Stories

I never believed in the old stories my grandmother used to fill my head with--tales of the strigoi, Baba Yaga, and the Old Country--that's all they ever were... stories. She always warned me that the forest wasn't safe... and now as I hike through a forest so far east in Europe, we might be in Asia for all I know, her stories begin to echo through my memories.

I shift my grip on the urn holding her ashes as I try to look down at the hand drawn map where my destination--the lake--was scribbled among the trees.

Not trusting my sense of direction, I look around at the winding trails when my eyes spot the sight of an old man just beyond the tree line.

"Excuse me?" I call out and the man peeks around the tree, smiling at me. "Is this the way to the lake?"

He just stares at me in silence. Of course... He wouldn't speak English and I don't know a word of his language. But after a moment, he wanders down to the trail I am on. With one last look at me, he turns and begins to march further down the path.

We wander through the forest for hours, not uttering a word. As the sky gets darker, I ask, "Are we almost there?" We've been walking for hours and I know I still need to turn around and make my way back out before nightfall. Of course, I'm met with nothing but silence.

As I round the bend, I stop in my marching. The old man is gone--completely vanished from sight. I scan the trees looking for any sight of him when my eyes fall on an old cottage hidden among the trees. I take in the sight of the house with it's chicken legs and I feel my stomach drop. The only thing more frightening that seeing this house--the house of Baba Yaga--was seeing smoke billowing out from the chimney... telling me that someone was home.

"Oh great."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

So talking about the boogeyman in one of my previous posts got me thinking about Russia's version of the scary monster that could come and take you away in the night--Baba Yaga. Sometimes a maternal helper, sometimes a ferocious villain, Baba Yaga is both terrifying and fascinating (how can you not be when your house has chicken legs?).

 

This story was also inspired by my hike in the pine forest a few weeks ago now. As we were marching through the trees, I couldn't help but think back to the legends of strigoi and monsters and, of course, Baba Yaga. The woods have a different feel here as opposed to America or China or anywhere else I've been hiking. There is that mystery and that feeling of not knowing exactly what you'll see when you turn around the next corner.

 

While we were hiking, I thought I saw an old man in a tan coat and a tan hat walking along a trail a bit below us (I honestly thought it looked like my grandfather--Poppy). The top of his hat disappeared behind the yellow leaves of a bush and I never saw him come out the other side. I just stood there, staring at where I knew this man was supposed to be... but he never appeared again.

 

It just added to my belief that there is something eerie and unnatural about the forests here in Siberia.

 

Only 9 (single digits!!!) days until Halloween!

 

a.r.w. 

Boogeyman

As I lay in bed in a restless sleep, my phone buzzes, alerting me of a text message. It illuminates the otherwise dark room, blinding my eyes for a moment. I reach out for it, blinking the sleep from my eyes. It reads:

MARK:
Wake up.

"Mark, stop it," I mumble, tossing my phone back onto the bedside table.

"Stop what?" his groggy voice responds in the darkness next to me.

"Texting me..."

A moment passes and then he asks, confused, "What are you talking about?"

"You just texted me--cut it out."

"It wasn't me--"

It buzzes again.

MARK:
Can you hear me?

"Mark!"

"It's not me!" he tries to defend himself. "My phone is in the living room!"

I lay still in the bad, my eyes wide as I stare up at the ceiling as my phone buzzes once more with a message from Mark's phone.

MARK:
Come and play, Jessica.

I don't know how I find the courage to crawl out of bed but I ignore my pounding heart and my sweaty palms and I tip toe over to the door. Down the hall I can see the dim glow of a cellphone illuminated in the living room.

My phone buzzes one more time.

MARK:
I see you.

I stand frozen in fear for only a moment, my eyes daring to search the darkness of the room for whoever--or whatever--is down there. But deep down I already knew who it is... The one who lives in the shadows of the night. The one who no one sees and yet everyone fears. The one I never believed in as a little girl.

The boogeyman.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

One of the things that freaks me out the most? Dangling my foot off the bed. It feels SO GOOD but I will not risk boogeyman attack status.

 

I find the idea of the boogeyman to be so interesting. Literally all over the world, in almost every culture, there is a boogeyman--some nameless, faceless monster that will come and snatch you in the dark of the night. In the Bahamas, they have "small man" who rides a horseless cart, picking up kids who are still playing after dark. The "Ou-wu" is from China and is an old woman who steals children away. Abu Rigl Maslukha or "The Man with the Burnt Leg" is a being from Egypt that kidnaps children and eats them. Iceland has a female troll named Grýla who will eat you on Christmas Eve (she is also Santa Claus's mother) and in Russia, we have Baba Yaga an old woman who kidnaps children and eats them.

 

It's interesting that different people from all over the world with different cultures, beliefs, and traditions would all fear the same thing--a dark entity, hiding in the shadows somewhere, that will come in the night to steal you or your children away.

 

And even what we, as humans, all tend to fear is interesting. Black, sunken in eyes. Razor sharp teeth. Elongated faces. Deathly pale skin. The image in your mind is frightening as it is for most people who would sit and think about such a face. Perhaps it is evolutionarily engrained in our conscience to fear these things. Just as we fear lightning when it could mean fire or our homes burning down not so long ago. We fear violent, wild animals because in our human history that meant our family could be in danger. What about these pale beings with sunken black eyes and razor sharp teeth? What happened to the human race--what did we see--that we would all still naturally fear such a face?

 

Be sure to sleep under the covers tonight... Don't let the boogeyman get you.

 

Only 15 days until Halloween!

 

a.r.w.