Kampung Kreepy

Since discovering an American persimmon tree right in my backyard, I’ve also stumbled upon a delightful piece of Appalachian folklore with which some of you may be familiar.  Did you know a locally grown American persimmon can predict winter weather in your area? The fruit has to be from a local tree so as to mirror local conditions. Cut open a ripe fruit (when it gets soft and mushy) and take out one of its seeds. Slice the seed lengthwise, exposing its white kernel. According to the lore, the kernel’s shape tells you what to expect for winter. If the kernel is shaped like a:     • fork: winter will be mild with light snow     • spoon: expect heavy wet snows where you’ll need your shovel     • knife: winter will be bitterly cold and icy with a biting wind You may want to examine the seeds from the fruit of at least three different trees for more accuracy.  My persimmons aren’t ripe yet, but I’ll certainly be putting the lore to the test. 😄

Like many others, I will never forget Sept. 11, 2001. We lived at the time in Arlington, a neighborhood in Virginia that’s separated from Washington, D.C., by the Potomac River.  My husband was a journalist. His office was in D.C. near the White House.  On that day, I’d just dropped my child off at daycare when my husband called and told me to turn on the T.V. I did so, and learned that two planes had plowed into the World Trade Center.  A third plane struck the Pentagon, only 7 miles up the road from our house. I got my son back from daycare, and I wanted to drive into D.C. to get my husband. I had no idea if the bridges into D.C. would close. I didn’t know if more planes would fall out of the sky. My instinct was that if the world was going to end, I wanted my family together. He told me not to come, because there were rumors that the terrorists had planted car bombs in the city. (That turned out to be false.) So I stayed home with my child. I monitored the news. I talk...

The Witch (2015) is such a well-made movie, and a great addition to the folk horror genre.  The plot revolves around a family that is banished from a Puritan settlement in New England in the 1630s. The family ventures out into the wilderness, builds a farm and tries to eke out a living. Things start going south when the children are targeted by a malevolent witch. I like the movie's linear storytelling. It lays the foundation effectively so you understand the family members' fear and descent into paranoia. There’s not a lot of dialogue or sets. Instead, director Robert Eggers lets the wintry New England landscape do a lot of the heavy lifting. The dark woods, the family’s strict religion and isolated, grim existence combine to create an atmosphere of dread that’s palpable. And of course, Anya Taylor-Joy is always a pleasure to watch. The Witch was her feature film debut.  

It's time to celebrate the giant sea serpents of myth and lore. National Sea Serpent Day is an unofficial holiday to commemorate a sighting in August 1848, when passengers and officers on the HMS Daedalus saw what they described as a 60-foot-long sea creature with a maned head in the South Atlantic.  Other famous sea serpents include Nessie the Loch Ness Monster, and Chessie, a 30-foot-long snake-like sea creature that supposedly inhabits the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia and Maryland.  According to various eye witness accounts, Chessie has flippers, a horse- or crocodile-like head, and a serpentine body that is as thick as a telephone pole.  Chessie was first spotted in the 1930s. Sightings of the monster spiked in the 1970s and 1980s. Chessie was even reportedly seen in the Potomac River in Virginia’s Westmoreland County in 1978.  Do you know of any other famous sea serpents?  By the way, there may or may not be a giant serpent in my Geomancer’s Apprentice urban...

Some of you may know that Diyu is the Chinese version of Hell. Diyu is a subterranean maze with several levels or “courts” that dole out punishments for various types of sins. Meng Po, the goddess of forgetfulness, resides in Diyu’s 10th court.  Meng Po waits at the Naihe Bridge (the Bridge of Oblivion) to serve her five-flavored soup. Once a soul is ready to be reborn, he or she must drink the soup before Meng Po allows them to cross the bridge and leave Diyu.  The souls permanently forget their past life as well as their experiences in Diyu once they ingest the soup. They will thus get a fresh start free from the burdens of their past existence. The new life will be shaped by the karma the souls accrued in their previous incarnations.   Meng Po prepares the soup from herbs she collects from ponds and streams in the realm of the living. In some variations of the mythology, Meng Po was the former Lady Meng Jiang who could not reincarnate because of her grief over her...

  Did you know that July 10 is Grace Sherwood Day in Virginia Beach, Va.? Grace Sherwood, the so-called “Witch of Pungo,” was the only person to be convicted of witchcraft in Virginia through the test of ducking in water.  Starting in 1697, the midwife and healer was accused by her neighbors of “bewitching” their livestock and cotton crops. She was also accused of shape-shifting—turning into a black cat. In response, Sherwood brought defamation lawsuits against her accusers. The court didn’t make a finding of witchcraft, and Sherwood lost her defamation cases. In January 1706, new allegations were brought against Sherwood by a neighbor who claimed Sherwood caused her miscarriage. A jury of 12 “ancient and knowing women” appointed by the court found two “witches’ marks” on Sherwood’s body. Such marks could range from a mole to skin discolorations. The court ordered that Sherwood be tried by “ducking.” In this test, an accused witch was bound hand and foot and thrown into water ...