Do you know any..?

[luvtosr]

I don't know if this should be here or in General but anyway.

I was wondering if any of you could help me with some research on local legends, folklore and myths. It's for a personal project I'm working on and I would really like to have a wide array of info to choose from.

Please include the key features, any possible historical links and at least a rough location, country, county/state that sort of thing. Be as detailed as you like.

Thanks in advance to anyone who replies.

 

[BEAR]

Wow, it's like you're asking me to do homework. Just teasing. I would love to help when i find time.

 

[Ernie101]

Do you mean like, Paul Bunyon of Johnny Appleseed?

 

[luvtosr]

Do you mean like, Paul Bunyon of Johnny Appleseed?

I dunno, who are they?

Basically I'm just looking for anything pertaining to the fantastical and/or supernatural. Anything involving mystical beings, ghosts, unexplained phenomena, legends of witches, local bogeymen, enchanted places, cursed places absolutely anything like that.

Don't worry if you don't know full details, as long as I have a brief outline and a rough locations I can (*ahem* make up stuff to) fill in the gaps. It's for a creative project so please don't go out of your way to look up a load of facts, the sort of stuff that makes it's way into campfire stories will be perfect.

Or, if you happen to know any more universal ones like The Wandering Jew (supposedly mocked Christ on the cross and was subsequently condemned to wander the Earth until Judgement Day), I'd be mighty grateful.

 

[Ernie101]

Whoa, whoa, whoa... where are you from? You've never heard of Paul Bunyon? Babe the blue Ox?

They are Myths, or as you would say it.. Folklore.

 

[luvtosr]

Whoa, whoa, whoa... where are you from? .

Scarborough, North Yorkshire, U.K.

Are they urban legends? I'm not too clued up about that sort of stuff, I should look into it more I guess. I'm more a traditional mythology type girl.

 

[That Announcer]

OK, I'd be happy to give you a couple of Nova Scotian myths. If you search around, you can probably find these in a book. Most of the time, you're reading a single version of the story (about 85% of the time), but the other 15% is an amalgam of many versions of the story. Hope you like them!

I assume you know about the traveling fairs that go around. You've seen them, with their lame ferris-wheel rides and soggy fried corn dogs. Well, about a hundred years ago or so, the guy that ran the traveling fairs here was called Bill Lynch. He ran his sleazy fairs with little difference from what you'd find halfway across the world. But anyway, Bill was known to be a bit of a ladies' man, with a life full of one-night stands and girlfriends who he would throw away. Bill thought he was up to business as usual when he found a new girlfriend down around Antigonish; however, she happened to be the daughter of a Mi'kmaq (native) tribe. As was to be expected, Bill dropped the girl like a hot potato. Now, the Mi'kmaq knew little of Bill's traveling fairs, and nothing at all of his reputation with women, so this came as a great shock to the chief. When Bill was ready to sail away to his next location, the chief put a curse on Bill and his fairs that would make it rain every time his fair comes to town. To this day, not only does it always rain in Antigonish, but it always rains everywhere else when a Bill Lynch fair comes around.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Witches are a common theme in folklore and mythology, as they make wonderful catalysts to stories. Well, a witch story exists for Halifax. About a fifteen minute trip from my house will lead you to Robie Street, a bit of a main street in Halifax. Now, Robie has many side-streets, and on one is a large, white, unassuming house lying on the corner of Robie and this street. Inspection of one side of this house, however, will reveal an unusual detail: a solid black, opaque window. The story behind this window is that around 1910, the man that lived in the house looked outside his window and saw three witches performing an evil deed on a small animal out in the street. The man was unfortunate, however, as the witches looked up and saw the man staring at them. One witch killed the man, and the other two decided to place even more damage to his house. They had just "blackened" one window when the murderer witch told them to come along, and so they did. To this day, the house owners can even put in a new window and it will become dead black within 24 hours.

 

[MrsPepper]

There's a legend in Ontario about a big lumberjack named Joe Mufferaw. Stompin' Tom Connors has a song about him. You can find the words here: http://lachlan.bluehaze.com.au/hardfindsongs/mufferaw_joe.html

My dad tells me that the name was actually french, but was anglicised to Mufferaw. I don't know a whole lot about him myself.

 

[RedDragon]

Whoa, whoa, whoa... where are you from? You've never heard of Paul Bunyon? Babe the blue Ox?

Paul and Johnny are AMERICAN folklore, Ernie. People in other countries might not know much about them.
Now, as for who they are. Paul was a gaint who was 15ft tall(or something like that). He was a lumber jack who could cut down an entire tree in one swing of his might axe. He is usually seen wearing a red plaid shirt and suspendered jeans. His best friend is a great blue ox named Babe. He and Babe apparently made many of america's landmarks, like the Great Lakes and the Rockys.
And Appleseed was a teenager who walked around this great land(a.k.a America) planting apple seeds and growing trees so people had food to eat. He is seen as wearing overalls and and cook pot(this is a hat, handle going back or to the side).
Then there is Davey Crockett, a real person, a pioneer man. He frought Indains and wore a racoon skin hat.
John Henry was a black man who battled against a machine to dig a train tunnel through the Rockys. John dug with just and mining hammer and spike. He won but died of a heart attack soon after.

I'm sure others can tell you more, this is just an overview.

 

[luvtosr]

Thankyou, thank you everyone! This stuff is like pure gold to me!

Y'know I think I learnt a song about John Henry when I was little. Good stuff.

((((((((((((((((((hugs to all))))))))))))))))))))