Forgotten Darkness

Urban legends from the Netherlands, France, Germany, and England, speak of women with the heads of pigs.  Similar tales are still extant in the urban legends of the United States. Part of the Straight Up Strange Network: https://www.straightupstrange.com/ My Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/forgdark/ Opening music from https://filmmusic.io. "Dark Child" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Closing music by Soma. SOURCES London Examiner, February 26, 1815. “Lady Hyde Parker's masqued fete, &c.” London Morning Post, May 31, 1815. “Summary account of the prophetic origin and history of Joanna Southcott,” The Exeter Flying Post, September 8, 1814. Bondeson, Jan. The Two-Headed Boy, and Other Medical Marvels. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000. — and Arie Molenkamp. “The Countess Margaret of Henneberg and her 365 children.” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 89 (December 1996). Chambers, Robert. “'Modern myths' – the pig-faced lady,” Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, August 17, 1850. de Rochechouart, Françoise-Athénaïs, Marquise de Montespan. Memoirs of Madame la Marquise de Montespan. Boston: L.C. Page and Company, 1899. "A Certaine Relation of the Hog-faced Gentlewoman...” https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A12308.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext "A Monstrous Shape, or a Shapelesse Monster.” https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A10066.0001.001/1:1?rgn=div1;view=fulltext “The Long-Nos'd Lass.”https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Long-Nos%27d_Lass https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopedia-of-the-medieval-chronicle/tabula-egmundana-SIM_02396?lang=en

In the summer of 1907, two bodies turned up in different sections of Oklahoma, shot, presumably robbed – and with their ears cut off. Part of the Straight Up Strange Network: https://www.straightupstrange.com/ My Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/forgdark/ Opening music from https://filmmusic.io. "Dark Child" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Closing music by Soma. SOURCES “Another mystery.” McAlester Daily Capital, August 2, 1907. “Black Hand in Oklahoma.” Drummond Herald, August 15, 1907. “Brutal murder in box car.” Parsons (KS) Daily Sun, July 29, 1907. “Bury body held 5 years.” St. Louis (MO) Globe-Democrat, April 29, 1912. “Charles Gunreth is a victim of murderous organization.” Oklahoma Post, August 2, 1907. “Crawford is yet alive.” Tuttle Times, August 9, 1907. “Crime is fixed on Tuttle man.” Lawton Daily News-Republican, August 2, 1907. “Crimes committed by the same persons?” Chickasha Daily Express, August 7, 1907. “Ear snipped body again identified.” Wichita Beacon, December 20, 1911. “Ear snipper up again.” Chickasha Daily Express, March 20, 1908. “Ear snippers are believed to be in custody of officers.” Oklahoma Post, September 9, 1907. “Earless body is unidentified.” McAlester Daily Capital, August 3, 1907. “Ears severed from the heads.” Jasper (IN) Herald, August 9, 1907. “Earlsboro man is discharged.” Shawnee Daily Herald, September 18, 1907. “Expect more arrests in Gunreth mystery.” Oklahoma Post, September 14, 1907. “False arrest suits in murder mystery put off.” Daily Oklahoman, April 22, 1910. “Find body of murdered man.” Oklahoma News, March 18, 1907. “Firm under sweating.” Ardmore Morning Democrat, September 11, 1907. “Five men arrested, two are discharged.” Chickasha Daily Express, July 30, 1907. “Frantz offers reward.” Daily Ardmoreite, August 12, 1907. “Fryrear returns.” Tuttle Times, August 16, 1907. “The Gunreth murder.” Lawton Daily News-Republican, March 25, 1908. “Identification now complete.” Hobart Daily Republican, April 1, 1907. “Identity of dead man brought to light.” Hobart Daily Republican, March 22, 1907. “Indian may have committed the crime.” Oklahoma Post, August 2, 1907. “Isabel boy not victim.” Wichita Daily Eagle, August 23, 1907. “Isabel items.” Barber County Index, September 4, 1907. “Maintain innocence.” Chickasha Daily Express, September 11, 1907. “Man found in Elk Creek.” Roosevelt Record, March 22, 1907. “May be murderers of unknown man.” Lawton Daily News-Republican, July 29, 1907. “May catch ear snippers.” Chickasha Daily Express, December 26, 1907. “May have been Tuttle man.” Lawton Daily News-Republican, August 1, 1907. “May have murderer.” Chickasha Journal, July 30, 1907. “Most brutal murder committed.” Chickasha Daily Express, July 29, 1907. “Mummy is positively identified.” Chickasha Daily Express, December 21, 1911. “Murder case still a mystery.” Oklahoma City Weekly Times, August 9, 1907. “Murder growing mysterious.” Cement Courier, August 9, 1907. “Murder mystery grows complex!” Hobart Daily Republican, July 20, 1907. “Murdered in car.” Fort Smith (AR) Times, July 29, 1907. “Mysterious ear clipping baffle Oklahoma officials.” Greensboro (NC) Daily News, October 27, 1907. “Mysteriously disappeared.” Tuttle Times, August 2, 1907. “Not able to solve.” Shawnee Union Gazette, August 3, 1907. “Officers have right clue in big mystery.” Ardmore Morning Democrat, September 18, 1907. “One more victim of band of thugs.” Muskogee Daily Phoenix, August 2, 1907. “Sees his sister among the dead.” Oklahoma Post, September 1, 1907. “Still unidentified.” Daily Ardmoreite, August 20, 1907. “Theory of Gunreth murder revives old seduction story.” Oklahoma Post, August 7, 1907. “Three Tuttle men arrested.” Chickasha Journal, August 1, 1907. “To call special grand jury.” Chickasha Journal, August 5, 1907. “Two men found dead with ears clipped off.” Houston Post, September 3, 1912. “Unknown man murdered in Frisco box car.” Chickasha Journal, July 29, 1907. “Waters of Big Elk reveal ghastly crime.” Hobart Daily Republican, March 18, 1907. “Wilbur Gunreth's mother fails to identify body.” Oklahoma Post, August 3, 1907. “Will offer reward.” Vinita Daily Chieftain, August 5, 1907. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/58663849/johnny-robinett https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69091681/wilbert-olin-gunreth  

There is a tradition in certain homes in England – northern England, mainly – of keeping a skull in a house or else poltergeist phenomena will ensue. Generally these are called “screaming skulls,” although only a small number are reputed to make any sound whatsoever. What are these “screaming skulls”? A remnant of ancestor worship? Several skulls are described. Part of the Straight Up Strange Network: https://www.straightupstrange.com/ My Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/forgdark/ Opening music from https://filmmusic.io. "Dark Child" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com). License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)Closing music by Soma. SOURCES “Northern answers,” Yorkshire Herald, June 13, 1896. “Wardley Hall and the legend of the skull,” Manchester Weekly Times, September 9, 1892. Baring-Gould, Sabine. A Book of Folk-Lore. London: Collins, 1913. Clarke, David. The Head Cult: Tradition and Folklore Surrounding the Symbol of the Severed Human Head in the British Isles. PhD Thesis: University of Sheffield, 1999. Holland, Richard. A Guide to Welsh Ghostlore. The History Press, 2011. Jennings, Louis John. Rambles Among the Hills in the Peak of Derbyshire, and the South Downs. London: John Murray, 1880. Lysons, Daniel and Samuel. Magna Britannia: Being A Concise Topographical Account of the Several Counties of Great Britain, vol. 3. London: T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1814. Roberts, Kai. Folklore of Yorkshire. The History Press, 2013. Sturluson, Snorri. Heimskringla, History of the Kings of Norway (translated by Lee M. Hollander). Austin: University of Texas Press, 2002 (reprint of 1964 edition). Sussex Archaeological Collections, Relating to the History and Antiquities of the County (vol. XVI). Lewes, Sussex: George P. Bacon, 1864. http://launcestonthen.co.uk/index.php/the-people/the-peter-family/ http://archiseek.com/2009/1898-wardley-hall-lancashire/#.URDe7_dFCM8 https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/head-celtic-head-cult https://clasmerdin.blogspot.com/2017/12/dover-castle-gawains-skull.html