Myths and legends from your ´hood, yo

[rebness]

I´ve been taking a look at various myths and folklore tales from around ze world recently, for various reasons. Irritatingly, Wikipedia articles tend to run to stuff like "Tsi'tgeh is a myth from America. This article is a stub." Guys, what you can do is this: recommend me some myths and legends that you like, especially from whichever awesome land from which you hail. I´m au fait with the hell hounds that supposedly hunt across the Welsh countryside, and the selkie and my ainself and what have you from British folklore, but I really need some backgrond information and ideas on other ethnic tales. Thanks.

Comments

[versailles-rose.livejournal.com]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is still rife in our area. And Tarrytown Cemetery is one of the CREEPIEST places I've ever been.

Another legend has to do with Oak Alley in Louisiana. The ghost of the original owner's daughter haunts the place and so does a gambler. When I was there I didn't see or feel either, BUT I did hear a gate clank closed and feel something cold pass RIGHT THROUGH me. sorcha5 and I inspected the gate, and it was chained and rusted shut. We guessed it was the ghost of a house slave carrying something from the kitchen to the main house.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Dude, thanks for the info! HOw could I forget about Sleepy Hollow?

I have to go to Louisiana. :(

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

By a book! (Although, my giant mythology book doesn't even have Echo & Narcissus.)

[rebness.livejournal.com]

I have *several* books on mythology, but they´re all waving at me from England. And I am here, and burnt, and drunk.

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

P.S. There are other websites in existence besides Wikipedia.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but www.xtube.com doesn´t have what I´m looking for. Okay, it had *some* stuff I was looking for, but...

[saffronlie.livejournal.com]

OKAY, you got me, I'm just sad because we only have half-arsed ghost stories and drop bears, and no awesome myths and legends.

(YES, the Aborigines have theirs, but I'm not an Aborigine so it's not my place to talk about the rainbow snake and the porpoise that burst, and stuff.)

[rebness.livejournal.com]

See? That wasn´t so hard, was it?

Rainbow snakes sound awesome.

[zhonghua2000.livejournal.com]

Not a myth or folklore tale, but I've always been intriqued by the criminal case of Lizzie Borden and whether or not she killed her parents. She was found not guilty but no one seems to believe that. LINK

Also the Boston Strangler case. He died in prison and it always has been and still is a question whether or not Albert De Salvo actually committed the crimes.

Oh, and then there's Bigfoot. :)

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Muhahahaa. Thanks.

Lizzie Borden was one of the first rhymes my dad taught me. >:)

[pigeongirl99.livejournal.com]

Eh. I only really know the stuff you're already going to be pretty au fait with- King Arthur (just because some watery tart threw a sword at you...), Robin Hood and the beloved Greek myths.

More locally we've our own little myth about The Millers Tomb- see here. All the local kids still growing up believing that if they were to dance around the tomb seven times at midnight (or somesuch) the devil will appear.

I'm naturally far too old for such nonsense. But I still bloody well wouldn't risk it, it's that ingrained in me.

[rebness.livejournal.com]

Haha. Excellent. Thanks, this is just what I was looking for. I´m interested in the small, local myths that won´t be covered in some bleedin´ encyclopaedia somewhere.

There is an awful legend about this evil tomb in Liverpool, that´s in the shape of a pyramid. I´m not afraid and don´t believe it, but I´ll never go past it of a night. Ahem.

[avariecaita.livejournal.com]

There's loads of stuff local to where I am, but you'd have to come here to see it. When I was little, someone murdered an entire family with a hammer. We called him the Hammer Man. He was never caught and the family lived less than a mile from me. That summer was spent indoors, or, by chance we got outside, under the careful watch of my mother.

Less locally, but still inside my family history, is the Jersey Devil. It's only recently resurfaced by one of my dad's old high school friends who still lives in Jersey. Apparently, something was killing house cats and the like and leaving the mutilated corpses around. They killed a beast that looked something between a coyote and a Tasmanian Devil (I know, rite!) and the legend sprung up again. I think, originally, the Devil was supposed to be more of a bird-like creature. *shrugs* I think the new version is more terrifying.

And finally, the CHUPACABRA! OMG! This one is pretty new to folklore. It started in Puerto Rico in the 70's. My neighbours growing up were from PR, so they told me this story to scare the shite out of me. Well, basically, it worked. ;)

Kalevala

[t-illusion.livejournal.com]

Well we have the Finnish epic Kalevala which explains not only history and beginnings of the world but also something true about us in general. For example the fact that we always fail in life and love and are basically just miserable. :p Also Tolkien borrowed a lot from it. Many of his ideas came from the Finnish language and the Kalevala.

A bit from Kalevala:

"Wainamoinen, lone and weary,
Straightway fell to bitter weeping,
Wept and moaned in heavy accents,
On the border of the blue-sea.
On a cheerless promontory,
With a hundred wounds tormented,
Made by cruel winds and waters,
With his hair and beard dishevelled
By the surging of the billows.
Three long days he wept disheartened
Wept as many nights in anguish,
Did not know what way to journey,
Could not find a woodland foot-print,
That would point him to the highway,
To his home in Kalevala,
To his much-loved home and kindred."


I have to admit though that I have not read the epic myself. It is in old poem form and thus extremely boring to read.

[pandorasblog]

www.forteantimes.com - best way to find more obscure stories from all over the world. Their news section is particularly neat, but the in-depth articles are the best. Intelligently-written stuff from the point of view of "benevolent scepticism"...