Harvest celebrations are among humanity's oldest reasons for gathering. The work was done, food was stored, and winter was approaching. Feasting after harvest wasn't simply a party. It marked survival, abundance and the hope that there would be enough. #WyrdWednesday

"The harvest is in. The grain is cut. The sun goes down. Cold comes. The long night begins."

Ray Bradbury, The Halloween Tree.

#WyrdWednesday #RayBradbury #TheHalloweenTree

3. RITUAL by David Pinner 1967
Primary inspiration for cult folk horror #TheWickerMan. Pinner sold the film rights to Christopher Lee in 1971. Screenwriter Shaffer moved the setting from Cornwall to Scotland (Summerisle), retaining Pinner's foundational pagan #folkhorror framework
#WyrdWednesday

2. CHILDREN OF THE CORN by Stephen King 1976
A folk horror short story. A couple stumble on a remote Nebraska town where a cult of children worshipping a malevolent entity 'He Who Walks Behind the Rows' has disappeared all the adults to ensure a bountiful corn harvest #HarvestMoon #WyrdWednesday

HARVEST FOLK HORROR NOVELS
1. HARVEST HOME by Thomas Tryon 1973
Foundational folk horror. A family move to isolated Connecticut village Cornwell Coombe; the locals are deeply obsessed with corn, ritual, and a harvest festival climaxing on 'kindling night' #HarvestMoon #FolkHorror #WyrdWednesday

In apple country, the time is ripe – for MURDER!
#WyrdWednesday
GRIM PICKINGS (1989), an Australian miniseries based on the first Verity Birdwood murder mystery by Jennifer Rowe.

(Car action brought to you by Honda®)

"Vpon the Ruidday in harvest, in this present yeir, quhilk fell on ane Wedinsday, thow confessis and affermis, thow saw Christsonday cum owt of the snaw in liknes of a staig, and that the Quene of Elphen was their"

(Andro Man of Aberdeen, 1597, after "Witch Cults in Western Europe")

#WyrdWednesday

A successful harvest? Likely due to creating a 'tattie-bogle'. It's a traditionally a figure dressed in old clothes, used to discourage birds from damaging ripening crops, a scarecrow. In Scottish folklore, it's a type of goblin, menacing any human entering such fields.

#wyrdwednesday #Scotland

Once upon a time, the Devil demanded half of the harvest from the local humans.

#WyrdWednesday
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Stupid_Devil

"Then the roar of the river was suddenly overscored by a dreadful screaming voice... What I heard I cannot bring myself to record; suffice it to say that Satan was evoked by every adoring and reverent name."

- E F Benson, 'Gavon's Eve' (September 15 apparently)
#WyrdWednesday

In Inuit lore, seasonal shifts are mirrored in the tale of the Fox Wife. A hunter returns to his dwelling in the autumn to find it cleaned, with a warm meal waiting. He finds a fox has shed her skin to become a beautiful woman, demonstrating nature's bounty and seasonal magic.

#WyrdWednesday

"Harvest Home - Painted By Godwin.
A very little research would show that not only was harvest home at one time universal in England, but almost every country had its own peculiar mode of celebrating it: there were local differences in the rites..."
Illustrated London News 25.9.1858. #WyrdWednesday

A couple of tomato-loving men of detective fiction for the #WyrdWednesday harvest:

THE MAN WHO GREW TOMATOES by Gladys Mitchell (1959) and THE MAN WHO LIKED SLOW TOMATOES by K. C. Constantine (1982)

A classic Grim Reaper and scythe cover from the legendary C.C.Beck.
#WyrdWednesday #CaptainMarvel

Old autumn fortune-telling traditions often focused on marriage and love. Apples, nuts, mirrors, and fires could supposedly offer clues about future partners. Apparently long dark evenings left our ancestors with plenty of time to investigate who they might marry. #WyrdWednesday

For equinox in the low country, the real harvest circle is walked by a mule. Cane-grinding days bring neighbors to the kettle, skimming foam & watching fiery sparks to divine the coming cold. Fond memories from my childhood!

#WyrdWednesday #Georgia #Wiregrass

Poludnitsa, also known as Lady Midday or the Noon Witch, is a figure in Eastern European mythology. Usually pictured as a young woman dressed in white roaming the field bounds, she assails folk working at noon, causing heatstrokes and even madness.

#WyrdWednesday
🎨 by Sergei Demidov