“Let’s go Legend Trippin’!!”

“Let’s go Legend Trippin’!!”

“Let’s go legend tripping!” doesn’t have the same impact as “let’s go ghost hunting!”, but for some ghost hunters, it is exactly what they are doing!

“Whatchoo talkin’ ‘bout Allen?" I hear you say.  What I am talking about is a thing called “ostension”, a term which is explained in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “an act or process of showing, pointing out or exhibiting”. The word comes from the Latin word ‘ostendere’, which means ‘to show’.

 Ostension is the act of making an action to explain a word without saying the word, such as “flippin’ the bird" to say…well you know what it means...

  Way back last century, in 1983, an article was published titled “Does the word 'dog’ bite? Ostensive Action as a Means of Legend Telling” by folklorists, Linda Degh and Andrew Vazsonyi.
  Basically, this article laid out the foundations of what folklorists termed “legend tripping”, the act of engaging in “playacting” involving supernatural elements, of which ghost hunting is the most common, but also of which Bigfoot hunting, werewolf hunting and other aspects of the paranormal fall under.

  In a book published this century, “Aliens, Ghosts and Cult: Legends We Live” by Bill Ellis, Mr Ellis, a folklorist delves further into the world ostension, pointing out that many ghost hunters take themselves quite seriously, and the ‘work’ they do and would never consider that they are, in fact, playacting.

 There are numerous ghost hunting teams that venture out into the dark with their gadgets, try and confront supernatural beings or ghosts with an onslaught of questions, then return to the safety of their home, secure in the knowledge they have taken on the unknown, and won. There is no research into the history of the location, how their equipment actually works, what it is used for in the real world, and its actual capabilities. There is no investigation into natural explanations, weather patterns, psychology or anything else for that matter – it is in essence, exactly what the folklorists state it is “play acting”.

 Bill Ellis wrapped it up rather well in his previously mentioned book with this quote (ghost hunters) "venture out to challenge supernatural beings, confront them in consciously dramatized form, then return to safety. ... The stated purpose of such activities is not entertainment but a sincere effort to test and define boundaries of the 'real' world'." 

  Back to the article by Degh and Vazsonyi. Essentially what the writers are trying to convey is that if a “legend” is widely known and exposed to a wide audience, some members of that audience will engage themselves in actualising or ‘living’ the ‘legend’ or parts of the narrative associated with it. In the paranormal industry, this would be the aspect of ghost hunting that involves persons who want to copy their favourite ghost hunting TV star and live out what they see on TV, for the thrill and for the status.

 There is a distinct difference between the casual ghost hunter and the serious paranormal investigator, but at the end of the day, even the serious paranormal investigator can engage in “legend tripping”, and the casual ghost hunter can become a serious paranormal researcher and investigator, but at the end of the day we have to ask ourselves, are we getting involved in other people’s legends when we investigate the paranormal and living out their expectations of what will happen, or are we going in armed with research, knowledge and no expectations?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ostension

http://www.ostension.org/whats_ostension.html

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EEQVGW2/?&tag=livescience01-20

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2016

 

What is Braucherei?

Bruacherei was brought to the United States by early Germanic immigrants who fled religious persecution in their homelands, these Immigrants would later be referred to as the Pennsylvania Dutch.
  This magical system is based on aspects of Christian Theology, European Folklore, superstition, ceremonial magic, witchcraft rites and shamanism; added in some areas are Native American Indian practices. The magical system can be traced back as far as the 2nd Century.

Much of the magical system is based on three sets of writings, Egyptian Secrets by Albert Magnus, Long Lost Friend by John George Hohman, and the Romanus-buchlein, which derives from some Gypsym (Roma) traditions. Bruacherei, as a religion, relies very heavily on the power of God and Christ and incorporates the mystic and magical teachings and philosophies of early Christian mystics

The heart of the religion remains in Pennsylvania, and as one travels further out of the state, the religion blends more into Shamanistic and Neopagan practices and loses some of its Christian aspects. Modern-day Braucherei practitioners include Chris Bilardi, Jack Montgomery, and Rob Chapman. These gentlemen have brought the traditional aspects of the religion back into the limelight through books and websites.

Like all religions it has a good and bad side, the light workers are known as practitioners of “Pow-Wow” the “night-workers” are known as the “Hexerei” or “Hexers”.

Hexerei

This is the darker side of Braucherei, this is what the Pennsylvania Dutch consider, in their terms, “witchcraft”. It is the practice of hexing, using malevolent magic to cause hurt and harm. It is a self-serving form of the Braucherei, utilising demons and spirits to serve for one's own gain.

Pow-wow

Pow-wow is the Braucherei practitioners' of good and light. It teaches healing and protection against evil by utilising charms to protect against the evils of hexes and witchcraft.

Pennsylvania Dutch Hexes

The Pennsylvania Dutch are a colorful folk when it comes to decoration, many barns are adorned with colourful symbols that also appear on birth certificates and in other places. These colourful symbols are known as Hex Signs, a term coined by Author Wallace Nutting in his book Pennsylvania Beautiful, which was published in 1924.

Hex Signs utilize motifs, usefully featuring hearts, wheat, birds, tulips and colours, some also use a very distinctive bird known as a Distelfinks, also common is the usage of Stars, the moon and sun.
 During the late 1800s people in the area started painting the hex signs on their barns as a way to ward of witchcraft, bad luck and other evil doings, They became even more popular after the 1928 “Witch Craft Trials” dubbed by one local newspaper as “The weirdest and most curiously fascinating in the history of jurisprudence."

  

  

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Many thanks to Rob Chapman for his assistance in editing this page

Please visit Robs site at

http://braucher.webs.com 

© 2007 - 2014 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.net

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2014

The Legend Of Robert Skelton: "The Cauld Lad of Hylton"

The Legend Of Robert Skelton

"The Cauld Lad of Hylton"

What happened in Hylton Castle in Sunderland England, will forever remain a mystery. The Castle is but a shadow of its former self, a ruin, attracting tourists and ghost hunters from across the globe.

There are rumours of a haunting by an elf, a barghest, a brownie, and a poltergeist. They all may exist, they all may exist in this location, but almost all the actions of the spirits in this location are attributed to one spectre “The Cauld Lad of Hylton”, Robert Skelton.

The origins and stories of the murdered stable boy are varied. It is thought he lived sometime in the 16th century, with the ghost story arising sometime soon afterwards.

One interpretation of the legend states that Robert, a stable boy, was caught by Baron Robert Hylton courting his precious daughter and that the Baron being so angered that a lowly stable-boy could ever think of offering his affections to his daughter, killed the boy.

Another of the legends has a different take on happenings, in this version it is stated that the boy overslept, and had not prepared the Baron's horse in time for him to leave for a very important engagement. The Baron, angered by the boy's insolence and neglect of his duties, killed the boy.

There are varying details on how Baron Hylton ended the life of Robert Skelton, depending on the storyteller. You may hear that the Baron decapitated the boy with his sword, or you may hear that Robert was hit repeatedly with a riding crop across his head, fatally wounding the boy. There is also the version, that, in his angered state, the Baron reached for whatever was near to strike the boy down, grabbing a pitchfork that was sitting nearby, and instead of hitting the young lad, impaled him upon the fork.

The rumours of ways in which Robert was murdered differ greatly, but the way in which the body was disposed of does not. It is said the Baron disposed of the remains of Robert Skelton by dropping his body down the shaft of a used well on the property.

It is here that the stories, of which the variations lead to legends, become facts. Several months after the boy died, his body was recovered. The Baron was tried for murder, but an old estate farmer, one of the Baron's workers, came forward telling the court that the boy had ordered the Baron to get some tools from a high shelf in a barn, the boy had slipped, fell and mortally wounded himself in doing so. The Baron, being the good man he was, tended to the boy's wounds, but the poor young chap died. Baron Robert Hylton was pardoned of the crime in 1609.

Was the court corrupt?

Was the farmer corrupted?

 It is hard to know in this day and age, as records are not going to state such things, but you can guess at what a local court would rule against a man in their village with such high standing, against a boy with such low standing.

After the trial of the Baron, strange events began to occur in his castle. Kitchen staff would tidy their kitchen, and ready it for the morning, only to find in the morning, the kitchen to be messy again, and, if they didn't clean it, the next morning it would be clean!

Other stories of an “unseen” person taking hot ashes from the stove fires, and placing them on the ground, then laying on them, and leaving a body imprint in the hot ashes are also told.

Chamber pots around the castle would be upturned, spilling their contents onto the floors.

Intrigued as to what was going on, legend has it that one of the kitchen staff stayed up one night in the kitchen, awaiting the phantom causing so much trouble. He saw the ghost of a young naked boy enter the room, crying to himself “I'm Cauld" (I am cold ).

The next night, the kitchen staff left an old cloak in the kitchen for the naked boy ghost. It is said a voice was heard through the castle,
“Here's a cloak and here's a hood, the Cauld Lad of Hylton will do no more good”.

It is said that after the voice was heard, the mysterious ghostly goings-on at the castle came to a halt.

Or did it?

To this day, people speak of hearing a young boy's hallowed cries within the castle walls, eerily coming from nowhere, but seemingly from everywhere....does Robert still haunt the old ruins, seeking the justice that was never served for his death?

What do you think?

Comment below!

Researched and Written by

Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au
© 2012

As a supplement to the above story, here is a little production out of England about 

"The Cauld Lad of Hylton"