Does every fan of gothic literature, or only of the gothic genre, know Edgar Allan Poe? If not, you should definitely read some of his works. He mostly writes short stories, each more disturbing than the previous one. So, I figured I would do something very different than what I usually do here. I wrote a poem related to The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, written in 1843. If you do not know what it is, briefly, it is the story of a young man, killing a presumably blind old man for he has a pale blue eye that frustrates him. Of course, this is a very brief summary, but you may certainly want to read the short story before the following poem.
Like a Veiled Vulture Eye
Admit it. Too loud it is.
It beats. Again and again, louder and louder.
How could they know? They did.
They felt my agony, fear filled my fearful heart
Did they hear it too? Did EYE even?
Sure like vultures they smelled it, circled it.
They found it, and death it is.
The EYE was damned anyway.
Why keep lying? EYE was dead.
Horror went away with it, him, EYE. Old man kept it.
Brought it with its last breath in the dark depth of
deep death.
Terror never left, how could it? The veil still is.
The I EYE was furious about. Not the old man. EYE
swears. Not mad. EYE swear.
In the night, he went cold, paler and paler.
EYE cannot remember. Blue
Was it how it looked like? Was it?
Pale days and dark nights. Oh yes.
Blue it was.
But he did not know.
What interest was there in it if he knew? None EYE’d
say.
EYE had secret that he ignored.
Ignorance killed him. EYE did not. Swear.
EYE lived for nothing. Out of all things nothing.
I loved the old man. I did and I do. It was only his
EYE.
Canada has many special legends and myths that were developed
through time. More precisely, French-Canadians have a very religious past. Various
artists used Quebec’s history and legends to create movies or music. If you do
not know about the province of Quebec, then one important thing is that before
it was called the “Province of Quebec”, it was known as “New France,” obviously
because it was a French colony. Quebec is the only French colony in Canada that
kept speaking French, and the population developed a culture of their own, with
a rich historical background. Thus, I figured it would be interesting to tell
you about some Quebec legends related to fantastic creatures, or frightful
ones.
One
day, a school of mermaids were traveling in the direction of the Mediterranean
Sea to reach the Red Sea, where their home was. Unfortunately, a group of
mermaids got lost on the way there, in the St. Lawrence Gulf, which is situated
at the mouth of the St. Lawrence river. Mermaids are known for their
irresistible charm. Seamen say that their songs and movements are graceful, and
pretend that in the sunlight, their skin looks like it is covered with a film
of gold. And so, one day, a mermaid jumped on the deck of a boat to ask a
seaman to remove the leeches on her fishtail. He agreed, but fell desperately
in love with her, forgetting about his wife and children. Hence, he followed
her in the depths of the water, and he was never seen again.
Nowadays,
they are lost between Magdalen Islands and Anticosti Island, hoping for a boat
captain who would agree to lead them back to their house.
Men Without Heads in the Escoumins
The
Escoumins is a little village bordered by the St. Lawrence river situated on
the North Shore. It is a site that used to be popular for trade because of its
advantageous geographic position. But even before that, it is said that some
pirates landed there to bury some treasures since it was an isolated site at
that time, and so, it was perfect to hide their gold. However, when they buried
their treasures, they were “picking on the short straw” for the one among them
who would be buried with the treasure to protect it from potential enemies. The
buried seamen had their head cut before they were buried with the treasures.
Nowadays, it is said that some of these headless pirate ghosts are seen, still
protecting what is theirs. Curiously enough, no one ever tried to find one of
their treasures… people probably prefer not to know what could happen to them
if they did!
This
legend comes from the book called “The Trafalgar Tower” or in French, “La Tour
de Trafalgar” written by Georges Boucher from Boucherville, in Montreal. The
author affirms that he went there himself to attest to the strange, presumably
paranormal phenomena that are going on there. Did he invent all of this, or is
it true? No one will ever know… The legend goes as follows:
In
Montreal, in the district called Côtes-des-Neiges is a small tower, the
Trafalgar Tower. One day, Leocadie, a beautiful 17-year-old girl who lived in
the district with her aunt, went to the church to do her devotions. While she
was there, a young man entered the church to admire it, and he saw Leocadie. He
instantly fell in love with her, with a violent and passionate love. He went
talking to her, and they started seeing each other as friends. After some time,
he learned from Leocadie’s aunt that her heart was already taken by another man
to whom she was engaged and about to get married. He thus swore he would take
his revenge against the one he once loved so much. The last thing he told her
before he left was: “See how red the sun is;
it is red like fire, like blood, like the blood that must flow”. The day before
their wedding, Leocadie and her fiancé were hiking at the mountain, the
mountain where the Trafalgar Tower stood. Then actually went to the tower, and
as soon as their feet touched the threshold of the door, a man, whom Leocadie
clearly knew, attacked them with a knife. First, he attacked her by stabbing
her with his knife, directly in her heart. Wanting to avenge Leocadie, her
fiancé jumped on the man. After a violent fight, the murderer finally strangled
him. The next day, both lovers were found dead, and the murderer was condemned
to a horrible death.
The
Trafalgar tower became a cursed place, and people who went there pretend that they
saw some blood on the walls and on the door. Moreover, everyone of them swore the
fear and anxiety they felt forced them to leave the place. Even more strange is
that they all said that while they were running away from the tower, they heard
some footsteps right behind them.
Oh well, as I mentioned previously, this legend was first told and then written by Georges Boucher, so who knows, maybe he invented it all. Or maybe not. Anyway, I would probably not test whether his affirmations about the place are true myself. These are just a few legends, but there are many more. If you are interested about Quebecer’s legends, I swear you will not be disappointed!
If you are a
travel lover as well as a haunted-place amateur, then keep reading, because I
decided to do a list of some places in the world that might interest you.
The Čachtice
Castle dates back to at least 1276, but was given around 1575 as a wedding gift
from her husband to a Hungarian countess named Elizabeth Bathory. Her husband
was a soldier, and so he often was away from home to fight. In the meantime,
she hung around the various family properties. Her husband died in 1604, and
this is when the real trouble began as she moved permanently back to the
castle. The real trigger for the following behaviors is not known today. It may
be her husband’s death, or some other unknown event. Still, what follows is
quite disturbing. She was aging, and as time passed, she developed an obsession
for eternal youth found in the blood of virgins. She was hiring young women to
work in the castle, but some doubts were starting to rise in the neighboring villages,
due to the young women never returning home. Thus, parents stopped sending
their daughters to the castle, but to oppose this change, Elizabeth created a
school for young women, which attracted many girls from aristocratic families
around the world. In 1610, as the girls were never returning either, the families
sent the local authorities to the castle. They discovered injured and dead
young women within the walls of the castle, and estimated that around 600 young
women were tortured or killed by Elizabeth and her three accomplices. The
collaborators were all condemned to death whereas Elizabeth was walled in a
tower of the castle for four years where she was found dead in 1614.
This forest is found at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan and dates back to approximately 1200 years. This place is also known as the “Suicide Forest” and is one of the world’s most popular suicide locations; in 2003, 105 dead bodies were discovered in it. It is said by Japanese spiritualists that the suicides permeated Aokigahara’s trees, creating paranormal activity and preventing many people who enter from leaving the forest; people entered, but never returned.
In English, this
island is called “The Island of the Dolls.” As its name suggests, this island
is the shelter of hundreds of dolls, each in a different state of decomposition.
It all started when a man named Julian found a little girl on the island, but
she was not in good shape; she was drowned. Unfortunately, he was not able to
save her and when he looked around, he saw a doll, most probably the little
girl’s doll. He decided to hang the doll in a tree to honor the memory of the
child. But then, he decided to gather more and more dolls, and it finally
developed into an obsession, presumably due to the fact that he was not able to
save the girl. It is said that the spirit of the little girl now possesses the
dolls since some witnesses reported that they the dolls move their heads, their
arms and open their eyes. Moreover, some people said they heard the dolls
whispering, and some others said the dolls lured them to come to the island
while they were passing near the island on a boat. Strangely, after 50 years of
collecting dolls, Julian was found drowned in the same spot where he found the
girl many years before.
The Hill of
Crosses is located 12 km north of the county town Šiauliai. The town was
founded in 1236 and occupied in the fourth century. In 2006, the number of
crosses on the hill already exceeded 100,000. However, no one really knows when
or why people started to leave some crosses on the hill, but it is now one of
the most popular pilgrimage places in all the country and is a symbol of desire
for freedom, national pride and piety. Even though this place is more for
religious purposes, it can still be quite creepy to stand in the middle of all
those crosses of an unknown signification.
R&D Gothic Discoveries 