Latest / Journey to the Fringe / Jingle Bells
Transcript
- 0:03From the unexplained to the mundane, come join
- 0:06us on a Journey to the Fringe. Hello and welcome
- 0:14to Journey to the Fringe, where the Fringe festivities
- 0:17come to bear fruit. We are your podcast hosts,
- 0:20Taylor and Chelsea, and today I need to set a
- 0:23scene for you. It's Christmas Eve, fireplaces
- 0:25crackle, and somewhere in the distance you hear
- 0:27it. That unmistakable sound. Bells. Maybe it's
- 0:30Santa's sleigh gliding across the sky, or maybe
- 0:33it's something older, stranger. Tonight, we're
- 0:36following the sound of bells down a darker path,
- 0:38because in the world of fringe folklore, bells
- 0:41don't just signal joy. They warn, they lure,
- 0:44they haunt. Oh boy. From the mournful toll of
- 0:46the bell buzzard to the mimicry of swamp dwelling
- 0:49bell bottoms, the ghostly chimes of phantom churches
- 0:51and fairy crossings, these are - These are the
- 0:54creatures that ring in the season with something
- 0:56far more chilling than cheer. So pour yourself
- 0:59some hot cocoa, hang your stockings with care,
- 1:01and maybe keep one ear open because not every
- 1:04bell you hear this Christmas is jingling for
- 1:07joy. Oh man. We're starting our dark descent
- 1:10not on a snowy roof but deep in the wetlands
- 1:13because not all bells are carried on the wind.
- 1:15Some ring from the water to draw you in. Our
- 1:19first cryptid is a creature that thrives on deception,
- 1:22a swamp dwellers whose chimes are the last sound
- 1:25its victims ever hear. Let's wade into the mire
- 1:28and talk about bell bottoms. grotesque semi -aquatic
- 1:42cryptids believed to dwell in bogs, lake shallows,
- 1:45and abandoned irrigation trenches. Their names
- 1:47come from the distinctive bell -shaped bodies
- 1:50which rise from the water like submerged traps.
- 1:54According to Erbellum's cryptid compendium, they
- 1:57are part predator, part decoy creature that mimic
- 2:00the sounds of whimpering prey or emit bell -like
- 2:02charms to lure the curious to the water's end.
- 2:05These creatures are said to have faces that shift
- 2:08or resemble the person's fear. or desires, making
- 2:10them especially dangerous to the lonely or emotionally
- 2:13vulnerable. Their presence is often marked by
- 2:17muddy footprints, trembling dogs, or unexplained
- 2:20laughter echoing from beneath the surface. They
- 2:22are said to delight in secrets, especially those
- 2:25spoken aloud near water. Some tales claim that
- 2:28bell -bottoms can store voices and replay them
- 2:30to confuse and lure victims. Weirdly enough,
- 2:32there's not a lot of writing about bell -bottoms.
- 2:34The Erbellum's cryptic convenium has pretty much
- 2:37everything. And he goes into great detail about
- 2:39the weaknesses and warts. So at least this one,
- 2:42you can ward off. Okay, good. But it's a pretty
- 2:44terrifying creature, I would say. I didn't even
- 2:47think that I shouldn't be telling my secrets
- 2:49near water. I hate to know how many secrets have
- 2:51been told there. Where else seems safer than
- 2:54near the water to tell your secrets. It's true.
- 2:56It seemed like the safest place to meet, so...
- 2:58That's where I was going. And I don't think there's
- 3:01anything creepier than a creature that knows
- 3:04and presents as all your worst fears. That's
- 3:06probably why he's a water monster, because I
- 3:09hate water. I mean, to you, yes. I guess that
- 3:11makes sense. Yeah. But Chelsea, don't worry.
- 3:14It seems fairly straightforward to ward off.
- 3:16All you need is a couple things. One of them
- 3:18can be dust of mustard. The primary weakness,
- 3:21sprinkling mustard powder near the water's edge
- 3:23is said to keep them at bay. What is that? Just
- 3:26mustard powder. Oh, like the spice? Yeah. Okay,
- 3:29I'm gonna go pack that up right after this episode.
- 3:31If that doesn't work, apparently iron buckets,
- 3:34the sound of iron clanging disrupts their mimicry.
- 3:37Also, if you have nothing on you, direct eye
- 3:39contact is said to make them recoil from being
- 3:42seen clearly. Okay. And sunlight on reeds. Hopefully
- 3:46there's some reeds around. They avoid areas where
- 3:48sunlight reflects off water. What a random list
- 3:51of things. Yeah. Like how it goes from like you're
- 3:55not gonna have this around you to oh, yeah, just
- 3:57look at Sometimes direct eye contact is the hardest
- 4:01thing to do though, especially if they're like
- 4:03weird looking. Yeah, but to be fair, they probably
- 4:05think you're weird looking too. It's true. It
- 4:07just seems to be like socially awkward. So maybe
- 4:09they won't be able to look me in the eye. I don't
- 4:11know. Yeah. It seems like the hardest one. And
- 4:13it's funny because the details suggest a creature
- 4:15that thrives on deception and darkness, but fears
- 4:17clarity and confrontation. And that's, we're
- 4:19going from the least information to the most
- 4:22information in these stories. So that one, like
- 4:24I said, there was like one story on it. The next
- 4:27one too, we'll probably... do an episode on them
- 4:29on their own at a later point, but I had to include
- 4:32them just because bells are something that's
- 4:34associated with them. We're moving on from the
- 4:36Muddenmire from a bell that lures you into physical
- 4:38danger to something far more enchanting yet equally
- 4:41mysterious. In the British Isles, a bell can
- 4:43signal a completely different kind of presence.
- 4:45Instead of grotesque swamp dwellers, we're talking
- 4:48about the delicate spectral chimes that signal
- 4:50the passing of a fairy procession or the opening
- 4:53of a door to the other world. Now we're stepping
- 4:55from the swamp into the twilight and air to talk
- 4:58about fairies. In folklore, across the British
- 5:02Isles and beyond, the delicate chimes of bells
- 5:04have long been entwined with the presence of
- 5:06fairies. These spectral sounds, soft, melodic,
- 5:09and often heard without a visible source, are
- 5:11said to signal the passing of a fairy procession
- 5:13or the opening of a portal to the Otherworld.
- 5:16Known as fairy bells, these ethereal tones might
- 5:19drift through the twilight air, luring wanderers
- 5:21towards enchanted glades or fairy wreaths. In
- 5:24some tales, the bells are instruments of enchantment.
- 5:27drawn the curious into a trance or marking the
- 5:30movements when time slips sideways. The bells
- 5:33also serve as a paradox in fairy lore. While
- 5:35they can't summon or signal the faith, they're
- 5:37equally known as wards against them. In Celtic
- 5:40and Scandinavian tradition, the ringing of church
- 5:42bells were believed to drive away fairies, trolls,
- 5:45and other spirits. their sacred resonance disrupting
- 5:49the magic of the unseen. This duality, Bell's
- 5:51as both invitation and banishment reflect the
- 5:53complex, often contradictory nature of fairy
- 5:55folklore. Even today, echoes of this belief persist
- 5:59in modern pagan and druidic rites. Bells are
- 6:01sometimes wrung during solstice ceremonies to
- 6:03call fairies to the circles or to mark transitions
- 6:06between worlds. In the natural world, Certain
- 6:09woodland flowers, like the bell -shaped campanula
- 6:11or dysporum, are known as fairy bells, believed
- 6:14to be used by fairies as hats, cups, or musical
- 6:17tools. Whether heard in the hush of a forest
- 6:20or imagined in the shimmer of moonlight, the
- 6:22sound of bells remains a potent symbol of the
- 6:25liminal, the magical, and the unseen. So the
- 6:27next time you hear a faint chime with no clear
- 6:30source, ask yourself, is it the wind or is it
- 6:32something older, stranger, and far more enchanting?
- 6:38We move now from the delicate spectral triumphs
- 6:41of the British Isles to a much heavier more grounded
- 6:43kind of bell and across the ocean in the southern
- 6:46United States where there's no enchantment or
- 6:48otherworldly portal signaled by the sound. Here
- 6:51the bell is a simple mournful toll and it is
- 6:54an absolute undeniable harbinger of death. were
- 6:58leaving the twilight era's fairy crossings and
- 7:01stepping into the shadows of a truly unsettling
- 7:04American legend, the belled buzzard. The belled
- 7:08buzzard is one of the most haunting and peculiar
- 7:10figures in American folklore, particularly rooted
- 7:13in the southern United States during the 19th
- 7:16and 20th century. Described as a turkey vulture
- 7:19or buzzard with a bell inexplicably tied around
- 7:22its neck, this creature was more than just a
- 7:24curiosity, it was widely regarded as a harbinger
- 7:27of doom. The eerie tolling of its bell, often
- 7:30heard before the bird was even seen, was believed
- 7:33to signal an impending disaster. Communities
- 7:35across Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and beyond
- 7:38reported sightings of the Bell of Buzzards as
- 7:40early as the 1850s, with the legend gaining traction
- 7:43during times of crisis. One of the most chilling
- 7:45associations came in 1878 when the bird was reportedly
- 7:48seen at Brownsville, Tennessee during a devastating
- 7:51yellow fever epidemic. By the 1880s and 90s,
- 7:55the belled buzzard had become a media sensation.
- 7:57Small town newspapers across the South and Appalachia
- 8:01chronicled its appearances, often linking them
- 8:03to local tragedies like floods, fires, or outbreaks
- 8:06of disease. In 1885, a sighting in Wheeling,
- 8:09West Virginia was followed by a deadly flood,
- 8:11further cementing the bird's reputation as a
- 8:13supernatural omen. Some articles speculated that
- 8:16pranksters had tied bells to buzzards for sport.
- 8:19But others treated the creature as a singular,
- 8:21possibly immortal entity. The legend even reached
- 8:24national audiences when Irvin S. Cobb published
- 8:27the story of the belt buzzer in the Saturday
- 8:29Evening Post in 1912. The 20th century brought
- 8:32more sightings, including a 1930s report in the
- 8:36Troy Messenger of Alabama, where a witness recounted,
- 8:39quote, I had often heard of such things, but
- 8:40this was the first time I had ever seen a belt
- 8:43buzzer, end quote. In 1930, the Hagerstown Daily
- 8:45Mail in Maryland claimed the, quote, original
- 8:48belt buzzer. buzzer, end quote, have been captured
- 8:50on a canal tilt path, and another sighting was
- 8:52reported nearby Wood Point the following year.
- 8:55These articles often featured vivid poetic language
- 8:58with one describing the bird's return as, quote,
- 9:01its mournful toll echoing across the valley,
- 9:04end quote. And Chelsea, here's just a smattering
- 9:06of articles from way back in the day about it.
- 9:09In the 1800s, there were dozens of articles across
- 9:12Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware,
- 9:15Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina,
- 9:17where there They're talking about the birds tolling
- 9:19bell, said to precede fires, floods, or outbreaks.
- 9:22In Wheeling, West Virginia in 1885, a local newspaper
- 9:25described the buzzard flying overhead before
- 9:27a deadly flood reinforcing its ominous reputation.
- 9:30As I said earlier, the Troy messenger in Alabama
- 9:32reported a belled buzzard flying low over farms
- 9:35in 1913, with witnesses describing it as, quote,
- 9:39a small cast bell tied to its neck, end quote.
- 9:42Farmers wondered who had belled the buzzer when
- 9:44and where. In Brownsville, Tennessee, in 1878,
- 9:49during a yellow fever epidemic, newspapers connected
- 9:51the belled buzzard to the calamities, cementing
- 9:54its role as a harbinger of doom. Quote, the belled
- 9:57buzzard has been seen again and death walks close
- 10:00behind. End quote. This chilling line connected
- 10:02the bird directly to devastating epidemics. From
- 10:05the 1912 Irving S. Cobb story, he says, quote,
- 10:08the belled buzzard is no myth. He's a feathered
- 10:11fact and his tolling bell is the funeral knell
- 10:13of the South. End quote. in Woodpoint, Maryland,
- 10:16which I believe we mentioned earlier, quote,
- 10:18the Bell Buzzard has returned its mournful toll,
- 10:21echoing across the valley, end quote, and that's
- 10:23in February of 1931. Now, sightings of the Bell
- 10:25Buzzard faded dramatically after the early 20th
- 10:28century, and by the 1940s, a legend had largely
- 10:30disappeared from newspapers and public consciousness.
- 10:33Several Factors contributed to this decline.
- 10:36In the 19th century, small town newspapers often
- 10:38blended fact and folklore, publishing sensational
- 10:40stories to entertain an alarm. As journalism
- 10:43professionalized in the 20th century, editors
- 10:45became less likely to print cryptic sightings
- 10:48without art evidence and the bell buzzered once
- 10:50a media darling lost his platform. The buzzard
- 10:53itself, a symbol of death and decay, lost its
- 10:55folklore potency as newer cryptids and omens
- 10:58emerged. Creatures like Mothman, Jersey Devil,
- 11:00and Bigfoot captured public imagination with
- 11:02more dramatic traits. That's true. The bell -buzzard,
- 11:06quiet tolling bell, couldn't compete with the
- 11:08glowing eyes and monstrous footprints. The bell
- 11:11-buzzard was deeply tied to oral storytelling
- 11:13in southern and Appalachian communities. As rural
- 11:16populations shifted and oral traditions waned,
- 11:18the legend faded. Without regular retelling,
- 11:21it became a historical curiosity rather than
- 11:23a living myth. Some sightings were debunked as
- 11:25pranks, too, with farmers or boys tying bells
- 11:28to buzzards for fun. And once this explanation
- 11:31gained traction, the mystery really lost its
- 11:33edge. of unknown, belt buzzards became less compelling
- 11:37and died off. So there's not much talk about
- 11:39it after the 1940s. That is a weird one. I don't
- 11:43know what I think about that. It is. And though
- 11:44sightings have ceased, the belt buzzard survives
- 11:46in folklore archives, regional ghost story collections,
- 11:49and occasional cryptid forums. It remains a fascinating
- 11:51case study in how a simple anomaly, a bell on
- 11:54a bird, can evolve into a widespread omen of
- 11:56death. His story also offered insight into the
- 11:59role of media in shaping his insane encrypted
- 12:01legend. We move now from the unsettling grounded
- 12:04toll of the belled buzzard, a bell that foreshadowed
- 12:07death on land, to a sound that is both lamented
- 12:10and a perpetual warning ringing from the depths.
- 12:13We're leaving the dry folklore of the American
- 12:15South for the coasts of Europe, where bells toll
- 12:18not from a bird, but... from entire lost civilizations.
- 12:22What? These are the sounds of divine judgment
- 12:24and vanished kingdoms. What? Like what kingdoms?
- 12:28Oh man, Chelsea, I had no idea that there are
- 12:31so many lost cities off the northwest coast of
- 12:34Europe. There is? See, I was thinking where you're
- 12:37going with this was maybe like a ghost ship,
- 12:40like with a foghorn or something. Oh, maybe.
- 12:43But no, it's a lost civilization. Across Europe
- 12:45and North America, legends about church bells.
- 12:49that continue to ring from beneath the earth
- 12:52or water. In France, the sunken city of Ys is
- 12:56said to toll its bell from beneath the waves
- 12:59during storms. In England and Wales, tales speak
- 13:03of submerged villages as well, whose bells can
- 13:06still be heard on quiet nights in May, a time
- 13:08associated with thin rounderies between the world.
- 13:10These bells are often tied to moral warnings,
- 13:14towns that sank due to sin or pride, with the
- 13:16bells serving as eternal reminders of divine
- 13:18judgment. So Chelsea, I'm going to tell you now
- 13:20about the lost city of Ys. So Ys, spelled Y -S,
- 13:24of course, is said to have been a magnificent
- 13:27city built below sea level on the coast of Brittany,
- 13:30protected by a massive dike with gates that opened
- 13:33at low tide to allow ships into bustling ports.
- 13:36It was ruled by King Gradlin, a pious and noble
- 13:40monarch, and his daughter Princess Dehut, whose
- 13:42wild and hedonistic ways ultimately led to the
- 13:45city's downfall. There are multiple versions
- 13:47of the legend, but most agree on these core elements.
- 13:50Dahut, often portrayed as a sorceress or seductress,
- 13:53hosted lavish parties and took lovers nightly.
- 13:56One night, she stole her father's key to the
- 13:59dyke gates and either through drunken revelry
- 14:01or deliberate sabotage, opened the gates during
- 14:04high tide, allowing the Atlantic Ocean to flood
- 14:06the city. As the waters rose, St. Winowola I
- 14:15like all of those versions. I can't choose. Now,
- 14:31one of the most haunting elements of the legend
- 14:33is the claim that the bells of ease still toll
- 14:36beneath the waves, especially during storms or
- 14:38at twilight. Locals in the Bay de Dornanez or
- 14:42Dornene, I don't know, it's French, where Ys
- 14:45is said to lie have reported hearing phantom
- 14:47chimes echoing from the depths. These spectral
- 14:50sounds are interpreted as either a warning or
- 14:52a lament, a reminder of the city's hubris and
- 14:54loss. The city of Ys is widely regarded as a
- 14:57mythical place and not a historical or archaeological
- 15:00reality, and while it holds a powerful place
- 15:02in Breton folklore, there is no concrete evidence
- 15:05that Ys ever physically existed beneath the Bay
- 15:07of Dornene or anywhere else along the coast of
- 15:11Brittany. So just keep that in mind. The story
- 15:13of Ys is rich in Christian symbolism and moral
- 15:16themes, pride, sin, divine punishment, which
- 15:18suggests it's functioned as a cautionary tale
- 15:21rather than a historical account. And the character
- 15:23of Princess Dahut, often blamed for the city's
- 15:26destruction, embodies the archetype of the dangerous
- 15:27Temptress, a common figure in medieval Christian
- 15:30storytelling. Likely not a true story, but there's
- 15:33still every now and then a rumor of bells ringing
- 15:36off the coast of France for the lost city of...
- 15:40Still creepy. And hey, the British Channel, or
- 15:43what do you call that? Is it the French or the
- 15:45British Channel between them? I don't know. The
- 15:48channel between the UK and France. It's not the
- 15:52only lost city in the channel between France
- 15:56and the UK. There is also the city of Lyonais.
- 16:00I believe it's said that way. It's L -Y -O -N
- 16:03-E -S -S -E. So the lost city of Lyonais... was
- 16:07believed to stretch from the lands ending Cornwall
- 16:10to the Isle of Sili, occupying fertile plains
- 16:13and coastal towns. According to legend, it boasted
- 16:16over 140 churches, flourishing villages and orchards,
- 16:20a towering cathedral, possibly built atop what
- 16:23is now the Seven Stones Reef. This reef, located
- 16:26about 18 miles west of Land's End, is still marked
- 16:29on nautical charts and considered treacherous.
- 16:31Some say it's the last remnants of the drowned
- 16:33kingdom. Now, Leonas is most famously known as
- 16:37the home of Sir Tristan, one of the Knights of
- 16:39the Round Table, and central figures in the tragic
- 16:41romance of Tristan and Izyold. I don't know how
- 16:44to say that either, geez. I didn't think these
- 16:46names would be so hard. In some of the versions
- 16:49of the Thurian Cycle, Leones is portrayed as
- 16:52a noble and powerful kingdom deeply tied to the
- 16:55fate of Camelot. The legend says Leones was swallowed
- 16:58by the sea in a single night with no survivors
- 17:00except one man, Trevillion, who escaped on horseback
- 17:04and gave rise to the Cornish Trevillion family.
- 17:06The cause of the flood varies. Some say divine
- 17:08punishment for sin or pride, a natural disaster
- 17:11like a massive tidal wave, or a magical collapse
- 17:14tied to the fall of Camelot. Local fishermen
- 17:17have long claimed to hear phantom church bells
- 17:19ringing beneath the waves during storms. Some
- 17:21maps even mark reefs with names like city and
- 17:24court, hinting at submerged structures. And the
- 17:27third one are, of course, Pantergwyllodd. I can't
- 17:30say it because this is a Welsh Atlantis. Cantergwelod
- 17:35is a legendary sunken kingdom said to also lie
- 17:38beneath this area in the Cardigan Bay off the
- 17:40west coast of Wales. According to the myth, it
- 17:43was once a fertile lowland protected by seawalls
- 17:45and sluice gates. The kingdom's downfall came
- 17:48when Sethanen, a drunken gatekeeper, failed in
- 17:51his duty allowing the sea to flood the land and
- 17:54drown the cities. One of the most enduring elements
- 17:56of the legend is the haunting sound of bells.
- 17:59Welsh folklore holds that on quiet nights or
- 18:02during storms, the bells of Cantigwold churches
- 18:04can still be heard ringing from beneath the waves.
- 18:07These ghostly chimes are said to echo across
- 18:09the bay, a mournful reminder of the kingdom's
- 18:12tragic fate. There's even a traditional Welsh
- 18:15poem that captures its haunting imagery. Beneath
- 18:17the sea and its waves are many cities fair that
- 18:20used to listen to bells ringing at coming night.
- 18:23The bells of Cantigwald vanish beneath the water.
- 18:27I find it really interesting how many sunken
- 18:29cities with haunted bells are in this area, when
- 18:33this is something I really never heard of before.
- 18:36That's a fair point. And they all seem to be
- 18:38like Atlantis -esque. Like they were pretty prominent
- 18:41places and then just sunk. Well, it's funny that
- 18:43they would place those kind of important cities
- 18:45below sea level. Yeah, but they kept doing it.
- 18:48Yep. But of course, undersea church bells aren't
- 18:53the only type of phantom church bells. On a cold
- 18:57October morning in the late 1800s, the quiet
- 18:59streets of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island,
- 19:02were startled awake by the unexpected tolling
- 19:04of the church bell at the Kirk of St. James,
- 19:06a historic Presbyterian church built in 1878.
- 19:09The bell rang out clearly and deliberately. Yet
- 19:12when townspeople arrived to investigate, they
- 19:14found the church locked and empty. No one had
- 19:16been scheduled to ring the bell and no one was
- 19:18inside. Witnesses claimed to have seen four ghostly
- 19:21women in the bell tower, their forms faint and
- 19:24shimmering. in the early morning light. The figures
- 19:26were described as solemn, their presence eerie,
- 19:29but not malevolent. The townspeople were shaken,
- 19:31unsure what to make of the strange occurrence.
- 19:33Later that same day, news arrived that a ship
- 19:35had gone down in the Northumberland Strait between
- 19:38Charlottetown and Pictou, Nova Scotia. Tragically,
- 19:42four women perished in the wreck, the same number
- 19:44as the spectral bell ringers seen that morning.
- 19:47The coincidence was too eerie to ignore, and
- 19:49the story quickly took root in local legend.
- 19:51Over the years the tale of the phantom bell ringers
- 19:54has been retold as a supernatural omen, a ghostly
- 19:57warning of a pending tragedy. Some believe the
- 19:59spirits were trying to alert the town to the
- 20:02disaster at sea. Others interpret the event as
- 20:04a moment where the veil between worlds thinned
- 20:07allowing the dead to reach out in one final act
- 20:09of communion. Yeah, I see that one. The Kirk
- 20:12of St. James remains a function in church today
- 20:14and while the bell no longer rings on its own,
- 20:17the legend lives on. Visitors and locals alike
- 20:19still speak of the fateful morning and some claim
- 20:22that on quiet autumn days, if you listen closely,
- 20:24you might still hear the fateful toll of the
- 20:26bell and wonder who or what is ringing it. And
- 20:29we move now from the spectral tolling of ancient
- 20:32sunken kingdoms to a sound that is chillingly
- 20:35modern, deeply personal, and terrifyingly real.
- 20:37Sometimes the bell you hear isn't an echo of
- 20:40a tragic past or a supernatural warning from
- 20:43the elements. It's a deliberate sound made by
- 20:45a figure lurking in the shadows. We aim the jury
- 20:47with an account that came straight from the internet.
- 20:50A true horror story that brings malevolent powers
- 20:54of the bell from folklore right into the deep
- 20:56dark woods of a young woman's summer. This is
- 21:00a story from Reddit. It's from the subreddit
- 21:03Let's Not Meet, which apparently is supposed
- 21:05to be your true horror stories. So I can't confirm
- 21:08this story for real. It was posted five years
- 21:12ago. Ding! Wilhame Baudelaire, titled, Man in
- 21:18Forest Kills Animals and Chases After Me While
- 21:20Ringing Bells in the Dark. And this is not the
- 21:27whole telling of the story. I did use an AI to
- 21:29shorten it because it was incredibly long, but
- 21:32we get the gist of it still. While home from
- 21:34university for the summer, I returned to a secluded
- 21:37forest trail I'd known since childhood. Dense
- 21:40woods, winding streams, and a man -made lake
- 21:42surrounded by silence. On my first solo walk,
- 21:45I reached a stream and knelt to run my hands
- 21:47through the water, when I heard it. A bell ringing
- 21:49from somewhere to the north. It wasn't a light
- 21:51jingle like a dog collar. It was heavy, deliberate,
- 21:54and rang with a strange urgency. I listen curious.
- 21:57Sorry, go ahead. No, I'm just trying to picture
- 22:00the bell. I was picturing a gong at first. Yeah,
- 22:02I feel like it's a town crier one. Yeah, I think
- 22:04you're right. At first I was going with a gong,
- 22:07but I don't think that's the right feel for the
- 22:09story. I think it's a town crier bell. Yeah,
- 22:11okay. I listened curious and began walking towards
- 22:15the sound. It moved as I moved, always just out
- 22:18of reach until it stopped abruptly after five
- 22:20minutes. I tried to rationalize it, maybe a lost
- 22:22hunting dog, maybe something caught in a tin,
- 22:24but nothing made sense. Then I found the badger.
- 22:27It was freshly dead, decapitated with precision,
- 22:30the wound crawling with maggots, but not yet
- 22:32fully decomposed. It had clearly been killed
- 22:35with a knife. The bell had followed the stream
- 22:38and so had I. The badger had been placed or killed
- 22:41along the same path. I felt a chill but pushed
- 22:44the thought aside and made my way home. A week
- 22:47later I went back. It was raining heavily and
- 22:49I left around 6pm, planning to return before
- 22:52dark. I reached the river and then turned back
- 22:54as the light began to fade. The forest was loud
- 22:57with rain, and I was moving quickly, head down,
- 23:00when I collided with something hanging from a
- 23:01tree. It was the badger. But now its head had
- 23:04been tied grotesquely to its front paws. The
- 23:06whole thing strung up like a sick ornament. It
- 23:09was dripping green fluid, and I was soaked in
- 23:11it. I gay, confused by the mix of rain and rot.
- 23:14And then it hit me. Someone had done this after
- 23:16I passed by earlier. Someone had been watching
- 23:19me. And then the bell rang again. This time it
- 23:21was louder, more persistent, echoing through
- 23:23the trees. I called my dad in a panic. told him
- 23:25to meet me at the bend in the path, the closest
- 23:28point to where I was. I started running, but
- 23:30the bell kept ringing, on and off, surrounding
- 23:32me. Every sound was muffled by the rain, and
- 23:35I felt like I was moving through a dream. I couldn't
- 23:37breathe properly. I couldn't think. I was crying,
- 23:40stumbling, coughing, trying to stay upright as
- 23:42I ran. My mom stayed on the phone, shouting that
- 23:44they were close. I kept hearing things, branches
- 23:47snapping, faint movements, but I couldn't tell
- 23:49what was real. Then I heard it, clear footsteps
- 23:51behind me and the bell louder than ever. I turned
- 23:54and saw him, a tall figure at the edge of the
- 23:56clearing, slowly creeping towards me, ringing
- 23:58a bell in front of his chest. He was staring
- 24:00straight at me. I ran harder than I ever have
- 24:03in my life, screaming that I was on the phone
- 24:05with the police and that my dad was nearby. I
- 24:07didn't dare look back again. I was soaked, breathless
- 24:09and terrified. My phone felt like my only lifeline.
- 24:12I dropped my bag without realizing. The bell
- 24:14kept ringing and I could feel it in my bones.
- 24:16Then I heard my dad's voice. He was close, calling
- 24:19my name. I ran towards him and practically collapsed
- 24:21into his arms and he heard the bell too. My mom's
- 24:23still on the phone. I heard it through the speaker.
- 24:25We didn't wait around. We got in the car and
- 24:27left. To this day, I do not know who that man
- 24:30was, what he wanted, or if he's still out there
- 24:32in these woods. But I know what I heard. The
- 24:34bell wasn't just a sound. It was a warning, a
- 24:36lure, a present. And I've never gone back. And
- 24:39that's the end of that one. Interesting. Interesting
- 24:42choice. At one point I was picturing that it
- 24:45was just a bell that was killing like the badger.
- 24:49Just turning it up. Oh, okay. Yeah. But then,
- 24:51of course, it was a man just ringing a bell.
- 24:54Holding it, of course. To be fair, they describe
- 24:59the person as a bell, like a person holding a
- 25:02bell, but we don't get a good description, so
- 25:03it's hard to say whether or not it could have
- 25:08been a shadow person. It could have been a shadow
- 25:11person full of bells shaped in a person shape.
- 25:15Yeah. Just saying. So this holiday season, as
- 25:19sleigh bells jingle and carols echo through frosted
- 25:22streets, remember not every bell is a symbol
- 25:24of joy, some toll from beneath the sea, some
- 25:27from sunken kingdoms like... Some ring from phantom
- 25:31towers, warning a tragedy yet to come. Some chime
- 25:33from the shadows of the forest, held by hands
- 25:35that should not exist. Whether it's the bell
- 25:38buzzers circling overhead, the swamp -born mimicry
- 25:40of the bell bottoms, or a lone figure in the
- 25:42woods ringing a bell just for you, these stories
- 25:45remind us that sound can be more than festive,
- 25:47it can be a lure, a warning, a presence. Thanks
- 25:50for joining us in this winter's walk through
- 25:52the uncanny, and if you hear a bell tonight,
- 25:55maybe it's Santa, maybe it's something else entirely.
- 25:58I have been Taylor, here with Chelsea. We are
- 26:01Journey to the Fringe. Thank you all for listening.
- 26:02We'll see you next week. And that's a good Christmas
- 26:05lesson. Goodbye. Thank you for listening to Journey
- 26:10to the Fringe. If you have liked what you have
- 26:13listened to, please like, share, subscribe, or
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- 26:36ideas for new episodes or tell us that we're
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- 26:41an email at journeytothefringe at gmail .com.
- 26:45For now, I'll see you in the next episode.