Folklore: A Field Guide

By Lynx & LeRoux

For years Charlaine has been fascinated by the journals belonging to her grandmother Lorraine Dupoix. Lorraine "Lorrie" Dupoix, famed folklorist, spent years tracking down folklore creatures from all over the globe to learn more about them and the people who believe in them. Finally, on her 35th birthday, Granny Lorrie passed down the text so Charlaine could retrace her grandmother's footsteps through swampland, forest, snow-covered mountains, rain forest, and Chicago hunting for folklore creatures. And, hopefully, to discover a few of her own. Full of wonder, monsters, illustrations, and interviews, Folklore: A Field Guide is a delightful journey from beginning to end.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lynx & LeRoux
• Release date: Aug 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393004264

Book preview

A LYNX & LEROUX PRODUCTION

Copyright© 2019 by Sarah Holland. All rights reserved.

Text by Sarah Holland.

Illustrations by Ryanne Harper.

Book & Cover Design by Ryanne Harper.

Published by Tipsy Mockingbird Books.

HELLO, FOLKLORE FANATICS! I MEAN, I ASSUME THAT YOU’RE FOLKLORE FANATICS IF YOU’RE READING THIS BUT THAT’S UNFORGIVABLY PRESUMPTUOUS OF ME. MAYBE YOU HAVE A MILD INTEREST IN FOLKLORE. OR MAYBE YOU JUST SAW SOMEONE YOU DON’T WANT TO TALK TO AND HAVE QUICKLY GRABBED THIS BOOK TO HIDE BEHIND UNTIL THE COAST IS CLEAR. WHATEVER YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO FOLKLORE MAY BE, I GREET YOU WARMLY.

I’VE ALWAYS LOVED FOLKLORE. EVER SINCE I WAS A LITTLE LEROUX, MY GRANDMA TOLD ME STORIES FROM ALL DIFFERENT CULTURES ALL OVER THE WORLD AND I’VE LOVED EVERY MINUTE. GRANNY DUPOIX ALWAYS SAID THAT YOU COULD TELL A LOT ABOUT A CULTURE BY THE STORIES THEY TELL EACH OTHER. IN FACT, LET’S TAKE A MOMENT TO CELEBRATE MY UTTERLY BADASS GRANDMOTHER LORRAINE LORRIE DUPOIX.

GRANNY DUPOIX’S PARENTS HAD WHAT THEY CALL FAMILY MONEY WHICH MEANS THAT YOUR WHOLE FAMILY HAS BEEN SO RICH FOR SO DANG LONG THAT NO ONE ACTUALLY REMEMBERS WHERE THE MONEY CAME FROM. GIRLS LIKE HER WERE EXPECTED TO BE QUIET, IMPECCABLY MANNERED ROBOTS WHO DID BORING THINGS LIKE HAVE TEA AND IMPRACTICALLY TINY LITTLE CUCUMBER SANDWICHES WITH OTHER BORED LADIES, ORGANIZE DINNER PARTIES, OR PLAY A ROUSING GAME OF CROQUET ON THE FRONT LAWN DURING GARDEN PARTIES. NONE OF THIS HELD ANY INTEREST FOR GRANNY DUPOIX. WELL, EXCEPT FOR CROQUET. SHE WAS WICKET (GET IT! CROQUET PUN) GOOD AT IT. SHE DOES LOVE CROQUET, BUT THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY GAMES OF CROQUET ONE CAN PLAY.

GRANNY WAS ALWAYS AN ADVENTURER AT HEART AND FAR PREFERRED TREKKING THROUGH THE WOODS AND SWAMPLAND AROUND HER HOME TO ETIQUETTE CLASSES. SHE FILLED COUNTLESS JOURNALS WITH DRAWINGS OF THE LAND AND ANIMALS AND STORIES ABOUT HER DAY. HER FATHER THOUGHT IT WAS WONDERFUL THAT HIS DAUGHTER HAD AN ACTUAL PERSONALITY BUT, AS GRANNY GOT OLDER, HER MOTHER FOUND IT HARDER AND HARDER TO OVERLOOK THE FACT THAT HER LITTLE HEIRESS COMMONLY SHOWED UP FOR DINNER WITH STICKS IN HER HAIR AND CLAIMED THAT HER BEST FRIEND WAS A RACOON NAMED OLD WHISKERS. HOW WAS SHE SUPPOSED TO FIND LORRIE A SUITABLE HUSBAND WHEN HER DAUGHTER WAS CONSTANTLY COVERED IN MOSQUITO BITES AND REEKED OF SWAMP?

FRANKLY, GRANNY DID NOT CARE IF SHE EVER FOUND A HUSBAND BUT AFTER A VERY DEDICATED SEARCH, SHE WAS MATCHED WITH A YOUNG MAN NAMED LEONARD. LEONARD QUITE LIKED LORRIE’S WILD STREAK AND THOUGHT THAT IT WAS SILLY TO CUT A PERFECTLY LOVELY SANDWICH INTO TINY TRIANGLES. THEY WERE ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED BUT JUST A MONTH BEFORE THE WEDDING, GRANNY REALIZED SHE COULD NEVER BE HAPPY TRAPPED IN SOME BIG EMPTY HOUSE WITH NOTHING TO DO. SHE PANICKED, SO GRANNY PACKED A BAG AND SNUCK OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. SHE SOLD HER ENGAGEMENT RING AND USED THE MONEY TO TRAVEL ALL OVER THE WORLD. SHE SAW DESERTS AND JUNGLES AND SNOW-COVERED MOUNTAINS AND LEARNED AS MUCH AS SHE COULD ABOUT EVERY PLACE SHE VISITED. EVENTUALLY SHE RAN OUT OF CASH AND HAD TO COME HOME, BUT HER PARENTS WERE SO IMPRESSED BY THE BRASS ON HER THAT THEY CONTINUED TO FUND HER EXCURSIONS.

EVENTUALLY GRANNY DID GIVE IN AND MARRY LEONARD. HE ENJOYED ORGANIZING THEIR HOME AND DIDN’T MIND AT ALL THAT GRANNY WOULD LEAVE FOR MONTHS TO CLIMB THE ALPS OR LIVE IN THE RAINFOREST. GRANNY TRAVELED THE WORLD FOR DECADES, AND SHE NEVER LOST HER HABIT OF RECORDING HER ADVENTURES IN JOURNALS. ONE OF THOSE JOURNALS BECAME THE VERY BOOK YOU’RE HOLDING IN YOUR HANDS. THREE YEARS AGO, ON MY BIRTHDAY, GRANNY DUPOIX AND I SAT ON HER PORCH SIPPING BOURBON WHEN SHE LOOKED AT ME AND RAISED AN EYEBROW. I EXPECT YOU’RE OLD ENOUGH TO HANDLE THIS NOW, SHE SAID AS SHE HANDED ME A PACKAGE WRAPPED IN BROWN PAPER. I KNEW WHAT IT WAS THE MINUTE SHE HANDED IT TO ME. HER FOLKLORE JOURNAL. I HAD BEEN BEGGING TO BORROW IT FOR YEARS SO I COULD RETRACE GRANNY’S STEPS AND SEE SOME OF THESE EPIC CREATURES FOR MYSELF. I COULD HARDLY BELIEVE IT. THIS WAS AN ACTUAL CHILDHOOD DREAM COME TRUE. I JUMPED UP AND WRAPPED GRANNY IN THE TIGHTEST HUG AND SHE LET ME CHATTER ON ABOUT HOW EXCITED I WAS AND WHERE I WANTED TO VISIT FIRST, UNTIL I TALKED MYSELF OUT. THEN SHE WHIPPED MY ASS AT CROQUET.

CHARLAINE LEROUX

BABADEUX/DUPOIX ESTATE, 2019

Animals & Shapeshifters

Save the Drama for Mama Leeds

Family drama really is the worst huh? Tense holidays where everybody has too much wine and inevitably gets into a full-on family smackdown. Christmas trees ripped from their stands and whipped side long onto the yard during an overly intense decorating session. Questions around the dinner table that are so passive aggressive that even Hannibal Lecter would be uncomfortable.

Would therapy even exist if people were able to coexist with their parents in an emotionally healthy way? Maybe it would. But the Jersey Devil aka The Leeds Child aka The Hoodle Doodle Bird certainly would not. That’s right, the Jersey Devil isn’t just a hockey team mascot, he’s a real live being from a large dysfunctional family that’s just trying to do his thing in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. He’s like a Springsteen song come to life.

The poor kid has real mother issues. See, before he was born his parents already had twelve kids. Maybe his folks were hoping that things like smallpox and roving bears would trim down their herd, but the family remained in bafflingly good health. When Mother Leeds found out that she was pregnant with yet another child, she was super frustrated. How was she going to continue to feed and clothe all of her miraculously healthy offspring? Now she was going to have another one to worry about. Nope. No, ma’am. She was sick of it. Let this one be a devil! she shouted.

That was a terrible idea. I don’t know if it was because she was pregnant with her unlucky thirteenth child or if there was some sort of astrological phenomenon at work when she made that wish. Who knows why, but her curse worked. When her bouncing bundle of joy was born it had a long goat/horse like head, bat wings, horns, cloven hooves, and its whole body was covered in coarse fur. Good job, mom. After it was born it stretched its adorable little wings and the midwife screamed, so JD panicked and ate her, which caused Mother Leeds and the other children to scream. It was a real hot mess up in there and JD could tell that this was not going to be a nurturing environment, so he swallowed the last bite of midwife and flew up through the chimney and out of the house.

He decided to set up in a thick forest called the Pine Barrens and JD did alright for himself. Every once in a while, though, he would get this craving to connect with his family, so he would fly out to the Leeds cabin and sit on the porch rail waiting for his mother to come out. He thought maybe they could reconnect, but she would just walk out with a broom and shoo him away as she told him that he needed a haircut and asked why he couldn’t be a blacksmith like his brother Walt. Parents just don’t understand. JD would get mad and figure that if his mom was so ashamed of him, he would give her something to be ashamed about and then he would attack a farm or a town festival.

Sometimes he ate livestock but if Mother Leeds really got under his skin he would snack on a kid. Hurt people hurt people, you know? JD’s negative outbursts did not win him any fans. The townsfolk started leading hunting parties through the woods, but they never could find JD. I mean, the dude can fly; they obviously weren’t going to catch him. He would get irritated that they were acting like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast and eat some more of their cows and then they would hunt for him again. It was a cycle of unhealthy behavior that continued for a couple hundred years; but it seems like JD has really been working on himself for the last eighty years or so. His attacks have pretty much ceased. People still spot him on occasion while they’re out walking in the woods, but they live to tell the tale.

People still hunt him but now they mostly bring cameras instead of guns. JD has really become a beloved figure in New Jersey history* and I’m so proud of him. I like to think he’s out there in the woods right now sharing what he’s learned with forest creatures or stranded hikers that need it. So, the next time you’re at a Thanksgiving dinner that may break out into a physical fight, think about our buddy the Jersey Devil. Put your little cousin Stevie down. Eating him won’t solve anything. Just take a deep breath and remind yourself that you are bigger than this situation. Be patient and love yourselves.

*MUCH LIKE LISA LISA OR MICHELLE VISAGE.

JD HAS ACTUALLY BEEN A REAL INSPIRATION TO ME. I’VE BEEN TRYING TO GET IN TOUCH WITH HIM FOR WEEKS BUT HAVEN’T FOUND HIM YET. I DID MEET A REALLY COOL FOX, THOUGH, SO IT HASN’T BEEN A TOTAL BUST.

The Weasel Beneath My Wings

What do you know about weasels? If you’re like me, you don’t know much at all. I always assumed that they were the outdoorsy cousins of all the pet ferrets of the world. As it turns out, I was wrong. Weasels are voracious predators with a seriously intimidating fang/claw situation, which they use to take down predators more than twice their size. So, yeah, they’re adorable. You want to take a charming series of Instagram photos with them, but they will jack you right on up at the drop of a hat. Weasels are the Arya Stark of the natural world. Don’t trifle with a weasel is what I’m saying.

I feel like this goes without saying, but you most definitely don’t want to mess with supernatural weasels. Kamaitachi are Japanese yokai most commonly referred to as sickle weasels. They look like ordinary weasels except they have sickles instead of hands and feet. Those are the curved blades that people used as farm tools back in the day. Russia also used them as a symbol of the proletariat, but that’s neither here nor there. These guys ain’t no commies, though. What they are is fuzzy wuzzy wittle killing machines. Or they could be if they wanted to. Freddy Kruger only had one knife hand and he left piles of corpses everywhere he went.

Luckily, Kamaitachi just love a good prank and to have a mostly harmless laugh at the expense of humans. The thing I really appreciate about them is