High Spirits Chicago PODCAST

THE JINN

• Islam – around 6 AD
• Archeological evidence found in Northwestern Arabia seems to indicate the worship of jinn, or at least their tributary status, hundreds of years before Islam: an Aramaic inscription from Beth Fasi’el near Palmyra pays tribute to the “ginnaye”, the “good and rewarding gods”
• there is evidence that the word jinn is derived from Aramaic, where it was used by Christians to designate pagan gods reduced to the status of demons, and was introduced into Arabic folklore only late in the pre-Islamic era – with that meaning: demon.
• Numerous mentions of jinn in the Quran and testimony of both pre-Islamic and Islamic literature indicate that the belief in spirits was prominent in pre-Islamic Bedouin religion.
• In Islamic theology jinn are said to be creatures with free will, made from smokeless fire by God as humans were made of clay, among other things.
• When jinns are called “fire spirits” it´s does not refer to their current nature, rather to their origin.
• Jinn are mentioned 29 times in the Quran: Surah72 (named Sūrat al-Jinn) is named after the jinn, and has a passage about them.
• Another surah (Sūrat al-Nās) mentions jinn in the last verse.
• The Quran also mentions that Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both “humanity and the jinn”, and that prophets and messengers were sent to both communities.
• Like human beings, the jinn can be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent and hence have free will.
• Therefore, jinn will also be judged on the Day of Judgment.

 

‘Be careful with this one’ said Dina, bending down to greet the cat. ‘All cats are half jinn, but I think she’s three quarters.’
― G. Willow Wilson

POLTERGEIST

• Germany – 856 A.D.
• The first poltergeist – a ghost that causes physical disturbances such as loud noises or objects falling or being thrown around – was reported at a farmhouse in Germany.
• The poltergeist tormented the family living there by throwing stones and starting fires, among other things.
• Poltergeist translates from German to English – “noisy ghost.”

 

Love, thieves, and fear, make ghosts.

― German Proverb

THE BANSHEE OF IRELAND

• A banshee is a female spiritin Irish mythology who heralds the death of a family member, usually by shrieking or keening.
• The banshee is often described in Gaelic lore as wearing red or green, usually with long, disheveled hair (usually described as red or orange, and yellow in medieval times described to shimmer like wild fire).
• She can appear in a variety of forms.
• Perhaps most often she is seen as an ugly, frightful hand, but she can also appear as young and beautiful if she chooses.
• In some tales, the figure who first appears to be a banshee or other cailleach(hag) is later revealed to be the Irish battle goddess, Morrígan.
• In Ireland and parts of Scotland, a traditional part of mourning is the keeningwoman who wails a lament.
• She also predicts death.
• Legend has it that for great Gaelic families – the lament would be sung by a fairy woman; having foresight, she would sing it when a family member died, even if the person had died far away and news of their death had not yet come.
• If someone is about to enter a situation where is it unlikely they will come out of alive she will warn people by screaming or wailing. Hence why a banshee is also known as a wailing woman.
• When several banshees appear at once, it indicates the death of someone great or holy.

 

GOBLINS OF MALAYSIA AND INDONESIA

• Toyols are tiny green-skinned goblins with glowing red eyes
• Toyols are dead fetuses or stillborn babies reanimated by black magic.
• Masters are said to keep their toyols in jars, feeding them milk and candy and—on special occasions—drops of blood drawn from the toe of the lady of the house.
• When bidden, toyols will steal money for their masters or commit other acts of petty crime and sabotage.

THE JIANG SHI OF CHINA

• Jiang Shi are creatures blur the line between ghost and zombie.
• The spirits of people who died by suicide or violence, Jiang Shi (“Stiff Corpse”) have greenish skin, wear the robes of the Qing Dynasty, and move by hopping or bouncing.
• They feed off the qi (life essence) of living humans, though more modern legends describe them as sucking blood, likely due to the influence of Western vampire myths.

 

Zombies are blue-collar monsters.

― George Romero

 

KUCHISAKE-ONNA, A GHOST OF JAPAN

• Kuchisake-onna (The Slit-Mouthed Woman)
• This Japanese ghost is a beautiful woman in a surgical mask.
• She approaches victims at remote train or bus stations at night and asks, “Am I beautiful?”
• If the victim says ‘yes,’ she removes the mask, revealing a gaping, Joker-like bloody smile.
• If the victim than says ‘no,’ she pulls out a butcher’s knife and slices the victim’s face like her own.
• Though the legend is ancient, Kuchisake-onna had a revival in the 1970s, when scores of schoolchildren in Nagasaki Prefecture began reporting sightings, causing police to believe there was a female psychopath on the loose.

 

 

 

THE GHOST OF THE GIRL IN THE BATHROOM, JAPAN

• In Japan, the schools contain an infernal secret.
• If you go into the girl’s bathroom on the third floor of the building, and walk to the third stall, you might find her.
• The little girl with the bob haircut is Hanako-san.
• She wants friends to play with, maybe.
• Or perhaps she wants to drag you to Hell — through the toilet.
• According to legend: “You have to knock 3 times and call her name. When you open the stall door, a little girl in a red skirt will be there. Depending on which part of Japan you live in, she may have a bloody hand and grab you, or be a lizard that devours you.”

HUAKA’I PO, A HAWAIIAN GHOST

• Nightmarchers: huaka’i pō
• Ghosts of ancient Hawaiian warriors who rise from their grave on certain sacred nights to march out to re-enact old battles once more.
• Often marching right after sunset or right before dawn, they are known to kill whomever witnesses the march, although there are ways around this.
• If one of your ancestors are among the ranks you can be spared, but if that is not the case you can also avert your eyes, or in some parts lay face down on the ground to show respect.
• To respect them will lead to great things, but if you don’t it almost always leads to death.

 

LA LLORONA, THE WEEPING WOMAN OF MEXICO

• La Llorona (“The Weeping Woman”) was said to be a villager named Maria who drowned her own children in a river in order to be with the man she loved.
• When he rejected her, she drowned herself.
• Now she haunts river banks, dressed in white and weeping for her children.
• Sometimes she’ll try to kidnap living children as replacements, so Mexican kids are warned not to go out alone at night lest La Llorona snatch them away.

 

 

THE NIGHT DEMON OF TANZANIA

• Located: Tanzanian island of Pemba in the Indian Ocean
• This evil creature can change shape — a bat sometimes, a human-like form at others.
• It prefers to come out at night, but some say they have seen it during the day. The popobawa — “bat-wing” in Swahili — is indiscriminate in its targets.
• But in a common retelling, the spirit sexually assaults men.
• Reports of attack send some locals into a panic. A few years ago, a series of night-time sexual assaults were blamed on the popobawa.