On the wheel of the year listing pagan holidays, Litha is perhaps the most problematic. This hit home to me when I read a blog post recently, from someone who was going to Stonehenge on Midsummer’s morning, to celebrate Litha in the manner of their celtic ancestors. Bloggers aren’t known for accuracy, but what really stuck […]
Lakey’s Ghost: On folklore and folk horror from the prairie, and how the legend of the headless horseman galloped westward across an ocean and a continent
On Lakey’s Ghost from John W. Allen; Legends & Lore of Southern Illinois … Until recent years it was a common custom to go calling on neighbors in the evening and “set until bedtime.” There were no telephones, television sets, or radios for entertainment. There were no automobiles nor were there any roads for them to travel. […]
My Death
And school’s out early and soon we’ll be learning that the lesson today is how to die. Bob Geldof Dying is something we all face, whether we think about it or not. For most of my life, if I thought about it, it was to find ways to avoid it. I turned 58 years old […]
Jack Haggerty
A FELLOW BY THE NAME OF DAN McGINNIS wrote the lyrics to take the piss out of his boss, George Mercier. Old George was engaged to Anna Tucker, and managed to land a job that McGinnis wanted. In spite, McGinnis wrote the lyrics, and tagged Jack Haggerty’s name on it, some think to make George […]
On Springfield Mountain
IT’S A TRAGIC TALE … telling of the death of one Timothy Merrick, who died on August 7, 1761 in Wilbraham, Massachusetts from the bite of a serpent. The town clerk recorded at the time, “Lieut Thomas Mirick’s only Son dyed, August 7th, 1761, By the Bite of a Ratle Snake, Being 22 years, two months […]
Nineteen Years Old (The Virgin)
ON THE FRONTIER THERE WERE NO STANDUP COMEDIANS. They were forced to make each other laugh. When it comes to topics, we haven’t progressed much as this song shows. Variations exist of this song under a number of names, including In the Shade of the Old Apple Tree, The Burgler Man, My Little Girl, A Dandy […]
