Disputed
Margery Jourdemayne, burned at Smithfield
Margery Jourdemayne, called the Witch of Eye, was burned at the stake at Smithfield on 27 October 1441. The charge against her was false belief and witchcraft.
Something ToldObscurity 6 of 7
Folklore
Maria Makiling of Mount Makiling
Mount Makiling in Laguna is widely held to be the home of Maria Makiling, a diwata of legend. José Rizal wrote her story down in 1890, and people still repeat superstitions about her, such as never carrying the forest's fruit home.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 6 of 7
Documented
Marichgen Ariaensdr. of Schoonhoven
Marichgen Ariaensdr., a herbalist of Schoonhoven, was arrested on 4 October 1591 after a crowd gathered over a boy said to be bewitched. Court officials sentenced her on 18 December 1591.
Something Left BehindObscurity 7 of 7
Claimed sighting
Marius Dewilde at Quarouble
Marius Dewilde, a metalworker, said he found a dark craft on the railway line by his house in Quarouble, France, on the night of 10 September 1954.
Someone Who Was ThereObscurity 5 of 7
Folklore
Mary Gallagher of Griffintown
Mary Gallagher was killed by decapitation in Griffintown, Montreal, on 27 June 1879. Local folklore says her ghost comes back every seventh year to look for her head.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 7 of 7
Claimed sighting
Monte Cristo Homestead
A late-Victorian homestead on a hill above Junee, New South Wales, built by Christopher Crawley in the 1880s. The owners say the ghost of Mrs Crawley, the builder's widow, has been seen there many times.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 7 of 7
Disputed
Mr. Procter's house at Willington Mill
At Joseph Procter's house by Willington Mill, glasses rose off the table with no visible cause, and a Dr. Drury who sat up there fainted at the sight of a female apparition.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 2 of 7
Folklore
Noppera-bō, the faceless yōkai
The noppera-bō is a Japanese yōkai with no eyes, nose or mouth. Tales of it appear in Kyoto story collections as early as 1663 and in folk reports from many regions.
Something ToldObscurity 4 of 7
Folklore
Obayifo
Obayifo is the Ashanti Twi word for a person, typically a woman, said to practise witchcraft. R. S. Rattray's Ashanti (1923) describes such witches as hated and feared beings that prey on the human body.
Before you read on. An obayifo is a living person, usually a woman, said to practise witchcraft. The Guardian reported in 2010 that six people in Ghana were on trial accused of burning a woman of 72 to death because they took her for a witch. Duodu's report is about witchcraft accusation in Ghana generally.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Old Alton Bridge (Goatman's Bridge)
A bridge near Denton that locals call Goatman's Bridge, tied by local legend to a half-man, half-goat figure and to stories about a Black goat farmer.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 3 of 7
Disputed
Old Jeffrey, the Epworth Rectory spirit
A spirit the Wesleys called Old Jeffrey disturbed Samuel Wesley's rectory at Epworth, mostly in December 1716 and the spring of 1717.
Somewhere You Can GoObscurity 1 of 7
Folklore
Operation Highjump and Base 211
A United States Navy operation of 1946-47 to set up Little America IV, a research base in Antarctica. A story that Colin Summerhayes and Peter Beeching call a myth recast it as an Allied attack on a secret German base, Base 211, in Queen Maud Land.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Orang minyak (the oily man)
A figure of Malay belief, a man coated in black grease who carries off young women at night. It first appeared in Singapore's Berita Harian in October 1957, and the name has since been attached to a rape reported in 2005 and to rumours in Melaka in 2017.
Before you read on. The orang minyak name has been attached to an attack by a man: in 2005 Bernama reported the suspected rape of a nurse at a hospital nurses' hostel by a knife-carrying man covered in oil. The figure has also prompted machete-armed village patrols (Live Science, 2012) and a 2017 police appeal in Melaka to stop spreading rumours (Malay Mail).
Something ToldObscurity 4 of 7
Disputed
Petronilla de Meath, burned at Kilkenny
Petronilla de Meath was flogged and then burned at Kilkenny, Ireland, on 3 November 1324, after being accused alongside Alice Kyteler. Wikipedia calls hers the first known burning for heresy in Ireland or the British Isles.
Something ToldObscurity 5 of 7
Folklore
Phi pop
Phi pop is a Thai belief in a spirit that can live inside a person, which Silpa Wattanatham magazine says probably began in the northeast. Accusing someone of harbouring a pop has been used to shut people out.
Before you read on. Accusing someone of harbouring a phi pop has been used to isolate people a community dislikes, often those whose behaviour sets them apart (Bangkok Post, 2016; anthropologist Srisakra Vallibhotama via Voice TV, 2017). In 2017, unexplained deaths in Amnat Charoen province were blamed on an outsider man said to be a pop (Voice TV).
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7
Folklore
Popobawa
Popobawa is a night attacker of Zanzibar belief, said to sexually assault people in their sleep. Reports go back to 1965 on Pemba, with scares peaking in 1995 and returning in 2000 and 2007.
Before you read on. During the scare Henriette Jansen described in Tanzanian Affairs (1996), a man was killed who had been named as Popobawa. It was then announced that he was a mental patient, a mainlander, who had travelled to Zanzibar to be treated.
Something ToldObscurity 7 of 7