ARTEMIS: GODDESS OF THE HUNT + VISIONS FROM HER TEMPLES | Ancient Historian | Carla Ionescu Nov 12, 2024

Dr. Carla Ionescu, PhD is an ancient historian, author, traveling lecturer, Canadian university professor, founder of The Artemis Research Centre and host of The Goddess Project podcast. With hunting seasons upon us, we begin this odyssey into the Greek goddess of the hunt, Artemis, with the famous myth of the forlorn houndsman, Actaeon. Carla officially introduces Artemis/Diana & explains how Grecian hunters gave her offerings before the hunt, including sweets, animal sacrifices and large communal festivities. We hear of the goddess' symbols in art history & mythology: deer, dogs, bows & arrows, bee eggs, leopard pelts, bears, etc. What was life like 3,000-years-ago at her temples for the priestesses, pilgrims, and worshippers? From there we turn to the personal, as Carla describes some of the mountain & cave temples she's visited in Greece and tells a haunting, mystical story about visionary experiences she's had alone in an ancient cave temple on the island of Crete. We end on vocation, reincarnation, and slave boys saved by honey cakes.
As discussed on the episode, taste some history with a recipe for Ancient Greek Honey Cookies.
Follow Carla on Instagram at @ArtemisExpert. Order her book, She Who Hunts: Artemis: The Goddess that Changed the World. And for everything else, visit her website, The Artemis Research Center.
Reading of the Actaeon myth from Metamorphoses by Ovid [Penguin Classics translation]
Music provided by SEIKILO Ancient World Music
"Mother"
Written & Performed by Thanasis Kleopas
Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music
"Initiation to Dionysus Cult, or Pendulum"
Written & Performed by Theodore Koumartzis & Evagoras Bekiaris
Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music
"Upon the High Mountain"
Written & Performed by Thanasis Kleopas
Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music
"Little Sea"
Written & Performed by Christiana Papakosta
Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music
"Odyssey"
Written & Performed by Thanasis Kleopas
Courtesy of SEIKILO Ancient World Music
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SCOTTISH FOLK: SAMHAIN & THE CAILLEACH, CANNIBALS & POACHERS | Storyteller | Eileen Budd Oct 31, 2024

Eileen Budd is a professional storyteller, the host of the Scottish Folk podcast, and an artist & author in Angus, Scotland. After a Halloween reading about skull broth, Eileen describes where she lives in Scotland and the floods they experienced in last year's Storm Babet. Talk of weather and storms brings up the Gaelic mother goddess, the Cailleach. From these ancestral stories comes a conversation about the diaspora of Scottish people to America aboard "coffin ships" and the suppression of their culture. Turning to the macabre mood of Halloween, we hear of folkloric and historic cannibals, Sawney Bean & the 15th-century butcher, Christie Cleek. Eileen describes what Samhain is - the time-of-the-year when traditional folk commune with the spirits of their ancestors. When it comes to personal stories from a professional storyteller, Eileen tells three haunting supernatural tales, in the best of which, a spirit saves the life of her grandmother. We wrap it up on rural poacher-lore from catching rabbits in nets to a story about a famous folk hunter who passed up a shot on a stag enchanted by fairies.
Follow Eileen on Instagram and check out her podcast Scottish Folk
Reading of "The Death Bree" from Scottish Fairy Tales, Folklore & Legends
For Hurricane Helene Flood Relief for Past Podcast Guests:

Rebecca Beyers of Blood & Spicebush - GoFundMe
Lupo Passero of Twin Star Tribe - Twin Star South Fundraiser

Music Credits:
"Bonny at Morn"
Performed by The Whistlebinkies
"The Weary Farmer"
Performed by Tinkler Madgie
"The Sky Fishers Song"
Performed by Jean Redpath
"The Beggar Laddie"
Performed by Jean Redpath
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

SIGNS, CURES & WITCHERY; GERMAN FOLK MAGIC & MUSIC OF WEST VIRGINIA | Folklorist | Gerald Milnes Sep 26, 2024

Gerald Milnes is a folklorist, fiddler, author, documentary filmmaker, ethnomusicologist, amateur anthropologist and the former Folk Arts Coordinator at the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, WV. He is the book author & documentary filmmaker of Signs, Cures & Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore. After an intro about milk witchery, Gerald talks about his passion-driven life as a self-taught folklorist. From there he lays out the history of the 18th-century migration of German settlers from the Old World to Pennsylvania and finally into the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. Living in the region, Gerald befriended & interviewed many of the old timers who revealed to him a mysterious world of folk magic, superstition & occultism still alive on the mountain farmsteads. We hear of witch wars, witch doctoring, hunting magic, animal sacrifice, planting by the signs, selling one's soul to the devil, and the interplay between Christianity & the occult. For the last section, Gerald plays regional songs on his fiddle while telling a story about music's effect on the soul. In closing, he shares some music-lore about rattlesnake tails & a bewitched fiddle.
Readings from Signs, Cures & Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore by Gerald Milnes.
Watch the Signs, Cures & Witchery documentary & purchase Gerald's books.
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FERAL PEOPLE OF APPALACHIA + BLACK MOUNTAIN HAUNTINGS | Paranormal Investigator | Brian Jeffrey Sep 11, 2024

Brian Jeffrey is a paranormal investigator in Farragut, Tennessee, who's served in the US Army and as a former Park Ranger. After historical readings about wild men & feral children, we open on Knoxville's urban sprawl. From there we get to the topic at hand, feral people of Appalachia, more specifically, within the Great Smoky Mountains National Park: from Brian's adventures searching them out & finding tracks; to rumors of cannibalism; strange tunnels; accounts from an attacked ginseng digger & a homesteader who claims she shot one. Interwoven is the mysterious local story of a boy named Dennis Martin who vanished in 1969 while on a family camping trip. Beyond the feral, Brian shares his own frightening paranormal stories that took place on Black Mountain where we hear of portals; a witch's burned down cabin; and a nightmarish murderer. We close on Brian's ruminations on both the intoxicating & yet taxing effects of supernatural research with examples from a shocking photograph & dark memories from the US border.
Check out Brian's Black Mass Paranormal YouTube channel where I sampled clips from his Black Mountain portal experience, witch hauntings & a paranormal attack.
Music provided by Navajo Witch
"Black Curse"
Written & Performed by Navajo Witch
"Ghost Sickness"
Written & Performed by Navajo Witch
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THE BELL WITCH OF TENNESSEE, BLACK DOGS & SPIRITUAL WARFARE | Pastor | Tyler Estep Aug 27, 2024

Tyler Estep is a local historian, former tobacco farmer & Baptist pastor at the oldest church west of Appalachia, in Adams, Tennessee; home of the infamous Bell Witch! After a reading from a 1904 newspaper that summarizes the Bell Witch mystery, we open on the region's tobacco farming culture. Then we turn to the topic at hand, the Bell Witch. We explore various explanations for the 19th-century hauntings: John Bell & an eccentric neighbor, Kate Batts; The Great Awakening & the demonic; ventriloquism & murder; an Indian curse & land-based hauntings; and lastly, a slave overseer's ghost. Throughout, Tyler openly shares his own strange encounters and spiritual battles with both mental health & the supernatural. For the official story, we hear of town folks' mysterious black dog sightings that harken back to the original accounts by the Bell family slave, Dean. We end on the area's cave systems and a potent warning not to take anything from them!
Check out the seasonal plays including Spirit in Adams, Tennessee: BellWitchFallFestival.com
Black dog story reading from An Authenticated History of the Famous Bell Witch by M. V. Ingrim
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CORMAC MCCARTHY'S KNOXVILLE & THE SOUTHERN GOTHIC | English Professor | Bill Hardwig Aug 12, 2024

Bill Hardwig is a Cormacian scholar & associate professor of English at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. This episode is devoted to the early Appalachian Tennessee novels of the late, great, literary master, Cormac McCarthy [best known for No Country for Old Men, All The Pretty Horses, & The Road]. We begin by defining and discussing the literary genre: the southern gothic. From there we lay out the synopsis & inspiration behind three of Cormac's outstanding southern gothic novels: Child of God about a depraved serial killer roaming the Tennessee hills; Outer Dark about an incestuous brother & sister & their baby that's left for dead; and Suttree, Cormac's first acclaimed masterpiece about a shiftless fisherman living amongst the river & street life of 1950's Knoxville where he befriends the likes of petty-criminals, drunks, vagrants and prostitutes. Throughout we will hear of Cormac's upbringing in Knoxville with tidbits on trapping, taxonomy, hellhounds, regional flora & fauna, a folder of local stories, and city landmarks one can visit from Suttree. Bill reads us two passages to illustrate Cormac's ability to capture the region's voice, and finally, we end on highlighting the importance of ambiguity in great works of fiction.
Check out Bill's map of literary landmarks in Knoxville: LiteraryKnox.com
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GROUNDHOG-OLOGY, 'POSSUM BREEDERS & FOLKWAYS | Naturalist & Storyteller | Doug Elliott Jul 30, 2024

Doug Elliott is a naturalist, herbalist, storyteller, musician, author, illustrator and something of a living legend in Rutherford County, western North Carolina. After a story about deciphering the secret language of trout, we open on Doug's early career as a 1970's traveling forager. Now, no Doug Elliott conversation would be right without a 101 on groundhog-ology ranging from how to make groundhog shoelaces to understanding the medicinal properties of groundhog grease. The natural next step from groundhogs is opossums, Doug recounts the time he befriended an eccentric Alabama mayor who happened to be the president of the Possum Growers & Breeders Association of America. From there its on to folkways & more encounters with the natural world: doctoring a wounded hunting dog with strips of bark; a life lesson learned from a spruce grouse; eating poison ivy; folk names for regional plants & birds; and the inspiration for his latest book about bees.
Purchase Doug's books at Dougelliott.com
Music by Doug Elliott
"Oh Groundhog"
Written & Performed by Doug Elliott
"West Virginia"
Written & Performed by Doug Elliott
"Aint No Bugs on Me"
Written & Performed by Doug Elliott
"Wonderful to be be Alive"
Written & Performed by Doug Elliott
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GINSENG DIGGERS: A HISTORY OF ROOT GATHERING IN APPALACHIA | Author | Luke Manget Jul 16, 2024

Luke Manget is an author, historian, and assistant professor of history at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. After a reading from an 1870’s newspaper about a strange race of beings known as “saugers,” we dive straight into the significance of ginseng on the American frontier [1780’s], specifically in southern Appalachia: Va, WV, NC. We get into such topics as: the commons vs private property; old world mandrake folklore; & deterring poachers with traps. Luke then describes the ginseng digger stereotype as perpetuated & mythologized by newspapers of the late 19th-century, opening a discussion about class in Appalachian society. For the last third of the episode we hear about the other roots and herbs that were dug for profit besides ginseng; the counter-medical-establishment herbalism movement of the 1800's; and lastly, newspaper accounts of The Wild Man of the Woods.
Reading from Ginseng Diggers: A History of Root and Herb Gathering in Appalachia by Luke Manget.
Check out Luke's site The Southern Highland where you can purchase his book, Ginseng Diggers.
Music:
"Ginseng Sullivan"
Written by Norman Blake
Performed by Andy & Graham Ferrell
Courtesy of Old Home Place Recordings
"Ginseng Blues"
Written by the Kentucky Ramblers
Performed by The Bird Family Band
"Weary Blues"
Traditional Song
Performed by Andy & Graham Ferrell
Courtesy of Old Home Place Recordings
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TIMELINE JOURNEYING: PAST & FUTURE LIVES, DREAMS & CREATIVITY | Past Life Practitioner | Bobby B Jul 02, 2024

Bobby Baranowski is a past life practitioner, author & former professional musician residing in Asheville, North Carolina. We begin this metaphysical trek in the mountains of "Sedona East" with its many vortexes; then dive headlong into Bobby's Asheville Past Lives Project in which he practices a non-hypnotic past life regression method called The Awareness Techniques. He walks us through the steps and speaks to one's emotional responses as the key to validate the imagery. Bobby shares his own visionary experiences with his "time awakening" and past and future lives, as a 29th-century south-westerner, an ancient monk, a cruel rich man and a shamanic drummer. We explore the mystery of creativity and its ability to tell the future; and ask metaphysical questions like: Do we choose our incarnations? Have we ever been the perpetrator? Do we have a spiritual journey across many lifetimes? Does genealogy matter? Do the dead pass knowledge to the living? And so on, culminating in Bobby's most profound past-life story about a light being 30,000-years-ago.
Check out The Asheville Past Lives Project to book a session
Reading from Other Lives, Other Selves: A Jungian Psychotherapist Discovers Past Lives by Roger J. Woolger, Ph.D.
Music by BAILE
"The Lamb" (BAILE REMIX)
Sampled Vocals by John Tavener & Music by BAILE
"Magic"
Written & Performed by BAILE
"Confronting the Monster"
Written & Performed by BAILE
"I Loved You"
Written & Performed by BAILE
"Out of Sorts"
Written & Performed by BAILE
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ANCESTOR'S CALL & THE SLAVE NARRATIVE OF MOSES GRANDY | Family Historian | Eric Sheppard Jun 06, 2024

Eric "Mubita" Sheppard is a U.S. Air Force veteran, family historian, and the visionary founder of Mubita LLC in Williamsburg, Virginia. We open on Eric's early life in Baltimore and the events that led up to his spiritual genealogy quest, one in which he was guided to the slave narrative of an ancestor unbeknownst to him, Moses Grandy. Born into slavery in North Carolina, we hear of Moses' life [1786-1843]: working the canals in The Great Dismal Swamp; the nightmarish death of his brother; cruelties of slavery; and finally, buying his freedom. Eric tells of guiding trips to Lake Drummond to share this history with the likes of formerly incarcerated men. We end on Eric's profound trip to Zambia where he met the Litunga [king] of Barotseland & founded a partnership to connect descendants of American slavery - especially in Virginia - to their African heritage.
Check out Eric's mission at Mubita LLC.
Reading from Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy, Late a Slave in the United States of America.by Moses Grandy
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CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH & THE JAMESTOWN EXPEDITION | Living Historian | Willie Balderson May 09, 2024

William Balderson is the Director of Living History & Historic Trades at Jamestown Rediscovery [Historic Jamestowne] in Virginia. After readings from John Smith's accounts about Pocahontas, the local fauna & corn planting, our guest describes his singular life path as a career living historian. From there Willie illustrates the events leading up to the Jamestown expedition including the infamous Roanoke Lost Colony. On this deep dive, we learn of John Smith's life as a mercenary & slave prior to Jamestown; the Pocahontas legend; John White the 16th-century watercolorist of indigenous life in the Carolinas; Powhatan's eagerness for the technological advantages of trading with the English; and other tidbits from Smith's journals such as raccoon capes, birchbark canoes and a native deer hunting technique. We end this history lesson on a reflective note, as Willie describes the feeling of interpreting the past on the actual site where it took place.
Plan your trip to Historic Jamestowne
Readings from The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, & the Summer Isles by Captain John Smith and The Jamestown Adventure: Accounts of the Virginia Colony, 1605-1614 edited by Ed Southern
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DIGGING UP JAMESTOWN; FROM REDISCOVERY TO THE STARVING TIME | Archaeologist | David Givens Apr 25, 2024

David Givens is the Director of Archaeology at Jamestown Rediscovery [Historic Jamestowne] on the James River in the Tidewater region of Virginia. After a nightmarish reading of the trials of the early Jamestown colonists, we start at the beginning of an archaeological quest to find the lost 1607 fort; the first permanent English settlement in America, where the worlds of the English Empire & Powhatan Confederacy clashed, and the legends of John Smith & Pocahontas were born. After describing the rediscovery project, we head over land and water to Chief Powhatan's village, Werowocomoco, to hear of the indigenous preservation efforts underway. Then it's on to artifacts dug up over the decades: English pipes inspired by Native American design; foodways like iguanas and corn cobs found in middens & wells; glassworks; distilling & herbalism. For his story, David tells of his involvement in the disturbing discovery of colonial cannibalism dating back to a harrowing period called The Starving Time [1609-1610]. We end this epic episode on the first English-American wagon road and musings about reincarnation, the wheel of fortune, and Terrence Malick's film "The New World."
Plan your trip to Historic Jamestowne
Reading from The Jamestown Adventure: Accounts of the Virginia Colony, 1605-1614 edited by Ed Southern
Music:
"Daphne"
Performed by The Telemann Society, Richard Schulze
"Mr. Beveridge's Maggot"
Performed by The Telemann Society, Richard Schulze
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MUSIC OF THE SUMMER MOUNTAIN FARM: BUKKEHORNS, MILKMAIDS & HULDRE-FOLK | Musician | Sissel M. Gullord Mar 21, 2024

Sissel Morken Gullord is a Scandinavian musician and singer living on a farm in Biri, Norway. We begin this enchanting musical episode by heading up to the saeter - the summer mountain farm - to hear the instruments, songs, and herding calls of the bygone milkmaids and shepherds, starting with the bukkehorn [goat horn]. Sissel describes how they're made and how livestock reacts to both the horn and a whimsical style of calling called kulning [or hujing in Norwegian]. We hear the blasting of a lur, a long wooden horn and followed by her commission by Disney. Opening up the more magical and sublime side of nature, Sissel tells a story about performing for hunters and foresters in which she spoke to them about the folkloric forest nymph known as Hulder and the accompanying huldra-folk [elves]. We wrap up this slice of Norwegian culture on folk song motifs, the nation's famous brown cheese, and bunad [the traditional rural clothing from the 1700-1800's].
Check out more of Sissel's music on Spotify & YouTube.
Reading from Folktales of Norway edited by Reidar Christiansen
Reference images:
- Hans Dahl romantic milkmaid painting
- Example of a traditional Norwegian home interior decorated with rosemaling
- 2nd Example of folk paintings on walls of home
- Norwegian woman playing the lur
- Bunad traditional clothing
Music by:
"Kulokk - Call On The Cattle"
Performed by Sissel Morken Gullord
"Kråkevisa"
Performed by Sissel Morken Gullord
"Lokker geitebukker med bukkehorn"
Performed by Sissel Morken Gullord

"Bukkehorn & Hujing"
Performed by Sissel Morken Gullord
"Huldrelokk"
Written & performed by Saga Sjöberg
"Till, till Tove"
Performed by Sissel Morken Gullord
"Den Bakvendte Visa"
Performed by Sissel Morken Gullord

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DROOP MOUNTAIN ARTIFACTS, GHOSTS & FOSSILS + A TURTLE PARTY | Park Superintendent | Mike Smith Mar 07, 2024

Mike Smith is the former superintendent of Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park, as well as an artifact & fossil enthusiast and traditional bow hunter, in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. We begin with his time at Droop Mountain, metal detecting under old oak trees and recounting the regional Civil War history. He tells of park visitors' many ghost experiences and significant archeological finds, such as three boys stumbling upon a Confederate rifle in the steep woods. We turn the pages of time back to arrowheads of the Shawnee and earlier native peoples; then even further back to 300-million-year-old fossils. Half way we switch to Mike's life, starting with his stories of an annual snapping turtle party, followed by his earliest boyhood memories of being a primitive hunter armed with only rocks. We close on hellbender tongues, making buckskins and a proud father-son moment.
Buy the book Mike helped research, Last Sleep: The Battle of Droop Mountain
Reading from Confederate Ghosts by Susan Crites
Music by:
"John Brown's Body"
Performed by Pete Seeger
"Mother Kissed Me in my Dream"
Unknown Artist
"In the Pines"
Performed by Dock Walsh
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OLD TIME BEE HUNTERS, COON HUNTERS & A WORK HEARSE | Beekeeper | Kevin Malcomb Feb 19, 2024

Kevin Malcomb is a beekeeper, former coon-hunter, welder, and mechanic in Pocahontas County, West Virginia. After a reading about the old frontier profession of the bee hunter, Kevin describes both his own & old time methods of Appalachian beekeeping: traditional "bee gum" hives; keeping ants out; catching feral swarms with a shotgun; how to hunt for wild bee trees from water sources; bee trapping; hive threats such as warm winters, mites, hornets, insecticides, & wax moths. We move on to his unconventional mechanic business run from a used-hearse which opens up musings and intuitions on potential past lives. For the last quarter we hear about coon-hunting in his youth along with an illustrative story about a formidable coon taking on an entire horde of hounds. We end on eating raccoon & less popular wild game; eccentric bird houses; and a sliver of local folk medicine.
Reading from Bees in America: How The Honey Bee Shaped a Nation by Tammy Horn.
Music by:
"Going Across the Mountain"
Written & Performed by Frank Proffitt
"Sourwood Mountain"
Written & Performed by Frank Proffitt
"Rueben Train"
Written & Performed by Frank Proffitt
"Moonshine"
Written & Performed by Frank Proffitt
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POE PART II: THE BLACK CAT & OTHER TALES OF MYSTERY & THE MACABRE | Curator | Chris Semtner Feb 01, 2024

Chris Semtner is an artist, author, lecturer & curator at The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. In Part II of our Edgar Allan Poe podcast, we begin with an archival recording of "The Black Cat." Then we pick back up where we left off, with "the imp of the perverse” and exploring the psychology of the criminal mind through his villainous characters. After describing a prophetic scene about shipwreck & cannibalism from Poe's only novel, Chris explains the literary genres beyond horror that Poe founded or advanced: the detective story, science-fiction, and perhaps the southern gothic. We then turn back to the biographical, with Poe's death and his mysterious last few days on the streets of Baltimore. From African-American hoodoo to spiritualist mediums, we hear what the paranormal was like in his time, and end on modern sightings of his ghost.
Check out The Poe Museum and Chris' books.
1954 archival reading of Poe'sThe Black Cat performed by Marvin Miller
1939 archival reading of Poe’s The Raven performed by Nelson Olmsted
Music:
"The Raven"
Written & Performed by The Ivy League Trio
"Quiet Mysterioso; Diver's Dream; Four Cuts"
Written & Performed by The Crawford Light Orchestra
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POE PART I: VIRGINIA'S RAGGED MOUNTAINS & EDGAR ALLAN'S UPBRINGING | Curator | Chris Semtner Jan 18, 2024

Chris Semtner is an artist, author, lecturer & curator at The Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia. After a reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "A Tale of The Ragged Mountains," we hear part I of Chris' interview on Poe's life, opening on the most poetic topic in the world, the death of a beautiful woman. From there, we get biographical with Poe's upbringing: The Great Dismal Swamp; boyhood on the James River; Charlottesville's Ragged Mountains; the museum's courtyard garden; his wealthy foster family in Richmond; and southern dueling culture. Chris describes Poe's aspirations as a poet & the tension this caused with his foster father, followed by his brief stints at university & West Point. We end this to-be-continued episode on Poe's idea of "The Imp of the Perverse!" Stayed tuned for Part II...
Check out The Poe Museum and Chris' books.
Reading from The Complete Tales & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Music by:
"The Fall of the House of Usher"
Written & Performed by The Ivy League Trio

"Regency Minuet"
Written & Performed by The Crawford Light Orchestra
"Annabel Lee"
Written & Performed by The Ivy League Trio
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AN ENGLISH CHRISTMAS FEAST: PLUM PUDDING, HOLLY & THE GREEN KNIGHT Dec 22, 2023

For this holiday special we begin with a traditional English Christmas feast as described by a family friend, highlighting a strange historical black dessert called a plum pudding or simply a Christmas pudding. Being topped with a holly sprig, we then learn the origins of some ancient plant-lore. But the meat of this sumptuous episode is a reading from a deeply mysterious and haunting, 14th-century Arthurian legend that takes place at a Christmas feast; one rudely interrupted by an axe-wielding Green Knight who demands a volunteer to join him in a deadly game. Merry Christmas!
Reading excerpts from Folklore of Kent by Fran & Geoff Doel; English Botany Or, Coloured Figures of British Plants · Volume 2 by James Sowerby; and Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics; Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-lore of the Plant Kingdom by Richard Folkard.

Main reading from Sir Gawain and The Green Knight translated by Simon Armitage.
"Sweet was the Songe the Virgine Sung"
16th-century Christmas Carol
Performed by Ernst Stolz & Katrhine Brandt
"Dove's Figary or Chestnut"
English Country Dance
Performed by Ernst Stolz
"Be Merry, Be Merry I Pray You"
Medieval English Carol
Performed by Ernst Stolz
"What Child is This? (Greensleeves)"
English Folk Song
Performed by Ernst Stolz
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BJÖRNJÄGARE; A SWEDISH BEAR HUNTER | Professional Hunter | Rasmus Boström Dec 08, 2023

Rasmus Boström is a professional hunter & outdoor gear ambassador in Älvdalen, Sweden. After readings about Scandinavian bear hunting folklore & shape-shifting in the Old Norse sagas, we learn about a regional language & the area's hunting culture. From there it's hunting history with wolf-posse laws & bear spears. Rasmus then describes the Swedish brown bear & taking part in scat-gathering studies. After some background information about the modern bear hunt with hounds, he tells a harrowing story about tracking a wounded bear. For the last third we switch to a handful of other outdoorsman topics: bird hunting from skis; Ullr the Norse hunting god; marten trapping with deadfalls; a first time hunt custom, and invasive mink hunting on small islands in the name of sea bird conservation.
Outdoor gear & apparel: Astro Sweden & Bearskin on YouTube.
Reading excerpts from The Lycanthropy Reader: Werewolves in Western Cultureedited by Charlotte F. Otten and Scandinavian Folk Belief and Legend edited Reimund Kvideland & Henning K. Sehmsdorf.
Art reference images:
"Return of the Bear Hunter" by Adolph Tidemand
"Wild Bird Hunters" by Knud Bergslien
Ullr [Norse hunting god] on the Böksta runestone
"Hårgalåten"
Swedish folk song
Performed by Nyckelharpa Tunes
"Vid Stormyren"
Written by Eric Sahlström
Performed by Nyckelharpa Tunes
"Säkkijärven polkka"
Finnish folk song
Performed by Nyckelharpa Tunes
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

VIKING METALWORK: DWARVES, BOG IRON & THOR'S HAMMER | Blacksmith | Philip Lufolk Nov 27, 2023

Philip Lufolk is a blacksmith in Storvik, Sweden inspired by the archeology & mythology of Scandinavia. We begin on the role of the Viking blacksmith & how bog iron was processed. Philip describes objects & jewelry that he forges based on historical artifacts: the seeress' völva staff; a charm known as a Thor's hammer; a landowner's Viking key; and oath rings inscribed with law. We switch to mythology with the tale of Mjölnir [Thor's hammer] & the rest of the gods' treasures, fashioned by the industrious & highly-skilled dwarves. Then there's the vengeful blacksmith, Völund. We discuss burial mounds & rock art: picture stones, rune stones & a petroglyph just outside of Oslo's city center. Approaching the end Philip tells an archaic divination technique called Årsgång or "The Year Walk."
Follow Lufolk on Instagram and check out his wares at Lufolk.com.
Reading excerpts from The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology & Religion by Daniel McCoy
Music provided by Lyre of the Crossroads
"Sigurd and Fafnir'"
Written & Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads
"Bass Jouhikko / Basssharpa / Bass Tagelharpa"
Written & Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads
"Helm of Awe"
Written & Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads
"Talharpa/Tagelharpa/Stråkharpa"
Written & Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads
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ICELANDIC FOLKLORE, SORCERERS & A SACRIFICIAL STONE | Museum Manager | Anna Björg Nov 09, 2023

Anna Björg Þórarinsdóttir is the manager of The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft in The Westfjords region of Iceland. We begin on the country's origins as a Viking settlement, followed by life in the traditional turf houses. From there we learn that belief in elves is still relevant today and how spirits in the land have shaped not only Icelandic legends, but the ethos. We hear of a nearby farm built over a heathen temple where an ominous Viking-era stone was discovered. In story form, Anna tells the rich history of the island's 16th-to-17th-century sorcerers: the religious temperament of the time, their persecution, and her own ancestral involvement. This opens up further synchronicities around her position at the museum & growing up in a New Age household. For the remaining time, it's an all out deluge of folklore and magic: spirit guides called Fylgja, hunting & farming folk magic, The Helm of Awe, the Yule Lads, a pair of human skin pants, and finally, a grotesque milk-stealing wool-worm known as the Tilberi!
Learn more about The Museum of Icelandic Sorcery & Witchcraft & follow Anna on Instagram.
Reading excerpt from Icelandic Folk Legends: Tales of Apparitions, Outlaws and Things Unseen by Alda Sigmundsdóttir

Music Credit:
"Ragnarok" [The End of the Gods]
Performed by Ensemble: Sequentia
Courtesy of 𝔐𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔞 𝔐𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔳𝔞𝔩𝔢
"Á fellr austan um eitrdala" [The Prophecy of the Seeress]
Performed by Ensemble: Sequentia
Courtesy of 𝔐𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔞 𝔐𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔳𝔞𝔩𝔢
"Leikr elds ok ísa" [The song of Fire and Ice]
Performed by Ensemble: Sequentia
Courtesy of 𝔐𝔲𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔞 𝔐𝔢𝔡𝔦𝔢𝔳𝔞𝔩𝔢
Untitled Kravik Lyre
Performed by Lyre of the Crossroads
Courtesy of Lyre of the Crossroads
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THE VEILED MIRROR: VICTORIAN MOURNING, SECRET SOCIETIES & ABANDONED BUILDINGS | Antiquarians | Kath & Olivia Aug 31, 2023

Kathryn Parker & Olivia Lloyd are owners of The Veiled Mirror, an online store of antique jewelry & curiosities with a penchant for the romantic, dark and macabre based out of Richmond, Virginia. To start this tour of Victorian culture [1837-1901], we begin with a crafting fad, ornate floral wreaths made of human hair. From there we touch on mourning etiquette; the comical paraphernalia of secret society initiations; The Aesthetic Movement; showing off with a pineapple; & the accessories of women's fashion as eccentric as live insects. Switching to the personal, the ladies share a handful of haunting anecdotes; one about researching a man's calling card found in a bin of 1920's clothing; another about unwittingly removing a "witch bottle" from an abandoned farm house. We end on further memories of urban exploration.
Follow The Veiled Mirror on Instagram & check out their website's current collection at theveiledmirror.com.
Music Provided by The Library of Congress
"The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done"
Performed by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina & Trinity Quartet

"War Song of the Normans"
Crusades Hymn
Performed by Reinald Werrenrath & Victor Male Chorus
"Black-Eyed Blues"
Composed by Don Kendall
Performed by Roy Bargy & Benson Orchestra of Chicago
"The Green Fields of Virginia"
Ford, Ward H., performer
Cowell, Sidney Robertson, 1903-1995, collector.
"Nina Gitana"
Composed by Reginald De Koven
Performed by Reed Miller
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THE BESTIARY: A MEDIEVAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ANIMALS REAL & FANTASTIC | Curator of Manuscripts | Beth Morrison Aug 17, 2023

Elizabeth "Beth" Morrison is a specialist in secular manuscript illumination & a senior curator of manuscripts at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, California. On this long distance episode we begin with how medieval people made & illuminated manuscripts from the animal hides to the bone black ink. From there we focus in on a medieval genre of book called a Bestiary, an encyclopedia of animals real and fantastic. We discuss their strange, sometimes shocking, often moralistic Christian ideas about the likes of beavers & elephants, lions & crocodiles, unicorns & dragons, including tidbits on how to hunt a unicorn or the origin of the phrase, "having a monkey on one's back." From there, Beth describes the behind-the-scenes of museum art transportation as well as a past exhibition on the medieval life of women. We end on Beth's personal story about an extremely uncanny synchronicity.
Check out the Getty Museum & Beth's book from the Getty's 2019 Bestiary exhibition.
Reading excerpt from The Bestiary: A Book of Beasts; Being a Translation from a Latin Bestiary of the Twelfth Century made and edited by T.H. White

Music provided by Sibil•la Ensemble

"Douce Dame Jolie"
Written by Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377)
Performed by Sibil•la Ensemble
"Codex Rossi: Che ti çova nascondere il bel volto" (c.1300's)
Written by Anonymous
Performed by Tímea Daradics
Courtesy of Sibil•la Ensemble
"Tels rit au main qui au soir pleure"
Written by Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300 – 1377)
Performed by Kristia Michael
Courtesy of Sibil•la Ensemble
"O Rubor Sanguinis"
Written by Hildegard von Bingen (1098- 1179)
Performed by Sibil•la Ensemble
Reference Images:

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THE LOST ART OF THE DOG COLLAR + THE ST. BERNARD BARREL | Museum Curator | Claudia Pfeiffer Aug 03, 2023

Claudia Pfeiffer is the Deputy Director & Head Curator of the National Sporting Library & Museum in Middleburg, Virginia. We begin on their recent exhibition about the art of the dog collar: a haunting cast from the eruption of Vesuvius; an ancient "Beware of Dog" mosaic; spiked collars & regal collars. Claudia describes some of the most striking paintings from the exhibition: a theatrical Amsterdam dog market; a mastiff baying a poacher; a lion hunt; & an allegory about the father of cynicism. From there we switch from dogs to horses and hear about their anatomy & movement as captured by art, including Muybridge's famous horse photographs. To wrap up this dog-lover & art history-lover episode, Claudia tells the lore of Barry the St. Bernard and his iconic barrel flask.
Plan a visit to The National Sporting Library & Museum
Music provided by Ars Lyrica Houston
"Les Indes Galantes - Entrée les Sauvages"
Written by Jean-Philippe Rameau
Performed by Ars Lyrica Houston
"Fandango from Quintet No. 4, G 448"
Written by Luigi Boccherini
Performed by Ars Lyrica Houston
"Propiñán de Melyor and Si habrá en este Baldrés"
Written by anonymous
Performed by The Crumhorn Collective
Courtesy of Ars Lyrica Houston
Reference Images:

Support&a

REST IN PIECES; MACABRE ADVENTURES OF A CURIOSITIES COLLECTOR | Oddity Shopkeeper | Justin Torone Jul 20, 2023

Justin Torone is a curiosities collector & the co-owner of Rest In Pieces oddity shop in Richmond, Virginia. After a reading about the historical significance of cabinets of curiosity, Justin begins with lore from the cemetery across the street for his shop. Then we get deep into methods for preserving animal bones: dermestid beetles; articulation; degreasing, maceration, boiling, & later, wet specimens. We find out who the shop's audience is and how they acquire their vintage taxidermy & specimens. From there we leave the animal kingdom & turn to the human as Justin describes the most audacious highlights from his collection: folk art mourning mummies; an "overmodelled" skull; & a medically bisected fetus. All of which begs the question of legality, further illustrated by a university's illegal skeleton auction & a much more nefarious oddities black market. To bring this macabre feast to an end, Justin tells the story of how be become acquainted with a paranormal con-woman who asked him to jeopardize his morals.
Check out Rest in Pieces oddity shop and their great Instagram account.
Reading excerpt from Cabinet of Curiosities: Collecting and Understanding the Wonders of the Natural Worldby Gordon Grice.

Music provided by Windhand
"Three Sisters"
Written by Windhand
Performed by Windhand
"Boleskin"
Written by Windhand
Performed by Windhand
"Aition"
Written by Windhand
Performed by Windhand
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PAST LIFE REGRESSION & CONVERSATIONS WITH A HUNGRY GHOST | Medium | Carole Louie Jul 06, 2023

Carole Louie is a medium, past life regressionist, hypnotist, author, & director of THE CENTER-RVA in Richmond, Virginia. To ground this nearly psychedelic, often dark, most definitely mystical episode, we begin with the past-life research undertaken at the University of Virginia. From there Carole describes her own disturbing past-life memories which surfaced organically as flashbacks and became more fully realized through regression therapy. We muse on themes like earth school; inter-life visions; how we choose our life; soul groups; movies as past-life triggers; and even...incarnation as off-world entities. For her story Carole tells of her profound initiation into mediumship, starting with her granny collecting sassafras & culminating in the healing of her Buddhist father's ghost. We come to an end on a few last examples of how spirits appear to a medium & the messages they want to deliver.

Check out Carole's THE CENTER-RVA & the 2023 Reincarnation Symposium.
Reading excerpt from Children's Past Lives: How Past Life Memories Affect Your Child by Carol Bowman
Music by BAILE
"Walls"
Written by BAILE
Performed by BAILE & John Lamonica
"Grieve Faster, Heal Faster"
Written by BAILE
Performed by BAILE
"Birdwings"
Written by BAILE
Performed by BAILE
"Love" [BAILE Remix]
Written by Daughter
Performed & Remixed by BAILE
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SHARP'S COUNTRY STORE: PIONEERS, BEE GUMS, & THE ORPHAN AT CLOVER LICK | Antique Dealer | Tom Shipley Jun 16, 2023

Tom Shipley is an antique dealer operating out of his family's 19th-century Sharp's Country Store in Slatyfork, West Virginia. Descending from one of the county's earliest pioneer families, we hear of the lives of Tom's ancestors & their many rich folkways: a Presbyterian boy orphaned by an Indian raid; beekeeping in "bee gums;" a bear trap; furs & ginseng; maple syrup camp; and making apple butter. Then Tom gets into the origin of the 1884 store, describing the wares of its day. A plethora of stories are evoked from the eccentric taxidermy still hanging from the walls including one about a visit from the American Museum of Natural History. Towards the end, for his formal story, we get into the realm of the southern gothic, with tales about an orphan of the flu pandemic followed by visions surrounding the dead & near-dead. This episode, like the country store itself, is a true time capsule of Appalachian life.
Check out Sharp's Country Store for more information.
Excerpts read from Tales of Pocahontas County by G.D. McNeill
Archival recordings from Tom's private family collection.
Music provided by the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
"Barbara Allen"
Henry Reed Collection (AFC 1999/016)
Collected by Alan Jabbour
Performed by Henry Reed
"Farewell My Dear Brother"
Henry Reed Collection (AFC 1999/016)
Collected by Alan Jabbour
Performed by Henry & Gene Reed
"John Brown's a-Hanging on a Sour Apple Tree"
Henry Reed Collection (AFC 1999/016)
Collected by Alan Jabbour
Performed by Henry Reed
"Fare Thee Well My Dear Brother"
Henry Reed Collection (AFC 1999/016)
Collected by Alan Jabbour
Performed by Henry Reed

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COLONIAL-ERA WOOL PRODUCTION + BUCKSKINS & HOG SLAUGHTERS | Museum Educator | Mary Kate Claytor Jun 01, 2023

Mary Kate Claytor is the Associate Director of Interpretation at the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia. After a bit of background about this unique living history museum, Mary Kate describes in detail wool production for a yeoman farmer in the 1600-1800's: starting with sheep shearing, wool washing, stale urine and lanolin, through to carding & combing, drop spindles & spinning wheels, historical & natural dyes, and finally ending on a fabric called linsey-woolsey. From there we move on to another category of historical clothing, buckskins. Mary Kate recounts learning how to hide tan while working at Natural Bridge's Monacan village. Then we switch from clothing to foodways by reflecting on both profound & disturbing experiences while taking part in hog slaughters & fowl processing. We end on hearing of how Mary Kate's historical hobbies connect her to her great-grandmother.
Follow Mary Kate on Instagram & check out the Frontier Culture Museum.
Music provided by Carla Sciaky
"Sheep Shearing"
[English folk song]
From the album Spin the Weaver's Song
Performed by Carla Sciaky
"The Band of Shearers"
[Scottish folk song]
From the album Spin the Weaver's Song
Performed by Carla Sciaky
"The Weaver and the Chambermaid"
[English folk song]
From the album Spin the Weaver's Song
Performed by Carla Sciaky
Reading segment from Folklore of Sussex by Jacqueline Simpson
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WEST VIRGINIA MINE WARS: COAL CAMPS, BLOODSHED & THE REDNECK ARMY | Museum Director | Mackenzie New-Walker May 18, 2023

Mackenzie New-Walker is the Executive Director of the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum in Matewan, West Virginia. Having descended from a long line of miners, Mackenzie describes what life was like for the men, women & children in the oppressive coal company towns of the early 1900's: from how they recruiting their immigrant labor force to paying miners in substitute money called scrip; the private company guards aka "gun thugs" known as the Baldwin-Felts agents; to child labor and laundry day. From there we hear of 1921's Battle of Blair Mountain [the largest labor uprising in US history] where the fed up striking miners transformed into the "Redneck Army." Mackenzie then recounts the story of The Matewan Massacre, an earlier train station skirmish that has left bullets lodged in a brick wall across from the museum. After reflecting on how this all relates to the present & a sense of coal miner pride, we wrap it up with highlights from the museum's collection, including one about "a canary in a coal mine."
Check out the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum & help them fundraise to buy the museum building. Watch the PBS documentary American Experience: The Mine Wars.
Music provided by The Tillers
"Which Side Are You On" [Labor Union Song]
Collected by Pete Seeger
Performed by The Tillers
Reading segment from On Dark and Bloody Ground: An Oral History of the West Virginia Mine Wars by Anne T Lawrence
Special thanks to West Virginia Archives & History for archival recordings:
- Price Williams on the Cabin Creek 1912 Coal Strike
- WSAZ Coal King on a Tottering Throne ca 1962

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LIFE OF AN APPALACHIAN COAL MINER + SANG, MOONSHINE & THE BIBLE | Miner | Matt Frame Apr 27, 2023

Matt Frame is a coal miner, avid outdoorsman, & son of a Baptist preacher in Nicholas County, West Virginia. After a folkloric intro about mine-rats, we get into what life is like for both miners today & in Matt's grandfather's time: the machines; depression from the darkness; dogs hauling coal; the quiet killers "black damp" & "black lung;" losing three fingers & narrowly missing a ceiling collapse; the job-site latrine; finding fossils as large as trees; & a miner's soul. For the last third of the conversation, we surface from the coal pit to the light of day guided by folkways & The Bible. First Matt tells of heartbreak while digging ginseng; fox trapping, his grandma's rabbits, a pie crust signature, & making medicine from river yellow root. Then we get into his faith with his salvation, preaching revival, & lessons learned about the sin of pride. We end this slice-of-West-Virginia-life on a story about a haunted moonshine still & pig worms.
Music provided by Jim Cook
"Big Bad John" [Cover]
Written by Jimmy Dean and Roy Acuff
Performed by Jim Cook
"Dark as a Dungeon" [Cover]
Written by Johnny Cash
Performed by Jim Cook
"Call Daddy From the Mine" [Cover]
Written by Johnny Cash
Performed by Jim Cook
Reading segment from A Journal: Traditions of West Virginia Folk Culture and Educational Awareness; Volume 9 - 2004 by the West Virginia Folklife Center at Fairmont State.
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UNDER THE WITCHING TREE + SPIRITS OF PLACE + ILL-OMNED LIGHTNING | Folk Herbalist | Corinne Boyer Apr 13, 2023

Corinne Boyer of Washington is a folk herbalist, teacher, and author of five books on traditional plant-lore & folk magic. While modern herbalism focuses on the healing & benevolent properties of plants, in this episode we explore the darker, more mysterious aspects that Corinne has found through tales of old. We begin on feeling & discerning spirits of place: in the woods, water, & rock quarries; their potentially malevolent nature; offerings to appease them; and trusting intuition & an enchanted worldview. Then we move on to spirits of the human dead: communicating with ancestors, synchronicities, and a formative childhood experience with her great-grandfather's ghost. For her first story, Corinne recounts an ill-omened lightning strike during an unprecedented storm; for her second, she tells of a sleepless night spent in a haunted Swedish inn. We conclude on oak folklore, herbs to keep ghosts at bay, and plants associated with The Devil.
Check out Under the Witching Tree & Corinne's other books.
For Corinne's website & classes, visit Maple Mist Wood
For Corinne's esoteric plant workshop at the 2023 Viridis Genii Symposium
Music provided by CHTHONIA
"Salt"
Written by CHTHONIA
Performed by CHTHONIA
"Helleborus"
Written by CHTHONIA
Performed by CHTHONIA
"Nymphaeum"
Written by CHTHONIA
Performed by CHTHONIA
"Digitalis"
Written by CHTHONIA
Performed by CHTHONIA

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TRAPPING TODAY: MAINE MUSTELIDS & ALASKAN SILENCE | Trapper | Jeremiah Wood Mar 30, 2023

Jeremiah Wood of Northern Maine is a state fisheries biologist, cattle farmer, trapper, author, & host of the Trapping Today podcast. We open on Jeremiah describing where he lives: the North Maine Woods; his desire to work the land & raise cattle; changes in the region's economy; and thoughts on growing up in such a rural area. From there we begin a focused conversation on the often vilified topic of trapping where we explore what it's all about & why to some, it's their lifestyle; from ethics & misconceptions, regulations & populations, to fur, history, & nostalgia for the past. While laying out the many furbearing species, Jeremiah describes the behavior & habitat of his favorite, the "pine" marten, followed by what it's like to run a backcountry mustelid trapline. For his story, Jeremiah speaks to his dream of living in Alaska & a recent trip where he caught something contemplatively deeper than a lynx or wolverine. We end on some of Jeremiah's books & podcast guests including the cast of Discovery Channel's "The Last Alaskans."
Check out Jeremiah's Trapping Today podcast, shop, and YouTube channel.
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THE CELTS: TALES OF GODS, DRUIDS & THE OTHERWORLD | Author of Ancient Studies | Philip Freeman Mar 09, 2023

Philip Freeman is a Professor of Humanities at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California. With a Ph.D. from Harvard University in Classical Philology and Celtic Languages & Literatures, he has authored over a dozen New York Times reviewed books on ancient & medieval studies. For this episode we stick to the Celtic world, starting at ancient Gaul [Celtic western Europe 2,000+ years-ago]: farming, warriors, head trophies, druids, sacred oak groves, human sacrifice, belief in reincarnation & what little is known about the old gods. From there we travel to Ireland & Wales, where Celtic language & mythology survived the passage of conquests & time. Freeman describes a lewd horse sacrifice coronation ritual, curse tablets found in a lake, & the medieval gods known as the Tuatha Dé Danann & their mysterious Otherworld. Finally we come to the present with Freeman's visit to the spring of St. Brigid, followed by what connects his love of mythology with his Catholic faith. To end this epic episode, Freeman recounts the first Halloween [aka Samhain] story, The Adventure of Nera.
Freeman's Books Referenced in the Podcast:

For more of Freeman's work visit: philipfreemanbooks.com
Music provided by Ancient Music Ireland
"Introduction"
Written by Ancient Music Ireland
Performed by Ancient Music Ireland
"The Butterfly"
Written by Ancient Music Ireland
Performed by Ancient Music Ireland
"Lilting Horns"
Written by Ancient Music Ireland
Performed by Ancient Music Ireland

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NORSE WOLF & VIKING PITS + MAINE MUSHING & ICE TALES | Musher | Bear Siragusa Feb 23, 2023

Barry "Bear" Siragusa is a former musher, a vet-tech & the host of The Hunting Hound podcast residing with his Norwegian wife, kids, & dogs in the snowy mountains of eastern Norway. On this long-distance correspondence we hear descriptions of the land, archeology & mythology of Norway: the Sámi people; moose, bears & wolves; Fenrir & the berserkers; a troll-like feeling in the woods; stave churches; & hunting over ancient Viking moose pits. Then we switch topics & head back to Bear's childhood in rural Maine where he stumbled into a lifelong passion of mushing & working dogs. From Alaskan trappers to the Iditarod, Bear tells some brief mushing history followed by two of his potent sled dog stories, first a beautiful vision & then an icy brush with death! Before our episode times out, we muse a bit about true dog-people & the significance of hunting with dogs.
Check out Bear's podcast series, The Hunting Hound under the umbrella of the Hound PodCast: Double U Hunting Supply. And follow along on Bear's Instagram.
Music provided by Vitali Drimbar & Bear Siragusa

"Bukkehorn in D-sharp"

Written by Vitali Drimbar
Performed by Vitali Drimbar
Courtesy of Vitali Drimbar
"Pair of Conch Shells in F Sharp"
Written by Vitali Drimbar
Performed by Vitali Drimbar
Courtesy of Vitali Drimbar
"The Wayfaring Stranger"
Traditional Folk Song
Performed by Bear Siragus on Kerry Optima Low D Whistle"
Courtesy of Bear Siragus
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THE ILLEGAL TURTLE TRADE + HELLBENDERS & SALAMANDER LORE | Herpetologist | JD Kleopfer Feb 09, 2023

JD Kleopfer is the state herpetologist at Virginia's Department of Wildlife Resources. We begin this herpetological extravaganza on the illegal turtle trade between the US & China, then move on to reptile & amphibian natural history: turtle eggs & their predators, hibernation [properly called brumation], Appalachia's legendary hellbenders, salamander folklore, poisonous newts, vernal pools, & how-to make good herp habitat in your yard. For his stories, JD tells of finding a state-endangered tiger salamander site & another about his formative years as a young herper. We close on today's conservationist youths, The Great Dismal Swamp & canebrake rattlesnakes.
Join Virginia's Herpetological Society & check out a short documentary about Protecting Appalachia's Hellbenders.
Music provided by Luke Brindley
"Raritan River Blues"
Written by Luke Brindley
Courtesy of Luke Brindley
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RUSSIAN WOODS: WWII, THE MANSI, TIGERS & ABORIGINAL DOGS | Biologist | Vladimir Beregovoy Jan 26, 2023

Vladimir Beregovoy is a retired wildlife biologist, author, & breeder of aboriginal Laika hunting dogs, currently living in Buchanan, Virginia. We begin at the beginning, his childhood memories of WWII in the Russian countryside & his early love of the natural world which destined his career as a biologist, both in communist Russia & eventually, after emigrating, here in the United States. From there Vladimir gives an in-depth description about the time he spent with a family of native Mansi hunters in Western Siberia: their dogs; sable furs; their woodsman etiquette; how they hunt moose & bear; dog mittens; reindeer skins; housekeeping; & a beaver biologist left for dead. We wrap it up on a bit about the Amur tigers of the Far East & Vladimir's herbalist grandmother.
Check out Vladimir's book, Hunting Laika Breeds of Russia& more at his website.
Music sampled from "Mansi Music on the Sangkvyltap"
Reading segment from Dersu the Trapper by Vladimir Klavdievich Arseniev

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MY HEART'S IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS: STAGS, BOGS, & CROFTING | Deer Stalker | Megan Rowland Jan 12, 2023

Megan Rowland of Wayfaring Hind is a deer stalker, land manager, & crofter in the legendary Scottish Highlands. On this long-distance correspondence, we get a taste of Highland tradition, history, flora & fauna, such as: crofting, salt panning, the Picts, black pudding & haggis, peat bogs, working for an estate, red & roe deer, the last wolves & foraging. For her story, Megan describes how a Highland hunt would play out, a first-timer blood ritual, & her own experience from life-long vegetarian to deer stalker. We end on hunting as meditation, tweed, ferreting, & preserving culture.
Check out Megan's Wayfaring Hind & follow along on Instagram.
Music provided by Małgorzata Priebe
"My Heart's in the Highlands"
Written by Arvo Pärt
Performed by Małgorzata Priebe and Błażej Musiałczyk
Courtesy of Małgorzata Priebe
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19TH-CENTURY MEDICAL ODDITIES, GRAVE ROBBERS & A CHARRED VENUS | Curator | Dr. Jamie Day Dec 30, 2022

Dr. Jamie Day is a physics professor & the curator of the Monroe Moosnick Medical & Science Museum [a collection of 19th-century medical oddities & science equipment] at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. This morbid tour through the old cabinets leads us into trepanning, electrified corpses, syphilis, phrenology, grave robbing students, a mummified child, country doctors, folk medicine hairballs & much, much more. For his personal story, Jamie describes an unnerving find in the university's storage, that of a charred, 200-year-old wax model known as an Anatomical Venus. In closing, we hear of some of the collection's wildest oddities we nearly forgot about: a figurine of a parasitic twin & a comically grotesque tobacco pipe!
Learn more about the Moosnick Museum & follow along on Facebook.
Music provided by New Trinity Baroque
"Oboe Concerto in D minor, Op. 9, No. 2. I. Allegro e non presto"
Written by Tomaso Albinoni
Performed by New Trinity Baroque & Nevena Majdevac
Courtesy of Predrag Gosta ofNew Trinity Baroque
"Oboe Concerto in D minor, Op. 9, No. 2. II. Adagio"
Written by Tomaso Albinoni
Performed by New Trinity Baroque & Nevena Majdevac
Courtesy of Predrag Gosta ofNew Trinity Baroque
"Oboe Concerto in D minor, Op. 9, No. 2. III. Allegro"
Written by Tomaso Albinoni
Performed by New Trinity Baroque & Nevena Majdevac
Courtesy of Predrag Gosta ofNew Trinity Baroque
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FROM THE DEEP DARK HILLS: MURDER BALLADS, WITCHES, HAINTS & DEVIL DOGS | Folk Artist | Mike Ousley Dec 15, 2022

Mike Ousley is an Appalachian folk artist & a natural storyteller from the deep, dark hills of Eastern Kentucky. We begin on country music, murder ballads, southern gothic literature & folk art. From there Ousley rattles off wild local lore: an exorcism, a resurrected witch, sitting up with the dead, the haint under Ol' Man Chester's house, "Burn 'em out" [a neighborly-feud phrase], coal towns, & black walnut necromancy. For story time Ousley recounts his own experiences with devil dogs & a mysterious high-beamed light, way back in the mountains. We end this folklore bonanza on regional folkways, folk magic, and mountain eccentrics.
Check out Ousley's artwork at Mike Ousley Fine Art & follow along on his Instagram. To buy a painting visit or reach out to Haley Fine Art gallery.
Music provided by Earl Suitor
"Down in the Willow Garden"
Performed by Earl Suitor
Courtesy of Earl Suitor
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CAVE RESCUE & JOURNEYS INTO THE UNDERWORLD | Caver | Earl Suitor Dec 01, 2022

Earl Suitor, formerly a firefighter & EMT, is an avid caver & the current Eastern Region National Cave Rescue Commission Deputy Resource Section Chief in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. We begin with why Appalachia's geology makes for good caving, then ruminate on the inherent mystery of caves, hear about the historical mining of bat guano, learn about fossils & ancient cat scratches, & the reasons behind secrecy in the caving community. In story form, Earl describes how a cave rescue plays out with examples from finding a lost couple in West Virginia to a shocking tragedy in Utah & the famous cave flood in Thailand. Earl then shares harrowing lessons learned from his firefighting & EMT days, opening profound conversations about "burn out," dying, & his interest in world religions.
If you'd like to go caving & learn more, reach out to your regional caving club [grotto] through Caves.org.
Music provided by Jan Laurenz
"First Song on Lyre Harp"
Written by Jan Laurenz
Courtesy of Jan Laurenz
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HORSES & HOUNDS + ST.HUBERT & ROYAL HUNTS | Master of Foxhounds | Dr. Rita Mae Brown Nov 03, 2022

Rita Mae Brown is a prolific New York Times bestselling author, and a master of foxhounds & huntsman with the Oak Ridge Fox Hunt Club in Afton, Virginia. We open on St. Hubert [patron saint of hunters & hounds], the old world occupation of royal huntsman, & get into modern - no kill - equestrian fox hunting. We hear examples of the fox's witty participation, learn some hound history, get insight into the formal wardrobe etiquette, and paint a picture of a day in the field. In the last section, Rita Mae explains her deep animal friendships starting from her orphaned childhood. She shares two short stories, one about a mounted specter & another about animal sentience & love. We end on a couple of Rita Mae's heroins, the huntress queens of old Europe.
Browse Rita Mae's many books.
***A ST. HUBERT'S DAY RECIPE***
Boulets Liégeois: From the city of Liège, these Belgian meatballs in a sweet & savory fruit sauce served with fries are absolutely mouthwatering. You'll need to order a vital ingredient, Sirop de Liège, a thick, dark apple & pear sauce dating back to the 1600's or you can substitute for a milder flavor with apple butter. Recipe should work just fine with pork, beef, venison, beaver, wild boar.
Music provided by Dr. Clare Longendyke & Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek
"Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat Major, D. 929, Op. 100 II. Andante con moto "
Written by Franz Peter Schubert
Performed by Trio Fiore
Courtesy of Dr. Clare Longendyke
"Meditation"
Written by Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek
Performed by Modern Medieval
Courtesy of Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek

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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

YOUR LORE: SPOOKED HUNTERS & HAUNTED HOUSES | Tales From The Listeners Oct 30, 2022

On this Halloween bonus episode, we are trying something new! Instead of a guest, I read eerie stories submitted by podcast listeners. Your all's folklore! We've got a dozen tales from the likes of outdoorsmen, hunters, herbalists, and homesteaders on three dark & mysterious themes: supernatural events, ghosts & spirits, and haunted houses. You'll hear about unexplainable roars in the George Washington National Forest, whispers in Hell's Hollow, & an accidental suicide that not only haunts a family's home, but their dreams...
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

ABANDONED LUNATIC ASYLUMS + A MIDWIFE'S APPARITION | Paranormal Investigator | Marty Seibel Oct 20, 2022

Mike Seibel is a Shenandoah Valley ghost-tour guide, history buff & founder of Black Raven Paranormal in Staunton, Virginia. This Halloween special begins on abandoned lunatic asylums from the 1800-1900's: what they were like in their time, dark ideas of American eugenics, the local DeJarnette Sanitarium, and a story about Marty's paranormal investigation of the notoriously haunted Pennhurst Asylum. Then we get into more of his traveling investigations: a grisly axe-murder house, the apparition of a Gettysburg midwife, a cursed doll named Robert, and a demonic country bar. We end on paranormal etiquette, his overall grounded approach, & insight from working with mediums.
Join one of Marty's Staunton ghost tours & check out his Black Raven Paranormal YouTube channel.
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

STRANGE ENCOUNTERS IN THE MOUNTAIN STATE + THE WITCH'S GRAVE | Cryptid Correspondent | Les O'Dell Oct 06, 2022

Les O'Dell of Marion County, West Virginia is a paranormal investigator, cryptid enthusiast, & collector of strange stories from across his home state. For his second appearance on the podcast, we start lightheartedly on the the annual Mothman Festival then get into the famous regional cryptids & mysterious happenings we missed last time: The Flatwoods Monster, the awful Vegetable Man, Missing 411, calling to Big Foot in Pocahontas County, Dolly Sods UFO sightings, & even feral people. For his stories, Les shares one about a ghost girl & another about his paranormal research of a witch's grave in a back holler. No doubt, this one will get you in touch with the Halloween spirits...
Follow WV Cryptids & Strange Encounters on Facebook & check out Les' booklet West Virginia Cryptids: A Visual Guide to Traversing the Mountain State.
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

GINSENG SEASON + HARD DRUGS IN SMALL TOWNS | Forest Farmer | Ed Daniels Sep 22, 2022

Ed Daniels of Shady Grove Botanicals is a ginseng forest farmer, root buyer, and herbal medicine maker in Randolph County, West Virginia. Ed gives us a glimpse into the intriguing international ginseng industry: the WV digging license, old timer ethics, meth-addict poachers, what the Asian market is looking for, farmed ginseng vs wild simulated. We hear of its cultural & medicinal value through anecdotes about a Korean preacher & locals who struggle with pharmaceutical opioid addiction, followed by Ed treating his own cancer diagnosis with wild mushrooms. From there we touch on the Appalachian Outlaws TV show, how to find ginseng in the mountains & tips for farming it. In the last few minutes, Ed shares a heartbreaking story about a local boy from a broken home & speaks to his Plant A Seed project, giving Appalachian kids hope through growing food.
Check out Shady Grove Botanicals and follow them on Instagram.
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

RURAL MAN-TRACKING + THE 45 & THE HOLY GHOST | Tactical Tracking Instructor | Mike Hull Sep 08, 2022

Mike Hull is a retired game warden, outdoorsman, special deputy, & the founder of Hull's Tracking School where he teaches man-tracking to law enforcement, search & rescue, & military organizations from his home in Nelson County, Virginia. Mike illustrates how to man-track by describing a handful of cases: the armed robbery of a rural post office; a questionable camper in The Shenandoah National Park; a serial burglar; followed by an encounter from his game warden days with backwoods moonshiners. For his story, we hear about a profound period of soul searching while Mike worked at a maximum security prison, culminating in a full-body religious experience. We wrap it up on the bear gallbladder black market, survivalist herbalism, water witching, & his famous remote-viewing neighbor.
Check out his tracking school, Hull's Tracking School.
Music provided by Earl Suitor
"Wildwood Flower"
Written by Joseph Philbrick Webster
Performed by Earl Suitor
Courtesy of Earl Suitor
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FULL OF THE DEVIL: HATFIELDS & MCCOYS + A PENTECOSTAL EXORCISM | Museum Director | Jack Hatfield Aug 25, 2022

Jack Hatfield is the great-great-great-grandson of "Devil Anse" of the legendary Hatfield & McCoy feud, as well as the president & director of the Hatfield McCoy Foundation & Museum in Sarah Ann, West Virginia. We start in old Europe then hear of the feud's Civil War origins, The Logan Wildcats, the Hatfield timber company & mansion, an Appalachian Romeo & Juliette story, & of course, the notable murders through to the final slaughter. Then Jack talks about his calling to start the family museum followed by a story from his Pentecostal upbringing, spirits in the house & presences helping the fledgling museum. "Love thy neighbor as thyself," commands the Bible...easier said than done in the old dark woods of Appalachia.
Check out Jack's Hatfield & McCoy Foundation & Museum & order a Hatfield family cookbook.
Music provided by Earl Suitor
"Shady Grove"
Performed by Earl Suitor
Courtesy of Earl Suitor
"Banjo Signal"
Written by Don Reno
Performed by Earl Suitor
Courtesy of Earl Suitor
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HELL OR HIGH WATER IN EASTERN KENTUCKY: FLOOD, FOLKLORE & GOD | Outdoorsman | Stevie Holbrook Aug 11, 2022

Stevie Holbrook is an outdoorsman, backyard homesteader, painter, & deep-rooted Appalachian living amongst the aftermath of recent devastating floods in Letcher County, Kentucky. We begin with Stevie describing what the flood has been like for him & around his community, then expand into the plight of Appalachia as a whole. From there we transition into God, folkways, & folklore: superstitions around the dog days of summer & faith healing; haints & boogers; turtle buggin' & frog giggin'. Stevie then tells a paranormal story of a whistling creature in the woods, followed by his great-grandparents' encounter while coon hunting. We end on a lil' local history, archeology, & paleontology.
If you're interested in donating to the flood relief, check out the following: Foundation for Appalachia Kentucky or Team Eastern Kentucky Flood Relief Fund
Music provided by Earl Suitor
"My Old Kentucky Home "
Written by Stephen Foster
Performed by Earl Suitor
Courtesy of Earl Suitor

"Clinch Mountain Backstep"
Written by Ralph Stanley
Performed by Earl Suitor
Courtesy of Earl Suitor

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REINCARNATION: A PAST LIFE WITCH BURNING + A COMA LIFE REVIEW | Herbalist | Lorri Bura Aug 01, 2022

Lorri Bura of Herb Mamma is an herbalist, organic medicinal herb farmer, nature whisperer & dare I say, something of a mystic tucked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. We begin with how to raise one's vibrations, homeopathy, usnea, USDA organic poison ivy & St.John's wort in a sock. Then things starkly turn to the numinous with Lorri detailing her harrowing meditations on past-lives from an owl incarnation to a witch burning to WWII Poland. We then hear about her mystic insights on the Lord of the Forest, the 5th dimension, & the earth's purpose. For her second story, she tells of her childhood coma in which she chose to come back to earthly life. Ending on weather manipulation, this wildly metaphysical episode leaves a whole lot to wonder about!
Check out Lorri's herbal products & upcoming workshops at Herb Mamma. To learn more about her farm, go to Green Heart Gardens or visit HipCamp to book at GreenHeart Farm Creek & Woods tent site.
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OLD MAGIC + A MYSTICAL ABBESS + INTERDIMENSIONAL TRAVELERS | Occult Author | Rebecca Beyer Jul 14, 2022

Rebecca Beyer, aka "Blood & Spicebush," is a tattoo artist, hedgecraft practitioner, & occult author on witchcraft & folk magic, currently wild tending in the southern Appalachians of North Carolina. In this fun, sample platter episode we hear about broadleaf plantain folkways; ancestral roots; the ancient Gauls & the Celtic cult of the head; long hair; water witching; John Dee; witchcraft's beginnings; sympathy for the devil; and the life of a 12th-century German mystic & abbess named St. Hildegard von Bingen. For her story, Rebecca shares a deeply unnerving paranormal encounter with what she was told were interdimensional travelers... We end on sassafras folk magic & history, reminding us that every glass of saloop tea is filled with a whole universe of story!
Check out Rebecca's Blood & Spicebush Instagram & website. And order a copy of her new book Wild Witchcraft: Folk Herbalism, Garden Magic, and Foraging for Spells, Rituals, and Remedies
Music provided by Modern Medieval
"Karitas Habundat"
Written by St. Hildegard von Bingen
Performed by Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek & Modern Medieval
Courtesy of Modern Medieval

"O Viridissima Virga"
Written by St. Hildegard von Bingen
Performed by Dr. Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek
Courtesy of Modern Medieval
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IN THE LAND OF THE CHEROKEE + THE WARRIOR DANCE | Cultural Ambassador | Sonny Ledford Jun 30, 2022

Sonny Ledford is a bird-clan Cherokee, cultural ambassador, artisan, & Warrior of AniKituhwah hailing from the Qualla Boundary surrounding Cherokee, North Carolina. Instantly engrossing, Sonny describes his ancestral land, The Trail of Tears, guerrilla warfare & war paint. For his first story, we hear of a numinous performance of The Warrior Dance at Colonial Williamsburg. From there it's an immersion into the old ways: Sequoyah [inventor of the Cherokee syllabary]; fish & bear traps; blowguns; hunting with wolves; ear gauges; pipes; clan mothers; a strict amorous taboo; & praying to The Creator. For Sonny's second story, he tells of a community encounter with The Deer Woman. We close this epic episode on a bigfoot landmark, boarding schools, & traditional masks.
Plan a trip to Cherokee North Carolina , visit The Museum of the Cherokee Indian & check out Sonny's troop, The Warriors of Anikituhwah
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THE BLACK POTTER + AN UGLY JUG NAMED SLAVE | Outsider Artist | Jim McDowell Jun 16, 2022

Jim McDowell, aka "The Black Potter," is a gallery-level, outsider artist in Weaverville, North Carolina working in the ceramic tradition of face jugs inspired by his enslaved African ancestors. In this passionate & electric episode we learn about what pottery was like in colonial & slave times: the spiritual side of African & voodoo pottery; utilitarian vessels on the plantation; digging clay & building kilns; face jugs [aka ugly jugs]; & a renowned, literate slave potter named David Drake. Jim then tells a horripilating story about the making of an emotionally torturous jug he titled, "Slave." This opens powerful conversations about getting one's demons out & the artist's role, channeling ancestors & building generational wealth.
For a visual check out a gallery of Jim's powerful face jugs & watch him on History Detectives. For more information check out his website.
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METAPHYSICAL COUNTRY STORE + THE HORNED GOD, PAN | Folk Herbalist | Anh Stanley Jun 02, 2022

Anh Stanley is a folk herbalist, magick practitioner, & owner of PYRAMID: Appalachian Magick + Remedies in Waynesboro, Virginia. This spiritual smorgasbord of an episode begins with an exploration of the Greek god, Pan. Then it's off to the occult races as Anh speaks about the simplicity of rural folk magic, a brush with suicide, Buddhist wisdom, Jungian psychology, the tarot, the fae, prophetic dreams, & the horned god, Pan. Story time goes paranormal, as Anh shares strange encounters with a deer-deity & the regional man in black. For the final segment we tour the shelves of the metaphysical country store, learning about bone dyeing, mugwort, ethics around the crystal trade, and smudging.
Follow Anh's PYRAMID on Instagram & Facebook. And check out PYRAMID's online store!
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

OLD TIME SUGAR HOUSE & THE SHERIFF OF HIGHLAND COUNTY | Maple Syrup Producer | Tim Duff May 19, 2022

Tim Duff is a maple syrup producer, farmer, flintlock gunsmith, powder horn-maker, & former sheriff in Highland County, Virginia [the southernmost commercial syrup producing region in America]. At his charming Fair Lawn Farms, Tim does everything the old way! In this episode he describes tapping trees & boiling syrup like it's the mid-1800's: wooden spiles, fire, cast iron kettles; a highlight being how the Native Americans produced their maple sugar. For story time, Tim tells a ghost story about refurbishing their 1887 farm house followed by his reflections on being the sheriff of a very rural & very traditional community. In closing, we hear about historical craftsmanship from 18th-century gunsmithing to the fascinating, long forgotten occupation of the horner.
Visit Tim's Fair Lawn Farms and follow along on Facebook. And mark your calendar for next year's Highland County Maple Festival.
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

ONE PATH THROUGH TIME: WW2, ETHIOPIAN SNIPE & A DRUNKEN WOODPECKER | Outdoorsman | Alex ter Weele May 05, 2022

Alexander ter Weele is a Dutch-American outdoorsman, author, poet, & uncle to me, your podcast host. Born in Holland & having traveled to over 100 countries, the theme of this episode seems to be communication between vastly differing cultures: from hunting snipe with an Ethiopian village to sharing a meal with a Greek shepherd, all culminating in a harrowing childhood encounter at a Nazi checkpoint. In the second half of the podcast Alex shares two stories about the natural world, one about leaving no trace in the Allagash wilderness; the second about inebriated critters around the farm. We culminate in reflections about life, death, humanity, optimism, & listening to the stories of our elders.
To purchase one of Alex's book, visit alexanderterweele.com.
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SHENANDOAH: AN ANCIENT EFFIGY, ROWDY BOATMEN & THE FLOOD OF 1870 | River Outfitter | John Gibson Apr 21, 2022

John Gibson is a world-traveled river outfitter on Virginia's bucolic Shenandoah River where thousands come to tube each summer. While her waters are shallow, her history runs deep. Between readings of the valley as a frontier, the great flood of 1870, & a legend of the river’s origin, John tells the Shenandoah’s journey through human habitation. He begins chronologically with a 10,000-year-old Paleo-indian site, followed by the commerce of rowdy 18th-century boatmen on unique flat bottomed "gondolas," through to the devastating industrial pollution of the mid-1900's. We then hear entertaining examples of things found today in its waters, some you'd never imagine... In the last third of the episode, John shares lessons learned while globetrotting, including one about honesty from a packed & smoky train-car in Pakistan.
Next time you're in the Shenandoah Valley, visit John's river outfitter, Down River Canoesfor a day of canoeing, kayaking or lazy river tubing.
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THE INVESTIGATION OF GHOSTS & THE ROUTING OF DEMONS | Paranormal Investigator | Linda Cassada Oct 20, 2021

Linda Cassada is a paranormal investigator with VAPI: Virginia Paranormal Investigations out of Hampton, VA on the Chesapeake Bay. With her grounded & unique Christian approach, we get straight to the brass tacks of residential paranormal investigation: fake ghost reality-TV; the equipment; folks reaching out for help; theories for what ghosts are; & how 90% of cases have natural & mundane explanations. It's the remaining 10% that enters the dark waters of infinite mystery, Linda describes cases with ghost communication, activity around mirrors, & most unnerving of all when the haunting is no traditional ghost, but a malevolent entity that wreaks havoc on people & their homes. For story time, Linda shares a terrifying personal account of just such one investigation around a grisly crime & the parasitic nature of these demonic forces. On a lighter note, she tells her Halloweeny love story about how she got into the calling through a series of events that led straight to her partner & his mutual passion for the paranormal. We end hearing about local hot spots & accounts of some disturbing, yet comical run-ins with people in deranged states.
Check out Virginia Paranormal Investigators and Linda or the VAPI team on Instagram.
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MOTHMAN & CRYPTIDS OF WEST VIRGINIA + A FAMILY CURSE | Curator of Strange Encounters | Les O'Dell Sep 29, 2021

Les O'Dell is a West Virginia paranormal investigator & curator of all things strange with a focus on Mountain State cryptids: an animal or creature that is claimed to exist, but never proven. We get right into hearing both popular legends & locals' accounts from Les' interviews about the likes of: The Wampus Cat; Snarly Yow the devil dog; Mothman; Ogua the giant-snapping turtle; The Grafton Monster; a truck driver's experience with a pre-historic hyena; Not Deer; & a bloody dog-man. Of course, one can't talk cryptids without talking bigfoot, or as the ol' mountain folks call it, The Old Man in the Woods. We hear multiple reports from West Virginians including an anthropologist's beyond-belief encounter in the Dolly Sods Wilderness. The second half of the episode takes a truly nightmarish turn into what is the podcast's most haunting tale to date: Les’ story of what his father claims is a family curse. Prepare yourself for horripilation!
Get a copy of Les' booklet West Virginia Cryptids: A Visual Field Guide for Traversing the Mountain State& reach out on his Facebook group, West Virginia Cryptids & Strange Encounters.
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LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, THE LEATHERMAN & HUDSON HIGHLAND LORE | Master Storyteller | Jonathan Kruk Sep 15, 2021

Jonathan Kruk is a Hudson River Valley author, folklorist & master storyteller best known for his solo performances of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in the historic, 17th-century church that inspired Washington Irving's Halloween classic. In his whimsical & hypnotic style, our guest bard recounts a slew of history & regional lore: a Native American Hudson River creation myth; a waterfall's tragic love story between a native maiden & her captive; a paranormal parable to prideful sailors as they pass Thunder Mountain; the Revolutionary War history behind Mother Hulda the witch & the mythic Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow. Jonathan then shares an uncanny personal experience tracking down the grave of The Wandering Leatherman, a mysterious cave-dwelling vagabond from the 1800's. Towards the end I tell my own story about going into a broken open tomb in an abandoned cemetery, adding to the overall haunted mood of the valley & this exceptional episode.
Get tickets to Jonathan's annual "Irving's Legend" solo performance in Tarrytown NY and/or check out his books: Legends and Lore of Sleepy Hollow and the Hudson Valley, and Legends and Lore of the Hudson Highlands.
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HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL: PAINTING THE AMERICAN WILDERNESS | Documentarian | Vin Tabone Sep 01, 2021

Vin Tabone is the New York film producer of a PBS-aired, two-part documentary on The Hudson River School: a genre of dramatic, mid-19th century landscape paintings depicting the grandeur & the divine in America's wildernesses. We learn about: the main artists in the movement starting with founder Thomas Cole; the reception from New York City critics; their adventuresome travels to jungles, icebergs, Europe & the Wild West; their use of reoccurring symbols such as storm clouds & tree stumps; and the moral & religious messages they strived to convey. Vin shares fond memories of his childhood on the Hudson, seeing the paintings for the first time, & trips to the unspoiled locations. For story time, he reads "The Bewilderment" from Thomas Cole's journal: a blind & dizzying account of being lost in a stormy, black forest. The last section takes a mystery-provoking sharp turn into a handful of Vin's uncanny & paranormal experiences, adding ever more wonderment to the Our Numinous Nature canon.
Aired on PBS & ALL ARTS channel, watch Vin's documentaries The Hudson River School: Part 1: Artistic Pioneers & Part 2: Cultivating a Traditionvia Amazon Prime Video.
Reference Images:
*Thomas Cole, Lake with Dead Trees [1825]
*Thomas Cole, Home in the Woods [1847]
*Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire series [1833-1836]
*Thomas Cole, The Voyage of Life series [1842]
*Frederic Church, Heart of the Andes [1859]
*Frederic Church, Niagara [1857]
*Albert Bierstadt, The Rocky Mountains, Landers Peak [1863]
*Albert Bierstadt, The Last of the Buffalo [1888]
*Albert Bierstadt, Mount Corcoran [1876-1887]
*Asher Durand, Kindred Spirits [1849]
*Jasper Cropsey, Autumn - On the Hudson River [1860]
*Martin Johnson Heade, Hummingbird & Passionflowers [1875-1885]
*Sanford Gifford, The Mouth of the Shrewsbury River, [1867]
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POWHATAN & THE PEOPLE OF THE TIDEWATER + MARSH LIGHTS | Prehistoric Technologist | Daniel Firehawk Abbott Aug 18, 2021

Daniel "Firehawk" Abbott of the Eastern Shore's Nanticoke tribe is a prehistoric technologist & the Native American interpreter for Historic Jamestowne. In this extensive & endlessly engaging episode, Daniel paints a picture of what Chesapeake Bay life would have been like, pre-&-early European contact . We hear of: virgin forests; Nanticoke merchants & trade items; agriculture & the migration of crops; building a traditional longhouse; a muskrat origin story; & the inner workings of the Powhatan chiefdom from taxes to raiding. When story time rolls around, Daniel recounts an incredibly mysterious duck hunt in which his father, uncle & grandfather interacted with sentient marsh lights. Now in the realm of the numinous, Daniel shares his personal experiences including a waking vision & how he got the name, Firehawk. To end this epic episode we learn a few words in Algonquin; how to say: "Welcome," "Outsiders," & "May you farewell."
Visit Historic Jamestowne to participate in one of Daniel's interpretive presentations on Saturdays and Sundays and to learn more about the Nanticoke, check out the tribe's website.
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HARRIET TUBMAN, GREENBRIAR SWAMP, & THE LEGEND OF BIG LIZ | History Enthusiast | Jay Meredith Aug 04, 2021

Jay Meredith of Maryland's Eastern shore is the owner & tour guide of the historic Bucktown general store, as well as the founder of Blackwater Adventures kayak & bicycle rentals. Living within the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park, and with his own American roots dating back to 1668, Jay has become something of an unofficial local historian & folklorist. First we hear about the significance of the general store - bought & restored by Jay - where Harriet Tubman was hit in the head by an irate slave overseer, a fateful injury that opened Tubman to divine guidance. We learn about her early life & her tremendous courage, her husband [a free man] & her possible escape routes through the foreboding swamps. Still feared by the locals today, the Greenbriar Swamp bubbles with legends of treasure & the ghost tale of an enslaved woman, Big Liz. We wrap up this riveting episode on lighter topics: mysterious jewelry found in the fireplace, the critters in the Blackwater Refuge, tasty invasive fish & deer, old guns, the local tribes, & eel pots.
Visit the Bucktown General Store & kayak with Jay's Blackwater Adventures in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.
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SHIPWRECKED IN THE CHOPTANK RIVER + OYSTER DRUDGIN’ | Waterman | Capt. Wade Murphy Jul 21, 2021

Captain Wade H. Murphy, Jr is a 5th-generation Tilghman Islander who oyster dredges from a national historic landmark, a skipjack named the Rebecca T. Ruark built in 1886. Being America's oldest commercial sailboat in operation & hearing from her ol' time waterman captain, makes this episode a slice of Chesapeake Bay living history. We begin with family - his grandfather having fallen overboard in 1914 - and hear about the rough bygone crews, skipjacks, the Oyster Wars, and how exactly "arster drudgin'" works. For story time, Capt. Wade recounts his harrowing experience of going down with his ship during an unparalleled November storm. One feels like they're there in the pissing rain & crashing waves as the Captain describes it in vivid detail, culminating on how the historic ship was saved from dying on the bottom of the Choptank River. We end with some question and answer: sailing superstitions, the captain's religiousness, things found in the dredge net, and a short ghost encounter.
If planning a Chesapeake Bay trip, sail onboard Capt. Wade's historic skipjack or join his son's outfit to catch a Maryland crab feast.
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THE EEL EXODUS, DROWNING ISLANDS, & A MONARCH MIGRATION | Nature Writer | Tom Horton Jul 07, 2021

Tom Horton is an environmental columnist, nature writer, documentary filmmaker, and teacher of writing & environmental studies at Salisbury University on Maryland's Eastern Shore. With the soul of an early 20th-century poet & a lifetime spent on the Chesapeake Bay, Tom gets right to covering a handful of its many wonders & predicaments: the primordial horseshoe crab spawn; the beneficial effects of beavers on the watershed; tundra swan migrations; and the plight of drowning islands due to rising sea levels. For story time, Tom reads one of his essays about his observations while kayaking in the midst of the monarch migration. His second reading - of equal wonder for the mysteries of nature - follows the truly epic eel exodus from Appalachian streams to the Sargasso Sea. We culminate with a report on the health of the Bay: humanity's impact; pollution & possible solutions; hope as opposed to optimism; and fond memories of a boyhood spent mucking in the marshes.
Check out Horton's book of essays, Bay Country, or his memoir of life on Smith Island, An Island Out of Time. Click the links for his documentaries on rising sea levels or Chesapeake blue crabs. And subscribe for free to the Bay Journal.
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1YR. ANNIVERSARY: A BEAR SKIN, FOLK TREASURE, ELDER WITCHES & THE HEREAFTER | Your ONN Host | Philippe Jun 26, 2021

The podcast is one year old! In this anniversary bonus episode we go over some highlights from the past year while reflecting on lessons learned and forecast a list of topics to cover in the following year. Then it's reading time, I relate various texts to themes brought up throughout the 24 episodes of the podcast: regarding hunting & pelts, a 17th-century fable about selling a bear skin; regarding my current interest in the Chesapeake Bay, a brief analysis of treasure folklore and a Virginia pirate legend; regarding herbalism, plant-lore, and witchery, historical uses & magical beliefs surrounding the elder tree; and finally, regarding the podcast's continual presence of ghosts, death, & afterlife, Carl Jung's thoughts & personal experiences of the hereafter. Thank you for listening to Our Numinous Nature & riding along for the unfolding journey.
If interested in purchasing the books read in this episode: Fables of La Fontaine, Illustrated by Gustave Doré; Virginia Folk Legends, Edited by Thomas E. Barden; Under the Witching Tree by Corinne Boyer; and Memories, Dreams, Reflections by Carl G. Jung.
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PIRATES OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY + THE PUNGO WITCH & OTHER HAUNTINGS | Living Historian | Alpheus Chewning Jun 09, 2021

Alpheus Chewning is a Virginia Beach author, folklorist, ghost-walk guide, and living historian with a focus on Chesapeake Bay pirates, the Civil War, & regional hauntings. In this episode we get a taste of what it would have been like aboard a pirate ship during the Golden Age of Piracy [1680 - 1730]. We learn about their egalitarian ethics, ship contracts & recruitment; what they ate; how they slept; using the bathroom; their clothing; flag pictograms & symbolism; superstitions & common phrases; the dividing of treasure; and of course, their brutal yet creative guerrilla battle tactics. When it comes to story time, Al recounts the tale of Blackbeard's curse upon the legendary treasure buried at today's First Landing State Park. His second story, which also blends history & folklore & dates to the early 18th century, is a potent parable about a beautiful & eccentric animal-whisperer/plant healer who was accused of being a witch by her neighbors. The last third of the episode is dedicated to local hauntings: ghosts' participation in a Civil War reenactment; a profound theory about past lives, & more. From the first colonist ships, to Indian graves & pirate battles, we end back at the storied First Landing State Park as Al speaks of his paranormal investigation of a young woman's ghost. Pirates, witches, and ghosts, this episode is beach campfire gold!
Check out Al's Histories & Haunts Facebook, his books on Virginia Beach, and if you're in the area, join one of his guided ghost walks. To learn more, watch Al's cameo in The Pirates of the Chesapeake Bay documentary or read his recommendation of the best book on the topic.
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SHARK TOOTH SEA WARRIOR + THE GHOSTS OF DEAD HORSE HOLLOW | Fossil Hunter | Paul Murdoch May 26, 2021

Paul Murdoch is an amateur paleontologist, fossil hunting guide, ghost hunter, and certified Chesapeake Bay Storyteller operating out of Calvert County, Maryland on the bay's western shore. A highly engaging educator, Paul teaches us about the comet impact that formed the bay [35 million years ago] and why the Calvert Cliffs region is renowned for fossils of the Miocene epoch [8-22 million years ago] . We learn about long extinct, ancient whales, dolphins, sharks, and mollusks while getting some tips on how to read a fossil's story & fossil hunting etiquette. In the first of Paul's stories, he recounts his most significant find, the skull of an undiscovered species of squalodon [a shark toothed whale]. Then we switch gears from fossil hunting to ghost hunting!!! With a deep historical knowledge Paul talks about spending the night at haunted lighthouses and Civil War prisoner camps. For his second tale, he shares a riveting & chilling archeological ghost story about his involvement digging up the bones of Irish railroad workers, bringing to light a malevolent, historical coverup. Wrapping up this excellent episode we hear about: how the dead can speak, banding monarch butterflies, and what to expect on one of Paul's guided hunts.
If you're in the Chesapeake Bay area check out Paul's guided fossil hunting trips: Chesapeake Heritage And Paleontology Tours. Read about & see pictures of his significant finds: Squalodon [shark tooth whale] & Eurhinodelphis [long-snouted dolphin].
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DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY: WILD YAM, MARSHMALLOW, & THE RED CLOVER FAIRY | Herbalist | Teresa Boardwine May 06, 2021

Teresa Boardwine is a registered herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild, as well as a teacher and the founder of Green Comfort School of Herbal Medicine in Washington, Virginia. In this fluid & truly magical episode we take a metaphorical [& metaphysical] walk down to the river behind Teresa's home for a glimpse into wild medicinal plants, history, and spirit. We learn about wild yam & its connection to birth control; bloodroot's use in Listerine, marshmallow root for acid reflux; outdoor sacred spaces; Rudolf Steiner's childrearing philosophy; and much more. For story time, Teresa tells of crossing the witch-hazel threshold on the banks of the river where she's baptized her daughter. From there we're in the land of spirit hearing about plant journeys, a red clover fairy, and her circle of spirit guides. Coming to the end of this wild river ride, we do some folklore hunting for "murkles" [aka morels] & get a tasty stinging nettle pesto recipe. Do not miss this swift, joyous, ephemeral, and enchanting episode!
Check out Teresa's Instagram and visit Green Comfort to learn more about her herbal school in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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A BOY’S GRAVEYARD ESCAPADES + THE HEART OF A DOGMAN | Hunting Dog Expert | Ron Boehme Apr 08, 2021

Ron Boehme is a sporting dog enthusiast, breeder, wingshooter, & host of the popular The Hunting Dog Podcast. While a resident of Michigan, Ron has a 2nd-home in the Shenandoah Valley where I was able to catch him passing through for a fascinating & passionate episode about the bond between hunter and dog. We begin with a rundown on hounds, pointers, and retrievers - the three categories of hunting canines - and hear how they're imbued with a rich history, culture, and most amazingly, a symbiotic bond with their human masters that dates back at least 10,000 years. If you have a pet lab or beagle or dachshund, then I hope you’ll enjoy learning about the wilder nature of your canine companions. When it comes to story time, Ron tells of his adventuresome boyhood in the only patch of wilderness a kid could find in Chicago: the graveyards… With the joyously mischievous qualities of Mark Twain, Ron's storytelling transports us into a 1960's world of building forts, evading cemetery security, mail-order home taxidermy, and pursuing game amongst the tombstones. To close this soulful episode, we end with a lot of heart as Ron speaks to the emotional burden of being a dog owner - the tragic knowledge that you’ll outlive your closest companions and how that connects us to our own mortality.
Check out Ron on Instagram to see his life with sporting dogs, listen to his podcast, and visit his website for further info, including his new online dog training workshop.
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HERPETOLOGICAL SPRING: PEEPERS, SALAMANDERS, & A SNAKE GIRL | Wildlife Educator | Caroline Seitz Mar 17, 2021

Caroline Seitz - aka Cobra Caroline - is a Northern Virginia wildlife educator specializing in reptiles & amphibians. While her vocation is to teach kids to love nature, this fun & educational & infectiously joyous episode is for all ages. We begin by covering the timely news on "herpetological spring": salamander migrations, spring peepers, vernal pools, gorging snakes, regional salamander biodiversity & population threats, gelatinous egg masses, and how-to locate some amphibian action near you in the remaining weeks. Having owned & cared for dozens of rescue animals, Caroline shares her personal, ethical journey evolving beyond live shows to a more creative new venture. One of the most interesting parts of this episode is hearing how different ages respond to snakes, from kids, to teenagers, and finally adults. Then we get into her brief stint as a snake removal technician & joining her brother's conservation work with Hawaii's hawksbill sea turtles. In closing, Caroline shares a heart-warming story about her parents: how their nurturing of her childhood passion for reptiles & amphibians led to a lifetime of animal shows from age 9 to present day.
Check out Caroline's Kid's Nature Shows to book an in-person or virtual event for your kiddos. And follow along via Instagram & Facebook for fun facts about reptiles & amphibians.
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INTRO TO CAVING + A COAL MINER'S SON | Caver | Greg McCoy Mar 03, 2021

Greg McCoy is a Virginia caver specializing in vertical caving [similar to rock-climbing rappelling but into a black hole...]. In this educational episode we get an introduction to all things caving: the difference between a spelunker & a caver; horizontal & vertical caving; white nose syndrome [a fungus devastating to bats]; pouring dye into cave streams to test ground water; what sorts of cave critters one might see; and the extreme nature of cave rescue. We hear exciting anecdotes about regional discoveries ranging from ancient bones to burial sites and artifacts. Greg describes two of his caving trips, one about descending a 586-ft pit in Ellison's Cave in Georgia [click to see epic pictures!]. Nearing the end we hear a bit about cave diving and wrap it up with some McCoy family history. Having descended from coal miners, Greg went to college to escape a miner's life, and yet he's spent a lifetime underground for work & for recreation!
Find your regional caving club [called a grotto] to reach out & join a caving excursion near you.
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A PATAGONIAN MAN-EATER + MENTORS OF THE WILD | Outdoorsman | Frank Escalona Feb 10, 2021

Frank Escalona is a Chilean-born avid outdoorsman - backpacker, fisherman, hunter, adventurer - whose outdoor life has stretched from Patagonia, to Washington's Cascade Range, and now Virginia's Blue Ridge. The themes of this episode are adventure, mentorship, and facing dangerous megafauna. Pre-interview I read a lesson from a 19th-century mentor to his mentee: a shikari's [an Indian hunter] story about ignoring bad omens that led to a violent run in with a tiger. Our interview begins with Frank's "sumptuous" childhood in Valparaíso [a port city on Chile’s coast] and his emigration to Seattle [at the time a lumber town] where he met a woodsman mentor who took him on his first big game hunt, for black bear, at age 14 in the blueberry fields of the Cascade Range. While discussing human wildness & the motivation for pursuing potentially dangerous animals beyond the inherent value of their meat, Frank recounts a harrowing story about his Patagonian fisherman friends & their conflict with a man-eater. As hunter's mature, they often seek difficulty & depth, and for Frank that means learning the Zen of archery. We hear what he's learned from his recent traditional bow practice. Coming full circle, the episode ends with how working with master craftspeople from tailors to gunmakers adds to the aesthetic ritual of the hunt and connects back to Frank's childhood in the Valparaíso markets.
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MESSAGE FROM AYAHUASCA + A MYTHIC SNAKE + GINSENG TRADE | Plant Advocate | Susan Leopold, PhD Jan 01, 2021

Susan Leopold, PhD of Linden, Virginia is an ethnobotanist, plant advocate, and the executive director of United Plant Savers [a non-profit focused on the conservation of medicinal plants]. The theme of this episode is history: a post-civil war connection to Susan's property, her Patawomeck ancestry [including the Pocahontas controversy], and the centuries-old ginseng trade which is currently linked to a shadowy herbal black market. She teaches us about plant conservation, the at-risk tool, sandalwood, osha, and related botanical issues. When it comes to story time, Susan shares her personal experience living in the Amazon jungle where she received a potent ayahuasca message and gathered folklore from the indigenous group she lived with during her ethnobotanical study. Upon returning home she was startled to find similar themes in the folktales of Virginia's Bull Run Mountains. In closing, Susan explains her specially crafted spagyric hemp products grown right here on her property and I recount our synchronistic trip to Carl Jung's lakeside castle, Bollingen Tower, in Switzerland.
Check out United Plant Savers on Instagram and become a member to receive the annual Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation. For a behind-the-scenes look follow the United Plant Savers botanical sanctuary in Ohio. For Susan's CBD hemp products, visit her Paris Apothecary online store. And for more information regarding Virginia's Patawomeck tribe click the link.
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SERMONS & FEASTS: SPIRIT DOGS, TURTLE MEDICINE, OTTER PELTS, & WOLF WOMEN | Your ONN Host | Philippe Dec 18, 2020

Having no guest for this episode, we spend a rainy, snowy early winter morning reading stories by the fire. First we start locally, with two short folk tales from my mountains about spirit dogs and 'jack-ma-lanterns' read from Virginia Folk Legends edited by Thomas E. Barden. Next, I find the answer to my question about otter edibility in Norse mythology through a misadventure of Odin & Loki who must fill a magician's otter pelt with gold, read from The Norse Myths retold by Kevin Crossley-Holland. Then we visit the words of a great oracle, Clarissa Pinkola Estés to hear about the powerful feminine archetype of The Bone Collector read from Women Who Run with the Wolves. We wrap up this winter episode with a heartwarming bowl of turtle medicine soup from Wildwoods Wisdom: Encounters with the Natural World by the legendary Appalachian naturalist & folklorist Doug Elliott. Check out these wonderful reads through the links above.
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MAGIC GARDEN: GNOMES, FAYS, & DEARIE THE DEER | Plant Medicine Artist | Donna La Pré Dec 02, 2020

Donna La Pré of Washington, Virginia is a Biodynamic gardener, artist, herbalist, small-batch skin care producer, natural dyer, and perfumer - all under the umbrella of her home business, Tender Flower. Seated outside the charming potting shed in her autumnal garden, we begin by hearing about Donna's ancestry followed by how the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner [anthroposophy] clicked on a deep level, inspiring her spiritual path & Biodynamic gardening in which she grows 85% of the herbs and flowers used in her products. Skimming over her many vocations, we settle into a thought-provoking discussion on aromatherapy, perfumery, and incense. As the interview deepens, Donna is gracious enough to let us peek into her world: one inhabited by nature spirits, elementals, gnomes, fays, and other beings unseen by most. This engrossing episode ends on a trilogy of synchronistic short stories about the loss of both her father & her cat named Sassafras, as well as the rescue of a bleating fawn on a stormy night.
Check out Donna's Tender Flower store & classes as well as her Instagram.
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PEACEABLE KINGDOM: AN ABANDONED HOUSE, 3 COONS & THE ARMCHAIR PIG | Restaurateur | Katie Crutchfield Nov 18, 2020

Katie McMillan Crutchfield is the chef & owner of The Dancing Bear Cafe: a renovated chicken hatchery nestled in the corn fields of Corder, Missouri amongst her old farm house, 2 AirBnB rentals, 13 peacocks, 5 horses, 5 cats, 7 dogs, a multitude of chickens & ducks, one pig & a pony. And then there’s the wildlife…orphaned raccoons, killer foxes, and leaderless coyotes. In this fun and kooky episode we hear what life is like at Katie’s plant & animal oasis; a peaceable kingdom surrounded by never-ending ag fields where crop dusting planes roar overhead & cancer is commonplace. When it comes to story time it might as well be the beginning of a whimsical children’s book: two tales from the time when Katie - at a life crossroads & very much alone - moved into an abandoned farm house with no doors where she lived with her animal friends both domestic & wild. And as her reputation in the community grew, she became the unofficial, local wildlife rehabilitator working with the likes of barred owls, pileated woodpeckers & possum joeys. Today, all the farm's outbuildings have a new life: the dilapidated chicken hatchery is now a destination fine-dining restaurant, and a railroad shanty from the ol’ coal mine behind the property is a charming AirBnB cottage. This episode is further proof that you can build your own version of a happy & unique life.
Check out Katie's restaurant Dancing Bear Cafe on Facebook & Instagram. And next time you're passing through Missouri, book one of the AirBnBs at her farm: Artist Cottage or The Pond House.
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CHURCH OF THE CRETACEOUS + THE PTERANODON SKULL | Fossil Hunter | Chuck Bonner Nov 04, 2020

Chuck Bonner is a family-taught paleontologist & artist hailing from the chalk beds of Western Kansas: once an ancient ocean teaming with large swimming & flying reptiles, fish, sharks, and turtles. He and his wife live off-the-grid in an old chalk church they've renovated into a fossil gallery a few miles down the road from Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park. We begin by learning why this landscape makes for such good Cretaceous fossil hunting & get a glimpse of what a hunt in the chalk beds is like. Chuck shares two memorable "fossil fishing" stories: the first about a pteranodon skull found when he was only 15; the second about how his family name [Bonner] has been forever immortalized by science. After story time, Chuck gives us a tour of his workshop. Did you know Indiana Jones was based on a real life, legendary paleontologist [not an anthropologist]? And if you're like me, I found it extremely helpful to reference the illustrations & fossil photos on Chuck's website for a clear mental picture of what these ancient animals looked like.
Check out Chuck & his wife's gift shop, fossil & art gallery: Keystone Gallery. And watch the Bonners at work in their fossil beds in NOVA's Making North America: Life.
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APPALACHIAN WITCHES + THE EXPLODING ROSE | Folklorist | Tyler Chadwell-English Oct 21, 2020

Tyler Chadwell-English - a charismatic librarian & folklorist with a masters in folklore & museum studies from George Mason University - lights our imagination with all-things Appalachian witchlore! We begin with me sharing my own personal story of Brooklyn witches & a possession experience that left me white as a ghost. Once the interview commences, Tyler teaches us about the three types of Appalachian witchcraft: white witchery, black witchery, and witch doctoring; followed by the various sub-genres of witches: the water witch, shapeshifter, bloodstopper, and granny woman. We hear four local folktales about: troublesome cats in a mill, a widower’s haunted lilac bush, a mysterious hitchhiker, and a lock of hair in a shoe. Then it's time to dust off our old brooms & Bibles as we learn a handful of regional ways to protect our homes from witches & evil spirits. The conversation creeps through Grimms, the connection between the queer & occult communities, and if folktales should be believed as truth. Make sure to stick around till the very end as Tyler shares two of his personal spooky stories: one about the death of an old cat lady, the other about a mysterious occurrence with a rose during a harrowing car wreck. This is the bewitching Halloween special I had prayed for!

Check out the West Virginia Folklife Center and the books mentioned by Tyler throughout the episode: Witches, Ghosts, and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians; Signs, Cures, and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore, and The Telltale Lilac Bush and Other West Virginia Ghost Tales.

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YARB WOMAN + A LAKOTA HORSE SONG | Community Herbalist | Joanne Bauman Oct 07, 2020

Joanne Bauman of Topeka, Kansas is a yarb woman and the host of Mother Earth News' "Heirlooms & Herbals" podcast. Coming from a long line of plant people - Appalachians, an Oglala Lakota medicine woman & a pharmacist father - Joanne encourages us to foster a relationship with the land. She instructs us on how we might give an offering of herbs or our hair to the plants and animals we aim to forage and hunt. We hear about mullein torches, elderberry folklore, herbs specific to the prairie, and 'the doctrine of signatures': an ancient tool for determining a plant's medicinal properties. Joanne then shares a powerful story about both healing the land and intergenerational trauma surrounding Lt. Colonel George Custer, the Lakota & Cheyenne of the Black Hills, and The Battle of the Greasy Grass [aka The Battle of the Little Bighorn]. Perhaps one of the highlights of this entire podcast series comes after her story, we have the great honor of hearing Joanne sing a Lakota horse song. Wow!!! We finish up our backyard garden conversation listening to Joanne's experiences studying psychology & working with folks' dis-eases of the psyche. In closing, Joanne gives us a fun, yet precise tip about the real meaning of the word "guru."
Check out Joanne's Prairie Magic Herbals & her Heirlooms & Herbals Podcast
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OZARKS SHERIFF + QUIT STARING AT THE COTTONMOUTH | Fur Buyer | Deputy Stan White Sep 23, 2020

Deputy Stan White is a deputy sheriff, trapper, & fur buyer in Barry County in the Missouri Ozarks. As a darkening storm swirls in the background, Deputy White speaks to his county’s rising drug-use, homelessness, & domestic violence as well as the changing collective feeling amongst the locals. He tells us a little bit about the fur market: from beaver castors to mink farming, 70's coons to western bobcats. We hear about growing up trapping with his father and uncle, and how setting his first trapline was an exercise in facing fear and possibly a rite towards manhood. Approaching story-time, our tastebuds wonder as muskrat meat, bobcat back straps and baked possum are brought to the table. Deputy White's first story illustrates the archetypal tension of fathers & sons; his second speaks to animal temperaments from a cantankerous cottonmouth to a stoic bobcat that seemed to act against its fiery nature.
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KAMIKAZE HAWK, A MESSAGE FROM THE DEAD | Community Herbalist | Victoria Fillmore Sep 09, 2020

Victoria Fillmore of Cedar Hill Homestead is a community herbalist in the wooded hills of central Tennessee where she homesteads with her husband, son, chickens, goats & herbs. We start our convo hearing about a rat snake in the chicken coop, the Foxfire books, poke sallet, experimenting with poisonous plants and capturing wild yeast. Then there's a massive shift from light plant talk to deep wisdom: Tori shares the story of her deceased mentor [a Lakota elder named Hawk] and his lesson-learned-too-late about dissipating others' negative energy. From there we are in the realm of animism, cleansing practices, and messages from the dead.
Check out Cedar Hill Homestead on Instagram & Facebook.
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LIGHTNING BUG LADY: BLUE GHOSTS + BROTHER MOTH | Citizen Scientist | Lynn Faust Aug 26, 2020

Lynn Faust - The Lightning Bug Lady - is a Tennessean naturalist and citizen scientist who has written the first ever North American guidebook on lightning bugs: Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs. She has consulted in-the-field on numerous nature documentaries including BBC's new Seven Worlds, One Planet and their 2015 Life That Glows as well as Netflix's Night on Earth. This super folky episode is much more than Lynn's lightning bug 101; we hear about sailing the world, Appalachian packrats, firefly folklore, working with David Attenborough, glowing mushrooms, digging mayapple, and stolen sang. Quite the raconteur, Lynn shares multiple stories, the first about her discovery of a synchronous Smoky Mountain lightning bug, another about her granny neighbor who warned of the blue ghosts that haunt Lynn's property, followed by a series of moth synchronicities surrounding her brother's sudden death, and finally, to end this glorious episode, how her son was stalked by an aggressive mountain lion. This one is a must listen!
Check out Lynn's firefly guidebook and the BBC trailers for Life That Glows and Seven Worlds, One Planet.
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LIONS & SKUNKS & WEASELS, OH MY! | Furbearer Biologist | Michael Fies Aug 09, 2020

Michael Fies is a wildlife biologist & the furbearer project leader at Virginia's Department of Wildlife Resources [formerly known as Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries]. Furbearers are defined as animals with commercial fur value ranging from the tiny least weasel, the mighty beaver, and mischievous raccoon, to the elusive bobcat and trickster coyote. Mike shares how his grandfather's love of the outdoors & their rabbit beagle led to his 37-year career in wildlife. This is an educational episode where we discuss a wide range of topics: the little known squirrel-sized spotted skunk; fox-sized weasels [fishers] making their way from West Virginia; restoring river otter populations; scat IDing; skunk essence; a gruesome tree full of coyote corpses; and even eastern mountain lions. Mike clears up misconceptions about trapping; how it is not only humane when following Best Management Practices, but can be beneficial to wildlife management, followed by his thoughts on how Native Americans may have used naturally made traps. Mike tells two fun stories from his career: one about a backyard skunk and the other about dealing with a mountain lion call. And before this educational interview, we read a potent and timely Cherokee legend about the ghostly flower [Indian pipe] that grows where friends and family quarrel.
Check out Mike's work on the spotted skunk and the department's nature-loving Instagram.
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

A FAMILY FARM + DEADLY STINGS | Farmsteaders | Krista & Rob Rahm Jul 26, 2020

Forrest Green Farm in Louisa, Virginia is the no-spray, beyond-organic family farm of Krista & Rob Rahm. They pasture raise cows, pigs, and chickens, and grow heirloom veggies and an impressive array of medicinal herbs. The theme of this episode is family. We talk with Krista about finding their run down farm house and how her son's learning disability led to herbalism & homeschooling. She shares what it's like to raise kids on a farm and her feelings about abandoning a career-oriented life for self-sufficiency and nature. From her husband Rob, we hear about slingshot hunting as a kid, fox trapping with their son, and get a practical tip for folks who want to try farming. Most interestingly is how the Rahms use their intuition: how Rob constantly reads the signs of the farm while Krista receives enlightening information from her plants. We culminate with their experience dealing with the bee stings that nearly took Rob's life.
Check out Forrest Green Farm on Instagram & Facebook.
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Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

WILDLIFE HOSPITAL + THE PEREGRINE MYSTERY | Wildlife Advocate | Edward Clark, Jr. Jul 11, 2020

Edward Clark, Jr. is the president & founder of The Wildlife Center of Virginia, a world-renowned wildlife hospital in Waynesboro, Virginia. Ed - a passionate & gregarious wildlife advocate and a real character - tells us about their 19 orphaned bear cub patients, a brutal case of mange, an ornery bobcat's thrill ride, & how hunting in his youth sparked his love for nature. We hear a handful of potent PSAs: dos & don'ts when handling our wild animal neighbors and the potential of loving an animal to death... Between our fascinating convo Ed recounts two tales: the first about a poisoned bald eagle that blew the lid off a pesticide conspiracy; followed by a deeply personal account he's never shared publicly, the story of his numinous bond with a peregrine falcon that left him utterly mystified. This is an epic episode!!!
Check out The Wildlife Center of Virginia on Instagram & Facebook.
Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram

Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art

Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

GNARLY ROOTS + THE HERBAL PATH | Community Herbalist | Lupo Passero Jun 27, 2020

Lupo Passero is a community herbalist, flower essence practitioner and the founder & director of Twin Star Apothecary in historic New Milford, Connecticut. In this free flowing conversation we talk about dreams, the bears and cats that haunt them, elderberry, bear perfume, the spiritual side of herbalism, forming plant relationships, the importance of talking to poison ivy, transplanting lady slippers, dandelion pesto, and much more. Lupo shares the wisdom that she’s gleaned from the gnarled roots of black cohosh: an Appalachian medicinal plant prized for its many uses for women’s health. We end with the story of how her immigrant grandparents' homestead lifestyle lead Lupo to the herbal path.
Check out Twin Star Tribe on Instagram & Facebook.
Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram

Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art

Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

HAUNTED HOMESTEAD TROUT + AN UNCANNY CANINE | Fly Fisherman | Roger Flinchum Jun 26, 2020

Roger Flinchum is a fly fisherman, hunter, woodworker and retired English teacher with a deep history & love of rural life here in Virginia. We talk about charming bear encounters, ol’ time ways, & his lessons learned from the woods & rivers. Based on his experiences of solitude in nature, Roger reads us two of his…dare I say…paranormal…non-fiction fishing stories. Quite the honor since he’s never published them before! The second, “Homestead Trout,” is so good my smile stretched from ear to ear.

Check out one of Roger’s fly fishing classes [Postponed due to Covid-19]
Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram

Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art

Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

ORIGIN STORY + THE RACCOON TRAP | Your ONN Host | Philippe Jun 25, 2020

Deeply moved by The Sacred Art of Hunting by James A. Swan, your host - Philippe - shares why this book inspired the podcast. We read the personal account of a waterfowl biologist's religious experience hunting snow geese, followed by a stirring tale of trauma healed on a moose hunt. While future episodes will focus on our guests, in this first episode, Philippe shares his story of escaping New York City to become a man & a hunter in the Blue Ridge Mountains. His story culminates with his first winter attempting to fur trap & the harrowing first encounter with a trapped raccoon that left him rattled for weeks.
[Not a kid-friendly episode. Contains adult language & themes]
Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram
Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art
Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

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