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Episode Summary: What are interplanar creatures?

Not everything in the shadows is a ghost. Sometimes, we see things that we know in our bones were never human. Strange creatures that flit just beyond our periphery, and make scratching sounds in the night.

Our guest today repeatedly sees entities of a different nature. Are they creatures poking in from another dimension? And if so, can they see us back? We’ll let you decide after you hear her stories. Today, on Homespun Haints.

AI-generated transcript of this episode available upon request.

About the Guest, Girl Henry Rollins

You can find Amber leading the Haunted Footsteps ghost tour through Salem Historical Tours. If you’re not in MA, follow her on TikTok @girlhenryrollins or on IG @girlhenryrollins, where she is mean to fascists between fun spooky posts. You can also follow her official tour guide account at @salemuncensored.

Show Notes

Broad Street Cemetery

What were the spindly beings blowing in the wind at the Broad Street Cemetery? Our guest thinks the reason all the paranormal creatures she sees are sepia shades of brown and tan is because she can only partially perceive them from this dimension. She described shadow people as protrusions into our dimension.

Did Amber see a Pukwudgie?

What’s short, hairy, has hunched shoulders, a flat head, and wants the kids to get off his damn lawn? The word “Pukwudgie” literally translates to “Person of the wilderness.” These creatures appear in Wampanoag, Ojibwe, and Lenape folklore, and from other indigenous people of northeastern North America.

What is a Pukwudgie? Pukwudgies are about two- to three-feet high, can shape-shift, and tend to be mischievous. Many people of all backgrounds, from the east coast to Indiana, claim to have encounters with these strange, troll-like creatures. Once friendly to humans, these fae folk now harbor resentment toward mankind and should best be left alone.

The Legend of Goatman

There are so many urban legends that apply to specific geographic regions. The thing about Goatman (not to be confused with the Hat Man, another spooky interplanar creature) that fascinated us the most is just how many of the Parker, AZ, locals apparently truly believe in his existence. The documentary referenced in this episode, ‘Goatman: Search for the Legend,’ was produced in 2010 by Hemet Productions. You can watch it for yourself on YouTube. The surprising number of comments on YouTube for a niche video with only just over 350 views as of this writing shows just how interested people are in this Goatman. In 2013, another film was released titled Legend of The Goatman.

Have you seen a local legend?

Have you seen a pukwudgie? Or, have you seen Goatman? What about Double Dog? Or, is there another legendary interplanar creature skulking around your neck of the woods on these dark, long nights? Share with the class, by joining us in our Facebook group. Or, submit to tell your story in a Homespun Haints interview. Either way, you’ll have a spooky day!

The post Pukwudgies, Goatman, and Shadow People appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Dogs also display some inexplicable reactions to things their people can’t see. What’s really going on when your dog or cat reacts to something you cannot see? Do pets sense spirits in your house? And if so, which pet does it best?

Reasons why pets can sense spirits better than humans

Humans have cornered the market on our sense of taste. But dogs and cats have better smell, hearing, and in some ways sight and feeling than we do. And these heightened abilities are just what we humans know about. Let’s explore the various ways in which dogs and cats sense spirits in your house. Also, we’ll explain why we think cats make the best ghost-detectors.

Can cats smell ghosts?

Cats and dogs both have a reputation for having heightened senses of smell and hearing compared to humans. Dogs sniff out bombs and drugs; service dogs can sense when their human’s blood sugar is low or when they’re about to have a seizure.

Unexplained scents are one of the more common types of hauntings. Many people who’ve had what they describe as demonic encounters associate the demonic presence with a sulfuric smell that comes and goes.

If ghosts produce odors that are sometimes detectable to humans, maybe they produce fainter odors that are more often detectable by pets. Can cats sense ghosts through smell?

Some dogs (especially hounds) have up to a million more scent receptors than cats, which allow them to pick up fainter scents. Yet cats produce more of the proteins which allow them to differentiate between different scents. This means your dog could potentially catch a whiff of a ghost faster, but he may not realize what it is he’s smelling is of a spooky nature as quickly as kitty does.

Can cats hear ghosts?

Most cats and some dogs have ears that function like furry satellite dishes. Their flexible ears pick up both softer and higher sounds than us humans can. Cats have about twice the muscles in their ears as dogs, potentially allowing them to pinpoint a sound’s source better. With better ability to triangulate where a sound originates, your cat is more likely to know which sounds are paranormal. In other words, your dog might be fooled into thinking that spooky moaning sound is coming from the TV, whereas your cat knows it’s coming from an empty corner next to the TV.

Can cats see ghosts in the dark?

Humans rely more on sight than on smell. With more cones in our retinae, we see many more colors and details than cats and dogs, and yet with more rods, they see better in darkness and can better detect motion.

Well, in dimness. Like many other nocturnal mammals, cats and dogs have a layer in their eyes called the tapetum lucidum. Its function is difficult to envision for us puny humans. Think of the difference between attempting to read a book in dim light versus reading on a phone or tablet. Or perhaps looking at the full moon versus the new moon. This extra eye structure reflects light from the environment onto the back of the retina, amplifying vision while simultaneously looking super-haunted in flash photographs. While cats can’t see in pitch darkness, they only need about 1/6th of the light a human would need to see with the same level of acuity. Can cats sense ghosts with this acute night vision?

While some dogs can see a signal around a mile away, cats have better depth perception and better night vision, in part due to their iconic pupil shape. If there are more ghosts around to spot at night, kitty will surely see them first.

Can cats sense ghosts through whiskers?

Both cats and dogs have sensitive whiskers which help them sense things humans cannot. Whiskers augment up-close vision and hunting and catching prey. Whiskers precisely measure openings, so kitty knows exactly which holes she can contort her body through. Well, fit kitties do. Whisker length is genetically pre-determined, so if kitty gets extra-chonky, her whiskers don’t grow proportionally longer. Thus her insufficient whisker measuring tape might deceive her into trying to squeeze through too-tight openings.

In addition to direct touch sensation, your cat’s and dog’s whiskers are sensitive to air currents, vibration, and barometric pressure, all things which might change slightly with paranormal activity. Humans mainly report cold spots in haunted locations, but some laboratory studies have linked vibrations below the level of human detection with the sensation of feeling creeped-out. Various paranormal investigation tools are designed to sense small differences in temperature, pressure, and electromagnetic fields. These are all things whiskers are probably sensitive to.

While both cats and dogs have whiskers, it’s obvious just by looking that cat whiskers are more glorious. Dogs have been bred to select for traits that benefit humans, and in general dogs rely less on their whiskers than cats, who have been bred mostly for their serious good looks.

Do cats see more ghosts at night?

Being nocturnal has to be a distinct advantage in ghost-hunting. Isn’t night time pretty universally deemed the best time to see a ghost? For all the various reasons that humans experience more spooky feelings at night and professional paranormal investigators investigate at night, the main reason is that it’s easier to detect the subtle signs of a haunting when the senses aren’t overstimulated by the relative brightness and loudness of daytime.

Paranormally-speaking, we call 3am the witching hour, and ascribe all sorts of esoteric meaning to this time. This ranges from intricate biblical numerology to a general bias that people who are awake at this time are up to no good. Whether it’s evil intentions or biology, 3am is usually around the time that kitty wakes us up caterwauling around the otherwise quiet and peaceful house. Does kitty get the urge to alert us because to her, it’s not actually that quiet?

Can cats predict when a person is about to die?

Some people are superstitious about cats crossing their paths portending doom or bad luck. But there’s anecdotal evidence that this superstition might have it’s basis in an actual ability to predict death. We’ve heard stories about cats choosing to snuggle up with a particular someone in end-of-life care, only for that person to be the next in the facility to peacefully pass away. The New England Journal of Medicine actually published an article about such a cat who lived in a nursing home. The cat, named Oscar, predicted a whopping 25 deaths. But far from behaving like a creepy portender of doom, Oscar comforted grieving family members. He provided companionship for the terminally ill, and even alerted staff members to pay more attention to residents in their last hours.

With the mysterious ability to seemingly predict death, cats seem ever more mystical to us simple humans. It is easy to imagine their link to the liminal space between life and death as something paranormal.

Can cats cross the astral plane?

How many times have you been searching for your cat in literally every hiding spot, frantic that he’s run away, only to have him suddenly reappear hours later? And you’ve probably heard the legend that cats have nine lives, despite the evidence that cats are pretty darned mortal (and we hereby hex a million woes upon anyone who ever dares to test the theory). What if these so-called multiple “lives” are just trips to the other side and back?

In episode 10, I describe my experiences as a teenager working in a haunted ski lodge. One of the most common strange encounters I had was the presence of several shadow figures, about shin-height, that would dodge into doorways as I turned my head to glance at them. The best way my mind could reconcile that was to perceive them as interdimensional cats. Although this happened at the haunted lodge on a near-daily basis, inter-planar cats are something I still catch in the corners of my eyes from time to time. When I had cats, I could chalk this up to my own cats darting around a corner faster than I could focus on them. Now that I don’t have cats…well, let’s just say the eeriness is far less deniable.

Cats don’t give a fuck.

Think about it: there’s a reason service dogs are more popular than service cats. Actually, there are probably several valid reasons. But I believe the main reason is because dogs want to warn when something bad is about to go down. When disaster strikes, the dog is a reliable helper, letting mom know Timmy fell into the well, or jumping into the river to try to rescue the drowning Edna Collings. Cats are more likely to disappear at the first sign of trouble.

But although your cat would watch your seizure with vague interest, then saunter off to take a nap, this is actually a point in their favor on the spirit-sensing debate. Think about all the times your cat suddenly gets very interested in something you can’t see. Kitty often startles and runs from the room for no reason. Those might just be the times the ghosts actually manage to get the jump on your cat. Remember the cucumber? If you just show a cucumber to a cat who is paying attention to you, zero reaction. The trick only works if it’s a complete surprise.

Cats win this one because most of their interactions with ghosts that are not surprising go completely unnoticed by us. Can cats sense ghosts but they’re just acting nonchalant about it? For any cat lover, it’s easy to picture this being likely. Your cat is probably ignoring a ghost right now.

Can cats sense ghosts in your house?

Based on all these advantages, we think it’s clear that cats would naturally be better at sensing spirits than dogs. Does your dog or cat see ghosts? Do you have a different kind of pet that sees ghosts? What kind of things does your pet do that make you think she can sense ghosts? Share your stories about your cat or dog seeing ghosts in the comments below!

The post Do cats sense ghosts better than dogs? appeared first on Homespun Haints.

What is a wendigo?

The wwndigo is a cannibalistic beast who consumes the flesh of people that it encounters. Despite appropriations in pop culture, the windigo usually appears in human form. However, the windigo can never satisfy its hunger. In some legends, the windigo grows proportionally to the bounty it eats, so that it will always remain voracious no matter how hard it tries to sate its terrible hunger.

Where does the Wendigo come from?

You’ll find the word “Wendigo” spelled several different ways, depending on who is using it. The word itself comes from proto-Algonquin, and the legend of the Wendigo originates with the Algonquin First Nations, such as the Cree (wihtikow) and the Ojibwe (wiindigoo). Interestingly enough, the original proto-Algonquin word wintekowa also means “owl.” Linguistic anthropologist John Hewson argues that this etymological crossover occurs because many see an owl as a harbinger of death.

When does the Windigo appear?

You may encounter the Windigo in the northern United States and Canada during the winter months. Even though the concept originated with the First Nations people in these areas, the legend has since spread into other populations. Many people in northern North America will refuse to utter the word “windigo” during winter months, regardless of their heritage. Often, you’ll see the word written as “w*ndigo” because even writing the word could accidentally summon this beast.

Is the Windigo real though?

The Windigo certainly has real-world effects. It is a real fear, a real belief, a real parable that permeates multiple peoples and cultures throughout a large swath of the northern hemisphere. It also serves as a metaphor for a very real phenomenon: extreme greed. When greed consumes a person, their hunger is never sated. Because what drives them to consume more and more is not a physical hunger, but a psychological impairment.

More of a parable than a cryptid

Unlike cryptids that you’d encounter in nature, like the pukwudgie, or mysterious paranormal entities that seem to exist solely to scare us, like the Hat Man, the Windigo mainly serves as a valuable warning on how not to be selfish during the scarce winter months in colder climes. People must conserve their food. Communities must come together and share if each member is to survive. Villages may be called upon to help other villages who have fallen upon hard times. Greed has no place in this environment; if someone in one of these communities begins to hoard their food, the entire community could break down.

Sound familiar?

We have seen this phenomenon recently, in fact, very recently here in the U.S. Remember the toilet paper crisis of 2020? It’s very possible that if we had all focused on reducing the amount we use, instead of hoarding as much as we could find, there would’ve been plenty of TP to go around.

Modern representation

During colonial times, the Windigo often represented (and still represents) many of the horrors the First Nations people endured at the hands of settlers and colonial governments. Today, it often serves as a metaphor for the greed associated with capitalism and colonialism. However, unlike Western depictions in pop culture, many modern First Nations Windigo stories end with triumph over greed, and hope for the future.

Thank you for listening!

Have you had an experience with a Windigo or other paranormal entity? Please submit your story here, and you could be a guest on Homespun Haints!

The post Are Wendigo real? appeared first on Homespun Haints.

If you choose to listen to this episode, be forewarned: this episode may not be suitable for everyone. These real Christmas ghost stories that we are about to share contain stories of death, dying, childhood trauma, and giraffe urine.

Listen right here:

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Why are ghost stories such a big part of Christmas?

Because it’s the spookiest time of year! At least in the Northern Hemisphere, where the nights are at their longest. Winter is here. Days are short. Nights are long and dark. People gather together by the fire for warmth. Is it any wonder that this is a prime time for oral storytelling, especially ghost storytelling?

But, we can thank the Victorians for really making Christmas ghost stories, even real Christmas ghost stories, a time-honored tradition.

During the Industrial Revolution, people moved en masse to the cities. In these unfamiliar environments, Christmas became the commercial enterprise we know it as today.

More people purchasing things also meant more people looking for things to read. Serials and periodicals of the day took advantage by churning out stories as quickly as they could. Ghost stories have always been an easy sell. They’ve got the shock value of good entertainment, and they work well in a short story format.

Victorian printers capitalized on this format to deliver spooky stories to city dwellers already caught up in a buying frenzy. And those individuals in turn began to share their stories to family members during the dark nights of holiday celebrations.

Are ghosts more prevalent in Florida?

Our first story we share in this episode takes place in Florida. And, well, we seem to have a lot of true ghost stories that take place in Florida.

One explanation for Florida’s penchant for hauntings comes from just how strange the state is. For some reason, weirdness and hauntings go hand in hand. You could say all that energy from a diverse population causes a breeding ground for ghosts.

Secondly, Florida is mostly surrounded by water. In fact, a good portion of the state sits right at sea level. And marshlands, lakes, rivers, and swamps pervade most of the state. Many paranormal investigators will tell you that water charges and amplifies ghostly activity.

For Becky and Diana, however, Florida is one of the many places they have called home. And maybe the combined energy of our hosts living in this state helped open a few more portals. We shall never know for sure.

Call it what you will—Florida is haunted AF.

Some of our haunted Florida episodes:

• Sidetable Man Don’t Eat Me!
• It Came Up the Drain!
• Ghosts on Camera
• They Have Their Hooks In You
• You Know An Urban Legend Is From Florida If It Involves Beer Disappearing at Night
• The One Who Still Waits For Her
• The House of Octagons

We hope you enjoyed these spooky real Christmas ghost stories we’ve shared with you today! Merry Christmas to all, and to all a spooky good night!

The post Butt-Dialed from the Afterlife: A Christmas Ghost Story appeared first on Homespun Haints.

What is a chupacabra?

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

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

Cryptid or taxonomic anomoly?

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

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

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

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

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

Be it dog or bird?

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

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

So is the chupacabra a bird?

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

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

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

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

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

A mashup of different creatures thrown into one

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

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

Chupacabra sightings in the suburbs

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

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

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

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

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

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

But you have a life to move on with.

What if something—or someONE—is still there, lurking in the darkness, just waiting for you to return?

Our very own host Becky tells the story of the one that still waits for her, today on Homespun Haints.

Listen now:

Becky’s Stint in a Haunted House

It’s our 30th episode, so it’s our turn to tell one of our own stories. On this episode, Becky talks about a haunted house she lived in for the 3 months between high school and college, and the mischievous dead things that resided there with her.

The conversation then turns to some of Becky and Diana’s most horrifying experiences deep in the rural south, a place Becky calls home and Diana calls no-man’s land. Listen to two different perspectives on places time forgot, and watch out for man-eating cows.

The Horror of Cows

Innocent beasts that do little more than bask in the grass turn into man-eating beasts during the horrendous Florida storm discussed in this episode. But, as we point out, these are not ordinary cattle. They are long-horn cattle, and, as such, they look much scarier than they really are.

Cows as menacing creatures do pop up from time to time in history and literature. Hellcow, a Marvel character, is a vampire cow named Bessie who seeks revenge after Dracula kills and buries her. If you’re interested in really going down the vampire cow rabbit hole, you may enjoy this episode by 3 Spooked Girls. It tells of theories of an entire town infected with vampirism after feasting on vampire cow meat.

Hurricane Katrina

Diana and Becky both feel like they narrowly avoided getting stuck in Hurricane Katrina. Diana moved out of an apartment that backed right up to the levy by Lake Avenue in Metairie in May of 2005, skipping her own college graduation ceremony to move away to prepare for grad school. In February of 2005, just 6 months before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast, Becky and some other friends visited a college friend living in New Orleans.

During the visit, Becky’s resident friend mentioned how ill-prepared the city was for a Category 5 hurricane. He described how every creature, from human to rat, would be fighting over patches of flotsam to escape the storm. And he was absolutely correct. While Becky enjoyed her wedding ceremony in Chicago on August 27, 2005, Katrina wrecked havoc along the Gulf coast. 80% of the city of New Orleans flooded, and the hurricane obliterated nearby coastal parishes. The flooding continued all the way into north Georgia, ultimately causing the destruction of the haunted house at the core of this episode.

Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post The One Who Still Waits For Her appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Listen tot he episode here:

Ghost Stories and Greek Mythology

Echo hasn’t gotten any sleep at the house she’s housesitting because of a smoke detector that only goes off at night. The home’s owner has just replaced the detector’s batteries in hopes of fixing the problem, but the alarm continues to go off—starting at 2 a.m. each night.

Ghosts caught on video

Here, Echo films the detector and catches an orb on the camera. Can you see it?

Echo then starts looking for the culprit of the smoke detector malfunction, and wanders into the dark basement. Look closely at the film—can you see Echo’s reflection in the sliding glass door? Is anything else amiss?

In another house, Echo is disturbed by a stove that clicks and shoots blue sparks—even after it’s been unplugged. It is common for gas stoves to make noises like this while off, but they shouldn’t be doing it if they haven’t been used for weeks, or if they are completely unplugged. What do you think is going on?

In the same home, Echo gets a light fixture to flicker on and off at her command. Check out the video below and let us know what you think is going on:

Can you sell your child’s soul?

Selling your baby’s soul to the devil sounds like a great plot for a TV show. And, actually, it is! Have you seen Reaper?

If not, be sure to check it out. It’s quite funny! We highly recommend binging it while you’re holed up at home.

Can a gnome be demonic?

Echo’s got a pretty freaky looking gnome that we just love. Here’s a picture:

More Spooky Gnome Pictures

We asked some members of our group to send us their gnome pics and we got some interesting answers.

Kelli Rule, an artist in Washougal, WA, shared an image from her Gnome series. This gnome isn’t demonic; he’s just grieving:

This is the gnome in Becky’s garden:

Got your own spooky gnome pic to share? Please submit it the same way you’d submit your story, and we’ll add it to this collection!

Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post Raised by Demons appeared first on Homespun Haints.

Stacey shares her true stories of both beautiful visits from her late brother, and chilling interactions with something far more sinister.

Listen right here:

Episode Trigger Warning and Suicide Prevention

If you are thinking about suicide or are worried about a friend or loved one, please reach out to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline, 24/7, at 1-800-273-8255, or visit https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/talk-to-someone-now/ to chat with someone over their website.

If you are interested in learning more about the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, please check out their site. Also, check out You Matter, LLC, which donates some of its profits to the AFSP.

Haunted Places in Oklahoma

Oklahoma is a lot more haunted than many realize. Since both our guest, Stacey Short, and our host Diana hail from that state, we need to pay the good ol’ OK its proper due.

Oklahoma University, in fact, is so haunted it has its own official, free, ghost tour! Planning on going to Oklahoma any time soon? Check this out! You may just see the ghost of the Roller Skating Boy.

Diana (like our Season 1, Episode 13 guest, Kamila) chose her college based on a yearning to live somewhere spookier, yet (unlike Kamila) never witnessed any interesting paranormal events while in college. If only she’d known all this haunted glory was less than 2 hours from her childhood home, she may have chosen OU instead.

(Just kidding. Diana chose to go to school in New Orleans which is infinitely more haunted.)

More of our scary ghost stories from Oklahoma

• Live by the Signs: Weather Magic
• The Cursed Parking Lot at Tulsa Freedom Fest
• Finally, Diana’s Haunted Basement Ghost Story!
• The Possessions in D-Hall Dorms
• Tiny Terrors in Tulsa

Why do ghosts hang out in closets?

Our Season 1, Episode 4 guest, Ren, also had a Closet of Doom which seemed possessed by something similar to what Stacey encountered. Why does this seem to be a common theme? And why are children naturally afraid of closets?

Since ghosts tend to get stuck in corners, perhaps they have a tendency to get doubly-stuck in closets, where all four corners tend to be close to one another. American folklore is full of examples of a belief that weaker ghosts hang out in corners of rooms, either because they become trapped, or because it’s more comfortable for them to have two walls to hang onto. Notably, these stories tend to assume the ghosts are also in the upper recesses of the corner, where they can also touch the ceiling.

In fact, also in the midwest is the Stickney House, in Bull Run, Illinois outside of Chicago. The Stickneys designed their house to have no sharp edges, anywhere. The couple wanted spirits to be able to move freely within their home—and leave again. Learn more about this interesting home here.

About the guest: Stacey Short

Stacey Short is a podcaster and co-host of Help! I’m Adulting and I Can’t Give Up! and also the host of A Few Short Minutes Facebook Lives. You can find her on Facebook or Instagram if you’d like to reach out!

Until next time, have a spooky day!

The post There’s An Extra Person In This Room appeared first on Homespun Haints.

What if that wasn’t just a movie? Listen to this episode to hear the real-life paranormal tale of the hauntings at Abbotts Creek here:

How long would you last at Abbotts Creek?

For Clarence Carter, that all-too-familiar horror movie trope became a reality when he and his friends wandered into the haunted woods around Abbotts Creek. At night. After someone’s Dad told them the place was freakishly haunted.

What he encountered (including hellhounds!) terrified him and his friends, so much so that years passed before he could talk about it. Lucky for us, he was willing to sit down and finally chat about his real life paranormal experiences with us.

About the guest: Clarence Carter

Our guest this episode is a podcaster and an author, and he uses his storytelling gifts to keep us on the edge of our seat as he tells us his horrifying, real paranormal experiences from his time in North Carolina.

Want to hear more from Clarence? Be sure to check out his podcast, The Writers Block, where he discusses writing and storytelling with co-host Shaun Nigro, whom we also interviewed.

You can also purchase his latest book, No Honor Among Thieves, at Amazon. And, if you just want to get to know the guy, be sure to follow his Facebook page.

The Writer’s Block, featuring the Homespun Haints

Becky and Diana appeared as guest speakers on an episode of The Writer’s Block. Listen to Chap58: Tongue Thing & Steve with Diana Doty & Becky Kilimnik! At around 25:13, Becky and Diana join the Writers to tell a fully improvised tale about a man who finds himself trapped in a room with a giant baby and a creature with an abnormally long tongue. Becky also made a separate guest appearance on another episode, Chap27: Hellbound with Becky Kilimnik!

Are hellhounds real?

Were those hellhounds Clarence saw, walking like sentries across the silent bridge? And what were they protecting? Because, when you listen to the episode, you’ll note that it really does seem like they’re protecting something.

Where do hellhounds come from?

Long before the Christian notion of Hell, different mythologies spoke of a dog or dog-like beast that would guard the entrance to the Underworld. Cerberus, bearing three heads, stood sentry at the mouth of Hades, and Cŵn Annwn, the hounds of the ancient Welsh Annwn, or land of the dead, would help guide souls to the the other side.

The American South also has its slew of legends about large black dogs that roam the countryside. Many of these legends show these beasts as ominous creatures that attack travelers and others wandering alone at night.

A notable exception is the legend of Long Dog, a story Becky grew up with in east Tennessee. Long Dog has been sighted for over 150 years along the highway of Surgoinsville, Tennessee, and means no harm to the people who see him. Long Dog is just looking for the family he tried to protect the night the highwayman John Murrell killed them all.

Can ghosts be animals?

One of our goals for this season is to feature more stories of non-human, animal ghosts. So far, we did see a manifestation of a cat in The Woman Who Lived in a Cemetery. Sidetable Man, Don’t Eat Me! had a snake ghost story in it. Stay tuned for more stories this season because, yes, the animal ghosts are coming!

Until next time, have a spooky day!

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Episode Summary

If you saw a diminutive rotting corpse eating out of a brown paper bag on your nightstand, how would you react? Would you attack a snake ghost in your buddy’s house? And would your girlfriend’s grandfather’s ghost be enough reason for you to consider breaking up?

Find out how Jonas reacted to all of these crazy situations in our Season 2 premier.

Episode Show Notes

Be sure to listen to the episode above to know what the hell we’re talking about with these show notes (cause this episode’s pretty weird).

Snakes and the trope of temptation

The ghost snake in our episode appeared to be going after Jonas’s friend, who was working through his own demons of addiction at the time. Was the snake representative of the ancient associations with temptation and vice?

In Judaism and Christianity, Genesis tells the story of a snake approaching Eve and tempts her to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. But the association is not only in the Bible; Hinduism also has its own associations between snakes and vice.

Insomnia and Sleepwalking

Jonas isn’t our first guest to suffer from sleep disorders. In fact, we’re starting to see a common theme between people who suffer from insomnia and the ability to see ghosts. One would almost attribute these sightings to sleep-deprivation-induced hallucinations were it not for others seeing these things as well.

Jonas in particular links his sleep issues to excessive work, and he’s not alone. This is actually a thing and it’s been studied at length. But working too much isn’t the only way sleep interferes with his life. Sleep deprivation can lead to other things, such as sleep walking. Jonas talks at length about how he dreams and how his body stays awake while his mind is asleep, leading to some very interesting, scary experiences.

Our strangest episode yet

This is, by far, the strangest episode we’ve put out yet. And we’ve got some very odd ones already in Season 1 (such as Dennis the Demon and The Woman Who Lived in a Cemetery) in addition to scary ones (like Have you Seen the Hat Man?). Do you agree? If not, what would you say has been the oddest episode yet on our increasingly strange paranormal podcast? Please let us know in our Facebook group, and we can all have a spooky day!

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