Bull-Beggar Traditions in Virginia

Bull-Beggar Traditions in Virginia

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3 Responses

  1. Mauro says:

    Re: Bull-Beggar Traditions in Virginia
    Hi Andrew. The bit about the jumping, laughing figure sounds very similar to Springheel Jack which, incidentaly, is often assumed to have made an appearance in New England around 1830, killing a person in the process (and that’s what make the sighting dubious to say the least. Jack never seriously hurt anybody during his decades long career in England). Also the infamous "Mad Gasser of Matoon" may be linked to this kind of phenomena. 
    The following footsteps part is a worldwide phenomenon. I remember that the Japanese have a simple exorcism for this: if you are walking on a lonely stretch of road and suddenly hear footsteps behind you just stop at the side of the road and say "Please, move ahead Betobeto-san". It may be that betobeto will ask you to borrow your umbrella (if it’s raining) or lantern (if it’s pitch black) and it’s of course good to comply to its request: it will be returned to your front door the next morning.

    In Distortion We Trust

  2. Andrew Gable says:

    Re: Bull-Beggar Traditions in Virginia
    It does sound similar to Jack, come to think of it;  There was also an attack by a similar entity recorded from Philadelphia in 1905 where he attacked a cleaning woman.  I don’t believe the Philadelphia one had the lantern associated with Jack, but was otherwise described the same.

    I’ve also found that while there were two sightings of the Jersey Devil from Philadelphia in 1909, there really isn’t anything to suggest that it was that monster; I’ve wondered if there weren’t two more sightings of this Philadelphia Jack.

  3. Mauro says:

    Re: Bull-Beggar Traditions in Virginia
    Yes, I think there a pattern here. Apart from a few isolated episodes these entities always seem much more bent on scaring the daylight out of people than physically harming them.
    Reminds me of Phantasmagoria, a poem by Lewis Carroll in which a ghost, small, non threatening and completely harmless, is turned by the imagination of those seeing it in a terrifying, nightmarish creature.

    In Distortion We Trust