Cryptids: Enenra

An Enenra as depicted in Toriyama Sekien's Konjaku Hyakki Shūi

The Enenra is a being in Japanese folklore or a yōkai, The Enenra shows up during large fires such as bonfires. It is made up of the wisps of smoke that would rise up to the skies from fire. These beings usually have human-like faces it doesn't do anything, but billow in the wind and appear as fragile fabric. It only appears to those that are calm and pure and are relaxing to watch.

The Enenra seems to be loosely based on a passage in Tsurezure gusa which describes the smoke rising from fires burned in the summer to keep mosquitoes away. Some have pointed out that the name is similar to Enma, the lord of hell and judge of the dead. It's suggested that the beings are actually spirits of the dead.

SOURCES:

Yokai

Wikipedia

October 9, 1901 Somerville, Indiana John Doe

On October 8, 1901, a young unknown man would be seen in Somerville, Indiana. On the 9th he would be seen walking up and down the streets stopping to rest once in a while in front of stores. He spoke very little, but people could tell he was of more than ordinary intelligence. He had gone to the train station several times to ask when the train was going to arrive. 

He would start walking down the track about 30 minutes before the train would arrive. When the train got close to him he ignored it. The engineer in the cab blew the whistle and it alerted the man. He looked up at the train and walked to the edge of the track as if he was going to walk off the track, but stopped just before doing so with one foot on the rail. Instead of walking off he turned and walked towards the train.

The Train tried to stop but was not able to. The man was struck but was still alive and unconscious. The train crew would bring him aboard and physicians aboard tried to help him. It seemed that he broke his arm, his back was injured and he had internal injuries. He died a few minutes after his arrival. 

The man seemed to have taken precautions before his death. There did not seem to have been any way of identifying him. It may have been his plan to kill himself in this town where no one knew him.

John Doe was around 21 years old. He was well dressed and may have been middle class. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Evansville Courier and Press October 10, 1901

Evansville Courier and Press October 11, 1901

GHOST: Murkatta

In Nepal, there is a ghost or ghost called the Murkatta. The ghost would wander around carrying its head under its arm. The ghost would look to take children's heads. In Kathmandu, Nepal, a festival is celebrated on the day of Ghode Jatra to scare away the Murkatta and protect children from its evil eyes.

The Murkatta is a ghost similar to La Lorna to scare kids into listening to their parents. In Saundarya's article, A Tale of Murkatta, the Headless Monster wrote about her experience with her family members using Murkatta.

SOURCES:

Association for Children's Literature in South Asia

Jane Wilson-Howarth

Wikipedia

Disappearance of Amanda Poole

On October 8, 2015, 16-year-old Amanda Poole supposedly left her home in Memphis, Tennessee. She was supposedly on her way to school, but never arrived and was never seen again.

Amanda is a black female and was 16-years-old at the time. She was 5'7" and 150 lbs at the time. She has black hair and brown eyes. Her ears are pierced. She was wearing a white shirt and khaki pants.

SOURCES:

NamUs

Charley Project

Local Memphis Feb. 10, 2023

Monsters: Ta-Awi

Image created using Imagine Ai

Ta-Awi is an ogre-like creature in the Philippines. The creature has a body bigger than an ordinary man but despite the size, they are very agile. They are described as being very ugly and their voice is very thunderous. Their voice is so thunderous that it would terrify Maranao hunters. 

Ta-Awi is known to raid villages and devour people alive. They avoid eating the eyes as for some reason they cannot digest them.

SOURCES:

Art and Fiction + Philippine Folklore and Mythologies

Cryptid Wiki

Myth and Folklore Wiki

Myth Museum

Murder of Jacob Jeffery Hunter

Around 11:30 p.m. on October 7, 2020, 31-year-old Jacob Hunter was in East Barton's area of Red Lake, Minnesota. There is little information in this case. 

There is up to a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction.

SOURCES:

FBI

Justice for Native People

GHOSTS: La Sayona (Sack Cloth Woman)

La Sayona (Sack-Cloth Woman) is a ghostly woman who appears to men working in the jungle in Venezuela. She manifests when men talk to their coworkers about sex or about the women they left behind in their hometown. She appears as a beautiful woman or a specific woman that the man is thinking of. She is typically wearing a sack dress. She will lure them into the forests show a beast-like or rotting-like appearance and may have sex with the man and mangle and devour the man. She will then leave them for others to find. This young woman used to hold the name Casilda before her curse.

Casilda was the most beautiful girl in her small town on the plains of Venezuela. She would marry a great man and the two would have a baby boy. Even though her husband was caring and loving there was some doubt in Casilda's heart.

Casilda would bathe alone in the nearby river unknowing that a man was watching her do so. One day Casilda would catch the man staring at her. She would demand the man to leave. The man caught decided to lie to get out of the situation. "Your husband and mother are having an affair." 

This would enrage her and she would run back home. Seeing her husband sleeping with the baby in his arms filled her with rage at his betrayal. She would be blinded with rage and set the fire killing her family. While villagers could hear the screams and tried to help the father and son Casilda went to her mother's home. 

Her mother was sitting on the patio. Her mother not knowing what was going to happen saw her beautiful daughter. Unfortunately, it wasn't a pleasant visit as Casilda was determined to end those who wronged her. Casilda would use a machete striking her mother in the stomach. With her mother's last dying breath she would curse her "From now on Casilda you will have to avenge all women by killing their unfaithful husbands."

This was when Casilda became La Sayona.

SOURCES:

Villians Wiki

Urban Legendpedia

Moon Mausoleum

October 6, 2011 Charleston County, South Carolina Jane Doe

On October 6, 2011 left femur on unknown provenience in Charleston County, South Carolina. 

Jane Doe is a female between 20 to 60-years-old. 

SOURCES:

NamUs

Urban Legends: Exploding Cactus

 

Photo by Annie Spratt

One evening in the 70s a young woman would go and buy a cactus from a nursery. She wanted a plant and figured a cactus would be a good choice. When she got home with the cactus she noticed that it seemed to be breathing. This confused her as plants don't breathe. She thought she was crazy, but decided to call the nursery to see if it was supposed to do that.

When the owner of the Nursery heard this she panicked and told the woman to leave her house and wait for the bomb squad. Confused about why the bomb squad was needed the woman left her house. Had someone sold her a bomb? Yes and No.

When the Bomb Squad arrived and quickly brought it into the vehicle and when inside the cactus exploded. What caused the explosion? Scorpions.

This is just an Urban Legend that started in the 1970s from fears of things hiding inside of vegetation exports from South America. Cactus may harbor a scorpion, but in no way would a cactus explode from them. Sometimes this story includes tarantulas or that it exploded at night or the bomb squad never came. However, this Urban Legend is not real.


SOURCES:
Urban Legendpedia
Snopes

Murder of Charlotte Hall

​​​​​On October 5, 1986, 56-year-old Charlotte Hall was found dead floating in a backyard swimming pool in the 4500 block of Black Cove Rd. in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Police arrived at the home because of a structure fire and found her body. It was found that she had been murdered. 

SOURCES:

Virginia Beach, Virginia

Uncovered

Ghost: Specter of Newby Church

In 1963 Reverend Kenneth F. Lord would be taking pictures of the Church of Christ the Consoler on the grounds of Newby Hall in North Yorkshire, England. When the pictures were processed a strange figure would show up standing next to the altar.

The being was semi-transparent and was standing on the first step to the altar. It still towered over it however as it stood 9ft high. The figure was wearing a black robe that covered where its feet supposedly were and the hood was over the head. The hands are unseen and the face is covered in a white sheet with two depressions where the eyes are. The figure seems to look right at the camera. It's believed that this figure could have been a 16th-century monk wearing a white shroud over the face to mask leprosy or disfigurement.

Reverend Lord was confused by this figure as the church had no history of the paranormal. It was said the he was not the type of man who would pull a hoax at the time. 

Reverend Lord would then release the photo. It's believed that the photo was a hoax or possible double exposure. It's said that professionals at the time looked over the photograph and came to the conclusion that it wasn't so.

So was this a hoax or is there a harmless Specter at Newby Church?

SOURCES:

Burials and Beyond

Wikipedia

Ghosts Wiki

Urban Legendpedia