{"id":6347,"date":"2014-03-14T16:57:12","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T22:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6347"},"modified":"2014-03-14T16:57:12","modified_gmt":"2014-03-14T22:57:12","slug":"weird-tales-hex-signs-and-folklore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6347","title":{"rendered":"‘Weird Tales,’ Hex Signs, and Folklore"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00b6 Joe Laycock examined the mythologies behind True Detective<\/em><\/a>. (I have not seen it, being much the same situation as Jason Pitzl-Waters<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Religion scholar Philip Jenkins has suggested these two sources\u2014contemporary Satanic Panic and the \u201cweird tales\u201d of pulp horror\u2014are connected.\u00a0He suggests that it was the weird tales authors of the 1920s, notably Lovecraft and Herbert Gorman, who first introduced the idea of secret, murderous cults into the American consciousness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00b6 Those so-called “hex signs” on Pennsylvania Dutch barns? They have little to do with witches and magic, notes librarian of esotericsm Dan Harms in a book review<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From time to time, I\u2019m asked if The Long-Lost Friend<\/em><\/a> has anything to do with hex signs, those beautiful star and flower figures that decorate the barns across much of eastern Pennsylvania and adjacent areas where German settlers made their homes.\u00a0 The answer is, \u201cNot really,\u201d with a follow-up about the possibility of a mystical link that might or might not be present.\u00a0 Hex Signs<\/em> provides us with answers to these questions, and much more.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u00b6 Speaking of folklore, Ethan Doyle White notes a free online special issue of the journal Folklore<\/em><\/a>, focusing on folklore and Paganism. Lots of good material there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00b6 Joe Laycock examined the mythologies behind True Detective. (I have not seen it, being much the same situation as Jason Pitzl-Waters.) Religion scholar Philip Jenkins has suggested these two sources\u2014contemporary Satanic Panic and the \u201cweird tales\u201d of pulp horror\u2014are connected.\u00a0He suggests that it was the weird tales authors of the 1920s, notably Lovecraft and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[37,39,5,135,153],"class_list":["post-6347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-folklore","tag-occultism","tag-paganism","tag-satanism","tag-television"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1En","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1205,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1205","url_meta":{"origin":6347,"position":0},"title":"Little Red Riding Hood is Older than You Think","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The story of Little Red Riding Hood, usually dated to the 16th or 17th century, may be much older, says an anthropologist who studied multiple versions from around the world.Professor Jack Zipes, a retired professor of German at the University of Minnesota who is an expert on fairy tales and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"folklore\"","block_context":{"text":"folklore","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=folklore"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":300,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=300","url_meta":{"origin":6347,"position":1},"title":"So you want to work\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 2, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"So you want to work in a bookstore? Then read \"Tales of a Book Monkey.\" It's the English version, but chain bookstores, I suspect, are about the same on either side of the pond. \"Bookselling was weird. I spent eight long months in that nether world of overstocks and pyramids,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13659,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13659","url_meta":{"origin":6347,"position":2},"title":"‘Lodge Tales’ Is a Native American Paranormal Podcast","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"My overall favorite paranormal podcast is Timothy Renner's Strange Familiars, which now has logged 465 episodes. Its style is low-key. Usually people discuss their experiences with \"the Other\" in conversation with the host. Sometimes he and a friend or two take a late-night walk on the Appalachian Trail or another\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"cryptids\"","block_context":{"text":"cryptids","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=cryptids"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/lodge-tales.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/lodge-tales.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/lodge-tales.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/lodge-tales.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13163,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13163","url_meta":{"origin":6347,"position":3},"title":"Peg Aloi Wraps Up Witchy, Pagan and Occult-themed Films & TV","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 18, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Pagan film critic\/professor Peg Aloi looks at 2022's offerings and concludes,\"This year was a veritable sparkly cornucopia of weird, witchy, wonderful films and TV steeped in occult and pagan imagery and storylines.\" This was number one: You Won\u2019t Be Alone (2022 Sometimes States prescription to Table to explore incentive of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"film\"","block_context":{"text":"film","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=film"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/You-Wont-Be-Alone-1024x683.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/You-Wont-Be-Alone-1024x683.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/You-Wont-Be-Alone-1024x683.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11001,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11001","url_meta":{"origin":6347,"position":4},"title":"Have We Indeed Reached “Peak Witch”?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"October 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"I doubt it. But that is the kind of significant question that the New York Times is asking during Witchcraft and Paganism Media Month: \"When Did Everybody [sic] Become a Witch?\" Witches are your millennial co-workers doing tarot card readings on their lunch breaks, and professional colleagues encouraging you to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"journalism\"","block_context":{"text":"journalism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=journalism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13644,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13644","url_meta":{"origin":6347,"position":5},"title":"Of Animals \u2014\u00a0 Magical and Cryptic","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 19, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A new issue of the Hellbore zine, No. 11, \"The Animal Issue\" has been published. Real life is trying to keep up. (See below.) Hellebore is available from a few shops in the UK or by mail. Hares that are witches in disguise, ravens with prophetic powers, sacrificial wrens representing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animals\"","block_context":{"text":"animals","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=animals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Hellebore-11.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6348,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6347\/revisions\/6348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}