Episode Revisit: Fairy Lights, Witches & Curses OH MY!

Summary

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Morbid Podcast Summary

Episode Revisit: Fairy Lights, Witches & Curses OH MY!

Hosts: Ash Kelley & Alaina Urquhart
Release Date: November 27, 2025

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Episode Overview

In this lighthearted yet chilling episode of Morbid, Ash and Alaina step away from their usual true crime casework to deliver a Halloween-spirited mix of spooky folklore, creepy legends, and iconic curses. Packed with playful banter, local shoutouts, and just the right touch of autumnal witchiness, the episode is a joyride through the darker tales of fairy lights, malicious spirits, and one legendary Connecticut witch—Hannah Cranna. The pair aim to both entertain and unnerve, blending meticulously-researched legends with their trademark comedic lens.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. A Weekend in Salem & the Salem Night Fair

• [03:13–06:53]
  • Ash and Alaina recall their vibrant time at Salem’s Night Fair, organized by "Ryan and Matt from the Black Veil."
  • Descriptions of candle shopping, tarot readings, and running into podcast fans.
  • The setting: Salem Pioneer Village, adding authentic spookiness.
  • Memorable quote:
    • “It’s like spooky Etsy come to life.” —Elena [04:18]

2. Introduction to Spooky Legends: 'A Place of Weird'

• [06:57–08:36]
  • The hosts segue into the night's theme: a “mish-mosh” of Halloween-adjacent legends, departing from true crime for pure creepy fun.

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3. Louisiana’s “Le Foufoulet” – Swamp’s Deadly Fairy Lights

• [07:36–14:28 & 15:44–25:01]
  • Origins: Cajun folklore describes “Le Foufoulet” (French for “marsh fire” or “crazy fire”)—floating orbs of light in the Louisiana bayou.
  • Interpretations:
    • Spirits of unbaptized babies condemned to wander.
    • Wicked souls rejected from purgatory, forced to remain on earth.
    • Deceptively comforting lights, sometimes believed to be visiting loved ones’ souls.
  • Dangers:
    • Lights lure travelers deeper into swamps, leading to death—by getting lost, drowning, or being shredded by briars.
    • Some variations involve pirates binding spirits to guard treasure, tricking seekers into their doom.
  • Defenses:
    • Place an iron object between yourself and the light—the Foufoulet cannot cross iron.
    • Drive a needle into the ground: the spirit becomes preoccupied with trying to pass through its eye (“like other cultures’ traditions of distracting spirits by making them count scattered objects”).
    • Mustard seeds can be scattered to distract Foufoulet from babies at night.
  • Notable moments:
    • “Their entire thing is to distract you. Like, they're like, ooh, pretty lights. And then you follow them.” —Elena [15:54]
    • Piratical aside: Killing a crewmember to bind them as a treasure guardian (“Pirates of the Caribbean shit.” —Ash [17:34])
  • Humorous tangent:
    • Facebook’s “speak like a pirate” mode and poke fights [17:52–18:35].

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4. “Will o’ the Wisps” and Other Global Ghost Lights

• [26:15–34:46]
  • Will o’ the Wisps (Scotland):
    • Lantern-like fairy lights that seduce travelers into bogs, believed to lead victims to their deaths or to fae-folk/leprechauns/treasure.
    • Origin tale: Willem, a ne’er-do-well who is cast out of purgatory and given a piece of brimstone by the Devil to light the way as he lures others to doom.
    • Scientific debunk: Possibly swamp gas or bioluminescent organisms (“But you just did, though.” —Ash [34:45])
  • Related Legends:
    • Denmark’s “Jack o’ Lanterns”: Spirits of unrighteous men, luring travelers into marshes; can only be thwarted by turning your cap inside out (“rally cap”).
    • U.S. South’s “Haints”: Ghostly spirits driven away by blue porch ceilings or made to count grains of rice or broom bristles, keeping them too distracted to cause harm.

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5. The Legend of Hannah Cranna – The Wicked Witch of Monroe

• [35:02–63:48]
  • Background:
    • Real woman (late 18th to mid-19th century) from Monroe, Connecticut, rumored to be a witch after her husband died under mysterious circumstances—either bewitched off a cliff or physically tossed.
    • The townspeople, guided by the remorse of the Salem Witch Trials, instead isolate and spread rumors rather than prosecute.
  • Key Incidents & Curses:
    • Neighborly disputes:
      • When a neighbor’s cattle destroy Hannah’s tiger lilies, she curses his potato crop, which subsequently fails. Upon apology, she blesses his next harvest.
      • “Always remember that as others do to me, even so I do to them. Good for good, evil for evil.” —Hannah (as quoted in Newtown Bee, 1900) [49:41]
    • Village encounters:
      • Farmers who taunt Hannah are thwarted by failing wheels and runaway oxen; a strange jar of liquid is left behind.
      • She trades goodwill (or curses) for pies and firewood from local women.
      • Anecdote: A stingy neighbor loses the power to bake pies forever after crossing Hannah.
  • Hannah’s Death and Last Wishes:
    • Foretells her own death when her beloved rooster “Boreas” dies; gives explicit instructions for her burial (to be carried by hand, after sundown).
    • The townspeople ignore her wishes, try to use a sled—casket repeatedly falls off until they relent and perform the ritual as directed.
    • Her house later burns to the ground; the well runs inexplicably dry.
    • Posthumous sightings: Hannah’s alleged ghost, sometimes accompanied by her rooster’s spectral crow, appears at the old well and in the graveyard.
    • Local legend claims that seeing Hannah’s ghost on the road can cause drivers to crash.
    • Ash and Alaina vow to visit her grave, pay respects, and plant tiger lilies.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Salem Night Fair:

  • “It's like spooky Etsy come to life.” —Elena [04:18]

• On the True Nature of Foufoulet:

  • “They appear to be what you want them to be… but they are not your loved ones. They are not anything good. They are masking as such and are, in fact, there to lure you into the swamps to your fucking death.” —Elena [12:42]

• Pirate Talk Detour:

  • “That's some Pirates of the Caribbean shit.” —Ash [17:34]

• On Distracting Spirits:

  • “This works a lot like the legends that include leaving a lot of things outside your door for spirits to count.” —Elena [22:12]

• On Pie Curses:

  • “She was never able to bake another pie again. Hannah, is that you?” —Ash [55:21]

• On Respecting the Witch’s Wishes:

  • “Absolutely. I’m not gonna ever be in one of those, though… If you don’t lift that casket, it’s not going.” —Ash [58:12 (paraphrased)]

• On Hannah’s Justice:

  • “Good for good, evil for evil. Oh, a little law of return for my witch out there.” —Ash [49:41]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time | |-----------------------------------|--------------| | Salem Night Fair Recap | 03:13–06:53 | | Intro to Legends & Halloween Vibes| 06:57–08:36 | | Le Foufoulet (LA Fairy Lights) | 07:36–14:28, 15:44–25:01 | | Haints & Ghost-Trick Folklore | 21:47–25:01 | | Will o’ the Wisps & Jack o’ Lanterns| 26:15–34:46 | | Hannah Cranna: The Witch Legend | 35:02–63:48 | | Final Thoughts & Tiger Lily Plan | 63:48–64:10 |

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Tone & Style

Ash and Alaina maintain their signature blend of dark humor, open curiosity, and heartfelt appreciation for the macabre—engaging in self-deprecating jokes, meta podcast references, pop culture nods (SpongeBob, TikTok), and genuine affection for the weird. They are occasionally irreverent, always relatable, and inviting to the listener.

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Closing Thoughts

This episode delivers classic Morbid—offering spooky folklore and witchy history with a generous side of laughs and sisterly warmth. The vivid retellings of fairy fire, ghostly legends, and the cursed-yet-empowered Hannah Cranna leave listeners both entertained and slightly wary of mysterious lights and crotchety witches. And if you’re ever in Monroe, CT, Ash and Alaina might just beat you to the cemetery—tiger lilies in hand.

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“But not so weird that you doubt my true queen. Or that you go follow some ghost lights into purgatory. Because that doesn’t really sound like a straight up good time.”
—Ash, closing [64:27]

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Transcript

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[Elena]

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[Ash]

Clorox Toilet Wand.

[Elena]

It's all in one.

[Ash]

Hey, what does all in one mean?

[Elena]

The caddy, the wand, the preloaded pad.

[Ash]

There's a cleaner in there inside the pad.

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Need to clean a toilet.

[Elena]

You don't need a bottle of solution to get into this toilet revolution.

[Ash]

Clorox clean feels good. Use as directed. Hey, weirdos. I'm Ash.

[Elena]

And I'm Elena.

[Ash]

And this is morbid. Morbid. At night. At night, Alina won't get that reference, but at night, SpongeBob.

[Elena]

Oh, my God. It's always SpongeBob.

[Ash]

I was gonna say, you shouldn't be.

[Elena]

Surprised at this point. I almost said it. I was almost like, is that spongebob?

[Ash]

If I say that, it's a reference you're not gonna get. I feel like 8 out of 10 times is probably Spongebob.

[Elena]

Yeah, I could see that. Yeah, that makes sense. That checks. Or a hip rap song, which I probably won't get. I try. So today we're doing kind of like a spooky legend.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Episode. We're doing kind of like Ms. Mosh. A spooky Legends. Mish Mosh.

[Ash]

Yeah, we figured like Halloween.

[Elena]

Legends. Halloween.

[Ash]

Hallelujah. Halloween and legends, they just go hand in hand.

[Elena]

They do. And it just felt right because we haven't really done anything like Halloween related?

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

On the pod. I mean, we've been doing some spooky things, but we've been doing just a lot of, like, true crime cases. So we're like, you know what? Let's bring it to a place of Halloween, bring it back of spookiness. A place of weird.

[Ash]

A place of Elena and ash, which.

[Elena]

By the way, speaking of spooky and weird and awesome, we went to the Salem night fair the other night.

[Ash]

Dude, it was so much fun.

[Elena]

Ryan and Matt do from the black veil. They're the ones who put it on. They do such an amazing job.

[Ash]

It's insane.

[Elena]

Like, shout out to them and all.

[Ash]

The vendors and, like, everybody who makes it happen. It's just like. It's one of the. Elena literally walked in there, and she was like, I want to live here.

[Elena]

Yeah. I texted John because he was home with the kids, and I was like. Because they were sleeping, and one of us had to stay home because we're kind of, like, shorthanded with help this week. But I texted him because he was like, how is it? And I was like, I'm not kidding you. I feel like this is the inside of my mind.

[Ash]

Oh, it. Absolutely.

[Elena]

And it felt like it was.

[Ash]

Oh, my God. I have to still unpack the candles that I got there.

[Elena]

Yes.

[Ash]

And when I do, I need to. I need to shout out the. The woman who makes those candles, because she was telling us, like, how she does it and everything, and she sets intentions and all this stuff, and they're so beautiful, and they smell so good. I can't wait to light one.

[Elena]

It's just, like. It's, like, spooky Etsy come to life. Yeah. It's just these amazing vend, like, so many cool things, like good food and tarot card readings. It's just. It's everything just delightful that you can want. And it's at the Salem Pioneer Village, which makes it just spooky and awesome.

[Ash]

It was so rad. It was also the start to, like, a really awesome weekend for me.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Like, this past weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in years.

[Elena]

Look at you.

[Ash]

Because I got to do that with you and, like, a bunch of our spooky, fun friends.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And then the next day, we got to go to Drew's cousin's bachelorette, and she's just, like, the sweetest human and all. Her sister are so cool.

[Elena]

I love them.

[Ash]

And it was, like, so fun hanging out with them. And then yesterday, I got to hang out with you and our family.

[Elena]

Exactly.

[Ash]

It was, like, so wonderful.

[Elena]

And we got to go to a haunted house finally. And we got to Sheena and Trid.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

Oh, wow.

[Ash]

The way that I almost just outed.

[Elena]

TR's identity, I was just. That's why I went. Y.

[Ash]

You said. You said pump the brakes.

[Elena]

I said Trid.

[Ash]

Oh, man, that was a close call. Yeah.

[Elena]

If you guys aren't following Sheena, Melanie, and Trid, the real Indian dad.

[Ash]

Yeah, yeah.

[Elena]

You gotta do it. Go follow their TikTok. Go check em out. They're hilarious. And also, they happen to be, like, the sweetest, most amazing people in real life.

[Ash]

So they've become recently, like, some of our new best friends. And it's really exciting. And it was Sheena's first haunted house ever.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So it was really fun to bring her to that.

[Elena]

I felt so. I felt, like, so important bringing her to her first haunted house.

[Ash]

I know. And also it was so much fun.

[Elena]

It was. It was needed. We haven't hit one this year. No, it's just. It hasn't worked out. You know, people have been sick, kids have been sick. It just hasn't been a thing that we could do.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And we've just been so busy that it just isn't working out. And finally. No, I know. It was after all the kids went to sleep, and I was like, you know what? Let's go. We can go.

[Ash]

Hell, yeah.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And we, Elena and I used to go to a haunted house literally every weekend in October. Like, it was our thing that we did together, and we'd, like, invite whoever, but we always went no matter what. In the past couple years, it's been Covid and kids and busy and craziness. So it's like next year we got to get back on our drive.

[Elena]

Get back on it, you know? But we met a ton of you guys at the night fair too. Yes. And I just wanted to say you guys were awesome, and it was really cool to meet you and you kind of made our nights. So thanks for being rad. Yeah. It was just. It just felt right. Good weekend. It felt right every time somebody came up and was like, oh, my God. Hey. It was like we would meet here.

[Ash]

Oh. Like, you know, I mean, like, I.

[Elena]

Was like, yeah, like, this feels right.

[Ash]

That we're meeting here. That's our good meet. Cute with people, you know?

[Elena]

So thanks for being awesome and saying hi to us, because that was really cool.

[Ash]

It was so fun.

[Elena]

And I hope you guys had fun.

[Ash]

At the night fair too, and I hope everybody had A good weekend, no matter what they did.

[Elena]

And you know what? It's Halloween. Spooky, random legend time episode goes out.

[Ash]

On like a Wednesday. People are going to be like, it's literally the middle of the week. It is. You know. Yeah, yeah.

[Elena]

But you know, it's coming. Whatever. Yeah, Halloween's coming. Oh, I didn't. You were so confused.

[Ash]

It's. What time is it?

[Elena]

It's. I don't even know. Yeah. Who knows?

[Ash]

It's like 8:30pm so I'm geriatric and it's way past my bedtime.

[Elena]

But do you want to start or should I?

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

Whoa.

[Ash]

I never start. Okay.

[Elena]

All right.

[Ash]

Oh, my.

[Elena]

Wow. If you could see her face right now, everybody. No. Whoa. Okay, well, I'm going to be covering a little bit. Like just a little. Little handful, little scoop of fairy lights. Oh, the Legends of Fairy Lights.

[Ash]

You do that. I have a joke for you. Okay. I'm not like Michael Scott. I'm superstitious. Yeah. So that's why you have to start.

[Elena]

Oh, I see. Okay. That took me a second.

[Ash]

It also took me a second to form the joke. And that's why I had to interrupt you and tell the joke at a bad spot.

[Elena]

Very nice.

[Ash]

But I had to do what I.

[Elena]

Had to do because I was. At first, my brain was going to the actual quote like that. I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little suspicious. So I got confused.

[Ash]

But I like it.

[Elena]

Okay. And retroactively, I'm laughing right now. Alrighty.

[Ash]

Well, you son of a bitch, tell me about your fairies. And remind me not to tell a joke when it's too late. Look at Ash.

[Elena]

Doing a tight tent up in here. So, yeah, I'm gonna talk about some fairy lights particularly. I'm going to start with ones from Louisiana.

[Ash]

Oh, do you like that place or something?

[Elena]

I do. I think Louisiana is great.

[Ash]

Tinyurl.com thebutureintheren thank you. You're welcome.

[Elena]

But these are called le fouffoulets. Oh, yeah.

[Ash]

Kind of like a beignet, but different.

[Elena]

Not at all like a beignet. But I would like a beignet now. I've never had a beignet. Beignet, Vignette.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

These are called lefou filets. And these entities are also known as the Cajun fairies or the swamp fairies. And it may sound beautiful, but it has a truly sinister motive for appearing to unsuspecting victims.

[Ash]

So back the up.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

These.

[Elena]

It sounds great, but no. So this word is obviously French. I Don't know if you could tell. No. That's weird.

[Ash]

I thought it was German.

[Elena]

The Fou Folet. It's obviously French, and it has a few different translations. I've seen marsh fire, but I've also seen crazy, crazy fire, which I think crazy fire kind of, like, fits better.

[Ash]

I like that.

[Elena]

Now, a lot of people with Cajun heritage today, and especially in the Louisiana area, have probably heard tales of these entities from their parents, grandparents, you know, the. Like. They're the kind of tales that come with a strong lesson of not following things into the swamp or the woods.

[Ash]

Lessons are important.

[Elena]

They are. You know, stay out of the swamps and just don't be a crazy little.

[Ash]

Wanderer, you know, that's actually, like, exactly who I am.

[Elena]

Yeah. Don't be a crazy little wanderer.

[Ash]

Too late.

[Elena]

Not in these parts. Now, these little things are balls of light, usually very small, but sometimes they could be a little bigger. Like, they. Some of them are the size of, like, a quarter. And then some of them can be, like, a cantaloupe size.

[Ash]

A cantaloupe, you say?

[Elena]

Yeah. And they'll look like a flickering flame.

[Ash]

Cantaloupes are pretty big. Pretty big.

[Elena]

A flickering cantaloupe flame.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

But they're far away. They start out far away, so you'll see them. And they just kind of vary in size. Now, they appear in the darkness of the Louisiana bayou, and they just kind of like, dance along the tree line. And initially, these lights were seen as a good omen at first because people were like, oh, lights, that's great.

[Ash]

Lights are always good.

[Elena]

Sounds good. And the story can sometimes vary depending on who is telling it. But there is a strong consistency with the important parts of the stories when it comes to where these came from. Some people believe that these fires are the spirits of babies that died unbaptized, or died while they were. Or died while they were still nursing. Oh, yeah. And these aren't, like, grown people who weren't baptized as babies. These are babies who were not baptized and died as babies. Oh, yeah. That's what these are.

[Ash]

You said. Let me.

[Elena]

Let me clear.

[Ash]

Like, you're confused, and I was. So.

[Elena]

Thank you. Or these are babies who died while they were still nursing. Oh, that's terrible. And they now have to, like, wander around in some kind of purgatory state.

[Ash]

I hate that.

[Elena]

Now, a lot of these tales, kind of tales, regarding them are scary and have, like, a really hopeless feeling to them. If they're not babies, then some people believe that these are just, like, Spirits of those who died. They lived terrible lives, like, did wicked things in their lives, and they entered purgatory and then were spit back into the earthly realm because their lives were so filled with sin that they're now forced into this, like, punishment afterlife.

[Ash]

Damn, you're so bad you can't even hang out in Purgatory.

[Elena]

Spit you out of Purgatory. Like, neither one of them are taking you.

[Ash]

Who the hell gets spit out of Purgatory?

[Elena]

Apparently the people who turn into Le Fou Filets.

[Ash]

But Le Fou Filet is so beautiful.

[Elena]

It does sound beautiful. That's. That's their game. So others believe that these are bright. Like, these are the spirits of loved ones who have died, and this was their way of returning home to pass on a message or to comfort those who are struggling with their loss.

[Ash]

All right, so so far, we've got dead babies, which is absolutely terrible. We've got wicked human beings so terrible that they can't even hang out in Purgatory. And now I have a loved one.

[Elena]

Well, this is what it is. This is where the issue lies. This is a trap. They are all traps. You are compelled by these lights to follow them, but you will never quite reach them. And they're just not. They're not good. They appear to be seen as. As what you want them to be. Loved ones to comfort you and bring you news from beyond, like they are that. They try to make themselves into what you need them to be, but they are not your loved ones. They are not anything good. They are masking as such and are, in fact, there to lure you into the swamps to your fucking death.

[Ash]

Well, that's why they shouldn't have gotten kicked out of Purgatory. Leave them there so they can't fuck with me and mine.

[Elena]

So even though the people who would believe these were their loved ones were being tricked by these entities, what they are is they really are, like, evil things. So I don't think. And the whole, like, babies in Purgatory thing, I think, is just, like a whole other series of issues. But I think it's. It seems to me, like the one that fits right is these. Because these are evil. Like, they're not good.

[Ash]

Like, so they're Frank from Hellraiser.

[Elena]

Yeah, exactly. Like, he would.

[Ash]

He would definitely be one of these. I'm a horror queen.

[Elena]

Wow.

[Ash]

Yeah, it's me, Ash. I watch horror movies now.

[Elena]

I introduced Ash to Hellraiser. Like, what, last week?

[Ash]

Yeah, like, two weeks ago.

[Elena]

Two weeks ago, for the first time, she had seen it. And she loved it.

[Ash]

I really, like, so proud.

[Elena]

I was so proud, mama. I was real proud. I was like, that's my girl.

[Ash]

Next on Scream. Just, like, quick diversion. If you guys don't listen to Scream, you should.

[Elena]

Yeah, listen. It's a lot of fun.

[Ash]

Yeah. It's a podcast that run with our friend Caleb, and we do horror movies, but we're gonna do Black Sunday, and I'm really excited for it. It's my pick. So, like, I really am becoming a true horror head.

[Elena]

And, guys, now's the time to go listen to. Listen to scream if you're not listening already.

[Ash]

Yeah, come on.

[Elena]

Go ahead. It's fun. Foreign.

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[Elena]

So back to this. They're not your loved ones. They're gonna lead you to your fucking death in the swamp. Their entire thing is to distract you. Like, they're like, ooh, pretty lights. And then you follow them.

[Ash]

Pretty lights. And you love me. Let's go.

[Elena]

Exactly. And once they have you, they keep you. Oh. Oh. They're not letting you go.

[Ash]

I did not like the little eye thing that you just did.

[Elena]

They keep you, keep you.

[Ash]

I was like, don't look at me like that.

[Elena]

They keep you, and they lead you further and further into the swamps, making sure that you lose your way, that you're paying attention to them. You're not paying attention to where you're going. And when you realize how far you have wandered, it's always too late.

[Ash]

Oh, my damn.

[Elena]

You're either lost or you will fall into the swamp and drown. Those are the Two alcohols. And some legends even say I found a few things that say they'll try to lure you into the swamps and into briars or sharp prickly bushes to get you torn to pieces.

[Ash]

Jesus Christ. Yeah, again, like Hellraiser.

[Elena]

Exactly. Whoa.

[Ash]

Are these just center bites?

[Elena]

Maybe. These could be just Pinhead and like Butterball over there, but my man. Now they have also been associated, though, with treasure. Treasure seeking people. Okay, so there are stories that say it was common for high ranking pirates to kill a crew member before they would bury their treasure. They would then throw the body of this crew member into the hole with the treasure and this purse. This act would connect this dead man's soul to the treasure forever. And they are now forced into the job of guarding the treasure until the pirates come back to claim it.

[Ash]

Why do I kind of love that?

[Elena]

Isn't that gnarly?

[Ash]

The murder part?

[Elena]

Isn't that so gnarly? Like, they murder one of their crewmates, throw him in the hole, and he's now bound to this treasure.

[Ash]

That's some Pirates of the Caribbean shit.

[Elena]

That's some pirate shit.

[Ash]

Yeah, we should cover like, some pirates.

[Elena]

We got to cover some pirate stories.

[Ash]

There's some crazy ones lingering out there.

[Elena]

Yo ho ho, yo ho ho.

[Ash]

And a bottle of rum ahoy.

[Elena]

Maybe. There you go.

[Ash]

Argh. Did we just become pirates?

[Elena]

We did. We did. Remember when everybody would get excited about Speak like a Pirate Day, or everybody would get excited about on Facebook, they would let you change your language to pirate?

[Ash]

I do, briefly.

[Elena]

And I think instead of like, what, what do you. Because you know how, like, when you would put up a status update, it would say, like, what's on your side? What's on your mind? It would change to, like, what ye be plundering or something.

[Ash]

That must have been when Facebook, like, first happened. And I think I was like, a little bit after that and everyone was.

[Elena]

Like, real into it. They're like, I'm a pirate. It says, what ye be plundering right now.

[Ash]

I kind of love that.

[Elena]

It was funny.

[Ash]

We were like.

[Elena]

We were a simpler people back then.

[Ash]

When you would just get into, like, poke fights on Facebook.

[Elena]

It was a simpler time. It was a beautiful time.

[Ash]

Yeah. Poking used to be a way of, like, flirtation back in my day.

[Elena]

Oh, yeah, it was. It was a much simpler time. But enough of that. So these spirits that are now connected to this treasure are said to become le fou filet. Especially when the treasure was finally claimed by the pirate that initially buried it, because they would still Stay and guard the place that the. That the treasure was. Then they would lure other people toward the treasure place. Only to lead them to certain death and bury them alive.

[Ash]

Alrighty.

[Elena]

So people think they're being led to buried treasure. There's a tale of, like, these two guys. I read it in a few different sources. These two guys were working on a railroad together. They were friends. They saw the Lefou Filets and they were like, ooh, we have to follow them because maybe they're gonna lead us to treasure. And they followed. And the Lefou Filet went into the dirt. Like, into the. Like led them astray, Went into the dirt. And they were like, that must be where the treasure is. So they started digging. And they were working on the railroad.

[Ash]

So they had shovels all the livelong day.

[Elena]

They ended up banging into something. They're like, holy shit. It's treasure. They got so excited that one of them was greedy and decided to knock the other one out with a shovel to take the treasure for himself.

[Ash]

Oh, that's fake as fuck.

[Elena]

But when he got to the treasure, he opened it up. And it was a Lefou Filet who was with him. And that Lefou Filet killed him. And then his friend woke up and ran back to the railroad and was like, holy, what happened? And they never found the other friend again. So he was a greedy. And he got eaten by the Lefou Filet.

[Ash]

Eaten?

[Elena]

I said the Le Fouffale. But it's just Le Fuffilet. Because that's two. Thus.

[Ash]

Whoa. But.

[Elena]

So don't follow the Lefou Filet. And if you follow the Lefou Filet with a friend, don't get greedy, because one of you is gonna die.

[Ash]

Wow. This is a cautionary tale.

[Elena]

Yeah. And you might be thinking to yourself right now, well, yeah.

[Ash]

Is this it? I'm usually thinking to myself, well, like.

[Elena]

If they appear, do I have a choice? Or is it just my fate to follow them? Like, are they gonna force me to follow them?

[Ash]

Yeah. What are my options?

[Elena]

Like, what's. What do I do here? I'm saying locals believe that you can. You actually can fight against their otherworldly power and keep yourself from becoming a victim of the Swamp Fairies with a.

[Ash]

Little one, two punch.

[Elena]

No, not a one, two punch. They don't give a about that. They're like, get the out of here with your little hands.

[Ash]

Why was that so funny? They don't give a about.

[Elena]

They don't. They don't care about your one. I'm Foo filet, I don't care about your little, like, boop boop hands. So apparently these little entities, though, they don't care about you throwing hands, but they do care about iron. They cannot cross anything. Iron. Oh. Not sure why. So if you're seeing one and you're feeling the pull of their power, you have to put something iron between you. Usually it's recommended that you drive something into the ground that's iron, like a blade or. I read a lot of people use iron needles. And this is interesting because it works. The. The way that it works is the fou filet are compelled to try to fit through the eye of the needle. They try to fit through it.

[Ash]

Why does that sound familiar to me?

[Elena]

Well, I'll, I'll get. I'll tell you because you probably remember it from a couple of other things. So they'll try to get through the eye of the needle, and then they will spend a lot of time and effort trying to do this. And they'll momentarily lose sight of the fact that they came here initially to lure you into the swamp to watch you die a horrific, slow death.

[Ash]

It's kind of like you lure them into the eye of the needle.

[Elena]

Exactly.

[Ash]

And watch them have a horrific, slow death.

[Elena]

You pay, you play their own game. So when they're distracted, you can run as far away as humanly possible and never look back. This works a lot like the legends that include leaving a lot of things outside your door for spirits to count. That might be what you're thinking about. We've covered things before, like these key. We've covered some of these, like, keep away methods for spirits.

[Ash]

Yeah. Like Samhain.

[Elena]

Yeah. Now, one of these I found actually, because I started looking into other ones because I thought the same thing. I was like, that sounds so familiar.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

I think I was thinking of all these different, like, cultures and legends that would be like, they will count this many things outside your door and forget that they're coming in to hurt you. Now, one of these that I found terrifying and fascinating is the haint. Oh. Which is an evil ghost from Gullah Geechee culture, found in the south, near, like, Florida, Georgia, north and South Carolina area. These haints have a method, and these haints are like evil ghosts. And they have a method of killing their victims by chasing them until they die of exhaustion.

[Ash]

That's my worst fucking nightmare.

[Elena]

That's their goal. They just exhaust you to death.

[Ash]

I mean, life is already doing that to me. So can you not?

[Elena]

So can you not? But you can keep these Away it said by a few methods. First, you can apparently use newspaper as wallpaper or.

[Ash]

That's not my vibe.

[Elena]

You can read. You can put pages of books as wallpaper, which sounds kind of cool.

[Ash]

Also not my vibe.

[Elena]

Because the haint just has to read every single word. They will stop and have to read every single word in these papers. So the more papers, the better.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

They will never be able to get you. The sun will come up and they'll be banished.

[Ash]

Awesome.

[Elena]

Bye. You can also leave sand, rice, or a broom outside your home because the haint will have to count every grain of sand or rice. And they will have to count every bristle in the broom. And they get confused really easily. So they'll have to start over a bunch of times. The more things you can leave out for them to count, the better.

[Ash]

All right.

[Elena]

You can also paint your porch ceiling or floor paint blue because it makes them think that it's water. And that's something they can't go past. Isn't that interesting?

[Ash]

That is interesting.

[Elena]

And those. You will still find porches, especially in the South.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

It's like in the Carolinas and stuff. You'll find a ton of porches have that blue.

[Ash]

I found that out a couple years ago. I knew somebody who had, like, a blue roof on their porch.

[Elena]

Yeah. Now, this brings us back to iron and the foo filets.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

They can't pass iron, so you can sometimes.

[Ash]

What?

[Elena]

Trick them with whatever you have to put in the ground. They will at least pause to think it over and you can get out of there.

[Ash]

Will kale count?

[Elena]

Kale. There you go. Iron rich. Iron rich. Kale. Yeah. So apparently they can also enter your home, though, which is terrifying.

[Ash]

No, thanks. Can I give them something to count?

[Elena]

You can. So there's a thought that lefou filet really love to terrorize children, particularly infants.

[Ash]

Yeah. See, I don't. That's why I don't think they're babies.

[Elena]

Yeah, they're dicks. So if your baby wakes up with rosy cheeks, it's thought that the fou filet came into your home at night and stole some of your infant's breath. And that's why their cheeks are a little rosy.

[Ash]

Not just that they're a warm sleeper.

[Elena]

No. So in order to make sure that doesn't happen again or happen at all, really. Yes. Yes. It's suggested that you scatter mustard seeds on the floor. Floor of the nursery. Because again, lefou filet will stop to count them all. And eventually the sun will rise and they Will be banished another day.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Of course, you now have mustard seeds all over the floor of your nursery. But, hey, your baby still has oxygen, so that is. That's a good toss up in my book.

[Ash]

Although, like, mustard seeds do kind of seem like they would be a choking hazard, so.

[Elena]

Well, if your baby's in the crib, yeah. Baby's not getting out of the crib. Babies do not as an infant. This is like infants. This isn't toddler. Like, this is infant. So they're swaddled. Like, you got a swaddler in there.

[Ash]

I love the little swaddle.

[Elena]

I love those swaddle baby mooshies.

[Ash]

I feel like I could just, like, smell that. I know, like, smell a little swaddled babe.

[Elena]

No, those were. That was all interesting to me. But then while searching for information about these things, I kept coming across, like, things like it that were like, really, I want to do, like, a whole episode. I swear on these kind of things because they're just very interesting. And I kept finding them from all over the world. And there are the will o' the wisps in Scotland, which I'm going to talk about in a second. But those are the ones I knew about growing up. Like, Ma used to talk about them. And then one I hadn't heard of is from Denmark. And they are literally called the Jack o' Lanterns.

[Ash]

But they're not.

[Elena]

But they're not pumpkins, okay? They are lights as well. And they're said to. And this is Denmark. They're said to be spirits of unrighteous men. Are you righteous? No, no, I'm a Jack o Lantern, actually. Now, these unrighteous men come back because they were kicked out of the other Realm and sent back to Earth. They make it their goal to lure travelers off their paths and lead them into bogs and marshes and swamps so that they drown alone. Also, don't you dare point at one if you see it. If you point at one, they will always see you pointing at them, no matter what, and they will seek you out.

[Ash]

Well, you are pointing right now. So I do you stop.

[Elena]

I'm pointing right at you.

[Ash]

Well, there's three fingers pointing right back at you all.

[Elena]

That's funny. No, it's the same concept, but this time it's grown unrighteous men. And the way to stop them is not with iron, but by turning your cap inside out.

[Ash]

What if I don't have a cap?

[Elena]

Well, what's funny to me is, like, so basically, a rally cap will send these assholes packing.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Do you remember? She's shaking her head. She literally was like.

[Ash]

I was like already.

[Elena]

I don't remember playing like baseball or softball. A rally cap was like you. You put your head inside out when you're not doing great because you're. You're aiming for. You're manifesting a rally.

[Ash]

Do you remember that? I was the girl on the softball team who convinced everybody to make matching bows. And then we all wore those two games and then the softball coaches really didn't like me for that.

[Elena]

I do remember.

[Ash]

You're welcome. But softball.

[Elena]

But make it fashion still funny that like a rally cap is like a turned inside out cap to manifest a rally. Need one. And that will send the jack O lanterns gone like packing.

[Ash]

Is there anything else I can do or. That's my only.

[Elena]

That's it. That's all I could find. So if you don't have a cap, I guess you're shit out of luck.

[Ash]

Well, Shit.

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[Elena]

But that's awesome. Now back to the will o' the wisps. Because those. I just love those.

[Ash]

Ma talks about these mom and Dad.

[Elena]

I remember dad telling me a story about the will o' the wisps because they are from Scotland.

[Ash]

I never heard them talk about these. Now I'm interested.

[Elena]

It's probably the closest thing I knew to Le Fouffale.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

They originate in Scotland and they're kind of the same idea. They're fairy lights that lead people astray to their Dubais. And they are sometimes referred to as ignis. I believe I'm probably saying that wrong, but it's Latin. And it's Latin for just don't say it. I was just gonna say it's probably good that I can't say that, so that's really great. It's Latin for foolish fire.

[Ash]

Ah.

[Elena]

And it makes sense. That's exactly what it is. So travelers, or just any wary victim would see what looked like a flickering flame of a lantern or a candle over the moors or bogs or marshland. They would feel compelled to follow it.

[Ash]

It.

[Elena]

And sometimes it gave the impression of someone needing help.

[Ash]

Oh, yeah.

[Elena]

So it, like, preys on people's, like, need to help others.

[Ash]

Oh, right.

[Elena]

Or something. You just needed to go and check out, like, something interesting. They were like. And these little lights are very, like, playful. They're like fairy lights. And in. At first they bounce and jump and, like, really invite you.

[Ash]

They're like, check me out.

[Elena]

They're like, girl, let's go.

[Ash]

Damn. I'm never gonna look at a firefly the same.

[Elena]

No, that's true.

[Ash]

Now these.

[Elena]

The will of the wisps, are bad omen. And seeing one can mean you or someone you know is about to die. Oh, yeah. And they're also said to possibly lead someone to maybe see Fae, which can be. Or. Yeah, you don't want to fuck with fae.

[Ash]

No, you do not.

[Elena]

They also will lead you to leprechauns. Huh. So that seems like bullshit to me. But that. Because that's more in, like, the. Like, the Irish version of things. But there's like, a little buried treasure bit here, too. That in Scot it says, like, you could find treasure too. So I guess that lines up with, like, leprechauns.

[Ash]

Or you could die.

[Elena]

Truth. So it's a real. It's a real 50. 50 shot.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Now, it's the origin of will o' the wisps that really interested me at first. It's just like, an interesting story. Apparently the legend says that there was a man named Willem who was an asshole.

[Ash]

Willem.

[Elena]

Willem. There you go. He did all sorts of bad things while he was alive. And when it was time for him to shuffle off this mortal coil, he went to meet St Peter at the pearly gates. And his, the film of his life ruled before him. And it was a flop. This film sucks.

[Ash]

Critics hated it.

[Elena]

Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 10 at best. The letterbox score was even worse. It was just so. St. Peter was like, my guy. We can't let you in with those kind of numbers.

[Ash]

You can't come in here. Well, so he was like, you have.

[Elena]

To try this again, Will. William. Steve's like, you gotta. Willem. It's actually. It is William and Willem and different sources, you see. But also, I got Willem.

[Ash]

Get you a boy who could do it.

[Elena]

Exactly. So he sent Willem back to Earth to give it another try. Oh, okay.

[Ash]

So you better shape the fuck up, sir.

[Elena]

This idiot fucked it up again.

[Ash]

I bet he did.

[Elena]

In fact, he was even worse this time around.

[Ash]

Oh, no.

[Elena]

St. Peter. And St. Peter was like, get out. When he came back, get fucked. He kicked him out. Not back to Earth, but banished him from the other place too do. So he was walking around Purgatory and the Devil shows up.

[Ash]

He said, hey.

[Elena]

And the Devil was like, wow, you're pathetic. And he gave him a burning piece of brimstone. And he was like, here, it's cold in here.

[Ash]

Hold that.

[Elena]

Like, as the Devil would. He was like, it's cold in purgatory. Here's some fiery brimstone to hold on to. Like, hope it keeps you warm. I don't think he was.

[Ash]

Help you out. Well.

[Elena]

And he gave it to him, and he was like, don't be a dick. And then he just left. Here's some fiery rock. Try to make something of yourself in Purgatory.

[Ash]

I want to know what the Devil is doing in Purgatory.

[Elena]

Well, Will, I think he's just got. He probably, like, toots in there a little bit and is like, how's everybody doing? Like, he's probably just a dick in there.

[Ash]

Do you guys follow Satan on Tick Tock?

[Elena]

Oh, my God. Because you should follow Satan on Tick Tock.

[Ash]

I know his true identity, but I won't spoil it.

[Elena]

Hilarious. It's so you gotta follow it. But he basically said, don't be a dick. Here's some fiery rock. Like, do something with that.

[Ash]

Do what you will with that.

[Elena]

But Will took this as an opportunity to enact his bitter revenge on the world, which might have been the Devil's plan all along, because he knew that Willem was a dick.

[Ash]

It's set up.

[Elena]

Here's some fiery rock. Be a nice guy.

[Ash]

And then he just left. Yeah, like what?

[Elena]

But he continues his reign of terror, now using his brimstone rock, gifted by Lucifer, to lure travelers into the Bogs to death. Nice, Will. Now, I'm not going to ruin this by pointing out that all of these lights can possibly be attributed to Swamp gas and bioluminescent mushrooms and algae.

[Ash]

But you, like, just did, though.

[Elena]

It's spirits. Happy fucking Halloween.

[Ash]

I love that send off.

[Elena]

That's the end of mine.

[Ash]

That was really funny. You said us the ends of mine. All right, well, I very like lights. I am a witch.

[Elena]

Oh, yeah, you do.

[Ash]

I have a witch because it's Halloween.

[Elena]

Witch and a curse and.

[Ash]

Oh, yes. Actually, I wish I witch in a few curses and always some. All right, well, mine is the legend of Hannah Cranna, AKA the Wicked Witch of Monroe.

[Elena]

Hannah Krana.

[Ash]

Hannah Krana.

[Elena]

Hey, girl.

[Ash]

I love her. To be honest, I already love her. All right, so like I said, the Hannah Cranna legend comes to us from Monroe, Connecticut, much like the Warrens. Hey.

[Elena]

Closer to close by.

[Ash]

Hey. So Hannah was a lady who was born way back in 1783, one who was said to be a witch. Now, luckily for Hannah, like, by the time she was doing her witchy thing, people in New England had already seen the hysteria caused in Salem by the witch trials. So they were a little more hesitant to bring women that they believed to be witches to trial.

[Elena]

That's so nice of them.

[Ash]

Yeah, they were like, we saw how this went, and I think instead we'll just. Just spread some rumors throughout town and mess with them from afar.

[Elena]

Oh, there you go.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

So again, it was. They saw that it was a flop the first time around and they were like, let's not repeat that.

[Ash]

They said, we're not in our flop era.

[Elena]

No, we are not.

[Ash]

We're in our ass era. So let's spread rumors and run amok.

[Elena]

We're in our. Are we in our. It might be in our ass era again.

[Ash]

Seems like the whole world very much in a ass era at this moment in time. But back then, they were not in their flop era. They were again in their bitch ass era. And that was the case with Ms. Hannah. They. They bullied her from afar. Now, Hannah's a bit of a mystery woman even when it comes to her name, because some sources say that she was married to a man named Joseph Hovey. And her grave actually even says that she's the wife of that man's. But I also found an article on newspapers.com and it referred to her husband as Silas Krana.

[Elena]

Huh.

[Ash]

So I was trying to figure out if, like, Silas was like Mr. Or Sir or something like that, but it seems to be a name now, so.

[Elena]

That's weird.

[Ash]

That's interesting, because nobody really knows when Hannah became known as Hannah Cranna. Some people say that it was A nickname given to her in, like, a jokey way. But, I mean, I guess it really doesn't matter that much because throughout the year, she's more known as the Wicked Witch of Monroe. Monroe. Whoa. So the house that she and her husband lived on was on Cragley. I hope I'm saying that right. Cragley Hill in Monroe, Connecticut. Now, evidently, these days, what is left of their home. We'll get more of that later. Is guarded by different sized snakes.

[Elena]

Oh.

[Ash]

To this day.

[Elena]

Damn.

[Ash]

Now, Hannah's story seems to start with the death of her husband. So there are two very different accounts of how she killed the man.

[Elena]

Oh.

[Ash]

Neither has been proven to be true, but let's explore both, shall we?

[Elena]

Let's look at both.

[Ash]

So story one says that Hannah's husband went out for a walk one night, and he drifted a little too far from home. Now, somehow he stumbled over and fell off the edge of a cliff. In Connecticut.

[Elena]

In Connecticut.

[Ash]

In Connecticut.

[Elena]

And when you said drifted too far from home, I just pictured him, like, clinging to a piece of driftwood and just, like, drifting.

[Ash]

No, he's just walking. He's just slowly drifting. Drifting away. I don't want to get sued. His body was found the next day, and immediately people thought that Hannah had something to do with it.

[Elena]

Hannah Cran.

[Ash]

They thought Hannah Crano. They thought. Yeah, Hannah Crano.

[Elena]

They did.

[Ash]

And they said she put some kind of spell on him that led to his death. The spell must have disoriented him so much that it just left him walking blindly to this cliff, having no idea what he was actually doing.

[Elena]

Damn.

[Ash]

So that could be it.

[Elena]

Could be it.

[Ash]

Or. The other variation of the story is pretty dark. In this version, Hannah's husband partakes a little too often in excessive drinking, and she's through with it. She's had enough.

[Elena]

Well, she's. Hannah Kranner.

[Ash]

She's. Hannah doesn't need this. And she's not here for your.

[Elena]

No, she's not.

[Ash]

So he comes home one day, and they get into it because she's like, hey, you smell like booze again. And I'm kind of sick of this.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So they start fighting. They bring their argument outside because she says, you want to take this outside? Outside? And they walk toward the cliff, and things get more and more heated until finally Hannah grabs her husband. Apparently, she's very strong, like bull. And she tosses him over the edge of the cliff.

[Elena]

No. Holy.

[Ash]

Allegedly.

[Elena]

I'm laughing just because of, like, the thought of this. Like, I'm picturing Hannah Cranna.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

In my head is like a very small woman.

[Ash]

Yeah, me too.

[Elena]

I don't know why. Like, it just came to my brain that way.

[Ash]

Petite, girly.

[Elena]

And then I'm just picturing her like. Like hoisting this man. Like. Like Louisa. Yes. From. Like she does with the. With the donkey.

[Ash]

Hannah's the strong one. And she's not nervous. No, she's not. She's as strong as the crust of the earth is. So Native Americans watched her be as strong as the crust of the earth is from the bottom of the cliff. As this happened, even though both Hannah thought that nobody had seen. But words spread around town either way, whether she tossed him over the cliff herself or if she concocted some kind of spell that made him do it.

[Elena]

So either way, he went over a cliff.

[Ash]

He did.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

In Connecticut. And there were a couple of people who really, actually did want her persecuted for witchcraft. But for one reason or another, that never happened. But some people think that's because the local authorities were so scared of her that they didn't want to press the issue and try their life luck.

[Elena]

I mean, there's two choices here. She either bewitched the man off a cliff, or she hoisted him above her head and tossed. Launched him off a cliff.

[Ash]

Nay, I say yeeted there.

[Elena]

I understand why they were a little. Little hesitant to get involved in that whole thing.

[Ash]

And we're only lolling because this is a legend.

[Elena]

It's a legend. This is all legends.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

It's hilarious. Hilarious.

[Ash]

So Hannah's husband, he was said to have died in May, and she wasn't seen again until that next October. So she disappeared for a little while.

[Elena]

And then she came back for spooky season.

[Ash]

She did, because she's Hannah. It's Halloween. Yes. Now, when she was spotted, there were two men riding past her. And according to the Newtown B. Newspaper, she was, quote, dressed in white flowing garments and with disheveled hair, standing in the swamp near the road in the rear of her home.

[Elena]

I love that for her, she is now a swamp hag, and that's pretty great. Also a swamp banshee.

[Ash]

Maybe she didn't kill her husband, and maybe she was just a little distraught that the man's yeeted himself over a cliff. So she was just having a quick moment in the swamp, and you could just let her have at it.

[Elena]

Yeah, let her grieve in the swamp, man.

[Ash]

Let me grieve in the swamp so that I know it's real. Let me.

[Elena]

Like she's having a. A Hot banshee summer. Okay. She had a hot Banshee summer. It's October now.

[Ash]

Next summer. You heard it here first. I am having a hot banshee summer.

[Elena]

That's what Hannah Krena was doing.

[Ash]

Don't at me.

[Elena]

She's just finishing off her hot Banshee summer. She was stepping into spooky season by stepping into the swamp.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

It was just her moment. Like, everybody needed to let her have her mom.

[Ash]

Let her live.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

But they didn't want to let her live. And after that sighting, people would see her from time to time, and word kind of started to spread because people weren't seeing her too often. And a lot of the times, the sightings would be really late at night. So people really kind of started to latch onto this idea that she was a witch, and they wouldn't see her again until that next spring. Now, she came back with a bang. And maybe she wouldn't have. Or if it weren't for, like, a little neighborly dispute, maybe she would have just continued hanging out and minding her own GD business. But apparently, one of her. Apparently, apparently, apparently one of her neighbor's cattle had gotten into her yard and messed up some of her flowers. Now, she took great pride in her garden. She grew tiger lilies. And she was like, don't fuck with them.

[Elena]

Do you know how hard it is to keep a plant alive?

[Ash]

Yes, I do, because I became a plant mom this past year.

[Elena]

Plant Parents of the world worlds. I tip my hat to you because that is hard.

[Ash]

It is.

[Elena]

That is hard because so many plants are different.

[Ash]

And, like, something like this, a lot of commitment. Some like that weather. Some you can't water too much. Some you have to give a moderate amount. Some you can't even water. Like, who knew you couldn't leave a freaking cactus in your bathroom and that it would be too steamy in there and that you would kill a cactus. But even though nobody can kill a cactus, I'm not speaking from personal experience. Yeah. Who knew?

[Elena]

Apparently you. Who knew?

[Ash]

I don't know who knew. But anyway, yeah, Hannah, she got in a dispute with her neighbor because she was like, hey, you're being careless. You gotta watch your cattle and not let them eat my or my tiger lilies. And this guy was not hearing her side of the story at all. He didn't give a. Oh, no. So she got real angry. Real angry. He laughed in her face and told her she was an old woman without a husband and what would she even do to stop him?

[Elena]

That is literally Like Thai and clueless.

[Ash]

You're a virgin who can't drive. Like, that's.

[Elena]

You're an old woman with no husband. Like, that is so gnarly.

[Ash]

Like, what? It's the Connecticut version of that. Dudes.

[Elena]

My guy.

[Ash]

That is not nice. That hit different.

[Elena]

Like, that's like, really? I would ax your ass.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

I would learn dark magic if I didn't know it. I mean, that would be it.

[Ash]

She showed him. Damn. Because according again to the Newtown Bee from December 7, 1900, Hannah, quote, with strangely flashing eyes and a voice tense in its vindictiveness, cried with an outstretched, stretched, menacing arm, my curse upon you and my curse upon your crop. I love Hannah Karena. Hannah Karena is my mother. Effing girly.

[Elena]

Because I don't think she killed her husband.

[Ash]

Or do I?

[Elena]

I think it was an accident. I think he stumbled off a cliff.

[Ash]

In Connecticut, and I think he was known to drink.

[Elena]

I think she is. She's cursing.

[Ash]

Yeah. I think she became a witch.

[Elena]

I think she was pushed into this.

[Ash]

And on that day, I became a witch.

[Elena]

There you go.

[Ash]

You know Tick tock.

[Elena]

Yeah. You know Tick tock. Hello, Tick tock.

[Ash]

Of course she does. Hannah knows all.

[Elena]

She'd be a great tick tocker.

[Ash]

I'd follow her.

[Elena]

I would.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

She'd show you how to grow tiger lilies.

[Ash]

She would have an Etsy shop for she.

[Elena]

For sure she would. I wish you had said for she. And I would buy from it. Yes. Yeah.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

Yeah. She'd be at the night fair. All right.

[Ash]

Well, listen, she would have, but. So before that fateful day, this man's crop was growing quite, quite nicely, you know, I bet it was. You know how it goes.

[Elena]

Yeah, of course.

[Ash]

Your crop grows in so nice.

[Elena]

I love when my crop grows nicely.

[Ash]

Why does that sound like gross? Why does that sound like dirty in a way?

[Elena]

You can make anything dirty.

[Ash]

It's truth.

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[Ash]

However, the morning after the curse was uttered, the man woke up to a very different set of crop.

[Elena]

I bet he did.

[Ash]

I know you're probably supposed to say crops, but saying crop and like, making it feel plural is fun for me.

[Elena]

I like that.

[Ash]

Cool. Every last one of his potatoes had died. And the ground. I know. Like, how dare. Like, Hannah, I love you, but like, not the potatoes.

[Elena]

That was amazing. Misstep, Hannah.

[Ash]

Yeah, but it wasn't. Nothing Hannah does is a misstep, in my opinion, imo.

[Elena]

I love a potato. I do too.

[Ash]

But you can get them from another guy who won't tell you that you're old and that you don't have a husband to defend you.

[Elena]

I forgot about that.

[Ash]

That's bad. So poo poo on him. All of his potatoes were dead and the ground was littered with stinky, oozing dead potatoes.

[Elena]

Ew.

[Ash]

Much like he deserved. So a while later, after trying everything he possibly could to make his potatoes grow again and having all of his attempts fail, that went with his tail between his legs to go apologize to Ms. Hannah.

[Elena]

I was just gonna say you should go apologize. And he did admit your wrongdoing.

[Ash]

He admitted his wrongdoing and I respect that.

[Elena]

I do too.

[Ash]

So she told him, thank you for the apology. And mark my words, next year's crop will be beneficial to you, my dude.

[Elena]

Look at. Look at this. Forgiving queen.

[Ash]

Forgiving queen.

[Elena]

Look at. She's sees growth.

[Ash]

She gives chances.

[Elena]

She sees growth and she rewards it.

[Ash]

Well, listen, the next year, the man was walking through the neighborhood and Hannah gave him a little hello and beckoned him over. And she said to him, go out tonight at 10 o' clock to your crops and you will see a significant change from last year. So he did. He went out to those crops and as he stood there, he heard some kind of rustling in the distance. But then the sound got louder and louder and he stood there in awe. The corn was literally growing as he watched it.

[Elena]

Whoa.

[Ash]

And by the time it was Done. It was at least 20 inches taller than when he'd first gotten there.

[Elena]

That's a significant change, one might say.

[Ash]

So as he stood there probably with his jaw on the ground, Hannah just came walking out of the stalks.

[Elena]

Yeah, she did.

[Ash]

And she said to him, and this is a quote again from the Newtown B. Newspaper, because they had the. The best information on this.

[Elena]

They had the scoop of scoop.

[Ash]

They did. It was written in 1900, and it was so much fun.

[Elena]

I love this.

[Ash]

But she told him, quote, always remember that as others do to me, even so I do to them. Good for good, evil for evil. Oh, a little law of return for my witch out there.

[Elena]

I. I'm with Hannah. I am, too. Team Hannah.

[Ash]

I am a great believer in the rule of three by three. So Theodore beach and Isaac Nichols, two local farmers, would soon learn all about Hannah's philosophy. They were passing her house one day, and they called out to her in a real nasty tone, kind of doubting how powerful she was, because obviously this farmer before them had been like, holy. You guys. You gotta, like, be nice to Hannah.

[Elena]

Yeah, she can make up your spuds.

[Ash]

She could up your spuds. Or she could make corn happen.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And it's a beautiful thing.

[Elena]

The choice is yours. Yes. One might say, corn, make it a great day. Or not.

[Ash]

The choice is yours. Yeah, you're really ruining my corn joke here. I'm just trying to say calm.

[Elena]

I knew you were going there.

[Ash]

I know.

[Elena]

I knew it.

[Ash]

But. Yeah, so. So he was like, listen. But these two were like, hey, you old hag, if you're so powerful, let's see it. And Hannah was like, oh, baby, let's go. So she pointed to a nearby oak tree, and she said, you want to see some shit? Before you have a chance to even pass that tree, you're gonna find out just how powerful your girl is. By the way, these are all direct quotes.

[Elena]

Direct quotes.

[Ash]

But then she turned around, and she just cackled all the way inside.

[Elena]

Oh, yeah. She's a true queen.

[Ash]

So the two men continued doubting her. And as they turned to go on their merry way, they really shouldn't have, because once Hannah was back inside her home, they tried to continue down the road. And they were carrying, like, a huge load of hay with them and leading the, like, hay barrel, Majiggy was two oxen. They were pulling the cart, but as they signaled the animals to head down the road, they simply could not move the cart. It was completely stuck.

[Elena]

Hannah.

[Ash]

Yeah. They kept trying, and eventually one of the wheels Came flying off and everything went flying. And as that happened, unfortunately, it did startle the animals. So they ran away through a fence and just kept running.

[Elena]

And they ran so far away.

[Ash]

And the two farmers went down the road after them after glancing back at Hannah's house and hearing her cackling from inside. And they just kept running and running and running and she kept cackling. And all the reports kind of make it seem like the more Hannah was laughing, the faster they ran. Like her laughter was controlling the speed of. Oh, my God, their run.

[Elena]

I'm obsessed with that.

[Ash]

Yeah. Almost like they were bewitched by laughter.

[Elena]

I love it. Yeah. And then she's just laughing her ass off.

[Ash]

Exactly.

[Elena]

That's amazing.

[Ash]

So they never with her again. And strangely enough, they were like, later on to a couple people stumbled across the cart of hay and there was this jar of strange liquid inside that the two farmers said was not there before.

[Elena]

Whoa.

[Ash]

Like, no explanation about that.

[Elena]

Just some weird ass liquid.

[Ash]

Weird liquid.

[Elena]

They're like, hannah did it. Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

[Ash]

So Hannah was said to kind of love that people thought of her as a witch. You know, maybe from time to time she would use it to her advantage.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

She knew that people were a little scared of her, so why not benefit from that? So she'd go to her neighbors and ask them for, like, firewood or pies. And remember, she's a widow. She, like, she's left with next to nothing. So she needs a little help from her neighbors, of course. And she would give it to them had they asked cost.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Give them a bundle of tiger lilies, you know?

[Elena]

Yeah, she would.

[Ash]

An eye for an eye. A tiger lily for a pie.

[Elena]

Exactly. I love that she's in her villain era, though. I love that she's just leaning into it. She's like, you can be scared of me, be scared of me.

[Ash]

She doesn't give a single. And that is something I aspire for.

[Elena]

Sure.

[Ash]

So, yeah. So if they wouldn't give the pies to her or the firewood, she would just tell them that she was going to curse them. Or she just kind of like utter some kind of curse at them and just them all up, up.

[Elena]

That's what I'm gonna do now.

[Ash]

I mean, yeah, somebody will give me a pie.

[Elena]

I'm just gonna be like, I'll curse you.

[Ash]

I'll give you any pie you want. So one day, one of her neighbors was making a ton of pies and Hannah was like, hey, like, can I get in on those?

[Elena]

Can I get out on this Pie action.

[Ash]

Can I get some of that? Can, please, please. I like pumpkin. She said, I am your neighbor. So the neighbor woman, she seemed a bit put out by the request.

[Elena]

But you're making pies.

[Ash]

You're making so many.

[Elena]

You're making pies for people to consume, man.

[Ash]

It's also really funny, like, the take that some people want to take on this story, because you can tell some people that reiterate, these accounts are not on Hannah's side. And they're like, she just told Hannah that her husband really loved that pie and that she didn't want to give it to her, and Hannah just, like, punched her in the face. Like, that's not what happened. I'm a Hannah truther, okay? So what really happened was I'm Hannah truther. So Hannah asked for one of them, and this biatch gave her the smallest one. And Hannah was like, you're kind of selfish, huh? Making all these pies. I got nothing, and you give me the smallest one. Have you heard the word on the street? I'm a widow. So the lady tries to start with her, and Hannah says, hush, hush now. And she turns around to go home, but as she does, she mutters something under her breath. You better hope she didn't mutter at you. And it turned out that it was some kind of curse, because that bitch ass woman, she was never able to bake another pie again. Hannah, is that you?

[Elena]

I'm screaming.

[Ash]

Could never bake pie again.

[Elena]

Never bake again.

[Ash]

But now no pies for you. To the sad part of my story.

[Elena]

Oh, okay. Let me get myself together.

[Ash]

After years of cursing and such. Hannah, my queen. No, like, my actual queen, predicted her own death. Are you okay over there? This is the sad part. My queen died.

[Elena]

I'm crying so hard.

[Ash]

So she had a rooster named Boreas or Boris. Are you all right? She's stopping.

[Elena]

Of course she did.

[Ash]

She had chickens, snakes and roosters and tiger lilies. Boris or Boreas, how would you pronounce B O R E A S?

[Elena]

Boreas.

[Ash]

Boreas.

[Elena]

Boris.

[Ash]

Boreas.

[Elena]

Boris.

[Ash]

I like Boreas.

[Elena]

Boreas.

[Ash]

Hannah. I hope I'm saying it right, all due respect. Boreas. Boreas. So she had a rooster named Boreas, and he was, like, basically her best friend. The people in town had gotten so used to him crowing at exactly midnight every single night that they, like, knew him by name. And a lot of people thought that he might have been her familiar.

[Elena]

Oh.

[Ash]

But one day, Boreas. Boreas. The rooster died unexpectedly. And Hannah was obviously super sad, and she Went over to one of her neighbors that she actually got along with to chat about it. And she told the neighbor, because my. My beloved rooster has died. I know that my death is approaching too.

[Elena]

I can feel it. It. Oh, no.

[Ash]

So she said to this neighbor, she gave them explicit instructions about how her death was to be handled. And when somebody does that, you respect their wishes. Yeah, correct. So she wanted her casket to be carried by hand down to the cemetery. They had to walk her down to the cemetery, hold that casket, walk with their own two feet. However many people needed to be there. That's fine. That's what they had to do. Paul Bear. Paul bear.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So she also said that she was not to be buried until after sundown. Hannah was found dead in her home the day after this conversation.

[Elena]

No Hannah.

[Ash]

She knew. She knew. So it was the middle of January, and there was fresh snow on the ground. So the people in charge of moving her decided to ignore her request to be carried down to the cemetery. And instead they tried looting her. Her casket onto a big sled so that they could be lazy and slide her down.

[Elena]

Oh, no.

[Ash]

But no matter what they did, they could not get that casket to stay on the sled. It kept falling off. People sat on it and tried to make sure that it wouldn't fall off. They would get thrown off. At one point, it apparently just started violently shaking.

[Elena]

Oh, I would throw people off my casket.

[Ash]

Absolutely. I'm not gonna ever be in one of those, though. Though they tried tying chains to it to get it stuck to the sled. It still fell off. No matter what, they couldn't keep it on there.

[Elena]

It's like, guys, just pick it up. Yeah.

[Ash]

So eventually, these did. They did as Hannah wished. And by the time they were through, they actually had no choice but to fulfill her final wish, to be buried after the sun went down.

[Elena]

The middle of the night now. Straight up.

[Ash]

So when the people carrying her casket finally got her settled and were able to, you know, like, fulfill her final wishes, they made their way back into town. And they passed by her house because they figured, you know, we did, like.

[Elena]

She told us, we did the right thing eventually.

[Ash]

Now, when they did, they found her house completely engulfed in flames.

[Elena]

Oh, Hannah.

[Ash]

She was not happy. Now, for some reason, the nearby well was running dry, even though earlier that day, people had no issue using it. Someone claimed that around 11am they'd gotten multiple buckets full of water. And now it was about 3pm and it seemed like there hadn't been water in the well at all that day. Not even a drop was left. The rocks at the bottom did not glisten. Like, they were even damp. This thing was dry.

[Elena]

But I thought it was after dark.

[Ash]

It was 3pm well, it was winter, so it was dark that day. Oh, okay. I don't know. Maybe it was a long walk back. It was a really long walk. Sources vary.

[Elena]

Maybe after dark meant, like, early morn. Yeah. By the time they got her in there and it took a while for them.

[Ash]

Yeah, she just said after sundown.

[Elena]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ash]

And they had had a voyage.

[Elena]

They did have a voyage.

[Ash]

So anyway, the well is bare, and they knew that this was Hannah at work. Inconsistencies are fine.

[Elena]

It's totally the legend, man. I'm just messing with you.

[Ash]

So the fire roared on for multiple days and apparently even spread to multiple other towns.

[Elena]

Oh, damn.

[Ash]

Because they could not get this fire.

[Elena]

Out the well water.

[Ash]

It spread to Danbury, Bridgeport and Newtown. Now, legend has it when the fire started to settle and there was just a bunch of, like, rubble and ashes everywhere. Hannah Kranner. Kranner.

[Elena]

Excuse me.

[Ash]

Hannah Krana appeared before the townspeople again, seemingly in search of something. And slightly irritated. Slightly irritated, as she always was. I love that. So as they all stood by and watched, she poked through the ashes with a stick. But when she couldn't find what she was looking for, she just turned around and headed toward the well. And when she made it there, her figure disappeared. And as she disappeared, the ghost of her rooster appeared. He said a little cock a doodle doo three times for everybody. And people claimed that the sound of this crow. Of his crow. Excuse me. Was eerily similar to Hannah's voice.

[Elena]

Oh.

[Ash]

So in the weeks following, people around town started to float the idea that the rooster and Hannah were actually the same person or spirit, and she could just, like, appear as the rooster when she wanted to.

[Elena]

Whoa.

[Ash]

They were like, I've never seen them in the same time, the same place.

[Elena]

At the same time. I haven't seen Hannah and Boris in the same room.

[Ash]

Okay.

[Elena]

Okay.

[Ash]

So the next time somebody spotted Hannah was the summer after she passed. This guy was walking home late at night, and he passed by where her house used to be, the well that she had disappeared by. And again, the one that went completely dry when her home was on fire seemed to be one of her favorite places, because that's where this guy spotted her. So that well had stayed completely dry ever since the fire at Hannah's place broke out. No water whatsoever. But when this guy saw her, Hannah was loading up a bucket with water and she was watering the tiger lilies that were still in her yard. He was freaked out, to say the least. And he just, like, hurried home. And when he woke up the next morning, he was probably having a hard time deciding if that was real or if he had dreamed it or if he had, like, really gotten super smashed. So in order to be sure, he headed over to the scene of the crime. Now, when he got there, he was like, oh, okay.

[Elena]

Phew.

[Ash]

Because the well was still all dried up. He was like, okay, that was totally a dream.

[Elena]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ash]

So he's like, cool, cool, cool. But when he walks by the flowers, it was clear that the ground around them was wet.

[Elena]

Ooh.

[Ash]

And it had not rained in days.

[Elena]

She was using ghost water.

[Ash]

Ghost water. So people saw Hannah from time to time, and actually, one of the last times that she was ever spotted was during the Civil War. And allegedly, PT Barnum was the one to spot her.

[Elena]

He's always all up in this.

[Ash]

He is.

[Elena]

Remember, he was in Champ.

[Ash]

He was.

[Elena]

He was offering champs. He wanted champs. Hide.

[Ash]

Did you also know that he was the mayor at one point of, like, Bridgeport, Connecticut?

[Elena]

No, I didn't know that.

[Ash]

Nor did I. Wow. Yeah.

[Elena]

Weird. Crazy. I know.

[Ash]

So he was the last one of the last ones to spot her ghost, at least. But he saw her on a white horse with her black hair flowing in the wind.

[Elena]

Hell, yeah.

[Ash]

Seemingly just on her way back home. Good for her. Yeah. But some legends claim that on the road near the cemetery she was buried in, which is Gregory's Four Corners Burial Ground, Hannah will appear to drivers on that road that's nearby. And when this happens, people will swerve to avoid her, thinking she's a real person. And when they do, they crash.

[Elena]

Oh.

[Ash]

So it's like, did they piss off Hannah somehow? Oh, no. But that is the story of my true queen, Hannah Krana. My true queen. I'm obsessed with her.

[Elena]

I love Hannah.

[Ash]

I want to visit her grave. It's real.

[Elena]

I want to visit her.

[Ash]

To her grave.

[Elena]

Yeah. I want to visit her grave.

[Ash]

Connecticut's in New England. Let's go.

[Elena]

Yeah, let's go. It's right there. Like, I just spit at Connecticut. I didn't spit out. Like, you're mean. No, spit it. Like I can reach you with my spit.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Loving, loving, lovingly.

[Elena]

I spit. Yeah.

[Ash]

I want to plant, like, tiger lilies at her grave.

[Elena]

Let's go.

[Ash]

Let's do it.

[Elena]

I think we should.

[Ash]

I would love to.

[Elena]

Let's go see Hannah Krana. All right. Well, damn.

[Ash]

We're gonna go do that.

[Elena]

And don't follow any ghost lights.

[Ash]

And do praise Hannah.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Yeah. And also we do hope that you keep listening.

[Elena]

And we hope you keep it weird.

[Ash]

But not so weird that you doubt my true queen. Or that you go follow some ghost lights into purgatory. Because that doesn't really sound like a straight up good time.

[Elena]

It does.

[Ash]

So. Bye. Bye.

[Elena]

Squeak.

[Ash]

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