Nu segð se wyrdwritere þæt seo wicce sceolde aræran þa of deaþe þone Drihtnes witegan Samuhel gehaten

OE Ælfric Homily (Corpus Cambr. 178) in J. C. Pope Homilies of Ælfric II. 792 Nu segð se wyrdwritere þæt seo wicce sceolde aræran þa of deaþe þone Drihtnes witegan Samuhel gehaten. 1425 Edward, Duke of York Master of Game (Digby) vi Þer beth some [wolves] þat eten children and men..And þei be cleped werewolfes, for men shulde be were of hem, or þe mann see hem.

Near the deep woods falling into the sky, seven hundred steps stepped little black twigs dare not speak. Against ritual abstract solitudes outline, fragmentary flights of fancy tracing twilight’s window shuttered, ghastly monotony, deliberation, and grey abyss.

Fields full thoughtless haste in cryptographic absence from a conscious world, mirror clouding over. Cellar debris looming certain symbols shuddering recognizable.

By night, a subtler thing witching, a werewolf shape, a vampire’s cigarette smoldering on the cobblestone, ghouls waiting at an abandoned bus stop, ghosts and spent skeletons ankle-bone slightly gnawed, but for the dark, figures moved uncertainly. Black lake, black boat, black stone.

Stars pale dusk, flat paper-cut shadows a few more breaths on an oblique road turns patient turning moment time unwinds rough-hewn pillars wrought iron and smoke.

Hypnotic figure chanting some such words sunk in settled gloom, fingers and toes grasp stone’s corner worn mortar smooth in the ruin. Bells tower, their shadows long rhythmic confusion, faintly dreaming wide tonal range collecting at the gates of a town already shut.

1745 J. Swinton Trav. Three English Gent. in Harleian Misc. IV. 358 These Vampyres are supposed to be the Bodies of deceased Persons, animated by evil Spirits, which come out of the Graves, in the Night-time, suck the Blood of many of the Living, and thereby destroy them. 1400 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie 153 (MED) Take oile of rosis..terbentine..mummie [v.r. mumie]. 1721 tr. A. Galland Arabian Nights Entertainm. X. 123 Your Majesty knows that the Goules of both Sexes are wandring Dæmons, which generally infest old Building, from whence they rush, but by Surprize, on People that pass by. 1350 in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. 28 Sathanas..seyde on is sawe: ‘gobelyn made is gerner of gromene mawe.’ 1275 Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) l. 7876 Heo beoð ihaten ful iwis incubii demones. 1300 St. Bartholomew (Laud) 174 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary 372 And þe Aungel heom scheuwede al a-brod þene deuel ase huy stude, Þe fourme of a grislich man þat al for-broide were And swarttore þane eueri ani blouȝman..Fuyrie speldene al stinkende out of is mouth he blaste And fuyr of brumston at his nose. 1788 Universal Mag. Sept. 117/1 Some supposed that the Zombies had carried him off [Fr. que les Zombis l’avoient enlevé]. OE Stowe Psalter cxxxiv. 17 Neque enim est spiritus in ore ipsorum : ne ne soðlice is gast on muðe heora.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *