Ghosts on a Tree, Franz Sedlacek, 1933
Category: ghost
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The Cost of Battle 💔
“In Montmorency [Quebec], the ghost is thought to be Mathilde Robin. In 1759, in the middle of the Seven Years War, Mathilde had found her true love in Louis Tessier, a local farmer and member of the militia who asked for her hand in marriage. Her father approved of the match and the two were to be married at the end of the summer in 1759.
“However, this was a turbulent time in Québec and Louis was soon sent to fight in the Battle of Beauport, which took place at the base of the Montmorency Falls on July 31, 1759.
“The English forces were controlled by General James Wolfe who is famous for taking Québec during the Plains of Abraham. He would not be victorious during this battle; wet air from the falls and a sudden storm ruined the English gun power and the British troops were forced to retreat. Wolfe recorded 210-deaths in this journal. The French leader, Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, recorded 60.
“However, for poor Mathilde, the French were victorious but her beloved Louis was one of the 60-militiamen who were killed. In her grief, it’s believed that she put on her wedding dress and threw herself from the top of the falls, where they had met the evening before. People have claimed to have heard her cries or to have seen her ghost in a white dress falling from the top of the falls.”
From The Travel Geek: Montmorency: La légende de la Dame blanche
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Horror Cinema: Flight 666
Going into Flight 666, I was anxious that I was being introduced to characters simply to watch them get their heads ripped off later on. I am happy to report that this movie didn’t turn into a gory disaster movie. Instead, the story, although cheesy, was an interesting plot for the premise of a haunted flight.
Not recommended, necessarily, but worth it for a movie night 🍿.
Pallatina, Rob. Flight 666, Slightly Distorted Productions / The Asylum, 2018.
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Ancient Ghost Stories
In Mesopotamia, ghost stories have been discovered as far back as 5,000 years ago.
According to the Mesopotamians, when a person’s physical body died, it created what was known as a gidim, an imprint or image of the person at the time of their death which retained their memories and personality in ghost form.
In the mythology of the afterlife, people believed the soul of the dead would travel to the underworld or Irkalla, an inescapable place where spirits would dwell for eternity.
However, in some cases, it was even thought that spirits or gidim could escape and infiltrate the mortal world. Mesopotamians believed the gidim who dwelled in the mortal realm did so because they had not received a proper burial. They assumed these spirits could not find peace, so instead they would haunt family and friends.
A Sumerian tablet depicting gods and spirits, circa 2300 BCE (public domain) The Epic of Gilgamesh
When the people of ancient Mesopotamia experienced illnesses and misfortune, they believed it was caused by hauntings, or gidim. Mesopotamians regularly made offerings to the dead to placate them if they thought a gidim was responsible. A famous example of one such spirit from ancient literature is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In the epic story, king Gilgamesh summons his friend and war-hero Enkidu back from the dead, inviting him into the mortal world in ghost form.
From The Collector: Ancient Ghost Stories From Around the World -
The Dargle Lovers
“A young lady of the locality was faithless to her lover giving her attentions, instead, to another young man who had started to woo her with dash and charm. But while she was singing a favourite song to please him, as she paused between verses, she heard the distant toll of a church bell, unmistakably signifying a death. On inquiring, and with a terrible fear clutching her heart, she discovered that her former lover, stricken by her unfaithfulness, had died of a broken heart.
“Overcome by remorse, she left her new admirer and hurried to the graveyard where they had just buried the youth who had died for her. There, despite the entreaties of her friends, she spent a night of sleet and rain at his graveside. On each following night she came again and, although her worried family tried to dissuade her, she continued her lonely vigil, only going back to her home during daylight hours.
“Indifferent to the pleadings of those who loved her and the entreaties of her new admirer, who had been responsible for her desertion of the dead youth, she continued to spend each night at the graveside determined, it seemed, to die for him who had died for her.
“Eventually, inevitably, her mind collapsed and she told her distraught sister that her lover had risen from the grave and walked with her through the Dargle glen, promising to meet her again and take her to a place where they would be together forever.
“Much alarmed, the girl’s family tried to keep her confined to the house, but she managed to escape. Her absence was discovered a few minutes later and her brother quickly followed her, heading with all speed to the churchyard, where he knew he would find her.
“He arrived too late, only in time to catch a glimpse of her scarf fluttering in the breeze as she ran towards the river. Trying desperately to overtake her, he saw her climb up the huge crag surmounting the Dargle, pause a moment on its treacherous brink and then plunge into the swollen river below, doubtless lured to her death by the phantom lover conjured up by her tortured imagination.” (p. 86 – 87)
From J. Dunne’s Haunted Ireland: Her Romantic and Mysterious Ghosts (1977), online source: County Wicklow Heritage.
“The symbol of the clasped hands were often accompanied with words: ‘farewell’, ‘goodbye,’ and ‘until we meet again.’ The carved hands were almost always portrayed as right hands and they represent a husband and wife sharing a last handshake. One hand is usually flat and loose, its fingers extended, which may be interpreted as either a final embrace, or the deceased leading the living to follow them.”
– arlene stafford wilson: Irish Graveyards -
Horror Cinema: Insidious – Chapter 3
Horror movies are my comfort viewing. I start with my favorite ghost story, Ti West’s The Innkeepers, and then I revisit my favorite franchises, like Wrong Turn, Hatchet or Freddy Kreuger. I was recently in a spooky mood, so I revisited the Insidious franchise.
I’m a fanboy of the series, so I have nothing negative to say about it. I love the cast of characters, the exploration into the netherworld, and the numerous jump scares. My favorite in the series was the third chapter, but my appeal to it relies on having watched the first movie, so I would not recommend it on its own.
The third chapter is refreshing because it is about a new cast of characters, even a different demon, than the previous two. The one constant is the psychic, Elise Rainier. Played by Lin Shaye, Elise is a tender but fearless character. I am glad that the third and fourth movies are both about her.
In the third chapter, Elise sees her future, which is a vision of the ending of the first movie. I love the connection in time between the two movies, and I especially loved how the movie ended with Elise recognizing her finite, numbered days and choosing to use them to help others and become friends with her two ghost-hunting buddies.
For a horror junkie, I’m a total sap, I know!
Aside from the feel-good moments, the third chapter had scary visuals, like a demon looking out from the protagonist’s throat, and an engaging story. It is a great central chapter in the five-movie series.
Whannell, Leigh. Insidious: Chapter 3, Focus Features (USA), 2015.
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Horror Cinema: The Crone
On more than one occasion while watching The Crone, I exclaimed, “What the heck is going on right now?” Some of the visuals were surreal and others were body horror, which were super gross, but that is what I want from a horror movie, so it was great. The movie, overall, was spooky as sh*t, and I loved it. For a supernatural movie and a Japanese horror film, this one is a classic!
Naito, Eisuke. The Crone, Travis, 2013.
The Devil's Muse 