Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Halloween Origins

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Halloween Origins · Journey to the Fringe

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The Unexplained to the Mundane, join us on our
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journey to the Fringe. We are your podcast hosts
0:48
Taylor and Chelsea here today I decided to take
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the approach of there's a bunch of small things
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here and there where you're just like, where
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does that come from? I just wanted to look into
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these and none of them could fill an episode
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on their own But all these things combined lead
1:02
to I think a pretty I'm so curious episode because
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I don't know the last time I was like, where's
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that small thing come from? But maybe I was maybe
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you'll see it and I'll be like, yeah I was just
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thinking about where that comes from and I guess
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I do throw that whole concept right out the window
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right up off the bat when I say Chelsea, where
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do you think Halloween itself comes from? comes
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from. It's not a Christian holiday, but it is
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celebrated in North America with all the standard
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Christian holidays and it's as big as a bunch
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of them. Yeah. Well, at this point, it's just
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capitalism. I feel like it's a celebration of
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us spending our money. But originally, doesn't
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it come from Sam Hain or something like that,
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which I don't know the details and it's like
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the changing of the seasons. Maybe I just totally
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made that up. I don't know. That's my best guess.
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I've always called it Sam Hain or Sam Hain. It
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is pronounced Samhain. No! S -A -H -W -I -N.
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We're gonna be talking about Samhain to begin
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with here, which I don't know if I can keep that
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name up the whole way through, but I'm gonna
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try. Can you please pretend like we didn't just
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have a conversation about how you pronounce it?
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What word are you trying to say? I can't picture
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it. Samhain. Samhain. Samhain. As I know it has.
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Modern Halloween traces its roots back to the
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ancient Gaelic festival of Samhain. traditionally
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celebrated by the Celts in Ireland, Scotland,
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and the Isle of Man. So it corresponds with November
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1. Samhain marked the end of the harvest season
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and the beginning of the darker half of the year.
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Ah, okay. So like I was saying, like the end
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of the season... Because the Celtic calendar...
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or Celtic calendar, recorded days from sunset
2:37
to sunset, celebrations began on the evening
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of October 31st, which was the beginning of November
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1 for them, halfway between the autumnal equinox
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and the winter solstice. And if you think about
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it, September 21st is the fall equinox. So October
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31st is basically right in between September
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21st and December 21st. I never thought of it
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that way, actually. Now, Samhain was viewed as
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a liminal threshold when the veil between this
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world and the other world blurred. Supernatural
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spirits, also known as the Ausi, which I probably
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should have looked that word up too to see how
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it's said now, and the souls of deceased kin.
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were believed to cross over into the realm of
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the living. To appease these spirits and protect
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households during the coming winter, people left
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offerings of food and drink, lit protective hilltop
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bonfires, and wore costumes or disguises to avoid
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recognition by wandering ghosts. Where does this
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come from? Well, Irish mythology was originally
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a spoken tradition. Much of it was eventually
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written down in the Middle Ages by Christian
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monks. The 10th century tale, Talkmarc Emhyr,
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the wooing of Emhyr, lists Samhain as the first
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of the four seasonal festivals of the year. Literature
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says a piece would be declared and there were
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great gatherings where they held meetings, feasted,
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drank alcohol and held contests. These gatherings
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are a popular setting for early Irish tales.
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The tale Ectra Cormac or Cormac's Adventure says
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that the feast of Tara was held every seventh
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Samhain hosted by the High King of Ireland. during
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which new laws and duties were ordained. Anyone
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who broke the laws established during this time
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would be banished, and according to Irish mythology,
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Samhain was a time when the doorways to the other
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worlds opened, allowing supernatural beings and
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the souls of the dead to come into our world.
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While Bil -Tin was a summer festival, I have
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no idea how to actually say that one. Samhain
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was essentially a festival for the dead. A story
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called The Boyhood Deeds of Finn says that the
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fairy mounds, or portals of the Otherworld, were
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always open at Samhain. Each year, the fire -breather
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Aelyn emerges from the Otherworld and burns down
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the Palace of Tara during the Samhain festival
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after lulling everyone to sleep with his music.
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So why is it more focused around death? Is it
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just because of the time of year? It's just because
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you're entering the dark half of the year. Yeah,
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when the leaves are changing, like the trees
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are... And it's actually, a big part of it I
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haven't got to yet is that you're bringing your
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cattle from like the highlands where they were
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able to graze all summer down into the lower
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lands where they can still eat in the winter.
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And it's just like, it's bringing everything
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to its dormancy phase. Yeah. Yeah. So it just
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naturally kind of comes to a place with death
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and in that it kind of crosses with like the
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actual like monsters and like folklore and stuff
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like that. Yeah. It almost feels more like a
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Thanksgiving festival because like everything
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is being harvested and moved off. Yeah. Mixed
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with a bit of the dead. Yeah. And I say that
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too because we see it way far back with most
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celebrations that we have come from very different
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societies that celebrated the time of harvest
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and the changing of the seasons and then new
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life in the spring and then the death of in the
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fall and Christmas and stuff like that. Now with
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Samhain itself, it goes back a long time, but
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because the Gaelics or the Celtics never wrote
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down a lot, much of it doesn't come up until
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much later. So Samhain customs are mentioned
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in several medieval texts. In one called Kukhulan's
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Sickbed, it's said that the festival of Ulaid
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and Sawan lasted a week, Sawan itself in the
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three days before and after. It involved great
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gatherings where they held meetings, feasts to
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drink, alcohol, and held contests. The Togail
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-Bredwin -Da -Durga notes that bonfires were
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lit at Samhain and stones cast into the fires.
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It's also mentioned in Geoffrey Keating's Forest
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Fisa et Elviren, which was written in the early
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1600s but drew on earlier medieval sources, some
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of which are unknown. It claims that the druids
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lit a sacred bonfire at Talactaga and made sacrifices
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to the gods, sometimes by burning their sacrifices.
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He adds that All other fires were doused and
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re -lit from this one bonfire. And this is one
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thing that, although you don't see it a lot anymore,
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I do know that bonfires are something that's
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somewhat related to Halloween. I could see it
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because it's starting to get dark earlier. Bonfires
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were lit and there were rituals involving them.
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By the early modern era, they were most common
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in parts of the Scottish Highlands, on the Isle
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of Man, in the North and Mid Wales. Only certain
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kinds of wood were traditionally used, but later
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records show that many kinds of flammable materials
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were burnt. It is suggested that the fires were
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a kind of imitative or sympathetic magic, mimicking
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the sun, helping the powers of growth and holding
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back the decay and darkness of winter. They may
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also have served to symbolically burn up and
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destroy all harmful influences. Accounts from
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the 18th and 19th centuries suggest that the
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fires, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective
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and cleansing powers. People also took flames
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from the bonfire back to their homes, and during
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the 19th century in parts of Scotland, torches
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of burning fur or turf were carried sun -wise
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around homes and fields to protect them. In some
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places, people doused their hearth fires on Samhain
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night. Each family then solemnly relit its hearth
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from the communal bonfires, thus bonding the
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community. The 17th century writer Geoffrey Keating
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claimed that this was an ancient tradition instituted
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by the druids. Dosing the old fire and bringing
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in the new may have been a way of banishing evil,
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which was part of the New Year's festival in
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many countries. Also attached to the bonfires
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was divination. In the 18th century, Akhtatar,
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Ring of Stones, one for each person was laid
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around the fire, perhaps on a layer of ash, and
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everyone then ran around it with a torch exulting.
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In the morning, the stones were examined and
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if there were any mislaid, it was said that that
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person represented by it would not live out the
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year. A similar custom was observed in North
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Wales and in Brittany. James Frazier suggests
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that this may come from an older custom of actually
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burning people, or it may have always just been
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symbolic. They're not sure. Divination has likely
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been a part of the festivals since ancient times
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and has survived into some rural areas. At some
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household festivities throughout Gaelic regions
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and Wales, many rituals were intended to define
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the future of those gathered, especially concerning
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death and marriage. In some of them, two hazelnuts
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were roasted near a fire, one named for the person
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roasting them and the other for the person they
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desired. If the nuts jumped away from the heat,
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it was a bad sign, but if the nuts roasted quietly,
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foretold an excellent match. Items were hidden
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in food, usually a cake and portions of it served
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out at random. Person's future was foretold by
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the item they happened to find. For example,
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a ring meant marriage and a coin meant wealth.
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Salty oatmeal bannock was baked and the person
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ate it with three bites and then went to bed
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in silence without anything to drink. This was
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said to result in dreams in which their future
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spouse offers them a drink to quench their thirst.
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Egg whites were dropped in water and the shapes
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foretold the number of future children. I like
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all the divination around this. Yeah, it's super
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cool. Because Samhain was seen as a liminal time
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when the boundary between this world and the
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other world could more easily be crossed, this
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meant that the Aosi or the spirits or fairies
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could more easily come into our world. Many scholars
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see the Aosi, I'm just gonna call them fairies
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because I know how to say that word. Fairies
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are remnants of pagan gods and nature spirits.
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At Samhain, it was believed that the fairies
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needed to be propitiated to ensure that the people
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in their livestock survived the winter. Offerings
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of food and drink would be left outside for the
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fairies, and portions of the crop might be left
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in the ground for them. One custom, described
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as a blatant example of a pagan rite surviving
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into the Christian epoch, was recorded in the
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Outer Hebrids and Iona in the 17th century. On
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the night of October 31, fishermen and their
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families would go down to the shore. One man
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would wade into the water up to his waist, where
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he'd pour out a cup of ale and ask, whom he called
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God of the Sea to bestow on them a good cash.
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The custom was ended in the 1670s after a campaign
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by ministers but the ceremony shifted to the
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springtime and survived. People also took special
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care not to offend the fairy and sought to ward
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off anyone out to cause mischief. They stayed
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near to home or if forced to walk in the darkness
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turned their clothing inside out or carried iron
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or salt to keep them at bay. In southern Ireland
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it was customary on Samhain to weave a small
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cross of sticks and straw called a perishal.
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which was similar to a Brigid's Cross and God's
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Eye. It was fixed over the doorway to ward off
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bad luck, sickness, and witchcraft, and would
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be replaced each Samhain. The dead were also
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honored at Samhain. The beginning of winter may
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have been seen as the most fitting time to do
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so, as it was the time of dying in nature. The
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souls of the dead were thought to revisit their
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homes, seeking hospitality. Places were set at
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the dinner table by the fire to welcome them.
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The belief that the souls of the dead return
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home on one night of the year must be appeased
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seems to have an ancient origin and is found
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in many cultures throughout the world. It was
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perhaps a natural thought that the approach of
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winter would drive the poor shivering hungry
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ghost from the bare fields and leafless woodlands
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to the shelter of the cottage. However, the souls
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of thankful kin would return to bestow blessings
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just as easily as that of a wrong person who
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would return to wreak revenge. And now Chelsea,
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this is the important part that we still definitely
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practice from Samhain. In some areas, mumming
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and guising were part of Samhain. It was first
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recorded in the 16th century in Scotland and
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later in parts of Ireland, Man and Wales. People
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went from house to house in costume or disguise,
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usually reciting songs or verses in exchange
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for food. It may have evolved from a tradition
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whereby people impersonated the fairies or the
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souls of the dead and received offerings on their
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behalf. Impersonating these spirits or souls
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was also believed to protect oneself from them.
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Some experts suggest that geysers personify the
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old spirits of the winter who demanded reward
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in exchange for good fortune. Some suggest that
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the ancient festival included people in masks
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or costumes representing these spirits and that
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the modern custom came from this. In Ireland,
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costumes were sometimes worn by those who went
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about before nightfall collecting for a Samhain
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feast. And Chelsea, I just got to show you. They
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show an costume example of somebody mumming or
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geising. If people did these as their Halloween
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costumes, I would be all for this. Hey, I'm looking
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for some ideas for my Halloween costume currently.
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Well, I'm not going to lie. You're going to need
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a horse skull. No, I don't think that I would
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like that. That's apparently a very traditional
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Welsh costume. But is it which is just like a
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ghost sheep. I don't know what I'm looking at.
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Is it the horse skull dressing up or is would
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they wear the horse skull as they would wear
13:17
this and hold the horse head? Okay, I don't know
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if I'm quite feeling that. I don't know where
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you get a horse skull, that's the whole thing.
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I used to know. Well, I could have at least got
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my hands on like a... We were at one point closer
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to being able to get a horse skull, you're right.
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Yeah, some type of animal skull. I could have
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definitely at one point in my life procured one
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fairly quickly. Don't ask questions, I won't
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answer those questions. Now in Scotland, young
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men went house to house with... Masked, veiled,
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painted, or blackened faces, often threatening
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to do mischief if they were not welcomed. This
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was common in the 16th century in Scottish countryside
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and persisted into the 20th century. It suggested
13:56
that the blackened faces come from using the
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bonfire ash for protection. In Ireland in the
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late 18th century, peasants carried sticks, went
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house to house on sow and collecting food for
14:06
the feast. Charles Valancy wrote that they demanded
14:09
this in the name of Saint Combe Kill. Asking
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people to, quote, lay aside the fatted calf and
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bring forth the black sheep, end quote. In parts
14:18
of southern Ireland, during the 19th century,
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the geysers included a hobby horse known as the
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Larabane, the white mare, which is what you saw
14:25
above. If you were Chelsea, that is. A man covered
14:27
in a white sheet carrying a decorated horse skull
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would lead a group of youths, blowing on cowhorns
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from farm to farm. At each they recited verses,
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some of which savored strongly of paganism. and
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the farmer was expected to donate food. By doing
14:41
so, he could expect good fortune from Muk Ola.
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Not doing so would bring misfortune. This is
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akin to the Grey Mare procession in Wales, which
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takes place at midwinter. In Wales, the white
14:52
horse is often seen as an omen of death. Elsewhere
14:54
in Europe, costumes, mumming, and hobby horses
14:57
were part of Other yearly festivals, however,
14:59
in the Celtic speaking regions, they were particularly
15:02
appropriate to a night upon which supernatural
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beings were said to be abroad and could be imitated
15:08
or warded off by human wanderers. Do you think
15:11
it's because of the culture around fairies and
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stuff like that, that they're kind of woven in
15:17
here? Yeah, they're tricksters. Yeah. With the
15:20
supernatural portion of it? I'm just trying to
15:24
fit it otherwise. Like I know souls come back,
15:28
right, to visit. It's the one time a year. Yeah,
15:30
but I think the important thing with like the
15:32
trickster, the souls do come back and you need
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to reward them and make sure to get your goods.
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But it's also like you need to either take steps
15:39
to ward off the fairies or you need to give them
15:42
something so that they don't cause mischief for
15:44
you. Okay. Here's a quote from an expert on this
15:48
matter, I just need to find this guy's first
15:49
name, Ronald Hutton. He wrote that when imitating
15:53
malignant spirits it was a very short step from
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guising to playing pranks, end quote. Playing
15:58
pranks at Samhain is recorded in the Scottish
16:00
Highlands as far back as 1736 and was also common
16:03
in Ireland which led to Samhain being nicknamed
16:06
mischief night in some parts. Wearing costumes
16:08
at Halloween from here spread to England in the
16:11
20th century and as did the customs of playing
16:13
pranks. though there had been mumming at other
16:16
festivals. At the time of mass transatlantic
16:18
Irish and Scottish immigration, which popularized
16:21
Halloween in North America, Halloween in Ireland,
16:23
and Scotland had a strong tradition of guising
16:25
and pranks. Trick or treating may have come from
16:28
the custom of going door -to -door collecting
16:29
food for Samhain festivals, fuel for Samhain
16:32
bonfires, or offerings for the fairies. Is it
16:37
not like one -for -one? It started out as like
16:39
gathering food for feasts. Yeah. And then people
16:42
started dressing up because it was the fae and
16:44
the ghosts coming. People started either imitating
16:46
the ghosts or being people behind masks, knew
16:48
they could be assholes, and that's kind of trick
16:50
-or -treating. It came right from there. and
16:52
it kind of evolves as well it is a long evolution
16:56
obviously but even within what you're talking
16:58
about there's an evolution of things that happen
17:01
and now you look at what it is today but i didn't
17:04
know the specifics of this i guess it makes sense
17:07
quick question spoiler alert the turnips You
17:12
don't worry about the turnips until I talk about
17:14
them right now. That's why I put it that way.
17:16
I wanted it because then I was like, oh, maybe
17:18
that's the next thing you're talking about. Okay.
17:20
The next thing that I want to talk about is the
17:23
jack -o -lantern, which is I think the tantamount
17:27
symbol of Halloween is the jack -o -lantern,
17:30
which if somehow you don't know what I'm talking
17:32
about, it is the face carved into the pumpkin
17:34
with a candle inside. Oh, okay. Thank you. There
17:38
you go. Chelsea's been waiting so long for that
17:40
one. I wasn't sure what to call those. Now, the
17:44
custom of carving lanterns at Halloween originates
17:47
in Ireland and Britain, where people hollowed
17:49
out turnips, or manglewurzles. A manglewurzle?
17:53
They're beets. Manglewurzles are beets. Oh, cool.
17:57
That, you know what? I'd like to see that. I'm
17:59
Googling it right now. They would hollow out
18:02
turnips or beets to create grinning lanterns
18:05
carved with grotesque faces. These lanterns were
18:07
placed on window sills to ward off evil spirits
18:10
or carried during nighttime guising. In Irish
18:13
folklore, the practice was tied to the tale of
18:16
Stingy Jack, a cunning figure condemned to wander
18:19
the earth with only a carved turnip containing
18:21
a burning ember from hell. Oh my gosh, that's
18:25
what I'm looking for. I love that. When Irish
18:28
and Scottish immigrants brought these Halloween
18:30
customs to North America in the 19th century,
18:32
they found pumpkins, which were native to the
18:34
Americas, far easier to carve than turnips. And
18:37
over time, the carved pumpkin jack -o -lantern...
18:39
I can see that. ...became the definitive symbol
18:42
of Halloween across the globe. Okay, but these
18:45
beets and turnips? Far spookier. Oh, they are
18:49
terrifying. I might bring it back. If you Google
18:52
it, people are still holding it up and there's
18:55
how -to's. to do it. Good, because they are so
18:57
much more terrifying than their counterpart.
19:00
They are. No, this is great. I think I might
19:02
have to do it. I like this little dying guy that
19:05
you see all over the place. It looks like a tiny
19:07
baby. Yeah, I'm probably looking at the same
19:10
picture as you. It almost looks like a mummy.
19:11
Yeah, it really does. It's eerie. I like it.
19:15
I really like this idea. I'll bring it back.
19:18
I'll go trick or treating with it. The next one
19:21
is something that is absolutely associated with
19:23
Halloween. I've never done it and I don't know
19:25
anybody who has. I guess I haven't asked anybody,
19:28
but bobbing for apples. I've never done it, if
19:31
you were asking. But it is straight up. If you're
19:33
going to say things that happen at Halloween,
19:35
you're going to say like, oh yeah, trick or treating.
19:37
Okay, it's funny that you say that. Jack -o -lanterns,
19:40
bob for apples. Because you were kind of talking
19:43
about games and stuff that they were playing
19:46
around this time and you don't really see that
19:49
with other holidays nothing's still coming to
19:53
mind like that are associated and i immediately
19:55
thought of bobbing for apples at thanksgiving
19:58
you have the turkey bone or the wishbone okay
20:01
yeah you're right but that's like the only one
20:03
i can think of off the top of my head not that
20:06
i'm good being put on the spot so there may be
20:08
hundreds and then there's that one at christmas
20:10
where everybody gets so drunk that they wrap
20:11
their presents and don't know which one's which
20:13
yeah which I assume is just everybody's family
20:16
tradition. I didn't think that was a game, I
20:17
just thought that was an ethical part of life.
20:20
Personally, and I also haven't asked, have you
20:23
bought for Apples? No, I have not. And it seems
20:26
like a very gross game to do, especially in this
20:29
post -COVID world. It does. I saw Lucy do it
20:34
on The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. That's the
20:37
only person I know that's done it. I also feel
20:40
like Apples these - You gotta pick very specific
20:43
apples for it, because the ones you buy at the
20:44
store in my mind are too big to be able to bite
20:46
into while they're floating in water. It's true.
20:50
Like, some of those suckers are big. You can
20:52
barely do it on land, let alone in the water.
20:54
For those of you who don't know what we're talking
20:56
about, bobbing for apples is a game that can
20:58
be played year round but is primarily apparently
21:00
played in autumn and Halloween, where you fill
21:02
a bucket or a basin with water, you put apples
21:05
in the water, and you have people try to get
21:07
as many apples out of the water that are floating
21:09
in them with only their teeth as possible in
21:12
some type of time period. I guess before, like,
21:15
germs were a thing, it probably made the most
21:18
Plus it was harvest, like this is the time all
21:21
the apples are ready. The apples are there, yeah.
21:23
Yeah, so they're like might as well try and get
21:26
rid of some of these things. And we have no concept
21:29
of what a germ is, so. Why is everybody who played
21:33
bopping for apples dying? Must be an ill omen.
21:37
The only thing they have in common is that they
21:39
all bop for apples. Bobbing for apples started
21:44
in Europe hundreds of years ago as a common way
21:47
for young lovers to court one another. While
21:50
there were many versions of the game, each apple
21:52
represented a special someone. If the bobber,
21:55
typically female, successfully bit into the apple
21:58
with the name of a love interest and won't go,
22:00
then fortune favored the lucky couple and fate
22:02
gave them the go -ahead. If it took the bobber
22:05
two attempts, then they could still try it out,
22:08
but their love wouldn't last as long. Sadly,
22:11
if the bobber needed three attempts to bite into
22:13
the apple, then the stars weren't aligned for
22:15
this couple and it would probably be best not
22:17
to pursue it at all. Of course, as history progresses,
22:20
so too does this tradition. Another variation
22:22
of bobbing for apples is the first person to
22:24
bite an apple would be the next one in the group
22:26
to have a marriage. If a girl bit into an apple
22:28
and placed the fruit beneath her pillow, another
22:30
superstition claims that she would see her true
22:33
love in a dream. Now to understand the modern
22:36
Halloween tradition of bobbing for apples, you
22:37
have to understand that it is directly tied to
22:41
Samhain's divination. I was thinking that as
22:43
well. Makes sense. All the way around. Like you
22:46
said, it's the crop that's around at the time,
22:48
so it's super easy to do. Yeah, I think all the
22:51
way around, it totally makes sense just with
22:53
the divination thing. Apples are plenty. They're
22:56
like, what can we do with these apples to get
22:59
rid of them? And that is my Samhain portion of
23:02
this episode, Chelsea. And weirdly enough, like
23:06
I almost could have done this all as a Samhain
23:08
episode, but man, this last one, I just found
23:11
so interesting that we couldn't not include it.
23:14
I love that it's all Samhain. It feels wrong
23:19
to say it that way when it's been a different
23:21
way in my head the whole time. I know. And there's
23:23
only one last one. It's probably only like three
23:27
words. But it's like, you can't just call it
23:31
a Samhain episode now. No, I can't. Because there's
23:35
one more thing. This is Halloween origins. What
23:39
is it? The suspense is killing me. When you think
23:42
of traditional Halloween costumes, what are the
23:46
top costumes you think of? The devil. Yeah. Ghost.
23:50
Yeah, but when you think of ghost, is there a
23:52
particular ghost you think of? Sheet. Sheet with
23:56
holes in it. Where do you think the bed sheet
23:58
ghost comes from? Beetlejuice. Good guess. Laundry
24:04
day. Does it have to do with Halloween? That's
24:07
when they did the bed sheets? This is a much
24:10
different history than I was fully expecting
24:13
from this idea. Because we all pictured the same
24:15
thing and I was just like, yeah, but like when
24:17
we picture ghosts, we don't picture bed sheet
24:20
ghosts or spirits. Around Halloween, you just
24:24
picture the bedsheet ghost. Up until fairly recently,
24:41
in most of Western European culture, bodies of
24:44
deceased individuals were commonly wrapped in
24:47
a piece of white cloth as a burial shroud. or
24:51
winding cloth when they were buried. The wealthy
24:54
were usually wrapped in a shroud and placed in
24:56
a coffin. Poor people on the other hand were
24:58
often buried without a coffin wearing only the
25:00
shroud. On account of the fact that so many people
25:02
were buried wrapped in shrouds, it became common
25:05
for people in England during the early modern
25:08
period, 1450 to 1750, to report having seen apparitions
25:13
wrapped in shrouds. In England during this period,
25:17
Thieves also would often dress up in a white
25:20
sheet to impersonate spirits so they could frighten
25:23
people and steal their money and be anonymous.
25:27
Oh shit, that's amazing. I got my costume. It's
25:30
going to be ghost sheet with like a bandit eye
25:35
mask. So you're a highway man and a bat. Maybe.
25:38
I don't think you can have a gun anymore. Ghost
25:41
impersonations. were apparently quite common
25:44
activity for criminals in England as early as
25:46
the 16th century. The English witchcraft scholar
25:49
Reginald Scott, who lived 1538 -1599, wrote in
25:55
Book 7, Chapter 15 of his book, The Discovery
25:57
of Witchcraft, which was published in 1584, quote,
26:11
But you shall understand that these bugs specially
26:14
are spied and feared by sick folk, children,
26:17
women, and cowards, which through weakness of
26:19
mind and body are shaken with vain dreams and
26:22
continual fear. Scott, of course, was referring
26:26
to ghost impersonation. It therefore seems evident
26:29
that even in the time of Shakespeare some people
26:31
were already using white sheets to disguise themselves
26:34
as ghosts. Nonetheless, even though this was
26:37
one image of a ghost that existed at the time,
26:39
it was far from the most iconic one. In plays
26:42
of the 15th and 16th centuries, Ghosts were most
26:44
often betrayed dressed in armor, not covered
26:47
in shrouds. In the original production of Shakespeare's
26:50
Hamlet, it is highly probable that the ghost
26:52
of Hamlet's father would have been portrayed
26:54
dressed in armor. This means we still have to
26:56
answer the question of how the image of the shrouded
26:59
ghost became the most iconic one. And this comes
27:01
to the Hammersmith's ghost and its white shroud.
27:04
This is one of the most famous of all reported
27:06
apparitions in England during the early 19th
27:09
century, was the Hammersmith Ghost. Starting
27:12
in November of 1803, various locals in the district
27:16
of Hammersmith in the New West part of the city
27:18
of London, England, began claiming that they
27:20
had been attacked by a ghost of a man who had
27:23
committed suicide and been buried in the Hammersmith's
27:25
churchyard the previous year. Some of those who
27:28
claimed to have seen the ghost described it as
27:30
extraordinarily tall and wrapped in a white shroud.
27:34
Other reports characterize the ghost as a fearsome
27:36
figure resembling a man wearing a calf skin dress,
27:40
with horns on its head and eyes made of glass.
27:43
No matter how it was described, however, the
27:45
ghost was always characterized as a fearsome
27:47
presence. Fear of the supposed ghost gripped
27:50
the whole city. London did not have any organized
27:53
police force at the time, so ordinary people
27:55
organized hunts to go look for the ghost. On
27:58
January 4th, 1804, a bricklayer named Thomas
28:01
Millwood, who was dressed in all white, was mistaken
28:04
for the ghost by 29 -year -old excise officer
28:07
named Francis Smith, who had gone out to look
28:10
for the ghost. Making it become face -to -face
28:12
with the most fear ghoul in all of London, Smith
28:14
shot Millwood dead. right there. This accidental
28:17
shooting led to a trial that garnered much publicity.
28:20
Because the fact that Smith had mistaken Millwood
28:22
for the ghost on account of his white clothing
28:24
was central to the trial, a great deal of attention
28:28
was brought to the particular description of
28:30
the ghost as being dressed in a white shroud.
28:33
Thus, although there were other descriptions
28:35
of the ghost that conflicted with this description,
28:37
the description of the Hammersmith ghost as a
28:39
tall figure in a white shroud quickly became
28:42
the canonical one. An iconic illustration published
28:44
in the magazine Kirby's Wonderful and Scientific
28:47
Museum in 1804 depicts the Hammersmith ghost
28:49
as a man dressed in a billowy white shroud, with
28:52
its arms raised in the air above its head. Floating
28:55
just above the ground, the illustration portrays
28:57
the ghost looking straight ahead with a vacant
28:59
expression on its face, and its mouth gaping
29:02
slightly. one can only imagine how disturbing
29:04
it would be to encounter such an apparition in
29:07
real life. Ultimately, a Hammersmith shoemaker
29:09
named John Graham admitted that he'd started
29:11
the whole story of the Hammersmith ghost as a
29:14
hoax to scare people. Oh, I hate the ending.
29:16
In other words, the ghost whose stories had so
29:18
terrorized the public and even resulted in a
29:20
man being killed turned out to be a hoax from
29:22
the beginning. Nonetheless, the memory of the
29:24
Hammersmith ghost lived on, and ironically, about
29:26
two decades later, people began telling stories
29:28
of how the vengeful spirit of Thomas Millwood
29:30
supposedly haunted the area of Hammersmith, where
29:33
he'd been shot and killed, the guy in all white.
29:35
I love that story. The notorious case of the
29:38
Hammersmith ghost probably played a significant
29:40
role in popularizing the belief in ghosts that
29:42
were often seen dressed in white funeral shrouds
29:45
throughout the English -speaking world. The theater
29:47
seems to have played a significant role in popularizing
29:49
this image as well, in English and American plays
29:52
produced during the 19th century, ghosts were
29:54
often portrayed dressed in billowy white shrouds,
29:57
just like Hammersmith's ghost. The final step
30:00
in this transition from shrouds to bedsheets
30:02
occurred in the advent of Halloween costumes
30:04
and trick -or -treating in the U .S. In the early
30:06
20th century, in those early days of Halloween,
30:09
there were no fancy pre -made store -bought costumes,
30:12
so children had to dress up and make their own
30:13
costumes. Children who wanted to be ghosts found
30:15
that they could use white bedsheets to imitate
30:17
appearances of a shrouded ghostly figure. And
30:20
That's the history of the bed sheet ghost, which
30:23
is way different than you'd expect. Yeah, obviously.
30:26
That's cool. That's like way cooler than I thought
30:29
it would be. I know. It turns out, yeah, I mean
30:32
it is kind of just like the easy costume. but
30:34
at the same time, it has way more history than
30:37
just some kid in the 50s singing in a costume
30:40
pass. It actually makes it creepier that way.
30:42
Death shroud that people are buried in so they
30:46
could see it as a ghost. And logically, even
30:49
if it wasn't a ghost, that was the belief at
30:52
the time because that's what they were buried
30:54
in, right? So usually something like that will
30:56
make its way into the psyche that a ghost would
30:59
logically be wearing that because that's what
31:01
they're buried in. Exactly. It's kind of like
31:04
you get up from there and especially but I guess
31:06
then how come they never saw zombies? I guess
31:08
zombies didn't exist at the time. So they never
31:10
came that way. Yeah, exactly Otherwise, perhaps
31:14
they could have been because obviously they wear
31:16
different clothes because you no longer see ghosts
31:19
wearing shrouds though I haven't looked into
31:23
it I haven't either. I've always kind of assumed
31:25
it's much like that ghosts don't really necessarily
31:28
haunt graveyards. You don't have to wear the
31:30
last thing you are wearing if you're a ghost,
31:31
just like you don't have to haunt a graveyard
31:33
where your body is if you're a ghost. Yeah. So
31:35
you always hear that thing of being like, pick
31:38
your outfit, change your underwear before you
31:41
go out and get hit by a bus. Don't worry. Your
31:44
ghost won't be like... It won't have pooped itself.
31:47
Yeah. I hope. Yeah, exactly. So, like, don't
31:51
make decisions based on the last outfit you're
31:53
wearing because you're not tied to it for eternity,
31:56
I guess is what I'm trying to get at, right?
31:59
Hopefully. Okay. Because we don't know for sure.
32:02
We're just guessing like everybody else here.
32:05
I think we have better guesses than most. They
32:07
seem somewhat informed, but guess is nonetheless.
32:09
I would say, yeah. But I mean, that's a personal
32:11
opinion, so. But those are all the couldn't quite
32:15
make a whole episode out of one of these. I love
32:18
those. I wanted to put it all together because,
32:20
yeah, there's a lot of things you didn't even
32:22
think to question. I always love having stuff
32:24
like that in my back pocket. So when I go to
32:26
family gatherings, I could be like, guess what
32:28
I learned? And then Taylor will be like, we already
32:30
talked about this. Yeah. I told it to you. This
32:34
is awkward. I don't have anything to add. And
32:38
you just got a sneak peek into our family get
32:41
togethers. And with that, I have been Taylor,
32:44
here with Chelsea. We are Journey to the Fringe.
32:46
Thank you all for listening and we'll see you
32:47
next week. Bye. Thank you for listening to Journey
32:52
to the Fringe. If you have liked what you have
32:54
listened to, please like, share, subscribe, or
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33:22
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33:26
For now, I'll see you in the next episode.