(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

They say you learn something new every day, but sometimes that turns out to be something silly like the legends about vampire pumpkins. (Thanks to discworld)

Comments

[lordsluk.livejournal.com]

weird

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

I think what seals it is the "brrl, brrl, brrl!" sound they supposedly make.

It was pointed out on the discussion page that it's reasonable to suspect that this may be a joke legend: either a legend repeated because people think it's funny, or something they told the ethnographer just to see if he would buy it (as the article indicates, there is only one scholar who ever reported on such a legend, although he cites numerous sources).

[akycha.livejournal.com]

Aw. That bit was edited out by the time I read it. :(

[akycha.livejournal.com]

Oh! I thought it was in the main article!

[akycha.livejournal.com]

I totally think this is the kind of thing you tell an ethnographer to see if they will buy it.

On the other hand, vampire farm implements seem to be documented from several sources. Yet I admit that vampire farm implements seem more... authentic to me in terms of folklore. Perhaps that's just because of the kitchen knife superstition which I was brought up with.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

"Vampire farm implements" makes sense, though, in a way. The modern equivalent is being afraid the in-sink-erator is going to gobble your hand if you stick it in there. Sometimes inexplicable accidents happen with farm implements.

[akycha.livejournal.com]

Seriously. Farm implements are dangerous. (Squash... are not.)

So are knives and other kitchen things, too, although the knife legend is the only one that even comes close, and I've never heard it called "vampirism."