Day 28: Do You Believe in the Supernatural?

This is probably going to be the most controversial post I make, potentially ever. People are either strongly one way or the other, very rarely will you get people in the middle.

The short answer to this question is yes, I do.

The long answer isn’t quite that clear cut.

First, to explain myself I’m going to need to talk about my family.

My dad is a firm skeptic. He does not believe anything having to do with the supernatural or the paranormal or anything like that. Whenever someone brings it up he’ll either roll his eyes or he’ll dismiss whatever they have to say. And this is despite the fact that my Nana, his mother, was an adamant believer. I can’t speak for my Poppy, I didn’t really know my grandparents because they died when I was young. But from my understanding, they were both believers as well.

According to my mom, he used to believe, but then something happened and he refuses to believe it. What exactly happened, I can’t tell you because he refuses to talk about it.

My mom is a firm believer in the supernatural and paranormal. She believes in ghosts, guardian angels. I’m not sure if she believes in cryptids but it’s not something that genuinely comes up.

My sister is a firm believer in it all as well. Cryptids included.

My brother is a skeptic. He’s not quite as narrow minded as my dad but he’s always trying to find a logical and scientific reasoning behind something. Most of the time if something happens he can chalk it up to one of our pets.

My reasoning goes back a little further because on both sides of my family we sort of have a connection with it. There’s a string of Wicca and paganism on my mom’s side. On my dad’s side, there’s also a bit of Wicca from my Nana. From my Poppy, his family had practiced the religion of Voodoo and Hoodoo I believe.

There’s a lot of unexplained things that have gone on in my family. Something I’m trying to explore now that I’m older and capable of understanding it.

When I was younger I was more sensitive to the supernatural world around me. Talking to my sister about it, she’s still quite sensitive to the world around her, she thinks that I might have blocked out part of my ability to see the supernatural world because it terrified me as a kid.

Thinking about it, it makes sense to me. I’ve always had an overactive imagination that terrified me, I didn’t need that as well. And I had blocked out a lot of things from when I was younger due to bad memories. I got bullied a lot, I don’t want to relive it.

Beyond all of that, I do believe that there are things that cannot be explained. I’m not going to immediately jump to it’s a ghost. But there are stories about creatures like black dogs, Wendigos, skinwalkers, vampires, werewolves, etc. A lot of them span over various countries and continents, there is at least a thread of truth in them somewhere. There are creepy and crazy and disturbing things that we already know about, that terrify us. Why can’t a ten foot tall, ape-human creature exist?

But that’s my opinion. What do you guys believe?

Thank you so much for joining me for day 28 of my Blogtober challenge, which is where I post a fall or Halloween themed post every day for the month of October. So, if you liked what you saw here you can come back tomorrow and see what I have for you then. Or, if it’s after the 31st then all of these are up and you check them all out if you’d like. Thank you again for joining me, I hope you have a great day/afternoon/evening/night, and I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn.

Day 14: Favourite Mythological Creature

Halloween is the time for the strange and unusual to prowl the streets. And what’s stranger and more unusual than Mythological creatures? Horror movie creatures and monsters, but we’ll get there. Don’t you worry.

Today, however, I really want to talk about Mythological creatures with you guys.

Everyone knows and likes dragons. Most people know unicorns. There are fairies, mermaids, sphinxes, phoenixes, basilisks, centaurs, satyrs, goblins, orcs, trolls, elves, etc.

But my favourite creature rarely gets any love, or attention, or pieces written about it. It’s a Harpy.

Perhaps it’s the ability to fly. Or the sharp talons that double as weapons. Or, just the numerous renditions you could create a Harpy in. But I love them.

If you’re wondering what I mean in terms of renditions, think like this. In Greek Mythology Harpies were depicted as large birds with the heads of human females. In Yu-gi-oh, both the show and the card game, there’s a card that depicts Harpies as human females with bird like wings instead of arms and elongated feet tipped with sharp nails.

There’s so much you can do with a Harpy. From the colour scheme, to the abilities, to the looks.

Harpies don’t just have to be wind type creatures. In fiction, anything is possible. So you could give them snow, or fire abilities combined with their flight abilities. Give them the abilities of song and musical instruments that can carry on the wind.

You can have Harpies that are birds with women’s heads. That are mostly human in appearance. In ‘Trials for the Princess Ryanne’ I have Harpies as one of the trials, and they have the torso of a human(not all female), with the lower body of a bird and wings instead of arms. You could also create Harpies that have their wings and talons but also retain their human arms as well.

And, in terms of colour scheme, you don’t have to limit it to regular bird colours like black, brown, and grey. There are plenty of colourful birds in the world to model them after. Red, yellow, purple, blue, teal, you could make it look like a peacock or a dove if you really wanted to.

The options with Harpies are basically endless if you have the imagination for it.

Harpies with different sized wings. Harpies that eat humans. Or are strictly vegetarian. Or who only eat sea food. Harpies who have adapted like birds to. Harpies who are capable of speech, who can communicate with birds and other animals. Who molt and grow back prettier feathers.

I really want to see more Harpies in Fiction, and be more than just mindless killing machines against the protagonist. More than just whispers and legends. I want people who aren’t in awe seeing a Harpy.

I really love Harpies. I really want more in my life. Unfortunately, I think the only way I’m going to get any is if I write them myself. Which, to be fair, I don’t really have too many qualms with. But I would love to see it from other people’s perspectives.

Anyway, a shorter post today, that’s all I got. What’s your favourite mythological creature? Why do you like it so much? Tell me in the comments below, let’s get a discussion going.

Thank you so much for joining me for day 14 of my October 2018 Blogger Challenge, where I post a fall or Halloween themed post everyday for the month of October. If you liked what you read, come back tomorrow to see what I have for you then. And, if it’s after the 31st, all of these are up and you can go and check them out. I hope you are having a great day/afternoon/evening/night, and I will see you next time.

-T.R. Flynn