Welcome to #WeirdScienceWednesday! I am here to talk about the strange and unusual because let’s face it, I am strange and unusual lol Paranormal, aliens, conspiracies, Bigfoot… I am here to bring you some information! Enlighten you… maybe make you a new believer! I have studied all things weird since I was 8 years old. It’s time I shared my knowledge with SOMEONE!
Kentucky Goblins
Or are they? On August 21, 1955, five adults and seven kids came into the police station in Hopkinsville, Kentucky claiming to have had a shootout with extraterrestrials.
So, I have spent the last few weeks binging shows and a friend turned me on to Scream. Yes, the MTV series is on Netflix to watch and I have put it off for years it seems but finally caved. If you have yet to watch the show and don’t want spoilers, this article is not for you because #spoileralert. Season 1 starts off with the Lakewood killer and our final girl, Emma. From episode 1, I had my killers pegged. However, in season 1 only one of the killers, because in true Scream fashion there was an accomplice, was revealed. Emma’s half-sister her mother put up for adoption, Piper, turned out to be the killer of the season, and one of my guesses for who the killer was (odd she just showed up out of nowhere to podcast the town). Police close the case saying Piper was the sole killer.
However, we all know that from the episode that Will is kidnapped when he met with the mayor with Piper standing beside him, that there was obviously another killer aside from Piper. It’s horror not supernaturally geared so its not some body swap crap. Season 2 starts up and it takes a only few minutes to realize, ding ding ding, there is another killer. Jake is killed within the first 15 minutes of the show. Now, the other killer that I had pegged in season 1 turned out to be the killer of season 2. Kieran, the late sheriff’s son and Emma’s boyfriend.
Kieran is put on trial for the murders and is in prison when he receives a strange phone call that legitimately frightens him. Using the same voice changer he and Piper had used on their victims, the caller asks him, “Who said you could wear my mask?” And there, the third killer is brought to light. The last episode shows Kieran being rescued from his jail cell as a person in a Brandon James costume kills the guard guarding his holding cell and begins to unlock the cell. Kieran says, “All right, you kept your word. So you going to tell me who you are?” The killer slits his throat and then stabs him in the spine. Kieran dies from his wounds.
Yea, yea, we all know that there are rumors who the third killer could be with the three most prominent being Kevin Duvall (Emma’s dad), Troy James (Brandon James’s brother), and Brandon James himself (I’m leaning hard on it was Emma’s dad and he was the original 1994 Lakewood killer and framed Brandon). So with all of those factors, people didn’t get the answers they wanted when the season ended and the show was totally rebooted with a new storyline. Viewers were left with a gaping question of who was to return to Lakewood for the season that had been set up with the cliffhanging ending of the Lakewood Murders. Kevin Duvall is seen standing over Kieran’s grave smugly. A Mr. James is checking into a motel, unknown if it is Troy or if Brandon DID survive his gunshot wound and he’s returning for revenge. So many questions we don’t have answers to.
If you are one of those people, I am about to leave you with more questions than answers by providing answers to questions not even asked. Noah kept saying the new killer had an accomplice as well. We see how Audrey is being framed into being that accomplice as the killer starts setting her up with come scenes as well as calling her a killer. We learn that she was the one that drew Piper here to get even with the town for marking Brandon James as the serial killer who she thinks was also framed. As the drama unfolds, we learn that she actually wanted to get even with Emma for “breaking her heart.” As the season unfolds, we see Audrey being visibly framed but we also see Audrey being very much an accomplice. Episode 13 shows her being abducted by the killer while they are in the movie theater and the killer stabbing Brooke nearly killing her. Kieran shows up and goes with Brooke to the hospital while Emma runs from the police. While Kieran is on the phone with Emma after Brooke is taken back to the operating room, we see that he is very visibly in the hospital and hasn’t left Brooke or Noah’s side. As soon as they hang up, Emma receives video of a tied up Audrey at the abandoned children’s home. When she gets there, she is attacked by someone in costume and then Kieran shows up. This is when it is revealed that Kieran is the killer.
There was no time for Kieran to abduct Audrey and tie her up in the children’s hospital if he was with Brooke and Noah the entire time. So, if the caller on the phone wasn’t someone he knew, but the person who abducted Audrey is his accomplice, then there is a 4th killer in the show. But who is it? Well, the person who Noah accused of being the accomplice, Audrey.
In the episode where the party for Kieran’s birthday takes place, a drug was slipped into the alcohol that caused hallucinations. Audrey sees Rachel, her girlfriend that was killed in season one (suspect Kieran), during her hallucination and apologizes while taking full responsibility, “I’m sorry for what I did.” Seems like guilt over bringing Piper into town right? When they find Tyler’s severed head, the mask that he was wearing had her DNA in it. This was the same mask that Audrey is seen stealing out of inventory as well as case notes in one episode when she sneaks into the police station. The mask was Audrey’s mask. Audrey was the one that killed Rachel. She would have been the only one to know to make it look like a suicide. The next kill that was Audrey was when Will was murdered. Will was nearly dead when they found him. Kieran and Piper were the ones that took him to lure Emma out there. Kieran is revealed to be the one that attacks them in the abandoned bowling alley the 1994 murders took place. Will saves Emma by knocking the killer out of tract as he ran at her ready to cut her. The next day, Kieran and Emma have a spat about her going back to Will and the killer tells her no matter how they show her how awful he is, she will keep going back to him (much how her mother was with Brandon James). Will is then killed as punishment to Emma. The note left behind by the killer says “You chose wrong again.” You think it was Kieran because minutes before the scene of Will’s death, her and Kieran have a heart to heart over her feelings for Will. As pointed out earlier, Audrey tells Emma she broke her heart and that was why she wanted to get even. Audrey didn’t want to hang out with her new friends and the only reason Emma became their friends is because Will started dating her (under false pretenses at that). What better way to get back at Emma than to kill the very friends one by one, and the love her life, she ditched Audrey to be with.
Audrey was attacked by one of the killers and screams at them to do it after they hesitate for a moment in which they knock her out and then cut her arm after, not before, hitting her in the head. Audrey didn’t watch Emma walk off into the woods and magically know she was going to end up at the dock where Piper was trying to murder her. Audrey already knew what the end game was. Audrey changed her mind in the end of the season and shot Piper, betraying both Piper and Kieran. So Kieran begins to drag her back in by framing her for murders she isn’t doing as payback for killing Piper. That’s why he makes it a point to call her partner in the texts and killer.
After having fun trying to get people to turn on Audrey, Kieran takes Noah and buries him alive. The only person that would have known about the girls playing at the horse barn would have been Audrey because they were little girls and she was the one that recognized the flower from the field. Noah was never in the agreement to be murdered and this was Kieran lashing out at Audrey as a warning to do her part and finish what he and Piper came to Lakewood to do: Kill Emma.
Now remember how Audrey is kidnapped at the movie theatre but Kieran couldn’t have done it? Well, Audrey could have just walked out the door and tied herself up. We already know she knows how to tie herself up convincingly from when she kidnapped Noah earlier in the season. Audrey draws Emma out away from Kieran. Kieran then uses Audrey as leverage with Emma. At any time, he could have just shot her like he did poor Eli. Audrey helps Emma take him down and begs her to shoot him in the head, but Audrey prefers to put him in prison to rot.
Whether my theory of Audrey being the killer is the evidence you need to make your own conclusions on who the killer is or not and you disagree, the evidence still stands that there was a fourth killer in the show. Just exactly who kidnapped Audrey while Kieran was busy slicing and dicing?. Or was Kieran clean of the attack on Brooke and it was the other killer that kidnapped Audrey that also attacked Brooke? The world of Scream fans will never know, but at one point, Noah had the evidence he needed to mark Audrey as one of the killers…
Welcome to #RandomHorrorFacts! Horror has been my love since I was a child. The creepy, the witchy, the demonically inclined, possession, all of it was my go to! Ever wonder what incidents spawned your favorite horror book or movie? Well, let’s dig in and find out!
The Superstitious Friday the 13th
In Western Civilization, Friday the 13th has been a popular superstition. The occurrence happens at least once a year on the Gregorian calendar and many believe it to be an unlucky day. But what exactly spawned the superstition?
The number 13 has its roots in superstitions stemming from Norse myths. The one story in particular was where Loki, the infamous trickster god, was not invited to a dinner party. The total number of guests were 12 until he arrived. Once he was a part of the party, things started to head south as they often did when Loki was around and he soon had convinced Höðr to shoot Balder with a mistletoe tipped arrow. Balder died and the story says that the earth went into darkness to mourn the loss of Balder. Another story plucked from myths comes from the Christian story of Jesus’ last supper that also emulates the same dinner party of 13 and Jesus dying 2 days later.
However, none of the myths and stories that situate around either the number 13 or the day Friday have the occurrence of the date being Friday the 13th. Recent studies also show that as opposed to the superstition of accidents occurring more frequently on this date, they actually occurred less frequently. The only incident that was marked and dated was Friday the 13th of October in 1307 when the Knights of Templars were rounded up for trials and executions. However, there wasn’t any superstition prior to the 19th century for the date.
Friday the 13th movie franchise
Camp Crystal Lake and Jason Voorhees have long been associated with Friday the 13th because, well, that’s the name of the movie franchise this fictional person and setting were created for. Initially titled A Long Night at Camp Blood, this 80’s slasher movie went on to make a 12 movie franchise with crossovers into other horror series such as A Nightmare on Elm Street. Based around the running plot of revenge, Jason Voorhees isn’t actually part of the first movie! It was in fact his mother taking out years of pent up anger and rage out on camp counselors that were more into having sex than watching the kids, which is why her son died years before. Or, so it seemed. At the very end of the movie, Jason comes back to take revenge for the death of his own mother. It has always remained unclear whether or not he was a ghost at first or if he had in fact survived his initial drowning, but hell hath no fury like Jason, and to hell he was sent multiple times.
What exactly does this have to do with the superstition? Well, just as it is titled, the first movie takes place on Friday the 13th. As all 80s slasher films, the movie had a message for its viewers. Its message: Don’t go camping on Friday the 13th. Don’t go camping and have sex on Friday the 13th.
Did the movie franchise help build the superstition? Maybe or maybe not. Superstitions have a way of being fabricated just like myths, fables, legends, or any other good old horror story.
Welcome to #RandomHorrorFacts! Horror has been my love since I was a child. The creepy, the witchy, the demonically inclined, possession, all of it was my go to! Ever wonder what incidents spawned your favorite horror book or movie? Well, let’s dig in and find out!
In the franchise of horror, the most creepy and vilest of ideas usually involve children as a focal point. It’s heart wrenching to think of a child coming into danger or even possibly dying in gruesome, horrific detail. Stephen King paved the way for such scenes of horror when he wrote Pet Semetary and killed the youngest character of the book in such a way that it has even left me traumatized by the event since childhood. My husband and I were just discussing the other day how our 10 year old was now old enough to check the mail, something I had been doing since I was around 7 years old, crossing the road to do so. We have tractor trailers that go fast up and down our road so you can imagine my apprehension of letting one of my children check my mail after watching the tractor trailer run Gage over in Pet Semetary.
One other way horror writers and screenplay writers were able to get under the skin of parents were to take an ordinary doll and make it out to be a fanatical murderer possessed by the spirit of an evil felon. That is what the Child’s Play franchise presented the public with in 1988 and was soon followed by the Puppet Master trilogy. Child’s Play initiated a whole list of movies that would come to life from the bold move of one screenwriter and director. A child’s toy comes to life and tries to take over his body to become human once more. The franchise has even made it all the way into 2020 with remakes and prequels such as The Cult of Chucky and even the remade version of Child’s Play where the doll wasn’t set with any safety features taking the paranormal aspect out of the equation.
However, what sparked the original story behind Chucky? Was it really inspired by true events?
In 1903, Robert Eugene Otto was given a doll. There are many different stories about how he received the doll and even a movie that was made from this real life story aside from Child’s Play that sticks to the story of the Nanny being let go and giving a doll as a parting gift to the child of her employers. The story goes on to say that she imbued the doll with voodoo and gave it life so it could exact her revenge on the family that she claimed abused her. Whether this story was the actual story or not, it does lend information to the story that surrounds the even of Robert the Doll.
Robert Eugene Otto named the doll Robert after himself and then took on his middle name as the name her preferred to be referred to as. Things that happened around the house were soon to be blamed on the doll. Moved furniture, broken items, etc., Eugene told his parents the doll did it. Not only was the doll moving stuff around the house, but he could blink his eyes and would also speak to Robert in private. Robert grew up and moved out of his parent’s house to only return to later in life when his parents passed away and he inherited the house.
Robert, now married, reacquainted with his long lost doll friend and soon began to spend the same amount of time together that he used to when he was a child. His wife didn’t like it. She also attested to the fact that the doll moved around on its own and moved things as well. When Robert died in 1974, the house was sold to Myrtle Reuter. She made the same claims as Robert and his wife had previously claimed; the doll was possessed and moved around on its own. She later donated the doll to a museum, Fort East Martello Museum in Key West, Florida.
Today, people still flock to the museum to see the doll. Robert the doll receives letters and even gifts from people all around. The museum has even fallen victim to its own misfortunate events that many attest to Robert being treated unruly by staff members. We could most likely attribute all doll stories that were to come after Robert’s story going public to the doll. However, it wasn’t long until Annabelle hit the scene and another doll was soon made historic by being placed in a museum as well due to paranormal activity that surrounded it. Is it an over active imagination or did these events really take place? True or fiction, they opened the eyes of horror lovers everywhere and started the killer doll/possessed doll/creepy doll stories that have entertained us since 1988.
Welcome to #WeirdScienceWednesday! I am here to talk about the strange and unusual because let’s face it, I am strange and unusual lol Paranormal, aliens, conspiracies, Bigfoot… I am here to bring you some information! Enlighten you… maybe make you a new believer! I have studied all things weird since I was 8 years old. It’s time I shared my knowledge with SOMEONE!
The Boogeyman Legend
One of my favorite horror movies to hit the scene in the 2000’s was the movie Boogeyman that later turned into a franchise of B rated horror flicks. What was it that I loved so much about the original that the sequels seemed to leave high and dry? The legend that came with the monster in the closet! Throughout history, and across the world globally, there is some form of a bedtime story where a monster in the closet or under the bed will come out and drag the children to either monster land or hell itself. Adults have told the stories for generations as a way to keep kids in bed and not roaming around at night. But where exactly did they learn the stories from?
The descriptions vary from story to story but one thing they all share in common is that the boogeyman has sharp claws, talon like fingers, and sharp teeth. All of this imagery invokes the fear in the child that the monster is going to eat them. The word arose in the mid-19th century and most believe it to be another word for the rapid spreading fear of the Devil in Christian mythology. However, the different legends also depict the boogeyman as a demon, witch, or some other type of legendary mythological creature that would ensure fright. Some stories even have the boogeyman depicted with animal parts, horns being one of the favorites along with hooves and tails (since in Devil mythology he has horns, hooves, and a tail).
Where did the story of the boogeyman originate? No one really knows. Many assume that it came from the 1500s when the stories of fairies began to circulate and hobgoblins were being told as tales. One particular form of a hobgoblin is a bogey. However, locality didn’t explain for the massive spread of fear as parents across the globe told children about the evil witch or the horned beast that would drag them to hell for misbehaving or eat them for fun. Sack Man, El Coco, A Cuca, Babau, and Butzemann are just a few examples of the different legends created around a creepy, humanoid type creature that punished children. Each one is from a different area on the globe as well.
However, not all of the boogeyman legends are full of fright and horror. In Indonesia, the Wewe Gambel kidnaps children that are being abused by their parents and refuses to return them until the parent realizes their mistakes and learns to treat the children better. Many other legends tell of how the boogeyman protects the children or takes those that misbehave no matter the age. If you watch modern horror, you might have seen the movie Sandman. A child has a boogeyman invoked to protect her whenever anyone tries to harm her.
In Switzerland, the Böllima or Böögg is a part of their seasonal changes and is recognized as winter/death.
All across the world is this wonderful phenomenon of boogeyman tales and some even lend to other myths and legends like the Jersey Devil of the US. Or Grýla in Iceland that is the mother of the Yule Tide Lads myth.
Tell me, have you ever had an experience with a boogeyman? Or was it all just your imagination?
Welcome to #WeirdScienceWednesday! I am here to talk about the strange and unusual because let’s face it, I am strange and unusual lol Paranormal, aliens, conspiracies, Bigfoot… I am here to bring you some information! Enlighten you… maybe make you a new believer! I have studied all things weird since I was 8 years old. It’s time I shared my knowledge with SOMEONE!
Hellhounds of Appalachia
Last week, I touched on the Black Dog myth that lent rich mythology to the source of hellhound creation. The Black Dog of the Blue Ridge is one tale many that are native to Virginia have read and heard as a tale urging them to be safe while in the woods. In Botetourt, Virginia, there is a path that many would use to travel to Bedford County. In 1683, after the whispers had spread throughout that there was a beast guarding the path from passage, a group of young cavaliers decided to take the beast head on. Their horses refused to go anywhere near the dog and no one would believe them. So they went back with intentions of killing the dog and taking his hide as a prize. However, no matter how many times they shot the dog, he acted as if none of the bullets had stricken him, and there wasn’t any visible evidence to say that had either.
A beautiful woman came forth years later looking for her husband that had used the path to try and make a new home for them. She was met with the tale of the Black Dog but did not care. She knew the dog wouldn’t hurt her. So, men led her to where the black dog had been witnesses and she walked alone until the dog appeared, benevolent. The dog led her to a shallow grave where she found the bones of her husband and the bones and hair of the dog. Since she was able to lay his bones to rest, no one ever witnessed the apparition of the dog again. However, that is just one story of many of the Black Dog in the Appalachia.
Many stories stem from the Blue Ridge, through West Virginia, and even down into Kentucky about seeing the devil dog that was larger than any normal dog. I have seen many different breeds of large dogs that are European. Those who lived in early America were from Europe. They had seen the size of dogs there. To imagine a dog larger than a Neapolitan Mastiff, the Great Dane, the Irish Wolfhound, or even a Newfoundland begs to wonder how much larger dogs were in the earlier centuries prior to watering down their blood lines to create specific breeds.
In Pike County, Kentucky, there have been sitings of a dog that is 4 feet tall at the shoulders and 7 feet in length with a hump on its back. The Discovery Channel has a show called Mountain Monsters that have captured the creature on film.
Based on these images, the siting of the hellhound looks nothing like an actual dog, but rather a hyena mixed with some sort of wolf breed. Are Hellhounds, or even Black Dogs, actually dogs, or another breed yet to be discovered? What are your thoughts? Have you ever witnessed one of the devil dogs of the Appalachia?
Welcome to #WeirdScienceWednesday! I am here to talk about the strange and unusual because let’s face it, I am strange and unusual lol Paranormal, aliens, conspiracies, Bigfoot… I am here to bring you some information! Enlighten you… maybe make you a new believer! I have studied all things weird since I was 8 years old. It’s time I shared my knowledge with SOMEONE!
The myth of the Black Dog
I am sure most of you have watched the movie Black Dog with Patrick Swayze. In the starting plot of the movie, he lost his trucker’s license and ended up in prison because he “saw the black dog” and crashed his truck into a vehicle that was broken down on the side of the road while falling asleep. He told everyone that the black dog had come for him through hallucination brought on by exhaustion. However, it was common trucker’s mythology that if you saw the black dog, “death was near” and you either wrecked your truck or killed someone. But where exactly did they get the idea for this small tendril of a myth in the movie? From Great Britain, of course!
A larger than normal dog with glowing eyes is what is most commonly reported for the Black Dog. Most commonly seen during electrical storms, at crossroads, places of execution, and ancient pathways, the Black Dog has a lot of ancient ideologies associated with death and is strictly seen at night. This is one reason it is called the death dog.
The legend/folk tale/myth of the black dog is indeterminate in origin. Some speculate Germanic origins and others speculate Celtic origins. Dogs had long been heralded by indigenous people throughout the years in ancient civilizations and on through modern as omens of the death and the visage of the Underworld. In Ancient Egypt, Anubis was the guardian of the Underworld and his effigy that was built by the Egyptians was that of an upright dog. The perpetuated belief of dogs being guardians of the Underworld very similar as to why condors, vultures, and other birds that feast on carrion are revered by indigenous people even today, such as Native American folklore. Dogs were considered to be scavengers. Scavengers helped carry your body off to the afterlife through a circle of life. A vulture feasts on carrion and then flies the soul into the heavens. Dogs dig holes and bury the bones; ashes to ashes, so to speak.
These beliefs evolved throughout time, and of course with religious persecutions of beliefs outside of the patriarchy set by the Roman Catholic Church, polytheistic and paganistic ideologies in folklore were demonized. The Black Dog turned from a guardian of the underworld that helped carry your soul into the afterlife into a scary omen of death. Many tales of the Black Dog mention how viscous the dogs are and to beware them. This can also be a deep seated root in the fear of death that evolved into a myth on its own as well outside of religious contempt. Many people fear death, and a hallucination of the Black Dog- entailing your death to come- could be seen as your own fear of the acceptance of your time to let go.
The Gurt Dog in Somerset and the Black Dog of the Hanging Hills Connecticut are believed to be benevolent apparitions of the Black Dog, whereas most of the time they are sinister or malevolent in nature- typically seen as “hellhounds” and most likely where the mythology of hellhounds originated.
I, myself, have never witnessed a black dog (I have witnessed shadows of the night). Have you ever seen the Black Dog and lived to tell about it?
