Local librarian Elizabeth Kent and bestselling author John Olsen returned to the Oneida County Library for a night of myths, legends, and potentially true stories.

This year, the library decided to provide two separate events, one for the younger crowd and one for adults and older teens that allowed for a more open discussion of some of the scarier elements of the conversation.  

Elizabeth Kent began the evening’s event with a presentation for those up to age 14, which covered some of the origins of Halloween traditions.  Her studies in Folklore at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland put her right in the heart of the origin of many of our modern Halloween traditions.  Folkore, as she explains “is the story of what people have believed in the past, and sometimes still do.”  She began with a discussion of the observance of “Samhain,” which is a Celtic name for “harvest” and marks the time when the familiar world is at its closest to the world of spirits, fairies, and other supernatural things.  In recognition of this thin veil between the two worlds, Celtic people from hundreds of years ago observed a number of practices to help keep themselves safe, including wearing costumes and carving turnips.

During ancient Samhain festivals, large bonfires were used to help keep the darkness at bay and people protected when “the goblins ghouls come out and walk in the world of the living.  That’s why we wear costumes!”  In order to fool the denizens of the other side, people dressed up like them so that they would not stand out and be taken away.  

Another modern Halloween tradition that comes from ancient practices is the carving of vegetables to create temporary lanterns.  The lanterns would allow people to take some of the protective fire with them through the night as a mobile way of keeping the spirits away or potentially lighting their way through the village to create mischief, which is another legacy of the festival.  Pumpkins, as Kent explained, are not native to Europe—they are found in South America.  The original carved lanterns were made out of turnips, rather than the pumpkins we use today.  “How many of you like touching pumpkin guts?”  Kent asked.  “Ewwww!”  said the group of kids gathered on the floor.  “Well, you’re lucky that it’s a lot easier than carving a turnip!”

Kent related the story of Stingy Jack, who is sometimes credited as the origin of the word “Jack O’Lantern”.  After making a series of deals in which he outsmarted the devil, his luck finally ran out and he was condemned to wander the world for eternity with just a lump of coal in his mouth to light his way.  From that image, the shining face of a carved pumpkin was derived.

Kent also talked about the history of our ideas about witches.  According to Kent, most of the imagery and ideas we associate with witches largely come from the Shakespeare play “Macbeth”.  Though ideas like green faced witches brewing potions in cauldrons and casting spells existed in culture before his time, Shakespeare’s popularity and reach turned this version of witches into the most popular one in western culture.  She explained the meanings of the items from the witches spell in the first act of the play.  “Eye of newt and toe of frog,” for instance, are actually linked to plants.

Kent related some ghost stories associated with Wales, and finished with a personal experience she had in Edinburgh at the famous Greyfriars Kirkyard, which is known as one of the most haunted places in the world.  One story related to the cemetery is that of “Greyfriars Bobby,” a ghostly terrier who is said to protect his owner’s grave.  Despite her skeptical nature, Kent swears that during her tour she heard the yipping of a small dog on multiple occasions, coming from a place where nothing could be seen.

During the later adult session of the evening, Kent covered similar material, but expanded on some of what she had previously discussed and answered questions from the audience in more details.

Following Kent’s presentation, author John Olsen presented some of the stories from his newest book, the seventh in his paranormal series.  John Olsen grew up in a haunted house, which is something that has affected the course of his life ever since.  He has been collecting stories from around the region (Olsen lives in the Cache Valley) for over thirty years.  His seventh book, “Stranger World,” takes a broader scope and covers first hand accounts from all around the world.

“The paranormal to me is true.  I know for a fact,” he began.  Olsen grew up in a house originally built in 1883, and experienced odd and unexplainable events all throughout his childhood, as did his family and friends and many others who visited the house.  Olsen recounted many of the events from his childhood that stood out in his memory, including ghostly voices, presences, seemingly possessed objects, and bizarre ocurrences.

Olsen’s first story from his new book, “Let me in,” set the tone for the evening.  In the story, a man traveling in a van who frequently pulled over to sleep for the night.  One night, he stopped at a particularly isolated location in the seeming middle of nowhere.  As he was beginning to fall asleep, he heard a loud slap on the side of his van which jolted him awake.  As he looked around to get his bearings, he saw a young girl outside his driver’s side window.  She looked up at him with entirely black eyes and said, “Mister, me and my family are lost.  Can you help us?”  While he was naturally a helpful person, at that moment “something told him not to open the door, and to get the heck out of there, which he did.”  Following the incident, the man became very ill, which is something that is frequently reported by those who claim to have encountered Black Eyed Kids.

For people who had never heard the phrase before, Olsen explained that the Black Eyed Kids are a paranormal phenomenon that has been reported all over.  The kids are described as having the same solid black eyes, and seeking help.  Often, they approach people at their front doors, or outside vehicles and ask to come inside.  Those who have let them inside have reported all kinds of unpleasant aftereffects, but most people have an instinctive urge to prevent them from entering.  If you should ever encounter such a thing, you should certainly not “let it in.”

Olsen went on to relate other stories about haunted houses, the “Yosemite monster,” sasquatch sightings, and cursed land.  “You’d be surprised at how many of these stories, when people contact me, begin with ‘I promise I’m not crazy.’  And while some of them might be, I think mostly people are just telling the truth of what they experienced.”

Olsen discussed the series of reports of a sasquatch a couple years ago in Weston canyon, which the Enterprise covered at the time.  There were a number of calls to law enforcement, as well as word of mouth sightings over the period of several weeks that created quite a stir.  “I’d heard stories from northern Utah and Southern Idaho with similar descriptions, and it seems clear that something might be there.  If the stories I’ve heard are just a sample, I wonder how many people have possibly seen something and just not said anything for whatever reason.  A lot of times, people just don’t want to talk about those kinds of things.  But I’m lucky a lot of people do talk to me about them.”

Olsen concluded by taking questions from the audience on a number of topics, and the event ended with refreshments and a chillier exit into the autumnal blackness that had crept into the valley.