I agree, I'm here for it all...including the weird. A book I read on repeat as a child was about cryptids. I really look forward to your weekly podcast with Kale, and I'd love to know your thoughts here, too
I just started listening to your podcast, but hearing about the creatures that live below ground I was reminded of this account, written by Cabeza De Vaca in 1542, concerning his nine years traveling across America after being shipwrecked in Tampa Bay. He and three companions were made slaves by a medicine man and ordered to heal his patients (or not eat), and reluctantly they started praying every prayer they had ever been taught - and many native people were healed. I originally heard about his story one day listening to NPR.
These Indians and the ones we left behind told us a very strange tale. From their account it may have occurred fifteen or sixteen years ago. They said there wandered then about the country a man, whom they called "Bad Thing," of small stature and with a beard, although they never could see his features clearly, and whenever he would approach their dwellings their hair would stand on end and they began to tremble. In the doorway of the lodge there would then appear a firebrand. That man thereupon came in and took hold of anyone he chose, and with a sharp knife of flint, as broad as a hand and two palms in length, he cut their side, and, thrusting his hand through the gash, took out the entrails, cutting off a piece one palm long, which he threw into the fire. Afterwards he made three cuts in one of the arms, the second one at the place where people are usually bled, and twisted the arm, but reset it soon afterwards. Then he placed his hands on the wounds, and they told us that they closed at once. Many times he appeared among them while they were dancing, sometimes in the dress of a woman and again as a man, and whenever he took a notion to do it he would seize the hut or lodge, take it up into the air and come down with it again with a great crash. They also told us how, many a time, they set food before him, but he never would partake of it, and when they asked him where he came from and where he had his home, he pointed to a rent in the earth and said his house was down below.
We laughed very much at those stories, making fun of them, and then, seeing our incredulity they brought to us many of those whom, they said, he had taken, and we saw the scars of his slashes in the places and as they told. We told them he was a demon and explained as best we could that if they would believe in God, Our Lord, and be Christians like ourselves, they would not have to fear that man, nor would he come and do such things unto them, and they might be sure that as long as we were in this country he would not dare to appear again. At this they were greatly pleased and lost much of their apprehension.
I am here for the weird also! Trying to make sense of the weirdness all around. Am I losing my mind, or has everyone else lost theirs?
I'm all in on written posts on the stuff you cover on your podcasts since I simply can't afford the time to watch all three hours.
I just posted a short story that covers domestic robots, and how they will change how we view AI - because they will be able to "see us":
https://ontheedgeofreality.substack.com/p/he-sees-me
I love the way the story turned out.
I am here for the weird! I don't usually listen to podcasts, so written weird would be welcome (and alliterative).
I agree, I'm here for it all...including the weird. A book I read on repeat as a child was about cryptids. I really look forward to your weekly podcast with Kale, and I'd love to know your thoughts here, too
You have a real skill with the written word. It's rare to find.
I love weird stuff and Unsolved Mysteries like stuff.
I just started listening to your podcast, but hearing about the creatures that live below ground I was reminded of this account, written by Cabeza De Vaca in 1542, concerning his nine years traveling across America after being shipwrecked in Tampa Bay. He and three companions were made slaves by a medicine man and ordered to heal his patients (or not eat), and reluctantly they started praying every prayer they had ever been taught - and many native people were healed. I originally heard about his story one day listening to NPR.
The full text of his account is here:
https://www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-west/the-journey-of-alvar-nu%C3%B1ez
These Indians and the ones we left behind told us a very strange tale. From their account it may have occurred fifteen or sixteen years ago. They said there wandered then about the country a man, whom they called "Bad Thing," of small stature and with a beard, although they never could see his features clearly, and whenever he would approach their dwellings their hair would stand on end and they began to tremble. In the doorway of the lodge there would then appear a firebrand. That man thereupon came in and took hold of anyone he chose, and with a sharp knife of flint, as broad as a hand and two palms in length, he cut their side, and, thrusting his hand through the gash, took out the entrails, cutting off a piece one palm long, which he threw into the fire. Afterwards he made three cuts in one of the arms, the second one at the place where people are usually bled, and twisted the arm, but reset it soon afterwards. Then he placed his hands on the wounds, and they told us that they closed at once. Many times he appeared among them while they were dancing, sometimes in the dress of a woman and again as a man, and whenever he took a notion to do it he would seize the hut or lodge, take it up into the air and come down with it again with a great crash. They also told us how, many a time, they set food before him, but he never would partake of it, and when they asked him where he came from and where he had his home, he pointed to a rent in the earth and said his house was down below.
We laughed very much at those stories, making fun of them, and then, seeing our incredulity they brought to us many of those whom, they said, he had taken, and we saw the scars of his slashes in the places and as they told. We told them he was a demon and explained as best we could that if they would believe in God, Our Lord, and be Christians like ourselves, they would not have to fear that man, nor would he come and do such things unto them, and they might be sure that as long as we were in this country he would not dare to appear again. At this they were greatly pleased and lost much of their apprehension.
Sometimes the balls drop late