I'm going to try to wrest this back in the direction of using this blog for its intended purpose, namely that of a research blog. It's helpful to sort of have an autoethnographic account of my experience while I'm researching this, but let's be real, it's not exactly helping me with my studies.
Speaking of which, I got an email from my advisor today asking me about progress on my topic, and I kind of want to light myself on fire. It's doesn't help that I haven't disclosed any of the... problems I'd been having. I mean, it's hard to be seen as credible when you admit to being so paranoid that you move your living situation every few months in any field, let alone academia.
Aside from going through all of that paranoid locked up bullshit from those .rar files, I need to recollect all of the leads I'd been going through.
So far, for this project, I've looked into the folklore figures of Old Nick and Old Scratch, and how they originated from the ancient European folk figures of the water demons (nykyr/nicors, from which Nick is derived), and the wood demons (skratta, or skrat, from where Scratch comes from).
I feel stupid for missing it in the first place, but my advisor also pointed something out to me.
What about boogeymen?
Both Old Nick and Old Scratch had cultural connotations that hovered between the actual form of the Christian devil, but also more pagan and just as feared figures of nature gods. And there's another constant theme: the idea of taking children.
And what is the biggest threat of the boogeyman in any culture? Stealing children. There's definitely a link here to be explored. I'm going to hit up the library today, see what I can find.
Maybe I can find something to link The Man in the Woods to these boogeymen figures. It's pretty clear that the Millpond Man was considered to be a child-stealer. Maybe I can find some kind of regional or cultural link.
Showing posts with label there's a man in the woods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label there's a man in the woods. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
Thoughts and progress.
“Hes calling me home.”
This is what bothers me the most. As
though wherever this thing is, is where I belong. As though it has a say in where I belong. I mean, it could just be a delusion, and I could be getting angry at my own brain being sick, which is pointless.
The USB stick. I tried "theresamaninthewoods" as a password, and that didn't work. If I was the one to password protect these, I'm not one for making overly complex passwords, since I have a habit of forgetting everything.
But anyway. The numbers string. 20 8 5 20 9 13 5.
I've tried the number string from the
picture as a password to the other files on the USB stick, since I tried the order from top
to bottom, and then backwards. No luck there, either.
A commenter mentioned yesterday that the string, if substituted for letters in the alphabet, become "the time". I'm making a note of it here, and I'll try it as a password when I get a few minutes today.
I'll update with any progress I've made later.
The weather's been terrible here, but if there's a nice day, I'm
going to try to make it to the old house from the video of me on the
stairs.
Monday, December 15, 2014
Phone update
Another picture on my phone, from the 2 weeks I was out of it.
I think I know this place. I think I've seen this tree.
But something's bothering me.
I realize the pic is a little blurred, but that figure... is that a man? Is this the same figure from the millpond picture in the archives? I don't recall seeing whatever that guy is, but there's little I do recall from the past few weeks.
I have the chills. I'm not sure if I'm scared or if this is an aura. I cannot let this feed into my paranoia, I have too much work to do.
I think I know this place. I think I've seen this tree.
But something's bothering me.
I realize the pic is a little blurred, but that figure... is that a man? Is this the same figure from the millpond picture in the archives? I don't recall seeing whatever that guy is, but there's little I do recall from the past few weeks.
I have the chills. I'm not sure if I'm scared or if this is an aura. I cannot let this feed into my paranoia, I have too much work to do.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Braunmuller update
Taking a break from the videos, because I'm really kind of freaking out about them. Where the hell was I, and why is my memory of that time so thoroughly fucked? I mean, I know my episodes mess with my memory, but I've never had such an extended period where I've had such impaired memory.
I've been poking around campus departments, trying to see if I can find any leads on the researchers from the archives box. I tried the anthropology department, but most of the senior faculty are off right now doing conferences, or just unavailable because it's so close to the end of the semester.
I did manage to talk to one of the secretaries of the anthropology department. I think she's been there for a good 15 or so years, so I figured there was a chance she might have known at least about Professor Braunmuller.
When I asked her if anyone with that name had been faculty there, she sort of got this tightness around her mouth, and she started messing around on her computer. She said something sort of under her breath, like, "Great, here we go again."
I wasn't really sure what she meant by that, but she definitely didn't seem interesting in talking any more, so I thanked her and left.
But I did manage to find another staff worker under one of the research institutes affiliated with the department. She let me check out the indices and of the corpora produced or co-produced by the institute.
And Braunmuller was there. He was named as a co-author to an article written by one of the senior faculty, about local folk lore and Germanic philology. It didn't mention if he were a scholar under the institute or part of the university, or another, but he was there. But by the time I managed to find this, all of the staff were heading home.
This might sound kind of far fetched, but I do wonder if I do some kind of search on different iterations of the university's web pages going back through the years, maybe I can find more mention of Braunmuller. And I'll have to see if I can hunt down more people who might have known Braunmuller.
Oh god, and my own research. I have to do summaries and stuff to prove I've made progress (and not disappeared for two weeks) due before the end of next week. And I have to follow up on the local interviews I've done.
Maybe I can do a few more over the winter break. See if I can dig up anybody else who knows about the man in the woods, or the millpond man.
I've been poking around campus departments, trying to see if I can find any leads on the researchers from the archives box. I tried the anthropology department, but most of the senior faculty are off right now doing conferences, or just unavailable because it's so close to the end of the semester.
I did manage to talk to one of the secretaries of the anthropology department. I think she's been there for a good 15 or so years, so I figured there was a chance she might have known at least about Professor Braunmuller.
When I asked her if anyone with that name had been faculty there, she sort of got this tightness around her mouth, and she started messing around on her computer. She said something sort of under her breath, like, "Great, here we go again."
I wasn't really sure what she meant by that, but she definitely didn't seem interesting in talking any more, so I thanked her and left.
But I did manage to find another staff worker under one of the research institutes affiliated with the department. She let me check out the indices and of the corpora produced or co-produced by the institute.
And Braunmuller was there. He was named as a co-author to an article written by one of the senior faculty, about local folk lore and Germanic philology. It didn't mention if he were a scholar under the institute or part of the university, or another, but he was there. But by the time I managed to find this, all of the staff were heading home.
This might sound kind of far fetched, but I do wonder if I do some kind of search on different iterations of the university's web pages going back through the years, maybe I can find more mention of Braunmuller. And I'll have to see if I can hunt down more people who might have known Braunmuller.
Oh god, and my own research. I have to do summaries and stuff to prove I've made progress (and not disappeared for two weeks) due before the end of next week. And I have to follow up on the local interviews I've done.
Maybe I can do a few more over the winter break. See if I can dig up anybody else who knows about the man in the woods, or the millpond man.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Video updates
I'm sorry guys, the meds that the doctor's put me on are messing with my head. This is the first time today I've been somewhere alert enough to prioritize. (And you can see my word choice is also kind of messed up.)
I'm finally getting around to uploading those videos over the past few weeks. I can't say that any of them will be relevant or make sense, but I promised I would link them anyway.
Speaking of which, here's the first fairly inexplicable video. I have no idea what or where this is. Even my sense of perspective is skewed on this, I can't tell if it's up or down or sideways or what.
I'm finally getting around to uploading those videos over the past few weeks. I can't say that any of them will be relevant or make sense, but I promised I would link them anyway.
Speaking of which, here's the first fairly inexplicable video. I have no idea what or where this is. Even my sense of perspective is skewed on this, I can't tell if it's up or down or sideways or what.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Research log 7
Wow it's been a few days. I've really got to catch up on my progress reports, because a lot has been going on.
"There's a man in the woods."
I know that something's really stuck in my mind when I dream about it. For the past few days, I've been dreaming about being in the woods, at home. It's so quiet, like the air has been infused with the fabric of silence. I know there's something out in the distance, and I should be afraid. But I'm not.
It's those interviews. Listening to those people telling their stories about the man in the woods. Speaking of which, I've had about 3 more interviews with people, with a smattering of different stories, which I'll have to write up the transcripts for.
But here's the thing: they all talk about the man in the woods.With that phraseology. I'm getting goosebumps, and I'm not sure if it's the stories, or the monthly mayhem come back to mess with me.
In other news: local library was a go! Unsurprisingly, not as well equipped as the campus library re: folklore and ethnographic texts recovering local superstitions and folk stories.
But there was a surprising and unexpected part of this excursion. The library also has an archive section not open to the general public, and has records and collections available pretty much only to scholars, researchers, teachers, and people with a valid request and reason.
Since I'm a graduate researcher with a student ID, I managed to get in. In the section concerning local folklore and legends, I found a pretty fantastic collection of manuscripts done a few decades ago by a local college professor who had been studying regional folktales.
What's better is that the librarian actually agreed to let me borrow the collection. It's got its own sealed box and everything. I'll be going through it very soon, and I'll log it through notes and video.
Regarding that floppy disk I found in the tunnels: it's gone missing. I could kick myself in the teeth. I am so angry at myself. I thought I had it in my research journal, but sometime in the past few days it's wandered off somewhere. If anything else, I had wanted to see if it was related to the tunnel creep. Now it's doubtful I'll ever know.
"There's a man in the woods."
I know that something's really stuck in my mind when I dream about it. For the past few days, I've been dreaming about being in the woods, at home. It's so quiet, like the air has been infused with the fabric of silence. I know there's something out in the distance, and I should be afraid. But I'm not.
It's those interviews. Listening to those people telling their stories about the man in the woods. Speaking of which, I've had about 3 more interviews with people, with a smattering of different stories, which I'll have to write up the transcripts for.
But here's the thing: they all talk about the man in the woods.With that phraseology. I'm getting goosebumps, and I'm not sure if it's the stories, or the monthly mayhem come back to mess with me.
In other news: local library was a go! Unsurprisingly, not as well equipped as the campus library re: folklore and ethnographic texts recovering local superstitions and folk stories.
But there was a surprising and unexpected part of this excursion. The library also has an archive section not open to the general public, and has records and collections available pretty much only to scholars, researchers, teachers, and people with a valid request and reason.
Since I'm a graduate researcher with a student ID, I managed to get in. In the section concerning local folklore and legends, I found a pretty fantastic collection of manuscripts done a few decades ago by a local college professor who had been studying regional folktales.
What's better is that the librarian actually agreed to let me borrow the collection. It's got its own sealed box and everything. I'll be going through it very soon, and I'll log it through notes and video.
Regarding that floppy disk I found in the tunnels: it's gone missing. I could kick myself in the teeth. I am so angry at myself. I thought I had it in my research journal, but sometime in the past few days it's wandered off somewhere. If anything else, I had wanted to see if it was related to the tunnel creep. Now it's doubtful I'll ever know.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Research log #6: interview log
Well, it appears that the recordings I've done re: the interviews have gotten corrupted somehow. So the video is completely shot, but the audio seems to be okay.
That having been said, I'm putting it up here anyway. God only knows if it'll disappear entirely like the skype call I had with M, so I want to make a record, even if it is remarkably shitty.
By now I just kind of want to punch everything in the face.
In other frustrating tech news, I've been having problems reading that floppy disk I found. Still an uncracked mystery. I'll try again tonight. If I keep having sleep troubles like I've been having, I'll have all night to do it.
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Research log #4: interview session 1
Interviews.
I've had two interviews with local community members so far. One of them a housewife in her 50s, the other a blue collar guy in his late 30s. As this is a public log, I won't be quoting them directly or putting anything up here that could identify them, or reproducing their voices or likenesses.
Otherwise, I'll post something a bit more substantial tomorrow, but for now I just want to really get down what I felt about the interviews today. I still have a lot of work to get through, coding and analyzing these things.
But I'm feeling pretty encouraged, if a little disturbed. These, combined with the tunnel findings, and I'm unnerved at how pervasive these stories are, locally.
Pretty much right off I've identified a local... kind of boogeyman figure. I can't say an urban legend, because urban legends are almost strictly modern, and I hesitate to call him a folktale, because even though he seems to have a pre-modern origin, his story motif has persisted into modernity almost completely unaltered.
Both of the interviewees mentioned this figure, and both of them told stories that had similar themes and motifs.
There's a man in the woods.
That's what they say. That's what they all say. That's how the story starts off, how it always starts off.
"There's a man in the woods."
I've had two interviews with local community members so far. One of them a housewife in her 50s, the other a blue collar guy in his late 30s. As this is a public log, I won't be quoting them directly or putting anything up here that could identify them, or reproducing their voices or likenesses.
Otherwise, I'll post something a bit more substantial tomorrow, but for now I just want to really get down what I felt about the interviews today. I still have a lot of work to get through, coding and analyzing these things.
But I'm feeling pretty encouraged, if a little disturbed. These, combined with the tunnel findings, and I'm unnerved at how pervasive these stories are, locally.
Pretty much right off I've identified a local... kind of boogeyman figure. I can't say an urban legend, because urban legends are almost strictly modern, and I hesitate to call him a folktale, because even though he seems to have a pre-modern origin, his story motif has persisted into modernity almost completely unaltered.
Both of the interviewees mentioned this figure, and both of them told stories that had similar themes and motifs.
There's a man in the woods.
That's what they say. That's what they all say. That's how the story starts off, how it always starts off.
"There's a man in the woods."
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