The Whispering Woods

From Kuebiko, the ancient Japanese scarecrow god said to know everything in the world, to harvest rituals, rice-field spirits and the one-eyed Dorotabō rising from the mud, scarecrows have long occupied a strange place between the practical and the supernatural. We also visit Nagoro, where hundreds of life-sized scarecrows now outnumber the living, before turning to reported encounters involving scarecrows that appear to move, watch, multiply overnight and, in one modern case, vanish from a field altogether.The BOOKBUY US A COFFEEJoin Sarah's new FACEBOOK GROUPSubscribe to our PATREONEMAIL us your storiesJoin us on INSTAGRAMJoin us on TWITTERJoin us on FACEBOOKVisit our WEBSITEResearch Links:https://kojiki.kokugakuin.ac.jp/shinmei/kuebiko/https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9009https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9973https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/eos/detail/?id=9970https://yokai.jp/en/yokai/dorotabohttps://www.japan.travel/en/japans-local-treasures/nagoro-scarecrow-village-tokushima-2024/https://miyoshi-city.jp/2022/07/15960/https://miyoshi-city.jp/2022/08/15981/https://miyoshi-city.jp/2022/08/16008/Production:Researched, written and produced by Sarah Powell and Roger Hinchliffe. Hosted by Sarah Powell and Tobie Jones. Stories are sourced from historical records, folklore collections, newspaper archives, contemporary accounts and listener submissions. Sources and acknowledgements are provided where appropriate.Thanks so much for listening, and we'll catch up with you again on tomorrow.Sarah and Tobie xx"Spacial Winds," Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licenced under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licencehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In 1892, a farm worker near Salem, Oregon, returned to a cultivated field after supper and claimed to encounter a pale woman standing beside his plough. When he tried to strike her, the blows passed straight through her, and she chased him across the field towards the farmhouse. Locals connected the apparition to an older story of a pioneer woman whose grave had once been avoided by ploughmen before its location was forgotten and crops began growing over the place where she lay.The BOOKBUY US A COFFEEJoin Sarah's new FACEBOOK GROUPSubscribe to our PATREONEMAIL us your storiesJoin us on INSTAGRAMJoin us on TWITTERJoin us on FACEBOOKVisit our WEBSITEResearch Links:https://www.willametteheritage.org/wentz-family-ghost-story/https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/explore/pages/american.aspxProduction:Researched, written and produced by Sarah Powell and Roger Hinchliffe. Hosted by Sarah Powell and Tobie Jones. Stories are sourced from historical records, folklore collections, newspaper archives, contemporary accounts and listener submissions. Sources and acknowledgements are provided where appropriate.Thanks so much for listening, and we'll catch up with you again on tomorrow.Sarah and Tobie xx"Spacial Winds," Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licenced under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licencehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In 1710, strange disturbances began inside Knowehead House on the Islandmagee peninsula in County Antrim. Stones appeared from nowhere, bedclothes were arranged into the shape of corpses, and a ragged childlike figure was seen moving through the house before apparently predicting the death of its elderly resident, Ann Haltridge. After Ann died, eighteen-year-old Mary Dunbar arrived and soon began suffering violent fits, claiming invisible women were attacking her and producing pins, feathers and other objects from her mouth. Her accusations eventually sent eight women to prison for witchcraft and drew a ninth person into a case that became Ireland’s last major witch trial.The BOOKBY US A COFFEESubscribe to our PATREONEMAIL us your storiesJoin us on INSTAGRAMJoin us on TWITTERJoin us on FACEBOOKVisit our WEBSITEResearch:https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/215482763/Sneddon_Devlin_Islandmagee_Witches_Documents_online_.pdfhttps://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/documents-from-the-trial-of-the-islandmagee-witches-at-carrickfer/https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/possessed-by-the-devil-the-history-of-the-islandmagee-witch-trial/https://pure.ulster.ac.uk/en/publications/roundtable-the-islandmagee-witches-1711-creative-and-digital-proj/https://www.ulster.ac.uk/news/2013/october/mark-twain-and-the-irish-connectionSarah xx"Spacial Winds," Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licenced under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licencehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

As summer wanes and the nights grow long, we turn to tales of witches, curses, and the old ways that never truly died. For centuries, harvest time has carried its own magic: charms for fields, blessings for homes, and darker stories of those who bent nature to their will.In today's episode we share 3 spooky Reddit stories.Stories:https://www.reddit.com/r/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/liot6m/the_lady_in_the_woods_1987_2012/https://www.reddit.com/r/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/1c0yc8w/encounter_in_the_spanish_mountains/https://www.reddit.com/r/BackwoodsCreepy/comments/nsebgs/witch_interrupted/The BOOKBY US A COFFEEJoin Sarah's new FACEBOOK GROUPSubscribe to our PATREONEMAIL us your storiesFollow us on YOUTUBEJoin us on INSTAGRAMJoin us on TWITTERJoin us on FACEBOOKVisit our WEBSITEThanks so much for listening, and we'll catch up with you again on Sunday!Sarah and Rog xx"Spacial Winds" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

For much of the nineteenth century, people travelled across Ireland to seek the help of Biddy Early, a famous County Clare healer and clairvoyant. She was purported to 'know' why visitors had come to see her before she was ever told. Stories claimed that Biddy could see future events through a mysterious bottle, cure illnesses blamed on the fairies and even take the form of a hare. Though she was eventually accused of witchcraft, the case against her collapsed, and then after her death in 1874 the stories about her only continued, including the belief that her strange bottle had never really belonged to her at all.As summer wanes and the nights grow long, we turn to tales of witches, curses, and the old ways that never truly died. For centuries, harvest time has carried its own magic: charms for fields, blessings for homes, and darker stories of those who bent nature to their will.After Dark - Apple Spotify AmazonJoin Sarah's new FACEBOOK GROUPSubscribe to our PATREONEMAIL us your storiesJoin us on INSTAGRAMJoin us on TWITTERJoin us on FACEBOOKVisit our WEBSITEResearch Links:https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922321/4869829/5053150https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922348/4872795/5074505https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177625/5173913/5199488https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177621/5173767/5198998https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922102/4852403/4948361https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4922348/4872797/5074525https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177647/5176343/5200662https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177641/5175691/5196981https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177653/5177264/5190832https://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5177618/5173611/5198581https://www.clarelibraries.ie/localstudies/people/biddy-early/https://www.binneas.ie/tape-33-mikeen-mccarthyhttps://www.historyireland.com/feakles-biddy-early-a-victim-of-moral-panic/https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irish-diary/2024/04/21/healer-and-clairvoyant-brian-maye-on-biddy-early-the-wise-woman-of-clare/Sarah and Tobie xx"Spacial Winds," Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licenced under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licencehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

High in the hills of Shimla, India, an old roadside water source known as Chudail Baudi has been feared since the British Raj. Drivers say their vehicles slow down as they approach, before a woman with long hair and backwards feet appears beside the road asking for a lift. Refuse her, and according to the legend, she may just appear inside the car anyway. We explore the stories surrounding the Witch’s Well and the much older folklore of the chudail.As summer wanes and the nights grow long, we turn to tales of witches, curses, and the old ways that never truly died. For centuries, harvest time has carried its own magic: charms for fields, blessings for homes, and darker stories of those who bent nature to their will.The BOOKBY US A COFFEEJoin Sarah's new FACEBOOK GROUPSubscribe to our PATREONEMAIL us your storiesJoin us on INSTAGRAMJoin us on TWITTERJoin us on FACEBOOKVisit our WEBSITEResearch Links:https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/haunted-no-more-shimla-s-chudail-bauri-is-a-children-park/story-5uccCLtQVXSdhOWZjgFh3N.htmlhttps://www.outlookindia.com/culture-society/-angrez-chudail-and-nakalchi-bhoot-the-ghosts-of-shimla-live-on-news-191428https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/An_introduction_to_the_popular_religion_and_folklore_of_northern_India_%28IA_introductiontopo00croorich%29.pdfhttps://aguidetohimachal.com/chudail-baudi-shimla-the-haunted-road-and-the-woman-who-asks-for-a-liftThanks so much for listening, and we'll catch up with you again on tomorrow.Sarah and Tobie xx"Spacial Winds," Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licenced under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 Licencehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/