Post #342681 by Cammo on Thu, Nov 8, 2007 4:56 AM

Been workin' boss!

People of the Bog
Part 4

Are we wrong about all European horror tales?

Are they not childish cautionary fables about dealing with terrifying monsters that roam the land, turning into bats and foretelling death and drinking blood, but are in fact anecdotal folk stories about real activities? Do they not describe how to avoid prowling monsters, but rather how to avoid making them?

Again, WHY? Why would people do such things? Why fool around with dangerous, terrifying black magic practices? Again and again for thousands of years, in almost exactly the same way, all across Europe?

Because creating the Bog Bodies was a methodical, careful, almost mechanical act. It seemed more like a job than a religious ritual. They were trying to make something, trying to get something very specific accomplished, and did so seemingly from a detailed, practical instruction book.

Almost all Bog Bodies were killed with iron and a noose and then drowning the remains.

Iron has very old traditions and legends surrounding it. Because it is cold, it is seen as not having a soul. Because it can remember its shape, and is extremely hard it has both a mind and a sense of determination. It’s most important uses are in making weapons and tools. This idea that it has a mind but no soul, can think for itself but has no feelings, goes to the heart of its use as a method of killing. Souls cannot travel through iron. It comes from the earth below, from the land of the dead already. To stab someone with iron does not stain your soul with guilt, because their soul hasn’t touched yours through the knife. Swords are ancient weapons not just because they work nicely (spears and axes work just as well) but because they are made entirely of cold iron, and are thus a buffer from the act of bloody murder.

Hanging as well. To hang someone for a crime is an incredibly ancient form of execution, because it does not require one person to kill another with their bare hands. You tie a slip knot around a person’s neck, put them on a horse, and everybody yells YEEEHAW! The horse dashes away, the man is dead in a second. There is no executioner. No one’s hands are stained.

Drowning, too, is a bloodless, hands-off way of executing someone. It may be the oldest form of getting rid of evil people; you tie a rock to their leg, and goodbye. Later, they float to the surface all bloated, so drowning became more sophisticated, with ways of disposing of the bloated body; drowning someone then burying them immediately.

Again, why? The oldest legends don’t say much. They tell us that sinners were tossed into lakes and pools, but why? As a punishment? It seemed to punish the living more than the dead, they were the ones who had to watch out for these restless ghosts all over the place, stalking the villages at night, or coming out of the water beside you. And why water? Why are lakes and pools so important to almost all supernatural beings of old Europe? It makes less and less sense, just like the Bog Bodies themselves. To make things even more difficult, there seems to have been a conspiracy of silence regarding these legends, a feeling of shame and dread that covers the tales. A feeling of horror.

And why bogs? What was so important about a bog? Was it an interesting place? It was well outside the villages, it wouldn’t seem to be so important – no fish live in a bog. It’s gassy and smelly. Was it the town dump? Who cares about bogs?

But there are clues, there are always clues.

Because “Wraith” a very long time ago meant “Guardian”.