THE LEGENDS AND FOLKTALES : USA Legends

Showing posts with label USA Legends. Show all posts

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

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The story is set in 1790 in the countryside around the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (historical Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is renowned for its ghosts and the haunting atmosphere that pervades the imaginations of its inhabitants and visitors. Some residents say this town was bewitched during the early days of the Dutch settlement. Other residents say an old Native American chief, the wizard of his tribe, held his powwows here before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. The most infamous spectre in the Hollow is the Headless Horseman, said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper that had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head". 
The "Legend" relates the tale of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van Tassel. Ichabod Crane, a Yankee and an outsider, sees marriage to Katrina as a means of procuring Van Tassel's extravagant wealth. Bones, the local hero, vies with Ichabod for Katrina's hand, playing a series of pranks on the jittery schoolmaster, and the fate of Sleepy Hollow's fortune weighs in the balance for some time. The tension among the three is soon brought to a head. On a placid autumn night, the ambitious Crane attends a harvest party at the Van Tassels' homestead. He dances, partakes in the feast, and listens to ghostly legends told by Brom and the locals, but his true aim is to propose to Katrina after the guests leave. His intentions, however, are ill-fated. 
After having failed to secure Katrina's hand, Ichabod rides home "heavy-hearted and crestfallen" through the woods between Van Tassel's farmstead and the Sleepy Hollow settlement. As he passes several purportedly haunted spots, his active imagination is engorged by the ghost stories told at Baltus' harvest party. After nervously passing under a lightning-stricken tulip tree purportedly haunted by the ghost of British spy Major André, Ichabod encounters a cloaked rider at an intersection in a menacing swamp. Unsettled by his fellow traveler's eerie size and silence, the teacher is horrified to discover that his companion's head is not on his shoulders, but on his saddle. In a frenzied race to the bridge adjacent to the Old Dutch Burying Ground, where the Hessian is said to "vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone" upon crossing it, Ichabod rides for his life, desperately goading his temperamental plow horse down the Hollow. However, to Crane's horror, the ghoul clambers over the bridge, rears his horse, and hurls his severed head into Ichabod's terrified face. 
The next morning, Ichabod has mysteriously disappeared from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was said "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related". Indeed, the only relics of the schoolmaster's flight are his wandering horse, trampled saddle, discarded hat, and a mysterious shattered pumpkin. Although the nature of the Headless Horseman is left open to interpretation, the story implies that the ghost was really Brom (an agile stunt rider) in disguise. Irving's narrator concludes, however, by stating that the old Dutch wives continue to promote the belief that Ichabod was "spirited away by supernatural means", and a legend develops around his disappearance and sightings of his melancholy spirit.

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow"

The story is set in 1790 in the countryside around the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (historical Tarrytown, New York), in a secluded glen...

2:02:00 am

The Suscon Screamer

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The first tale about the Suscon Screamer appeared around the end of the 1800's. In those days fire towers were located through out the area each were located within sight of another. A fire was spotted in the Suscon area of Luzerne County, PA and firefighters were sent out to extinguish it. As the fireman worked on the blaze a terrible scream was heard, frightening many of the firefighters. Afterwards, the firemen discussed as to what it could have been. None of them could explain what would make such a horrible scream. Later in the day, a watchman in the tower heard the scream. As he looked out over the burned out area he noticed something moving and the screaming seemed to be getting louder. As it came closer the terrified watchman crouched down in his small room at the top of the tower. Now the creature was directly under him. As he looked down he could see the creature looking back up at him screaming and clawing at the ground. Worried that it might climb the tower he locked the entrance to the tower which was nothing more then a hatch in the floor and waited. Once again he peeked over the edge, the creature was walking away from him. The large creature was sometimes standing and sometime walking on all fours with a pig-like snout. It seemed that a large Black Bear had been trapped it the fire and had been severely burned and was crying out in pain.  
Since that time, it seems the account has changed.  
It is said that underneath the former Susquehanna Railroad Bridge (also known as The Black Bridge) that once crossed Suscon Road supposedly lurks the legendary Suscon Screamer. One story states the area is haunted by the ghost of a woman jilted at the altar who, with a loud scream, hung herself from the bridge. Another says she was a teen killed on her prom night who's still trying to hitch a ride home. Yet another says it's a mother and child who died in a car crash while rushing to the local hospital. One more claims that it's cursed by the ghost of a girl that escaped from an insane asylum and leaped to her death off the bridge. Whichever version you prefer, a spectral lady has been spotted floating in the nearby woods. 
Then again, some say it's not a human's spirit at all that haunts Suscon. Some believe the eerie sound is the roar of a lion or panther that escaped from a traveling circus (or maybe its' spirit after all these years.) Others say it's a half human, half pig swamp monster from the bogs. A Times Leader newspaper story said that a hunter was in a tree stand off of Suscon Road when he heard something coming up over the hill. His companion in the next tree screamed, jumped down from his stand and started running. Then the hunter spotted a creature through his binoculars. He described him to the paper as “being about 6' long with a long snout. It weighed about 200 pounds and was gray in color. It had webbed feet with long claws and had a huge head”. The hunter refused to take the Game Commissioner back to the scene because he was too frightened. The man added that “the ground was clawed up as if 100 turkeys had gone through”. He told the officer that he was sure it wasn’t a bear or a coyote; it was a “monster”.The first tale about the Suscon Screamer appeared around the end of the 1800's. In those days fire towers were located through out the area each were located within sight of another. A fire was spotted in the Suscon area of Luzerne County, PA and firefighters were sent out to extinguish it. As the fireman worked on the blaze a terrible scream was heard, frightening many of the firefighters. Afterwards, the firemen discussed as to what it could have been. None of them could explain what would make such a horrible scream. Later in the day, a watchman in the tower heard the scream. As he looked out over the burned out area he noticed something moving and the screaming seemed to be getting louder. As it came closer the terrified watchman crouched down in his small room at the top of the tower. Now the creature was directly under him. As he looked down he could see the creature looking back up at him screaming and clawing at the ground. Worried that it might climb the tower he locked the entrance to the tower which was nothing more then a hatch in the floor and waited. Once again he peeked over the edge, the creature was walking away from him. The large creature was sometimes standing and sometime walking on all fours with a pig-like snout. It seemed that a large Black Bear had been trapped it the fire and had been severely burned and was crying out in pain.  
 
Since that time, it seems the account has changed.  
 
It is said that underneath the former Susquehanna Railroad Bridge (also known as The Black Bridge) that once crossed Suscon Road supposedly lurks the legendary Suscon Screamer. One story states the area is haunted by the ghost of a woman jilted at the altar who, with a loud scream, hung herself from the bridge. Another says she was a teen killed on her prom night who's still trying to hitch a ride home. Yet another says it's a mother and child who died in a car crash while rushing to the local hospital. One more claims that it's cursed by the ghost of a girl that escaped from an insane asylum and leaped to her death off the bridge. Whichever version you prefer, a spectral lady has been spotted floating in the nearby woods. 
 
Then again, some say it's not a human's spirit at all that haunts Suscon. Some believe the eerie sound is the roar of a lion or panther that escaped from a traveling circus (or maybe its' spirit after all these years.) Others say it's a half human, half pig swamp monster from the bogs. A Times Leader newspaper story said that a hunter was in a tree stand off of Suscon Road when he heard something coming up over the hill. His companion in the next tree screamed, jumped down from his stand and started running. Then the hunter spotted a creature through his binoculars. He described him to the paper as “being about 6' long with a long snout. It weighed about 200 pounds and was gray in color. It had webbed feet with long claws and had a huge head”. The hunter refused to take the Game Commissioner back to the scene because he was too frightened. The man added that “the ground was clawed up as if 100 turkeys had gone through”. He told the officer that he was sure it wasn’t a bear or a coyote; it was a “monster”.

The Suscon Screamer

The first tale about the Suscon Screamer appeared around the end of the 1800's. In those days fire towers were located through out the...

1:56:00 am

Victim of the Beast 666 -Lilly E. Gray

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Lilly E. Gray has been dead for more than half a century, yet precisely who she was, and the weird inscription on her grave, continues to baffle researchers to this day. Interred in the Salt Lake City Cemetery, Lillian “Lilly” E. Gray has become an enduring local mystery, and something of an urban legend to generations of Utah teenagers. 
She is said to have been born in Canada on June 6, 1881, but even that’s up for dispute. Nevertheless, when the elderly woman died from natural causes on November 14, 1958, her grave was marked by a simple stone inscribed with the ominous words: ‘Victim of the Beast 666’. Creepy, certainly. But why? 
Several theories have sought to answer this question, though none have completely managed to put the mystery to bed. One of the more plausible hypotheses comes from Richelle Hawks, whose examination of Lilly’s husband, Elmer L. Gray, reveals an eccentric character with a colourful – and oddly mysterious – past. 
Hawks found that, after Elmer had been arrested for stealing an umbrella, a Utah State Board of Pardons document notes him requesting that his parole be terminated. When asked by the Board of Pardons for the full name under which he was serving, Gray wrote “Woodrowe Lamb, a bum”. 
For the address of his parents, Elmer responded: “Booth dead. Died of grief when kidnapers murdered my Wife.” He then referred to police and prison officials as “Democrat officials” and “kidnapers.” 
The ‘wife’ he referred to was his first wife, who died – apparently – before Elmer Gray married Lilly. But as Hawks points out in her article: “…whatever the real circumstances concerning these family deaths, it can be concluded that Elmer Gray blamed the law for the death of his previous wife and clearly considered her a victim.” 
She added: “Elmer Gray’s view of the government and law is clear – a criminal, evil organization hell-bent on kidnapping, imprisoning and murdering innocent citizens without cause or provocation. 
“With all the conspiracy, anti-government, sentiments of victimization within, it is difficult and perhaps foolish not to come to one conclusion – that Elmer L. Gray was responsible for placing the outrageous phrase, “Victim of the Beast 666″ on his second wife Lilly’s gravestone…” 
It’s certainly a compelling mystery, and Hawks’ theory, according to Olivia Ochoa-Anderson writing for the Salt Lake Free Press, offers the most plausible explanation to date. Even so, there’s no getting away from the chilling visions of satanic ritual and demonic possession that such a foreboding inscription inevitably conjures. 
Until we know for sure, Lilly E. Gray, and the precise meaning of the inscription on her grave – Victim of the Beast 666 – will remain an enigma

Victim of the Beast 666 -Lilly E. Gray

Lilly E. Gray has been dead for more than half a century, yet precisely who she was, and the weird inscription on her grave, continues to ...

1:51:00 am

The "STOW LAKE GHOST"

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Halloween quite like San Francisco. While many may check outHalloween quite like San Francisco. While many may check out the party scene in the Castro, go trick-or-treating in Noe Valley, or visit the pet cemetery in the Presidio, few have the courage to brave Stow Lake at night. 
The famous ghost story and legend of Stow Lake has been circulating for nearly 100 years, and it goes something like this: Once upon a time at Stow Lake, in Golden Gate Park, there was a lady who was walking her baby in a stroller. After a while, this lady got tired and rested on the bench next to the lake, with the stroller right next to her. While she was sitting, another lady came to sit down next to her and they started talking. While they were conversing, the stroller rolled away unnoticed. The stroller with the baby fell in the lake. After the two women finished talking, the lady noticed her baby was gone and panicked right away. She then walked around Stow Lake and asked people, “Have you seen my baby?” She spent all day and all night asking everyone. When the night was over, the last place she checked was the lake. She went into the lake looking for her baby and ever since, she hasn’t been seen again. 
It is rumored that if someone goes to Stow Lake at night, weird occurrences take place. Stories have been told that the lady comes up from the lake, or the statue in her honor comes to life, or she will come up to you and ask, “Have you seen my baby?” Other reports say if you drive there with your friends in a group of cars, all the cars will stall at the same time. Another rumor is said that, if someone says “White lady, white lady, I have your baby” three times, the lady will appear. She’ll ask you, “Have you seen my baby?” If you say yes, she’ll haunt you and if you say no, she’ll kill you. 
So if you decide to walk around Stow Lake some night, beware of the White Lady. And if you walk through the street at night this All Hallows Eve and feel your hair stand on end, you might just be in the presence of one of the other ghosts of San Francisco. the party scene in the Castro, go trick-or-treating in Noe Valley, or visit the pet cemetery in the Presidio, few have the courage to brave Stow Lake at night. 
The famous ghost story and legend of Stow Lake has been circulating for nearly 100 years, and it goes something like this: Once upon a time at Stow Lake, in Golden Gate Park, there was a lady who was walking her baby in a stroller. After a while, this lady got tired and rested on the bench next to the lake, with the stroller right next to her. While she was sitting, another lady came to sit down next to her and they started talking. While they were conversing, the stroller rolled away unnoticed. The stroller with the baby fell in the lake. After the two women finished talking, the lady noticed her baby was gone and panicked right away. She then walked around Stow Lake and asked people, “Have you seen my baby?” She spent all day and all night asking everyone. When the night was over, the last place she checked was the lake. She went into the lake looking for her baby and ever since, she hasn’t been seen again. 
It is rumored that if someone goes to Stow Lake at night, weird occurrences take place. Stories have been told that the lady comes up from the lake, or the statue in her honor comes to life, or she will come up to you and ask, “Have you seen my baby?” Other reports say if you drive there with your friends in a group of cars, all the cars will stall at the same time. Another rumor is said that, if someone says “White lady, white lady, I have your baby” three times, the lady will appear. She’ll ask you, “Have you seen my baby?” If you say yes, she’ll haunt you and if you say no, she’ll kill you. 
So if you decide to walk around Stow Lake some night, beware of the White Lady. And if you walk through the street at night this All Hallows Eve and feel your hair stand on end, you might just be in the presence of one of the other ghosts of San Francisco.

The "STOW LAKE GHOST"

Halloween quite like San Francisco. While many may check outHalloween quite like San Francisco. While many may check out the party scene i...

1:46:00 am

The Haunted Patterson Road Bridge

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The Civil War was bloody and devastating and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of US soldiers. With a path that left many deaths in its wake, there are many places that are said to be haunted by the spirits of soldiers who may still be looking for peace. Numerous spots in the US are said to be haunted by the ghosts of the Civil War, including the haunted Patterson Road Bridge in Houston, Texas. 
The haunted strip of asphalt in Houston was home to a particularly vicious and bloody battle, and since then many people have reported otherworldly occurrences, particularly on the Langham Creek Bridge on Patterson Road. 
There is some dispute as to what happened near the creek and the site of the future Patterson Road bridge. The general consensus agrees that Civil War soldiers engaged in some kind of skirmish or battle on the site. 
One story suggests that it was the site of a German settlement that was pro-union. The settlers were ousted and killed by Confederate troops who wanted to rid the land of Yankee influence.Another tale tells of pitched fighting between two ragtag militias who somehow managed to fend each other off of the land. It wasn’t a strategic battle per se, so the truth around the area is a bit muddy as less was documented. 
The consensus is yes, the Patterson Road Bridge over Langham Creek is haunted. There have been several sightings and stories over the years. People have reported seeing ghostly figures as they make the turn to cross the bridge, seeing visions of a pale man standing by the side of the road. They appear for a brief moment, then vanish as soon as your headlights strike.There have been numerous reports of tapping on cars on this haunted bridge. According to those who have experienced it, the noise happens only at night, and it’s only when you’re on the bridge itself. Some people will park on the bridge and turn their headlights off. The tapping is said to begin and sounds like metal is lightly tapping the car. The sound is unexplained but is definitely not from wind or no other natural phenomenon can explain the sound. Witnesses say the noises come in rapid succession as if the ghosts are trying to notify the passengers. 
Dare to test the bridge for ghosts? Be safe. The bridge is trafficked and stopping can be tough especially without lights.

The Haunted Patterson Road Bridge

The Civil War was bloody and devastating and claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of US soldiers. With a path that left many deaths ...

1:41:00 am

Bobby Mackey’s Hell Portal

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Bobby Mackey's is a shady, smokey, dive bar with a mechanical bull, line dancing floor, and a portal to hell.  I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure the portal has a cover charge. In 1850 the land that now belongs to Mackey’s was home to a huge slaughterhouse that supplied most of northwestern Kentucky and Cincinnati with beef. Back in those days things weren’t really on the up and up, so instead of dispensing of the blood, guts, bones, and cartilage properly, they dumped them into a well in the basement. In other words, it was the most epic sacrificial pit on the planet.  
In the 1890’s the slaughterhouse closed (for unknown reasons) and that’s when they say a local Satanic cult moved in. If you know anything about Satanists, you know that there was a good probability that some babies, virgins, and/or animals were sacrificed to the dark lord. Probably. Maybe.  
The next part of the legend is a little less speculation and a lot more tragic. In 1896, 22-year-old Pearl Bryan’s body was found decapitated in a field on the property. Pearl had been pregnant at the time of her death. Her boyfriend, a dentistry student named Scott Jackson, and his fellow classmate Alonzo Walling had attempted to conduct an abortion on their own. For obvious reasons the procedure went very wrong, and after Pearl died, they removed her head with the hopes of throwing the police off the chase. Both men were killed for their crime, and Alonzo vowed to haunt the land indefinitely before he died.  
For years the building sat abandoned until the 20s when the land became the home to a speakeasy called The Primrose. The secret bar and casino became so popular, Cincinnati mobsters came sniffing around, and when the owner “Buck” Brady refused to sell the building the staff saw their fair share of threats, fights, and attempted murders.  
By the 50s the building had yet again become another bar called the Latin Quarter. A dance hall girl working at the bar named Johanna fell in love and became pregnant with the child of a singer named Robert Randall. When her father discovered what had happened he had Randall killed, and so Johanna poisoned him, and took her own life beside the well that had once been the repository of so much blood. 
By 1978 the building has been witness to every form of death imaginable on a constant basis. So when Bobby Mackey bought the building and turned it into a music hall, it was no surprise that strange things began to happen.  
There's been sightings of full bodied apparitions, including the headless ghost of Pearl Bryan. It is impossible not to experience touches, the movement of furniture, banging, screaming, jukeboxes that turn on and off by themselves, and an uncountable number of paranormal events. Much of the activity occurs around the well, or the portal which many people believe has transformed over the years into a gateway to hell. Often people will hear the sound of deep growling coming from the depths of the well. Most people refuse to even be in the area of the well because it has such a strange effect on people. If all of this hasn’t scared you away yet, you’re in luck. Bobby Mackey’s offers nightly tours of the the most haunted hot spots in the building, including the gateway. My advice is to visit when there isn’t a huge crowd upstairs to cut down on the creeps. If you’re looking for something truly terrifying, this is a perfect piece of creepy American history with an epic legend to boot.

Bobby Mackey’s Hell Portal

Bobby Mackey's is a shady, smokey, dive bar with a mechanical bull, line dancing floor, and a portal to hell. I'm not sure, but I...

1:36:00 am

Snallygaster

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For centuries, a large winged beast known as the Snallygaster is said to have terrified the people of Frederick County, Maryland. The dragon-like beast is described as being a half-reptile and half-bird that lives deep in the caves of South Mountain. The mysterious creature is said to swoop silently down from the sky, stealing farm animals and children from the unsuspecting farm folk. Some say it’s real. 
The area was settled by German immigrants beginning in the 1730s, who called the creature a Schneller Geist, meaning “quick spirit” in German. The earliest folklore mixes the half-bird features with nightmarish features of demons and ghouls. 
Other descriptions describe the beast as half-reptile, half-bird with a metallic like beak lined with razor-sharp teeth. Sometimes it is described as having octopus-like tentacles. The earliest stories claim that this monster sucked the blood of its victims. 
The Snallygaster has one widely known enemy, called Dwayyo. The Dwayyo is reported to be a mammalian biped with features similar to a wolf, but the stance and stature of a human. The Dwayyo and the Snallygaster have reportedly had vicious encounters dating back to early settlement of the Middletown Valley. 
For years, the Snallygaster lived only on the pages of folklore until 1909 when stories of the beast began to appear in newspapers. Encounters between local residents and the winged-creature in February and March, 1909 described it as having “enormous wings, a long pointed bill, claws like steel hooks, and an eye in the center of its forehead.” Further, it was said to make screeches “like a locomotive whistle.” 
A February, 1909 article claimed that a man had been seized by the winged creature, which proceeded to sink its teeth into his jugular and drain the body of blood before dropping it along a hillside. 
The story was carried prominently in Middletown, Maryland’s Valley Register, and soon spread far and wide, so much so that the Smithsonian Institution offered a reward for the hide and U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt reportedly considered postponing an international trip to personally hunt the beast. 
In the early issues, the flying beast seemed to be everywhere at once. 
In New Jersey, it was reported that its footprints were first discovered in the snow. 
In West Virginia it was said that the flying beast almost caught a woman near Scrabble, was found roosting in a farmer’s barn and laid an egg the size of a barrell near Sharpsburg, 
A man in Casstown, Ohio, wrote a letter to the Valley Register, telling of a strange creature that flew over his area making terrible screeching noises. He described it as having two huge wings, a large horny head, and a tail 20 feet long. 
In Maryland it was first sighted by a man who operated a brick-burning kiln near Cumberland. Spied near the kiln sleeping, when it awoke, it emitted a blood-curdling scream and angrily flew away. It was also sighted near Hagerstown, south of Middletown at Lover’s Leap, and seen flying over the mountains between Gapland and Burkittsville, where it was reported to have laid another very large egg. The last sighting in Frederick County occurred in March, 1909 where three men fought the creature outside a railroad station for nearly an hour and a half before chasing it into the woods of Carroll County. 
Afterwards, there were no more sightings of the mysterious creature for the next 23 years,at which time, it once again appeared in Frederick County, Maryland. The first reports said the “bird” was seen just below South Mountain in Washington County. 
It was surmised at the time, that as the life expectancy of a Snallygaster was estimated at about 20 years, the new sightings were from the offspring of the 1909 creature. 
At this time, the Middletown Valley Register requested that local residents who spied the creature should provide as accurate and detailed a description as possible for scientific purposes. 
Two residents soon reported having seen it just east of Braddock Heights, flying about 25 feet overhead, confirming the descriptions published the previous week.The next thing heard of the Snallygaster, is that it had died in Washington County when it was overcome by the fumes of a moonshine still and fell from the sky into the 2500-gallon vat of alcohol. According to the story, revenue agents soon arrived and destroyed both the vat and the carcase of the beast.

Snallygaster

For centuries, a large winged beast known as the Snallygaster is said to have terrified the people of Frederick County, Maryland. The drag...

1:31:00 am

The Green Man

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Over the years, countless words have been penned and multifarious theories proposed, but, at heart, the Green Man remains a mystery and an enigma. 
Found in some variant in many cultures throughout the world and spanning almost all of history, the Green Man is perhaps best described as a motif or a symbol. No two representations of the Green Man are the same, and they manifest a bewildering variety of features, but the Green Man is essentially a face or head sprouting, surrounded by, or even entirely made from, leaves and foliage. 
He is most commonly found carved in wood or stone in medieval European churches and cathedrals, and is usually interpreted as a symbol of rebirth or the cycle of growth each spring, although even that is open to dispute, as we will see. 
In Germany, he is “der grüne Mann”; in France, he is “tźte de feuilles” or “cracheur de feuilles” or “masque feuillu”; in England (at least since Lady Raglan’s influential 1939 article), he is almost always referred to as “the Green Man”, or in some more technical sources as the “foliate head”. 
Unlike with dragons, lions, centaurs, mermaids and other images of Christian iconography, we have no old tales or medieval literature to satisfactorily explain the meaning of the Green Man. The origins of the phenomenon are lost in the mists of time, and he has waxed and waned throughout history in both his presence and his influence, although never quite disappearing. 
In more recent years, many books and web-sites have been written on the search for these origins and the essential meaning of the Green Man phenomenon (and other related folklore characters), but few firm conclusions have been drawn. Indeed, many authors have taken some consolation from the reluctance with which it has given up its secrets, and some argue that its very ambiguity and uncertainty merely adds to its power and charm. 
In the modern world of increased environmental consciousness and New Age sensibilities, the idea of the Green Man has once more struck a resounding chord and has been co-opted in recent years for any number of purposes, ranging from corporate advertising to environmental campaigns to pagan festivals. 
So, who or what is the Green Man? I am no anthropologist or historian or expert of any sort, merely an interested layman, but I have attempted to collate in this website information and resources from many different sources in an attempt to answer that question.

The Green Man

Over the years, countless words have been penned and multifarious theories proposed, but, at heart, the Green Man remains a mystery and an...

1:25:00 am

Mysterious “Charman”

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Jiddu Krishnamurti dashed off a book called At The Feet Of The Master at the tender age of 12. In 1926, when he was 31, he was escorted to New York in fine style by Annie Besant, one of the founders of Theosophy. Besant considered the diminutive, nattily dressed Indian (who was born into the high Brahmin caste) to be nothing less than the 20th century’s world savior. In 1922, while sitting under a pepper tree near Ojai, he had a spiritual epiphany, and his connection to the area was cemented. By 1929, the Theosophists had given up on him, and Krishnamurti went his own way after the amicable “divorce.” He spelled out his reasons for doing so: “I have learned that each of us must do his own thinking…you cannot organize a system of truth; neither can you or I set up a religious standard for another.” After an exhaustive life of lecturing and world tours, in 1969 the non-affiliated Krishnamurti retired to the Ojai Valley and organized a foundation of religious studies called, strangely enough, the Krishnamurti Foundation of America. He somehow felt at home in Ojai, and returned from a trip to India to die here in 1986. In the mid-1990s, at least one witness claims that he saw the great spiritual leader walk out of his home and stroll though the garden, wearing his ubiquitous straw hat. Other specters of the valley are less sanguine. Possibly the most famous ghost in town is known as “Charman.” The grotesque spirit wasn’t the victim of some horrible barbeque accident, but accounts seem to differ on whether he perished in a great brushfire in 1948, a downed plane, or a car crash. Stories about the figure, its skin hanging in cooked strips from its skull and reeking of burning flesh, have been told in the valley since the early 1960s. The apparition has been sighted numerous times near or on the Creek Road bridge, a few miles south of town near Camp Comfort County park. He is said to startle anyone who dares to walk the road at night, and reportedly tore the leather jacket off of one terrified witness in the 1950s. 
One story, probably one of hundreds told around late night campfires, says that Charman is the ghost of a man who was hiking back to his stalled car with a full can of gasoline late at night. Some of the gas spilled on his clothes, and for some reason, he made the fateful decision to light up a cigarette, turning him into a human torch. Most accounts though, center around the big fire, and a homesteader who was unable to save his wife or family in the conflagration. The fact that the stories started to bloom just as the baby-boom generation was reaching high school age may also have something to do with its popularity—replacing the old “killer with the hook” story. 
Another popular tale (which seems to be a local version the headless horseman) concerns the ghost of a headless motorcyclist. In the 1950s, a man was who was trying to pass a truck on the narrow mountain turns of Creek Road was decapitated by a wayward steel beam which became dislodged from the truck bed. The incident happened with such suddenness that the motorcycle continued on, passing the startled driver, who promptly had a heart attack and crashed in a ravine. The cyclist’s ghost still rides at night, looking for his lost head. Since the Ojai was mostly settled in the 20th century, it makes sense to exchange a flesh-and-blood horse for a metal one, and some researchers swear by the tale. 
Joining Charman and the unlucky biker along the lonely stretch of road are a phantom hitchhiker, and numerous reported anthropomorphic mists and shadows. One late-night motorist even claimed to have seen Bigfoot around the area where Creek Road exits highway 33. A simple late-night drive on this twisting road, lined with gnarled oak trees, is enough to spontaneously generate spook tales. 
In light of all this, perhaps it is not so strange that the Ojai Valley is also home to a vampire legend. Sometime in the 1890s, so the story goes, a strange visitor arrived from Europe and promptly bought a ranch near, where else, Creek Road. When cattle and then people started turning up drained of blood, settlers started to wonder about their new neighbor, who didn’t seem to come calling in the daylight hours. Armed with the requisite crosses, holy water, and wooden stake, they crept up on the creature, lying in a stone sarcophagus under an oak tree. A huge black dog tried to stop them, but the holy water sent the grotesque beast howling away in pain. Opening the heavy stone lid, the posse quickly drove the stake home and sprinkled some holy water from the local mission in for good measure. “And the vampire has not troubled the residents of the peaceful Ojai Valley since.” No one seems to know where the casket is, but that shouldn’t keep the adventurous away.

Mysterious “Charman”

Jiddu Krishnamurti dashed off a book called At The Feet Of The Master at the tender age of 12. In 1926, when he was 31, he was escorted to...

1:20:00 am

The Legend of the Dog Boy

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Floyd and Alline Bettis moved into the large house in the early 1950s. The couple, childless for many years, had a son, Gerald Floyd Bettis, in 1954, according to a local historian and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette archives. Gerald was a difficult child from early on, reported those who knew of him. "His parents were good people, but Gerald was a brat, vicious and cruel," states local Mary Nell Holabird. Bettis also developed some unusual habits early on, including collecting cats and dogs, leading to his nickname, "Dog Boy." 
"He would catch stray animals and torture them. We could hear them howl, "said Holabird. 
Long-time resident Nelda Kennedy agreed with Holabird's assessment of Bettis. "I had almost forgotten about all those cats and dogs he had, but he even added onto the house so he could keep more of them," she said. 
Kennedy also confirmed that Bettis had difficulties at school. "Kids would pester him and take things away from him. It was like he wanted to be aggravated to get attention," she said. She cited one instance in which there was a large family reunion at Quitman City Hall. "Gerald took one of those old chaise lounges over there. You know, like the ones that the Romans would lay back on? He got some grapes and laid down on it to eat them in front of everyone, "she said. 
Bettis' actions allegedly turned more sinister. "He kept his parents virtually imprisoned in the upstairs part of that house," Holabird said. "He would feed them, but only when he decided it was time for them to eat," she said. By the time he was an adult, locals say Bettis towered over his elderly parents at 6'4', and weighed close to 300 pounds. It was also regularly reported that he beat up his father and even threw him out of an upstairs window one time during his teen years. Although he was in his 70s at the time, the elder Bettis hung onto the ledge until the local police showed up, Holabird said. According to the Heber Springs Sun Times, Floyd Bettis died in 1981 after an illness at his home. Others say he was pushed down the staircase and died of a broken neck. 
"I was afraid of Gerald, " Kennedy said. "If you had ever seen his eyes, they seemed to glow at night. One time he came over here and got onto us because we had trimmed a magnolia tree that overlapped into his back yard," she said. "And when they started cleaning that house up, one of his uncles came to my house to borrow a gun, because he was afraid that Gerald would get riled up," she said. 
In the early 1980s, Alline Bettis fell and broke her hip, requiring a trip to the hospital. A retired nurse, Holabird witnessed Bettis' treatment of his mother. "He was slapping her around, and telling her, 'I'm going to have you arrested if you tell anyone what I did.' Not long after this incident, Alline Bettiswas placed in adult protective services and removed from the home permanently. 
A little later, Gerald Bettis built a sunroom on the back of the house, and sold the plants he grew, including marijuana, Holabird said. Authorities arrested him based on this and his mother's testimony of her abuse. Bettis was put in prison in the late 1980s and died of a drug overdose, Holabird said. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette archives confirm Gerald Floyd Bettis death in May 1988 at age 34. 
When Alline Bettis died in 1995, Holabird's niece, Reba Carter, inherited the house. Not long after, there was an estate sale at the house.

The Legend of the Dog Boy

Floyd and Alline Bettis moved into the large house in the early 1950s. The couple, childless for many years, had a son, Gerald Floyd Betti...

1:12:00 am

THE LEGENDS AND FOLKTALES

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