the Nun’s stand-in, also an Unknown. You’ll note that his/her body is slightly darker; the body has not been coated with the same quantity of stirred-up dust as its companions.

The Thief

The Thief is known as such because he has lost his hand and his feet. Our guide informed us that if he were truly a thief and had lost his hand as punishment, he would not be buried in a church crypt unless he reformed and became part of the church later in life.

Morticians probably removed his feet (and possibly his hand) during burial because he was just too big for his coffin. While people come in all shapes and sizes, apparently coffins do not.

The Thief is about 300 years old, as are the other mummies in the crypt save for the Crusader.

The Crusader

The Crusader got his moniker from the way he’s buried, with his legs crossed at the knees, and from his age. No one is quite sure how he got down there since the crypts date to around 1685, but the Crusader is 800 years old! He was also very tall for the times—6’6″ which is tall by even today’s standards. So, perhaps his legs were crossed as a way to get him to fit into the coffin. At this point, we can only speculate.

Why are the bodies mummified?

Something about the dry air combined with the limestone tomb has created the perfect conditions for preserving the interred’s corpses, while deteriorating the wood of their caskets. It is sacrilegious to open a casket, and it is not allowed to photograph or disturb the tombs of those whose descendants are still alive. But for these unknown individuals whose coffins happened to split apart when stacked, revealing their bodies for all to see—well, it’s perfectly fine for us to gaze upon them and marvel at what their lives must have been like. They are still people, however, so respect is in order.

Other tombs in St. Michan’s

The tour does not end with the mummies! After leaving the crypt, our guide led us to another set of doors into another underground vault. Also filled with caskets, this particular crypt had a very famous set of residents: brothers Henry and John Sheares. The Sheares brothers were lawyers who visited Paris and became inspired by the French Revolution. Returning to Ireland, they plotted the Irish Rebellion of 1798, but were betrayed by a spy and arrested by the English in May of that same year.

The Sheares were tried for treason and executed by being hanged, drawn, and quartered. Our guide mentioned something about them being forced to watch their own entrails burn as well. Regardless it was gruesome. The original execution orders are on display in their crypt.

How to visit St. Michan’s mummies in Dublin, Ireland

St. Michan’s Church is open for tours year-round, but you do want to make sure you arrive within visiting hours (and plan to arrive about a half hour before closing).

November 1 through March 16:

Monday to Friday: 12:30pm – 3:30pm
Saturday: 10am – 12:45pm

March 17 through October 31:

Monday to Friday: 10am – 12:45pm / 2pm – 4:30pm
Saturday: 10am – 12:45pm.

Location

St. Michan’s Church is located at Church St, Arran Quay, Dublin 7 in Ireland
Phone: +353 1 872 4154

Pricing

Tours are not expensive. I don’t know the exact pricing as it does change from time to time. When we went, we paid €5 each. However, you will need to pay in cash, so make sure you go with some bills in your wallet.

Transportation

I took public transport which was not easy. I can usually find my way around any city, especially if the signage is in the same alphabet I’m used to, but Dublin’s transportation system is whack (sorry, Dublin).

That being said, here are the stops nearest the church:

By Luas (Tram): Smithfield or Four Courts (Four Courts is slightly closer) on the Red Line
By Bus: Get off at the Arran Quay or Merchant’s Quay stops (or if your bus goes to Four Courts, get off there). There’s about a dozen different buses that can get you there. For detailed information, visit moovitapp.com

Accessibility

The crypts are not accessible to anyone who has difficulty walking or difficulty walking on uneven surfaces, as you need to climb into a medieval vault via scary stone steps.

The post The Mummies of St. Michan’s appeared first on Homespun Haints.