by Aaron Mahnke
But with all of that said, Willard refused to admit that Elizabeth had willingly brought it all upon herself with a pact. There were too many holes in her story, he said. Too many inconsistencies. Which meant, in seventeenth-century language, that she was a victim, not a criminal.
Elizabeth pops up in public records one final time. Two years later, at the age of nineteen, she married a man named (I’m not making this up) Samuel Scripture. And then she disappeared.
I don’t see a possession, though. Most historians don’t, either. Because when you take in the social climate of the times, the real story can be seen just beneath the surface, like the hint of a mattress beneath a thick sheet. Let me peel it back for you.
In Puritan New England, you stood out only if you bucked the system. We know about Elizabeth Knapp today only because she broke through the barriers around her and left a mark on her community. Elizabeth Knapp, a young, illiterate servant girl working in the house of a wealthy, educated, socially powerful man, took control.
She claimed her own voice. She became the center of conversation in an age when women were ignored and socially oppressed. She was noticed. Even if it lasted less than three months, Elizabeth Knapp became someone. She became powerful.
And then she disappeared, and that’s the truly sad part, isn’t it? Because it hints at submission. Yes, she did try to speak out briefly, but in the end she gave up and closed her mouth. She married the male servant of the family next door and assumed her role in society once again.
If we’re going to remember Elizabeth at all, let’s remember her full of a new voice and a new spirit. She was a bold, nasty, powerful woman—for a while, at least.
Maybe she really was possessed after all, but it was no demon that took hold of her. No, Elizabeth Knapp, I think, was possessed, if only for a little while, by her true self.
Something I hope we can all aspire to.
For Jennifer.
I’m so very glad I haven’t had to walk this road alone. I couldn’t have asked for a better travel companion.
Without a small number of very important people in my life, this book would not exist.
At the top of that list is my wife, Jennifer, who not only has supported me and encouraged me to build and dream, but also loves this crazy thing I get to do for a living. And my girls have given me a reason to tell tales and teach lessons. Read and grow, girls…read and grow.
My heartfelt gratitude also goes out to the brilliant minds behind the publication of this volume: my editor, Tricia Narwani, and the folks at Del Rey; my agent, Susan Zanger; and the brilliant artist M. S. Corley.
Thanks to Seth for telling me my original idea for Lore was a bad one, and to Chad for providing the soundtrack to my career. And last—but certainly not least—thank you to each and every one of the people who have listened along and shared Lore with their friends and family over the years.
THEY MADE A TONIC
“Ramanga,” Vampire Underworld, n.d., vampireunderworld.com/african-vampires/ramanga.
Rossella Lorenzi, “ ‘Vampire’ Skeletons Found in Bulgaria,” Seeker, June 6, 2012, seeker.com/vampire-skeletons-found-in-bulgaria-1765817778.html.
Lindsey Fitzharris, “Buried Alive: 19th-Century Safety Coffins,” The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice, June 26, 2013, thechirurgeonsapprentice.com/2013/06/26/buried-alive-19th-century-safety-coffins.
Paul Snow, “Hunting for Thoreau’s Vampire in Vermont,” The Uncertainist, October 24, 2013, uncertaintist.wordpress.com/2013/10/24/hunting-for-thoreaus-vampire-in-vermont.
DEEP AND TWISTED ROOTS
Abigail Tucker, “The Great New England Vampire Panic,” Smithsonian, October 2012, smithsonianmag.com/history/the-great-new-england-vampire-panic-36482878.
Thomas D’Agostino, A History of Vampires in New England (Charleston, SC: Haunted America/History Press, 2010), 49–50.
Denise Hinckley Goodwin, “Vampires: New England and the World,” Vermont Dead Line, October 13, 2014, vermontdeadline.blogspot.com/2014/10/vampires-of-new-england.html.
Eric Michael Johnson, “A Natural History of Vampires,” Scientific American, October 31, 2011, blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/a-natural-history-of-vampires.
Rosemary Guiley, The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters (New York: Infobase, 2004), 107.
David Ono, “Vampires Are Real: David Ono Journeys to Serbia to Find Real Story,” KABC-TV, Los Angeles, October 31, 2013, abc7.com/archive/9308452.
Timothy Taylor, “The Real Vampire Slayers,” Independent, October 27, 2007, independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-real-vampire-slayers-397874.html.
Daniel McLaughlin, “A Village Still in Thrall to Dracula,” Guardian, June 18, 2005, theguardian.com/world/2005/jun/19/theobserver.
DARK CONCLUSIONS
Bruce McClelland, Slayers and Their Vampires: A Cultural History of Killing the Dead (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006), 97–102.
Asbjorn Dyrendal, James R. Lewis, and Jesper Petersen, The Invention of Satanism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2015).
“The Highgate Vampire—How It All Began,” Mysterious Britain & Ireland, n.d., mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/greater-london/hauntings/the-highgate-vampire-how-it-all-began-by-david-farrant.html.
Stephen Emms, “Highgate Cemetery—And the Tale of the Highgate Vampire,” Kentishtowner, October 31, 2016, kentishtowner.co.uk/2012/10/31/wednesday-picture-highgate-cemetery-and-the-tale-of-the-highgate-vampire.
Jennifer Westwood and Sophia Kingshill, The Lore of Scotland: A Guide to Scottish Legends (New York: Random House, 2012), 186–87.
Sandy Hobbs, “The Gorbals Vampire Hunt,” Herald Scotland, June 23, 1989, heraldscotland.com/news/11919192.The_Gorbals_Vampire_hunt.
BROUGHT BACK
Mike Mariani, “The Tragic, Forgotten History of Zombies,” Atlantic, October 28, 2015, theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2015/10/how-america-erased-the-tragic-history-of-the-zombie/412264.
William of Newburgh, Historia Rerum Anglicarum (1567), Book 5, Ch. 24.
Paula R. Stiles, “Historical Zombies: Mummies, The Odyssey, and Beyond,” Tor.com, September 13, 2010, tor.com/2010/09/13/historical-zombies-mummies-the-odyssey-and-beyond.
Lakshmi Gandhi, “Zoinks! Tracing the History of ‘Zombie’ from Haiti to the CDC,” Code Switch, National Public Radio, December 15, 2013, npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/12/13/250844800/zoinks-tracing-the-history-of-zombie-from-haiti-to-the-cdc.
Patrick D. Hahn, “Dead Man Walking: Wade Davis and the Secret of the Zombie Poison,” Biology Online, September 4, 2007, biology-online.org/articles/dead_man_walking.html.
Kelly Faircloth, “Zora Neale Hurston, Zombie Hunter,” io9, July 23, 2011, io9.gizmodo.com/5823671/zora-neale-hurston-zombie-hunter.
Zora Neale Hurston, Tell My Horse (New York: Harper Perennial, 2008), 182, 195.
“The Curious Case of Clairvius Narcisse and Other Instances of Haitian Zombies,” Kreyolicious, n.d., kreyolicious.com/the-curious-case-of-clairvius-narcisse-and-other-instances-of-haitian-zombies/4005.
Garth Haslam, “1979, April: Francina Illeus, aka Ti-Femme,” Anomalies, n.d., anomalyinfo.com/Stories/1979-april-francina-illeus.
Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2010), 27.
THE TREES
Michael E. Bell, Food for the Dead: On the Trail of New England’s Vampires (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2011).
Michael E. Bell, “The Vampires,” Food for the Dead (blog), n.d., foodforthedead.com/vampires.html.
John Castellucci, “New England Vampires? Folklore Battled a Genuine Specter,” Providence Journal, October 25, 1994, available at thevampireproject.blogspot.com/2009/03/new-england-vampires-folklore-battled.html.
THE OTHERS
“The Pygmies,” Mytho
logy Guide, n.d., online-mythology.com/pygmies.
“The Legend of Maya Aluxes,” Mexico News Network, February 2014, mexiconewsnetwork.com/tv-series/maya-alux/.
“The Trows of Orkney and Shetland,” The Faery Folklorist, October 15, 2015, faeryfolklorist.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-trows-of-orkney-and-shetland.html.
“The Pooka,” Ireland’s Eye, n.d., irelandseye.com/paddy3/preview2.htm.
Kathy Weiser, “The Little People of Wyoming and the Pedro Mountains Mummy,” Legends of America, last updated March 2017, legendsofamerica.com/wy-littlepeople.html.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Emma Jane Kirby, “Why Icelanders Are Wary of Elves Living Beneath the Rocks,” BBC, June 20, 2014, bbc.com/news/magazine-27907358.
Ellyn Santiago, “Mohegan Tribe’s Cultural Boundary Reduced but Still Could Block Affordable Housing,” Patch.com, September 24, 2012, patch.com/connecticut/montville-ct/mohegan-tribes-cultural-boundary-reduced-but-still-cf43f7b1f78.
“Legendary Native American Figures: Squannit (Squant),” Native-American.org, n.d., native-languages.org/squannit.htm.
TAMPERED
Brett Swancer, “The Real Gremlins of WWII,” Mysterious Universe, July 23, 2015, mysteriousuniverse.org/2015/07/the-real-gremlins-of-wwii.
“Wee Folk and Their Friends,” Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained, 2008, unexplainedstuff.com/Mysterious-Creatures/Wee-Folk-and-Their-Friends-Gremlins.html.
“WWII Pilot Speaks Out,” Cryptozoology News, February 11, 2014, cryptozoologynews.com/wwii-pilot-speaks-out-gremlins-are-real.
“Charles Lindbergh and the Third Man Factor,” Theresa’s Haunted History of the Tri-State, August 4, 2014, theresashauntedhistoryofthetri-state.blogspot.com/2014/08/charles-lindbergh-and-third-man-factor.html.
DOING TRICKS
“Second Chalk Figure Discovered Near Uffington White Horse,” National Trust, March 31, 2017, nationaltrust.org.uk/news/second-chalk-figure-discovered-near-uffington-white-horse.
“Here’s All of Google’s April Fools’ Day Pranks So Far,” Verge, April 2017, theverge.com/2017/3/31/15140206/google-best-april-fools-jokes-roundup-2017.
“List of Fictional Tricksters,” World Heritage Encyclopedia, n.d. (accessed July 2017), worldheritage.org/article/WHEBN0012058193/List%20of%20fictional%20tricksters.
Marie Caroline Watson Hamlin, Legends of Le Détroit (Detroit: Thorndike Nourse, 1883).
Christopher R. Fee and Jeffrey B. Webb, American Myths, Legends, and Tall Tales: An Encyclopedia of American Folklore (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2016), 695–96.
“Great Fire of 1805,” Detroit Historical Society, n.d., detroithistorical.org/learn/encyclopedia-of-detroit/great-fire-1805.
Lee DeVito, “The Legend of the Legend of Detroit’s Nain Rouge,” Detroit Metro Times, March 16, 2016, metrotimes.com/detroit/the-legend-of-the-legend-of-detroits-nain-rouge/Content?oid=2404384.
Alan Naldrett, Forgotten Tales of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula (Charleston, SC: History Press, 2014).
TREES AND SHADOWS
“The History of Human-Animal Interaction: Ancient Cultures and Religions,” Library Index, n.d., libraryindex.com/pages/2148/History-Human-Animal-Interaction-ancient-cultures-religions.html.
Linda S. Godfrey, Real Wolfmen: True Encounters in Modern America (New York: Penguin, 2012).
Shawn Fields, “13 Questions for ‘Beast of Bray Road’ Author & Paranormal Investigator Linda Godfrey,” Unexplained Research, March 15, 2011, unexplainedresearch.com/media/13_questions.html.
Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, Weird U.S.: Your Travel Guide to America’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (New York: Sterling, 2009), 122.
OFF THE PATH
Edward Clodd, Tom Tit Tot: An Essay on Savage Philosophy in Folk Tale (London, 1898), 200.
Edward Westermarck, “L’Ar, or the Transference of Traditional Curses in Morocco,” in H. Balfour et al., Anthropological Essays Presented to Edward Burnett Tylor in Honour of His 75th Birthday, Oct. 2, 1907 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1907), 361ff.
Cora Linn Morrison Daniels and Charles McClellan Stevens, Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World (Chicago: J. H. Yewdale & Sons, 1903), 1261.
Leslie A. Sconduto, Metamorphoses of the Werewolf (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2008), 32.
Laurence Marcellus Larson, ed., The King’s Mirror (New York: Twayne, 1917), 115–16.
THE BEAST WITHIN
Virgil, “Moeris,” Eclogue IX, Eclogues, trans. J. W. McKail, 1934, available at sacred-texts.com/cla/virgil/ecl/ecl09.htm.
Moonlight, “Ancient Norse Werewolves,” Werewolves.com, n.d., werewolves.com/ancient-norse-werewolves.
George Bores, “The Damnable Life and Death of Stubbe Peeter” (London, 1590), in Montague Summers, The Werewolf (New York: Dutton, 1934), 253–59, available at pitt.edu/~dash/werewolf.html#stubbe.
Andrew Amelinckx, “Old Time Farm Crime: The Werewolf Farmer of Bedburg,” Modern Farmer, August 5, 2013, modernfarmer.com/2013/08/peter-stubbethe-werewolf-of-bedburg.
Nathan Robert Brown, The Mythology of Grimm (New York: Penguin, 2014), 77.
Dirk C. Gibson, Legends, Monsters, or Serial Murderers? (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012), 54–55.
Colin Wilson and Damon Wilson, Strange: True Stories of the Mysterious and Bizarre (New York: Skyhorse, 2014).
Samantha Lyon and Daphne Tan, Supernatural Serial Killers: Chilling Cases of Paranormal Bloodlust and Deranged Fantasy (London: Arcturus, 2015).
HUNGER PAINS
“Witiko,” Native-Languages.org, n.d., native-languages.org/witiko.htm.
“Chenoo,” Native-Languages.org, n.d., native-languages.org/chenoo.htm.
Andrew Hanon, “Evil Spirit Made Man Eat Family,” Canoe.com, August 12, 2008, cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2008/07/20/6213011-sun.html.
Thomas Fiddler and James R. Stevens, Killing the Shamen (Moonbeam, ON: Penumbra Press, 1985).
James R. Stevens, “ZHAUWUNO-GEEZHIGO-GAUBOW,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 13, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003– (accessed May 22, 2017), biographi.ca/en/bio/zhauwuno_geezhigo_gaubow_13E.html.
Ontario Legislative Assembly, “The Killing of Wa-Sak-Apee-Quay by Pe-Se-Quan, and Others,” Sessional Papers: Legislature of the Province of Ontario, vol. XL, part 4 (1908), 91–120.
A DEEP FEAR
Ian Steadman, “The Bloop Mystery Has Been Solved,” Wired, November 29, 2012, wired.co.uk/article/bloop-mystery-not-solved-sort-of.
Grace Costantino, “Five ‘Real’ Sea Monsters Brought to Life by Early Naturalists,” Smithsonian, October 27, 2014, smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/five-real-sea-monsters-brought-life-early-naturalists-180953155.
David Leveille, “Why There Are Sea Monsters Lurking in Early World Maps,” The World, Public Radio International, April 11, 2016, pri.org/stories/2016-04-08/why-there-are-so-many-sea-monsters-early-world-maps.
“Sea Monsters,” American Museum of Natural History, n.d., amnh.org/exhibitions/mythic-creatures/water-creatures-of-the-deep/sea-monsters.
“The Great New England Sea Serpents,” New England Historical Society, n.d., newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/great-new-england-sea-serpents.
Loren Coleman, Monsters of Massachusetts: Mysterious Creatures in the Bay State (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2013), 39–43.
Jon Nicholls, “The Monster of Massachusetts,” Library, Art, and Archives (blog), Kew Royal Botanic Gardens, August 4, 2014, kew.org/discover/blogs/library-art-and-archives/monster-massachusetts.
J. P. O’Neill, The Great New England Sea Serpent: An Account of Unknown Creatures Sighted by Many Respectable Persons Between 1638 and the Present Day (New York: Cosimo, 2003), 209.
Alisha Morrissey, “Newfoundland Fishermen Snag Sea Monster in Nets,” Tele
gram, March 2, 2010.
LOST SHEEP
Mark A. Hall, Thunderbirds: America’s Living Legends of Giant Birds (New York: Cosimo, 2008), 82–84.
Patty A. Wilson, Haunted West Virginia: Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Mountain State (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2007), 64–68.
ONE WORD
Linda S. Godfrey, Real Wolfmen: True Encounters in Modern America (New York: Penguin, 2012).
UNBOXED
David L. Sloan, Ghosts of Key West (Key West, FL: Phantom Press, 1998), 5–15.
Christopher Bolzano and Tim Weisberg, Haunted Objects: Stories of Ghosts on Your Shelf (Iola, Wi: Krause, 2012), 100–109.
DO NOT OPEN
Gerald Brittle, The Demonologist: The Extraordinary Career of Ed and Lorraine Warren (iUniverse, 2002), 39–53.
John Harker, Demonic Dolls: True Tales of Terrible Toys (n.p.: Black Cat Books, 2015).
A DEVIL ON THE ROOF
James McCloy and Ray Miller Jr., The Jersey Devil (Moorestown, NJ: Middle Atlantic Press, 1976), 24–25.
Charles X. Skinner, American Myths and Legends, vol. 1 (New York: Lippincott, 1903), 243.
James McCloy and Ray Miller Jr., Phantom of the Pines (Moorestown, NJ: Middle Atlantic Press, 1998), 74.
OVER THE TOP
Jan Bondeson, The London Monster: A Sanguinary Tale (New York: Da Capo Press, 2009).
John Matthews, The Mystery of Spring-Heeled Jack: From Victorian Legend to Steampunk Hero (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2016).