October 9, 2025 • 48 mins
Welcome To The Oddity Shop, Where The Bizarre is Always on Sale. This week, your Curator Zach has the Slavic Lor of the Leshy.
The Leshy is a powerful woodland spirit from Slavic folklore who protects the forest and punishes those who disrespect nature. This shapeshifting entity exists in a state of duality, neither wholly good nor evil, embodying the wild and unpredictable essence of the forest itself.
He can control forest animals, manipulate weather, and mimic familiar voices to lure travelers deeper into the woods. Also known to have a particular fondness for vodka, tobacco, and bread as offerings.
No only does he form pacts with hunters, guiding them to game as long as they continue making offerings and take only what they need, he sometimes takes children who are mistreated, unbaptized, or lost into the forest.
In case you ever run into one, listen on for some protection methods, including turning clothes inside-out, walking backward, carrying iron, and leaving offerings.
The core lesson of the Leshy is about respecting nature and understanding boundaries between civilization and wilderness.
References:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leshy
- https://www.reddit.com/r/slavic_mythology/comments/ibek0o/the_leshy/
- https://www.britannica.com/topic/leshy
- https://cult-of-the-lamb.fandom.com/wiki/Leshy
- https://allthatsinteresting.com/leshy
- https://www.thoughtco.com/leshy-4774301
- https://www.reddit.com/r/CultOfTheLamb/comments/1kps78y/is_there_a_lore_reason_leshy_keeps_saying_this_to/
- https://allthatsinteresting.com/leshy
- https://www.thoughtco.com/leshy-4774301
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
I want to dance with the mothman at the IA shop,
baked in the moonlight at the IAshop.
Creep through the graveyard tothe IA shop.
The door's always open at theIA shop.
(00:29):
Welcome back to the Oddity ShopPodcast.
You little oddballs.
Zach just gave me the craziestface.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
This is the podcast where we tell you creepy, odd,
weird, strange and bizarrestories from around the world.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'm your curator Kara , or I should say I'm your
curator Zach, because I messedit up one time.
I just said, because Kara wasKara last week, because Zach was
Kara last week.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm Kara now.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I am your curator, zach, and that is your curator
Kara.
Hello, hello, how are you?
I'm good.
What did you have to tell me?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Okay, so you know how you're working on a little bit
of a gallery wall.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Oh, you know the one with all the paper on it.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh my God, look it, it's finally, it's starting.
It's starting, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
So I didn't hold on.
Let me just tell you something,because I didn't tell you this.
You know, that day that momcame over yeah, she's here all
day.
That's what she came over fornice okay.
Well, I was gonna say, if youneed anything else for it, I
found some really cool postersthat you're gonna love so here's
the thing I don't need posters,I want to hear where they're
from.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Though I need, uh is this landscape yeah I need
things that go landscape some ofthese posters did actually oh,
okay, then tell me about it sothey're like um, it's called
madam talbot something posters,but they're like old-timey
creepy posters, but they're like, they're right up your alley.
I'll send you the link thatactually would be perfect I
actually saw them last weekendwhen my co-worker and one of my
(01:59):
besties, sarah, was out here, sorandomly from arizona she had a
wedding co-worker.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Bastille City Made it sound like two people.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
But she.
So she lives in Arizona, butshe had a wedding in Saugatuck,
michigan, to go to, so shestayed with me for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Which is so random.
So random Because of how closeyou are to that, to there.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I was 30 minutes away and she met the people, the
bride and groom.
She worked with them in Arizona.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Oh, I didn't know that.
That's even weirder.
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So they live in Chicago now, which makes more
sense.
So when she was out here wewent to like four antique shops
and then we found out a brandnew vintage antique shop had
opened in Grand Rapids, so wehad to go check it out and they
had these posters, but I alsofound where you can get them
online, so I hate to send it toyou.
I was so good though I didn'tbuy anything that's great At the
(02:50):
antique shops, but then her andJulia hit it off because
they're both big book people, sowe went to a bunch of
bookstores.
Did you read books?
I did.
I bought this book that I readwhen I was in college and it's
like it's not a like funstorybook, it's a psychological,
sociological studies called OnDeath and Dying, and it's that
(03:14):
one that's always referenced,where, like, the person went to
people when they were close todeath and, like interviewed them
.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Oh cool, I got it for five bucks.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Oh, I got a really awesome tarot book.
Oh cool, I got it for fivebucks.
I got a really awesome tarotbook oh cool, like on how to
intuitively read a little bitbetter.
Nice, and I bought a new tarotdeck or I should say decks,
you're not supposed to buy yourown?
decks, plants and Wives tale, Iknow, but so it was two decks in
one and it's really interesting.
So it's the major arcana isstandard rider wait style art,
rider wait smith.
The minor arcana is not so much, but it's called the tarot of
(03:52):
light and shadow and there's abunch of different ways you can
work with this.
So the art is slightlydifferent.
So, like in the light deck, theart of the fool is your
standard fool, the happy dog.
You know the birds over thecliff, but on the shadow side of
it the birds turn into bats andthe dog is baring his teeth.
But it doesn't.
It's not necessarily likethat's bad, it's just like
(04:14):
here's what's different at night.
So it's supposed to help youwith the intuitive reading.
What do you pick up on first?
Okay, you can either shuffleboth decks together or, like I
did, a three card for from thelight, which is supposed to be
more external factors, and athree card from the shadow,
which is supposed to be moreinternal, like shadow work.
It was just.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
It's a very interesting deck I'm so excited
about it for those of you thatare new ish here, zach did cover
a whole episode about tarot andthe different uh classes, the
what would you call them Classes.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
The different like suits and the major and minor
arcana and the history of it.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that's a good episode.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
That's when I first got started in.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
That's when you I know when you want to redo.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I've been.
No, I don't want to redo it.
I would still stand by it.
Here's the thing I've beenworking on this very personally
for about two years and I'mfinally getting the confidence
where I think I could startdoing readings.
So I'm going to open it up topeople who listen to this
episode.
Send us a message, Can I?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Can I and I will do a reading.
Yes, I think it should be forPatreon.
You could be a free Patreon,you just have to be a member of
Patreon.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
There we go.
So yes, we'll do it on the freetier.
Patreon Join, and that would beso fun.
Where should they put that theywant in the chat?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
We'll start a new chat.
Okay, yeah, because I can startone that has all members and
it'll just be Tarot Perfect.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And so I can't guarantee when I'll get to it,
but I am confident enough that Iwant to start doing it.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So I love that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
From posters to Sarah , to Tarot, there was my weekend
.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
OK, cool, so I have a couple of things.
Ok, this just made me think.
Did you order your 2026 planner?
I have not yet, but I need todo it have you been getting
texts about yeah, I was to sayabout promotions and stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
OK because promotions and stuff, yep, okay because I
don't think I'm gonna order itagain.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I want to but I just don't think I can.
But I love that planner, I knowyou do and I'm so happy I
bought it for you.
But I just couldn't.
What's it called the ritualw-r-i-t-u-l it?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
is so cool.
Oh, I just so.
This actually brings me thetopic that I told you.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I forgot, I forgot and I remembered, I just can't
do it uh, this is very quick.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
If y'all could help a girl out, you can DM me, even
on my private socials.
You don't it doesn't have to befor the Oddity Shop podcast one
.
You can find me anywhere.
I need help.
Okay, I am very much strugglingright now.
I don't want to cry, but I feellike I might Hold on.
Okay, I'm fairly positive thatI have ADHD and that's not why
(06:47):
I'm crying.
I'm just very torn on what Ishould do about that.
So, if you guys have resources,or if you have ADHD and you're
struggling, I feel like it'sgetting worse as I getting older
.
Oh, I didn't think I was goingto cry about this.
I just don't know what I shoulddo.
I don't know if I want to bemedicated.
I just don't know what to do.
So you can keep this all in,it's fine.
So anyway, that is my personalif y'all could help a girl out.
(07:09):
On a positive note, not thatthis is a bad thing, it's not a
bad thing.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Would you like a tarot reading about it?
I?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
should.
Yes, I would.
That could be your first one.
We can do it on Patreon.
They can all watch.
I'm not crying because I thinkI have ADHD.
Plenty of people have it.
I just don't know what to dowith my life right now.
Anyway, on a positive note, mymost favorite person in the
world turned 90 on Sunday, yourgirlfriend Patricia.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I love Aunt Pat.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And we had such a great time.
So we took her out to a littlefancy fancy restaurant and it
was very cute because her cousin, me and Aaron we didn't tell
her we were coming.
So Aunt Pat was just with myparents and my uncle and so they
were there.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I'm upset.
I wasn't invited to Aunt Pat'sbirthday.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
You know what I was going to invite you, but I just
knew you wouldn't be able to goto St Clair.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
No.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
It's so far from you.
Anyway, we get there and wewalked in they were all seated
and she was just fucking flooredand she's like, oh my God, you
know it's just wonderful,wonderful.
Oh my God, this is so wonderful.
Anytime I'm anywhere it's themost wonderful thing for
Patricia Just saying which youknow.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
She's actually having a good time because she can be
a little bit curmudgeon-y.
So if she's like, things arewonderful.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Hold on, she's not curmudgeon-y, she is a spicy
bitch.
Okay, love that woman to death,but that is solely where I get
my independence and my bitchfrom.
Is that woman?
So, anyway, she always ordersManhattans.
That's her drink, but I don'tunderstand why.
Because no one ever makes themcorrectly because she doesn't
(08:49):
like vermouth.
So you literally have to putthe tiniest splash of vermouth,
and if you put too much, it'swrong.
If you don't put enough, it'swrong.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I hear her on that, though.
Most people do not put thecorrect amount of vermouth in,
and I'm really picky about it inmy martinis.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So we always go and we try to ask can you put the
vermouth in a separate glass?
But then they charge you for ashot.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Which is wild?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So great though this one, this waitress, was
wonderful.
She was military and she wasmilitary but perfect.
She made one, had them make it.
It was not good.
She's like it is your birthdaygirl.
She said it's your 25thbirthday girl, we get you what
you want.
And she had them put some in ashot glass and so my mom made it
for her.
But I got her a special glassand they served it and she
(09:35):
didn't realize it was for me andit said like made in 19,.
She born in 1935 and it waslike made to perfection and it's
like a beautiful, like drinkingglass.
It was so cute she loved it andthen I bought her more for me.
But I bought her one of thosejournal books though, like where
it's like it's, it's, it'sseparated by ages and like what
was your favorite memory, yourfavorite cartoon, whatever for
(09:56):
her to fill out.
So it's more for me.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
But it was such a great day.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
It was very lovely, it was beautiful.
We just she cried, it was cute.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Will you tell her I say happy birthday and I miss
her.
Next time you see her, oh, Iwill, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Her boyfriend shows us Are you, are we?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
sure he's gay.
You know what?
I'm straight for Aunt Pat.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
You're 90.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I am so straight for Aunt Pat.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
You know what's so funny, though?
This is so cute.
And they weren't lying A tablenext to us was like.
After that, when they got up toleave and they were like happy
birthday.
They're like are you really 90?
Because she doesn't look 90.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
No, and she was like oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
And I said oh, I paid them to ask you that, all right
, okay, we ready, we are ready.
Well, I'm opening the shop thecorrect way, because I do have a
question for you.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Okay, so we all know that when you go into the forest
, that you feel like you have aconnection, like with nature.
But where do you think, wheredoes it come from?
Why do you feel so connected toit?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I just went to take a drink out of my straw and
spilled it everywhere.
Why do I feel so connected toit?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, like, what do you think it is about?
Walking in the forest thatmakes you feel more connected to
nature?
Like, is it somethingmetaphysical?
Is it just because you're withthe plants?
Like, what is it about nature?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
That's a good question.
I think it's just because Ifeel like you were born into
nature, okay, like we used to bejust born into nature, like we
were part of it, like we wereall one.
Now, as, like we've progressedand things like that, we are so
far removed from nature, likethere are some people that, like
the, the most nature they getis walking to outside, to their
(11:35):
car.
So I think that we're so muchfar removed, but then it's kind
of like it's just an instinct,instinctual thing, like kind of
like you know, basically, theonly thing I think of is like
when people are like motherhood,like it's just an instinct, but
like I think it's just aninstinctual thing, when you're
in nature, it like comes to you,like, okay, that makes sense.
Sure, I'm trying to articulateit, yeah I know you.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You did a good job, so I think people have a hard
time explaining why it isobviously so.
The slavic people set out tofigure this out for us.
So, oh yeah, and they came upwith some lore.
So imagine that you're walkingthrough the woods and you do
something that might piss offnature a little bit.
(12:16):
Maybe you accidentally kill aplant, you purposely cut down a
small tree, maybe you litteredwhere you just didn't clean up
after your campsite.
Well enough okay and the nextthing you know you're lost.
Maybe you hear some whistlingor singing from deep within the
woods.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Oh no, you know how I feel about whistling,
especially at night.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We don't do that here yeah, well, you're gonna figure
out where this lore actuallycame from today.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So maybe you might see something that might be a
wolf, oh my god I gotta getthrough parts of this you're the
one always whistling at nightand I want to kill you, okay, so
?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
next thing you know you're lost.
You hear whistling or singingfrom deep within the woods.
One minute you see somethingthat appears to be a wolf or not
a wolf, but a man that growsbigger and bigger.
You try to escape, but now youare caught by the leshy I'm so
excited you're covering thisI've stumbled upon this randomly
(13:12):
recently.
Oh, I started playing a newgame on my switch called cult of
the lamb, and it is the cutestgame.
It's like one of those littlecity builder games, but you're
reincarnated lamb into this andyou're a reincarnated lamb and
you're a reincarnated lamb andyou have to grow a cult of all
these wooden critters to like doall your bidding for you and
you have to like go through theforest and beat bosses to like
(13:33):
get more cult members.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
But one of them was named leshy and I didn't think
anything about it at first, Ijust thought it was kind of like
a random name then I wasscrolling yes no, it just made
me think so I I was listening toSmoshry's Reddit stories the
other day and they were talkingabout Stardew Valley and how
it's just like such a littlewholesome game and I was like oh
, I love.
Stardew Zachary, and naming allthe animals in it after animals
he's actually met.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Oh yeah, I just finally got my sister on it too.
If you haven't played Stardew,you need to, Okay?
So then I was like scrollingthrough Facebook and I sent you
this screenshot.
I'm like oh my God, this is mynext episode, Cause there was
something about Leshy.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh, you did send me that.
Yeah, you're right, I totallyforgot.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Right, it was titled the legend of Leshy the vodka
chugging baby stealing.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
trickster of Slavic lore.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I totally forgot you sent me this I know I've been
sitting on this one a minute.
Okay, love it.
This is Slavic lore, right?
So they are people whooriginated in Central and
Eastern Europe.
They were nomadic people who,like, spread from Indo-European
origins around 2000 BC.
Okay, by the 4th century ADthey established large sediments
(14:43):
and began to spread into, likeBalkans, central Europe and East
of the Black Sea.
So these are, like, pretty muchyour Eastern European people.
A lot of them have Slavicgenealogy.
That's not the word I'm lookingfor, but that works Descent.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Thank you, I'm like, is it?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Their original culture, though, was obviously
being so, so, old, right.
A lot of it wasn't written, butit was handed down generation
to generation and a lot of theirlegends and lore, and history
definitely changes over time,but through the 7th and 12th
century they were a pagan peopleand they believed in many
different gods and entities andspirits.
Later they did becomeChristianized, but it's during
(15:19):
this time that they start to,before they were Christianized,
when they're still pagan, thatwe start to hand down stories of
the protector of the forestnamed Leshy.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Which I think that's such a cute little name.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It is.
It is the cutest name ever.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
We got to name something after that.
Your next reptile, Leshy.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
My next reptile, or just my next stuffed reptile,
because half of them are justnamed Kevin.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Kevin.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Leshy though his physical, physical description.
He is an important so woodlandspirit for the slavic people.
Sometimes he's considered a godor like the god of the forest.
Sometimes he's just a lesserdeity.
Some describe him as demonic, aspirit shapeshifter, all sorts
of things, but I think theeasiest way to describe him is
just like the elemental spiritof the forest.
(16:07):
So he is like the embodiment ofwhat you feel when you go into
nature.
Who protects the land but alsomesses with anybody who
disrespects them?
see, I like this it's definitelyhard to tell if he is outright
evil, nice or just somethingelse entirely, and I almost
think it's like we're trying toput too many human
(16:29):
characteristics on him I wasgonna say, because I guess it's
like.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
It's probably just like how maybe you and I
articulate like we don't mindwhat religion or what beliefs
people think or have right, likewe respect all.
Like you can tell me about it.
But as long as you actually doall like you can tell me about
it, but as long as you actuallydo good and like you have good
energy and you're like a goodperson, like it's fine.
It's kind of the same thing,like if you're just walking
(16:52):
around in the woods like you'reprobably gonna be fine, don't do
dumb shit.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Not always, though.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Well, it's vibes.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
So one of the best ways I did see him describe it
is he his personality is not toofar off for how current pagan
people view fairies.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Oh, so you know, fairies aren't either good or
evil, but they just are kind ofon their own prerogative.
You just can't mess with them,yes, and you have to respect
them.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yes, as far as leshies looks are concerned, he
is often described as like amasculine humanoid, looking like
really old and weathered largebeard, one eyebrow and eyelashes
only on the other eye and he'smissing his right ear so it's
not an eyebrow just like astraight eyebrow.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
It's just one eyebrow over one eye and eyelashes over
the other.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, yeah, he's like missing symmetrical features of
his face.
We don't know, but I think thething is is like this isn't his.
It's his most common form, butit's not his only form, so he's
just taking on human.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Can I ask a question?
Are you going to or do you wantme to wait?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Let me get through all of the description and then
you can ask your question,because I'm probably going to
answer it.
Okay, he's also part forest,though, so he's covered in moss
and sticks.
Sometimes his beard is evenjust totally made out of trees,
like limb or moss, andeverything His skin is usually a
pale bark, like greenish color.
(18:21):
He has wild green hair and hisclothing is also made out of
elements of the forest, but thetwo surefire ways you're seeing
him is his glowing eyes and hislack of a shadow, no matter the
time of day.
Oh, I kind of think like okay,were you a Lord of the Rings
person?
Uh-huh, if you took Gandalf andan Ent and just mashed them
(18:43):
into one being.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Okay.
So what I was going to ask isIf you took Gandalf and an Ent
and just mashed them into onebeing Okay.
So what I was going to ask isdo we think that the mixed up
facial features are because he'strying to portray a human in
some way but just can't quiteget it?
But then the rest of thedescription doesn't really match
that.
That's what I was just tryingto think, like you know how,
like the only thing that'scoming to my mind is like black
(19:05):
eyed kids, how they're there'sreally obviously their eyes are
black, but something else is offabout them and you can't really
picture it.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
but you know they're not right I think he's just
supposed to look a little bitchaotic, because he's also not
always in this form.
He is a shapeshifter if he'sgonna take the form.
A lot of times he'll show as awolf, a bear, but unlike other
shapeshifters we've talked about, he can turn into anything.
(19:31):
So sometimes a tiny littleinsect, right.
But he can also appear as amushroom, a log, a pebble, any
animal or person, or just becometotally invisible altogether.
So he can literally take on anyform in the forest, whether
it's living or dead.
I love this.
He can also control his size.
(19:51):
People have seen it going froma small ant to this giant
imposing human, with no limitson the size like just
transforming just transformingas it moves through the forest.
This, I think this is cool.
So he he's very ethereal and I,you know this is more, less
think cryptid and more thinkfolklore I don't think cryptid
(20:13):
at all when you're telling methis right, this is more
ethereal spiritual okay onto hispersonality, powers and
behaviors, because he's got abig personality.
So he is said to protect thewoodlands, and the slavic people
believed that the forest was aliminal space between life and
death and he is the embodimentof that duality can I ask does
(20:36):
he go by he?
Because I feel like he would belike general gender fluid
pretty much always shows, as ahuman or as a male figure, very
masculine energy, and everyarticle did say he key.
Okay, just curious so, and inthis it's a good question,
because the slavic pagan culturethey did have both male and
female energies okay, cool sohis was always yeah, marked as
(21:00):
he okay, okay, cool so heprotects the woodlands.
Like I said, he lives in kind ofthat duality between life and
death.
He has the ability to mimic thesounds of animals, but also the
voices of travelers, so he cansound very familiar, luring you
deeper into the woods, but notsometimes evil, sometimes more
(21:21):
mischievous.
I I think, if I'm going to behonest, that in reading this, I
think this is where we start toget some of the lore of Flesh
Pedestrian and things from.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Appalachia.
I was just going to say thisreminds me of Flesh Pedestrian
Wendigo-ishy.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
And less from the Native American lore but more
the Native Europeans.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Which.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
There's very a ton of similarities.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Correct, dang I.
I was gonna ask something oh,do we think, or do you think or
maybe you're gonna tell me later, are we luring just anybody
random like do you think it goes?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
on to vibes okay a lot of the lore says too.
If you hear your name beingcalled in the woods and no one's
around, it's the leshy yeah,which that's just no.
While tricking humans, he alsotakes care of all the wildlife
and, loving all forms ofwildlife, he can also command
them and use them as hismessengers or spies.
(22:18):
Usually, it would be wolves,bears, owls and snakes that do
his bidding I mean wait, wolvesbears, owls snakes yes that
makes sense so that's his usual.
If he's going to control animals, what he does.
Okay, we said earlier he canwhistle a haunting tune, but he
can also make the forest comealive with laughing echoes,
sudden changes in weather likethick fogs, wind or storms.
(22:42):
I love him, I.
I really it's an interestingthing because it like with that
being the duality between lifeand death.
I think it's also like betweena good and bad.
I think you just can't give himthe human characteristics that
you want to.
Also, you'll love this.
You know who he's supposedlygood friends with, who the baba
yaga.
Oh, they're friends, they'refriends.
(23:06):
They're.
They're like tight.
Okay, getting into his liketrickster behaviors.
Okay, he's sort of playful andhe'll make like trick people who
come into the forest so he'llcash cash.
He'll cast illusions anddisorient people, a skill he
usually uses to protect animalsfrom hunters who are not acting
(23:28):
right.
And it makes you go into partsof the forest and get lost.
Some of his more benevolentportrayals depict him luring
children and babies into thewoods, especially those who
haven't been baptized, those whowander into the forest alone
and those who've been mistreatedby their kin, especially their
(23:48):
parents.
Now, don't get sad, because itsounds evil.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I mean, I'm not, I was really just thinking.
But then I'm like is he takingthem to raise them?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
So you know, have you ever seen trees with like those
big round kind of lumps in themiddle?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yes, those are the kids.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Those are where he traps the souls of his victims,
but it opens them up to aparallel world.
So, as far as the legends kindof tell, it seems like this is
the ethereal realm of the forestdwelling folk.
So it's almost like he's takingkids who aren't saved or who
are mistreated or whatnot, likesometimes it's just stealing the
babies, but other times it'slike whisking them away to this
like different land.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I don't know.
It's hard to tell if he's goodor bad.
Every time I hear anythingabout stealing children's, I
just think of Gryla.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So, yeah, it's less the evil like taking the bad
kids, it's more like those whodon't have anywhere else to go.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Gryla also does that.
If the baby doesn't have a home, they take it.
She takes it, but she's crazytake it she takes it, but she's
crazy.
Okay, he's probably friends withgrilo too.
Let's be honest, I don't know.
I'm feeling like it's like anenergy thing.
He can tell if you're like inthe woods and you're like a bad
person, maybe I'm gonna lure youover here.
(24:59):
If maybe these kids are gonnabad souls, I'm gonna take the
bad ones, but the good ones thatare just in really awful
situations maybe I'm gonna likere-home I don't know that's kind
of how I'm I'm with you to thispoint, but he also likes a good
bribe which that's fine.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
That doesn't make you bad he can be calmed down with
offerings and a man after my ownheart.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Okay, I was gonna say his two favorite though are,
can be bribed.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I can be bribed, and I would probably fall for his
two favorite offerings, whichare tobacco and buckets full of
vodka, but I yeah me and theleshy, we would have a good time
.
You're besties.
So hunters firmly believe thattheir success was always
determined by the leshy.
He was kind of responsible fordistributing the bounties of the
(25:48):
forest, so, to make sure theyhad a good hunt, they would
enter into a pact with leshy now, this is usually done during
easter and they would offer hima gift such as either the first
easter egg bread with saltalthough he liked the bread if
they mixed it with their ownhair and nails A sacrifice of
one's own blood, a contractwritten in blood, or tobacco or
(26:11):
vodka.
What he would do, he wouldguide herds of animals towards
hunters or to their traps,ensuring accurate shots.
Now the contract was, though,is that the hunters could not
take more than they needed.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Say the first part to me, he would guide he would
guide herds of animals towardshunters traps.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Okay, and help the hunter ensure an accurate shot
but they couldn't, yeah, butthey couldn't take more than
they needed so you can't takemore than you need, you can't
disrespect the land and you haveto like keep making offerings
to the leshy now.
If you stopped or you fucked up, you would lose his protection
and usually face severeconsequences, up to illness and
(26:56):
death do you know if he wouldoffer you all of those like I
can bribe you can give me all ofthese.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Or would he just come to you and be like do do we
know that?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
I think it was.
It's more of these huntersweren't physically meeting with
him.
It's you leave the offering,almost like you would for an
ancestral or an ancestor, onyour altar, or you know, like
different, so you leave thesethings out for him.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And hope for this.
Ah, that makes so much moresense, okay, okay, so you're
basically picking the bribe.
What?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
do you mean?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Out of all of those bribes, you're basically picking
what you're offering him.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
You're, yeah, you're picking what you're offering him
.
It's the most powerful during.
I'd give him vodka.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Right, I'm not picking the blood contract that
I might mess up.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
I mean, it depends on how bad you and your family
were hurting for meat you know.
Yeah, that's kind of like abroad description of him, though
Okay, because, though this isremember, not written history,
this was orally passed down.
There's so many differentdescriptions.
Like I said, sometimes he'sgood, sometimes he's tricky,
sometimes he's a demon,sometimes he's a god.
(28:03):
It seems like he lives inconstant dualities, and many of
the articles had sometimes theywould capitalize Leshy and
sometimes they wouldn't, and itseems to me like there's almost
one godlike Leshy who is thephysical spirit and all these
other energies of him that aremore like minions.
(28:23):
Oh yeah, it's a very it it'shard to grasp idea.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
I think he's just multifaceted and he is just, but
he's also everywhere.
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
So is mother nature right, I, I just, I love, I love
sometimes with folklorecreatures that they, it, just it
goes beyond the physics weunderstand but.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
But doesn't that make sense?
It does, it does I like it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I'm not, I wasn'tquestioning like you did, I'm
just mean like.
But to me it makes sensebecause if you go walk in the
woods to me at least and I knowwe've talked about this before I
need to just sometimes put myfeet in the grass or lay in the
grass and I don't care how crazymy neighbors think I am.
(29:11):
Where grass freaks you out, Iknow, on your little bare feet.
I hate that feeling.
It just does something to me.
And if I just go walk in mylittle small woods, kind of
behind my house, by myself,through the trails, it gives me
the most magical feeling thatyou cannot describe Like you.
Just so I do get it.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
But have you ever had that moment too, where you walk
in there and you just don'tfeel right, like maybe he's just
having a bad day, maybe theenergy is off?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yes, so that's kind of where I was going to go, is
that?
But there are some days I'llwalk through the exact same path
and you do kind of feel likeyou're watched, like maybe you
shouldn't be there and it's notwatched by a human, like you
know the difference, like if,like a weirdo creep is watching
you at least I do, and I havefelt that and then, like the
deer will pop out and they'lljust be staring at me and it'll
(29:53):
just be like really weird, likewhat the hell is going on.
So I do get that.
But is that any different thanyou and I just having a bad day
and I would love to spitesomebody and I would love to
fucking dagger somebody.
So you know, he's just having abad day.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Somebody didn't give him enough vodka.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
And you just.
I know I'm going to go forwalks with vodka.
Now Sprinkle it in the bushes.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
There you go.
Perfect, it's a perfect excuseto drink in the woods.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
When you come here, we should just go to the forest
with vodka and our water bottlesDown Deal.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
OK, I with vodka and our water bottles down deal.
Okay, I have three folk talesfor you.
Oh, I'm so excited for this.
Do you want the hunter, thechild or the merchant?
First child okay, the child.
And the trickster spirit.
This is a ukrainian folk taleand it tells of a young boy
named danilo and he chased abutterfly into the woods while
his mother was tending thefields.
Do it, how old was he?
This is a folk tale.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I don't have any information otherending the
fields do it?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
how old was he?
This is a folk tale.
I don't have any informationother than the little story I'm
going to read you, and it's fora lesson.
So no questions.
Questions.
At the end he was chased, or hechased a butterfly into the
woods while his mother wastending the fields.
Hours passed.
When his mother called for himand there was no answer, only
the sound of distant laughter.
The villagers.
When his mother called for him,and there was no answer, only
(31:06):
the sound of distant laughter,the villagers warned his mother
that the leshy had taken him.
So the elders performed an oldritual they turned their clothes
inside out, they walkedbackwards into the forest, they
rang church bells and afterhours of searching they found
Danilo sitting under the branchof a pine tree, dazed but
unharmed.
(31:26):
He claimed he'd been playingwith a tall man with a beard of
leaves, who gave him berries andshowed him dancing animals.
This story it was showing thathe wasn't always malevolent,
that he liked to just play withand take care of lost children
and would rarely harm them ifproperly respected.
The whole thing about puttingyour clothes on backwards,
(31:47):
walking backwards and ringingchurch bells are ways to
disorient the leshy back offyour path.
So if he was trying to hide thechild from them, the only way
they could find him were bydoing these bizarre rituals.
But anyway, the lesson here isto you know not wander near the
forest alone and leave yourchildren unattended.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
What if it was just like a homeless guy that lived
in the woods and had just likeleaves in his beard?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
And like buckets of vodka, I mean we're not far off.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Exactly.
So like I don't know that oneOkay, next Wait.
What are my options?
Speaker 2 (32:21):
So I mean, these aren't not him, these are
literally the stories that werehanded down of the lashing.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
What are my other two options?
You have hunter or merchant.
Merchant.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
So this is kind of one of the darker tales.
This comes from Belarus culture, and a traveling merchant named
Pavel took a shortcut through adense forest, ignoring warnings
that the leshy walks there.
As night fell, he heardbranches cracking and a voice
calling his name in his mother'svoice Eww.
Confused, he followed the sounddeeper and deeper until the
(32:55):
forest seemed to close in, thetrees forming walls and the
paths vanishing.
Hours turned into days.
Oh Havel.
Tried marking trees, but themarks disappeared, he swore.
He saw shadowy figures laughingjust beyond his torchlight.
In desperation, he prays, heturns his clothes inside out, as
the folklore advised, and theforest shifts.
(33:18):
Walking backwards, he stumblesinto a clearing near his village
.
Days after he had entered, thestory goes the merchant came out
alive, but utterly changed.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
He refused to ever speak about what he'd seen in
the forest and never steppedfoot in them again um, okay, so
the putting your back backwards,putting your clothes backwards
and then walking backwards, isthat just to basically like
you're confusing him?
Is that kind of what we think?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
it seems to be like you have to confuse him back
yeah, because he is assuming,right by doing like that, that
you're still walking the otherway, right, okay, that's the way
to beat the illusions that hecreates got you.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Okay, that's kind of what I thought.
Uh, that is creepy.
But also, guess what?
He went in?
Not like, haha, you don't exist, I don't believe in you.
And so he was like, let meteach you a lesson.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Had he left an offering, he probably would have
been fine, but yeah, he ignoredthe warnings that Aleshi was
walking there.
Mm, hmm, OK what a ding dong.
Ready for the hunter tale.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Oh, I sure am.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
All right.
So this is the hunter's pactwith Aleshi and this is a tour
folk tale.
A skilled hunter named jagorwanders deep into the forest
searching for game but findsnothing.
Exhausted, he sits under anancient oak tree and muttered
curses about his bad luck.
(34:41):
Suddenly the forest becomessilent and a massive man with
moss for a beard and eyesglowing like embers steps out
from behind a tree.
He asked Jaeger why he daredcurse the forest.
Terrified, he fell to his kneesand begged for forgiveness,
which amused the Leshy, and theLeshy offered him a deal If
Jaeger left an offering of breadand tobacco every new moon, he
(35:04):
would never leave the forestempty-handed.
So from that point forward,jaeger never returned from a
hunt without game, until onemonth when he forgot his
offering.
The next time he entered thewoods, oh yeah, the forest
twisted around him, the pathslooped endlessly, whispers
echoed his names and the wolveshowled all night.
(35:27):
So he stumbles home days later,gaunt and shaking, vowing to
never break his pact again.
And as long as he kept puttingofferings, he kept returning
with game.
So it's like, once you sort ofenter into a deal with him,
you're stuck yeah that's whereit's like.
The whole thing with him justseems to be like the force is
mine, you're in my domain,you're gonna do as I say, or
(35:49):
else I'm gonna make it hell foryou I'm mad about that because,
let's be honest, human, humans,yeah, they never take good care
of the forest, so like he's.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
He's just protecting the land and the animals no, I
don't like.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I think we just have to get rid of, like, the
humanization of good or bad,he's just is what he is.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
I like him.
In case you ever run across oneon your travels, because I know
you spend a lot of time outthere, Turn my clothes backwards
.
I have a whole whole list ofthings you can do.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Oh my God, you pulled a carrot.
You should make a sheet.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
I know, I know.
So the first thing you have todo is confuse him with the
clothes trick.
You're right, okay, but youcan't just put your clothes
inside out or backwards you haveto do both, and it works best
if you switch your left and yourright shoe, oh Lord.
So it confuses him and makes ithard to track.
You is kind of why you have todo that.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Okay, oh, okay, yeah, because the tracking, because
it's wrong.
Okay, okay, okay yes.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Now, this is depending on your belief.
So, remember, he existed inpagan times and his story still
existed after Christianization.
So you have to invoke either aprayer or some sort of blessing
to break his illusions.
So, if you believe inChristianity or whatever
religion, you could say a prayerof that religion.
(37:09):
You could, um, you know, uselike the lord's prayer or
something okay.
Otherwise you could usedifferent incantations or
offerings to the woodland, okay.
And if you are pagan, you canalso call upon different deities
to come in and disrupt hismagic oh, okay, okay, hmm if you
(37:29):
think he's on to you but youhaven't been totally lost and
turned around and freaked outand the animals aren't coming
for you yet.
It is wise to carry bread, salt, tobacco, vodka, coins or
really cool rocks beforeentering the woods, and you can
always leave it on a tree stumpfor him.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
So just bring all of that on all your hikes.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
I mean, let's be honest, I always have cool rocks
on me, so I'd be golden.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
But do you have bread coins to back off of?
You don't have to leave all ofthem, you just have to leave
something for him.
I thought you had to leave allof them.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
And this is before he's totally pissed off.
So if you think he's kind ofonto you Now, you also have to
ask him for permission.
So when you leave the offering,it's wise to say Leshi, we are
guests in your forest, pleaselet us pass safely.
Oh, I like that though.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Forgetting to ask for permission could render your
offering completely useless.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
That makes sense.
So what I will say is I feeland you could correct me if I'm
wrong, but I feel like the rocksthat you leave should not be
rocks that you've taken from hisforest.
They should be ones that youfound ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
I would say yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Okay, at least not, you know, maybe from a different
Leshies forest or something.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yes, you can also carry protective charms with you
, though, if you forget youroffering.
Okay, one of the easiest ones,and this is just from ancient
universal Slavic spiritrepellent just have something
with iron in it.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Oh, you could also use holy water I think I just
want to bring vodka vodka workstoo, but you have to ask for the
permission.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
if you carry a birch branch, he said, for whatever
reason, to not mess with you, orblessed herbs like wormwood or
saint john John's wort, he'llleave you alone.
And then the final one, whichgoes with putting your clothes
on backwards, is the walkingbackwards.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
So it's to help you retrace your steps in a way,
because his illusions arebelieved to disorient only
forward progress.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
So if you appear to be going backwards, you trick
him into letting you go.
That makes sense.
Yeah, okay, I still think I'mjust going to like bring a flask
of vodka or something and thenhope for the best.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Worst case scenario if he's messing with you too
hard, you just drink a bunch ofvodka yourself and hey, who
cares?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I don't really want to drink vodka straight.
You would.
Well, I'm.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Polish.
I cannot do that straight.
You would well, I'm polish, Icannot do that.
It reminds me of a time at workwhere I won a bottle of vodka.
This was many jobs ago and theywouldn't give it to me until
the end of the day oh, Iremember my boss.
I'm like why can't I hold on toit?
He goes because you're polishand you refer to vodka as potato
water.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yeah, it's just hydrating, but they don't want
there I although I can't drinkvodka like I used to.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Let's be honest I'm old now.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Oh my God, what cult was it where she?
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Mother God, mother God With a colloidal silver,
yeah.
She literally just didn't eatfood.
She drank vodka.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Because it was potatoes and she thought she was
fine.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
I was just talking about her last weekend, really.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Really, that's so wild.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Oh, she didn't think it was potatoes, she just was a
raging alcoholic and delusionalas hell.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
I thought that she told people that it was vegan.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Oh, that's what it was.
That's what it was, because Iwas a fan of.
Oh my God, I knew it wassomething.
Anyways, a lot of the you knowhe's a folklore creature at the
end of the day, so a lot of itis symbolism.
No, lot of it is symbolism.
No, it's real.
The lessons are to teach you toalways respect nature, have a
healthy fear of deep forests andunderstand the boundaries
(40:55):
between civilization and thewilderness and when they should
and shouldn't be crossed.
And he was kind of meant aslike a way to teach people
lessons of caution, humility andreverence for the natural world
I, I love it.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
I love a Lushy.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I really like him.
I feel like we could befriendhim easily.
Plus, we respect the forest.
So here's my final words ofwarning for you.
The biggest thing you canremember or take away from this
lesson respect the damn forest.
You know how to do things right.
Pack in, pack out, take onlywhat you need.
(41:31):
Don't cut down trees, overhuntor treat animals badly, and if
you do, you ain't never leaving.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Or you could run with the my Favorite Murder route
and stay out of the forest.
There you go.
Oh, I love that.
So I have a question for youthen.
Are you done?
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Are you done?
Yep, that's what I got for you.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
What's your favorite Taylor Swift folklore song?
Speaker 2 (41:55):
You know OK, so I I know I shit on you for your
Taylor Swiftiness.
I did.
I liked her first two albums,although I would never have
admitted that in high school,and then I really got into 1984
1989.
Yes, I don't know that I couldHold on.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
I don't think you know anything from folklore.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I might, though.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
My favorite from folklore is Invisible String and
then Mirrorball, and then theOne.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Yeah, I'm looking at the list now.
This is not an album I reallygot into.
What was the one where sheturned like to bad Taylor?
I really liked that one.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Reputation.
Yeah, so here's what's funny isthat even our Swifty of all
Swifties, Emily, folklore isn'treally one of the like.
She knows it, but she's like.
I never really got into it, butit's becoming one of my
favorites, and so every time youkept saying folklore, I was
like Taylor.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Swift, I have totally lost you.
I'm going to leave an offeringfor the Leshy to get rid of your
Taylor Swift addiction.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Y'all you know what.
Here's the thing If anaddiction is bad and bringing
you down, then I think youshould get rid of it.
If your addiction is a womanwho is a lyrical genius and does
hundreds of millions ofthousands of dollars worth of
great things, okay, here's.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Here's my theory on her.
I have watched anti-taylorswift people yeah, do 180s.
I have watched her climb to thetop.
I watch all the ritual shit shedoes with the way the albums
all relate to each other.
That woman's a witch and youcannot convince me otherwise oh,
I won't doubt it, she.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
She literally puts narcotics in her lyrics.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
As she says in one of her lyrics yeah, she is witchy
but you know what I as not a bigfan of hers.
Yeah, you don't have to be nowI I liked a lot of her older
stuff.
I I don't know why.
I just kind of fell off.
But it's fine, it is what it is.
She's a powerful ass witch andshe knows what the hell she's
doing.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
She's genius, she's 100 genius, she's 100% genius.
But you know what me and momwere talking about the other day
.
It's like, you know, music ismagic, because what else can
just put you in, like, when doyou just this is well, whatever,
it's fine, it makes sense forus.
But when can you just like?
You know you put on songs whenyou're sad and they like put you
in, they express what you'refeeling, and then you just like
(44:08):
you're good, and then you getout of it, or you stay in a
little bit because you need to.
Or you put on a song that makesyou so happy and like vibes,
and then it makes it pumps youup, or you, you know you put on
a song that like calms you down,like that.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
I mean, I just saw street light for the first time
in six years and I'll tell youthat was oh, oh, thomas Kalanick
is a god.
So, okay, yeah, magic.
We could keep ranting aboutmusic, but we could also start
to wrap things up and let thesepeople out of here.
So, um, any weird tales thathave happened to you in the
forest, write those in.
(44:40):
Um, leave a tree emoji.
Yes, perfect.
And what else do these peopleneed to do?
oh um, was it this episode thatI talked about tarot?
Join the patreon for free andask for a tarot reading.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
I will do my best to start knocking those out I'm
laughing and this is my ask isthat you leave review as you
comment on our stuff.
Any of it tiktoks at all?
I?
I'm laughing because somebodySpeaking of music, somebody
commented I think it was onYouTube, where it's the Wild
Wild West, but I could be wrong.
(45:16):
I can't remember.
I could barely get through thisawful theme song yeah, where
was that?
Speaker 2 (45:24):
I think that was YouTube.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I'm like.
Oh, I said I'm.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
You know what, if we lost you at the theme song, you
ain't our people.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
I love our theme song and my good friend since like
elementary school, middle school, something like that wrote that
song, wrote, produced,performed that song and I love
it.
Speaking of songs, that justmade me laugh so hard because I
just remembered that.
But if you're still herelistening, I really.
If you don't like the song, Iget it.
I understand it's not foreverybody, but thanks for being
here.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
There's a 30 second skip button you can pass right
by.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
But I do appreciate you sticking through and being
here for us.
Everybody else, please likereview?
Actually, we really do needreviews.
We need Apple reviews andSpotify reviews.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
Yes, Apple and Spotify would be amazing.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
So if you guys could do that, or if you know people
that listen to us, could you askthem to do that for us please?
Like that's something that Idon't normally ask for, but we
really desperately need it.
Yeah, and let's join thePatreon.
Let's do some stuff.
Let's have some fun.
That reminded me of Lady Gagasong.
Let's have some fun and wrap itup.
The most important thing youcan do for us is to creep a
(46:29):
really little oddballs.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Goodbye.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Bye, I'm home with the dogman At the ID shop, woke
(46:53):
in the shadows At the ID shopand home with the eyeballs At
the ID shop.
The door's always open At theID shop.
I want to dance with the mothman at the IA shop,
baked in the moonlight at the IAshop.
Creep through the graveyard tothe IA shop.
The door's always open at theIA shop.
(00:29):
Welcome back to the Oddity ShopPodcast.
You little oddballs.
Zach just gave me the craziestface.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
This is the podcast where we tell you creepy, odd,
weird, strange and bizarrestories from around the world.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I'm your curator Kara , or I should say I'm your
curator Zach, because I messedit up one time.
I just said, because Kara wasKara last week, because Zach was
Kara last week.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm Kara now.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
I am your curator, zach, and that is your curator
Kara.
Hello, hello, how are you?
I'm good.
What did you have to tell me?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Okay, so you know how you're working on a little bit
of a gallery wall.
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Oh, you know the one with all the paper on it.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Oh my God, look it, it's finally, it's starting.
It's starting, okay.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
So I didn't hold on.
Let me just tell you something,because I didn't tell you this.
You know, that day that momcame over yeah, she's here all
day.
That's what she came over fornice okay.
Well, I was gonna say, if youneed anything else for it, I
found some really cool postersthat you're gonna love so here's
the thing I don't need posters,I want to hear where they're
from.
Speaker 2 (01:35):
Though I need, uh is this landscape yeah I need
things that go landscape some ofthese posters did actually oh,
okay, then tell me about it sothey're like um, it's called
madam talbot something posters,but they're like old-timey
creepy posters, but they're like, they're right up your alley.
I'll send you the link thatactually would be perfect I
actually saw them last weekendwhen my co-worker and one of my
(01:59):
besties, sarah, was out here, sorandomly from arizona she had a
wedding co-worker.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Bastille City Made it sound like two people.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
But she.
So she lives in Arizona, butshe had a wedding in Saugatuck,
michigan, to go to, so shestayed with me for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Which is so random.
So random Because of how closeyou are to that, to there.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I was 30 minutes away and she met the people, the
bride and groom.
She worked with them in Arizona.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Oh, I didn't know that.
That's even weirder.
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So they live in Chicago now, which makes more
sense.
So when she was out here wewent to like four antique shops
and then we found out a brandnew vintage antique shop had
opened in Grand Rapids, so wehad to go check it out and they
had these posters, but I alsofound where you can get them
online, so I hate to send it toyou.
I was so good though I didn'tbuy anything that's great At the
(02:50):
antique shops, but then her andJulia hit it off because
they're both big book people, sowe went to a bunch of
bookstores.
Did you read books?
I did.
I bought this book that I readwhen I was in college and it's
like it's not a like funstorybook, it's a psychological,
sociological studies called OnDeath and Dying, and it's that
(03:14):
one that's always referenced,where, like, the person went to
people when they were close todeath and, like interviewed them
.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Oh cool, I got it for five bucks.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Oh, I got a really awesome tarot book.
Oh cool, I got it for fivebucks.
I got a really awesome tarotbook oh cool, like on how to
intuitively read a little bitbetter.
Nice, and I bought a new tarotdeck or I should say decks,
you're not supposed to buy yourown?
decks, plants and Wives tale, Iknow, but so it was two decks in
one and it's really interesting.
So it's the major arcana isstandard rider wait style art,
rider wait smith.
The minor arcana is not so much, but it's called the tarot of
(03:52):
light and shadow and there's abunch of different ways you can
work with this.
So the art is slightlydifferent.
So, like in the light deck, theart of the fool is your
standard fool, the happy dog.
You know the birds over thecliff, but on the shadow side of
it the birds turn into bats andthe dog is baring his teeth.
But it doesn't.
It's not necessarily likethat's bad, it's just like
(04:14):
here's what's different at night.
So it's supposed to help youwith the intuitive reading.
What do you pick up on first?
Okay, you can either shuffleboth decks together or, like I
did, a three card for from thelight, which is supposed to be
more external factors, and athree card from the shadow,
which is supposed to be moreinternal, like shadow work.
It was just.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
It's a very interesting deck I'm so excited
about it for those of you thatare new ish here, zach did cover
a whole episode about tarot andthe different uh classes, the
what would you call them Classes.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
The different like suits and the major and minor
arcana and the history of it.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that's a good episode.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
That's when I first got started in.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
That's when you I know when you want to redo.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I've been.
No, I don't want to redo it.
I would still stand by it.
Here's the thing I've beenworking on this very personally
for about two years and I'mfinally getting the confidence
where I think I could startdoing readings.
So I'm going to open it up topeople who listen to this
episode.
Send us a message, Can I?
Speaker 1 (05:16):
Can I and I will do a reading.
Yes, I think it should be forPatreon.
You could be a free Patreon,you just have to be a member of
Patreon.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
There we go.
So yes, we'll do it on the freetier.
Patreon Join, and that would beso fun.
Where should they put that theywant in the chat?
Speaker 1 (05:34):
We'll start a new chat.
Okay, yeah, because I can startone that has all members and
it'll just be Tarot Perfect.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
And so I can't guarantee when I'll get to it,
but I am confident enough that Iwant to start doing it.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
So I love that.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
From posters to Sarah , to Tarot, there was my weekend
.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
OK, cool, so I have a couple of things.
Ok, this just made me think.
Did you order your 2026 planner?
I have not yet, but I need todo it have you been getting
texts about yeah, I was to sayabout promotions and stuff.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
OK because promotions and stuff, yep, okay because I
don't think I'm gonna order itagain.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
I want to but I just don't think I can.
But I love that planner, I knowyou do and I'm so happy I
bought it for you.
But I just couldn't.
What's it called the ritualw-r-i-t-u-l it?
Speaker 1 (06:15):
is so cool.
Oh, I just so.
This actually brings me thetopic that I told you.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
I forgot, I forgot and I remembered, I just can't
do it uh, this is very quick.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
If y'all could help a girl out, you can DM me, even
on my private socials.
You don't it doesn't have to befor the Oddity Shop podcast one
.
You can find me anywhere.
I need help.
Okay, I am very much strugglingright now.
I don't want to cry, but I feellike I might Hold on.
Okay, I'm fairly positive thatI have ADHD and that's not why
(06:47):
I'm crying.
I'm just very torn on what Ishould do about that.
So, if you guys have resources,or if you have ADHD and you're
struggling, I feel like it'sgetting worse as I getting older
.
Oh, I didn't think I was goingto cry about this.
I just don't know what I shoulddo.
I don't know if I want to bemedicated.
I just don't know what to do.
So you can keep this all in,it's fine.
So anyway, that is my personalif y'all could help a girl out.
(07:09):
On a positive note, not thatthis is a bad thing, it's not a
bad thing.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Would you like a tarot reading about it?
I?
Speaker 1 (07:15):
should.
Yes, I would.
That could be your first one.
We can do it on Patreon.
They can all watch.
I'm not crying because I thinkI have ADHD.
Plenty of people have it.
I just don't know what to dowith my life right now.
Anyway, on a positive note, mymost favorite person in the
world turned 90 on Sunday, yourgirlfriend Patricia.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
I love Aunt Pat.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
And we had such a great time.
So we took her out to a littlefancy fancy restaurant and it
was very cute because her cousin, me and Aaron we didn't tell
her we were coming.
So Aunt Pat was just with myparents and my uncle and so they
were there.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I'm upset.
I wasn't invited to Aunt Pat'sbirthday.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
You know what I was going to invite you, but I just
knew you wouldn't be able to goto St Clair.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
No.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
It's so far from you.
Anyway, we get there and wewalked in they were all seated
and she was just fucking flooredand she's like, oh my God, you
know it's just wonderful,wonderful.
Oh my God, this is so wonderful.
Anytime I'm anywhere it's themost wonderful thing for
Patricia Just saying which youknow.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
She's actually having a good time because she can be
a little bit curmudgeon-y.
So if she's like, things arewonderful.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
Hold on, she's not curmudgeon-y, she is a spicy
bitch.
Okay, love that woman to death,but that is solely where I get
my independence and my bitchfrom.
Is that woman?
So, anyway, she always ordersManhattans.
That's her drink, but I don'tunderstand why.
Because no one ever makes themcorrectly because she doesn't
(08:49):
like vermouth.
So you literally have to putthe tiniest splash of vermouth,
and if you put too much, it'swrong.
If you don't put enough, it'swrong.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I hear her on that, though.
Most people do not put thecorrect amount of vermouth in,
and I'm really picky about it inmy martinis.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
So we always go and we try to ask can you put the
vermouth in a separate glass?
But then they charge you for ashot.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Which is wild?
Speaker 1 (09:11):
So great though this one, this waitress, was
wonderful.
She was military and she wasmilitary but perfect.
She made one, had them make it.
It was not good.
She's like it is your birthdaygirl.
She said it's your 25thbirthday girl, we get you what
you want.
And she had them put some in ashot glass and so my mom made it
for her.
But I got her a special glassand they served it and she
(09:35):
didn't realize it was for me andit said like made in 19,.
She born in 1935 and it waslike made to perfection and it's
like a beautiful, like drinkingglass.
It was so cute she loved it andthen I bought her more for me.
But I bought her one of thosejournal books though, like where
it's like it's, it's, it'sseparated by ages and like what
was your favorite memory, yourfavorite cartoon, whatever for
(09:56):
her to fill out.
So it's more for me.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
But it was such a great day.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
It was very lovely, it was beautiful.
We just she cried, it was cute.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
Will you tell her I say happy birthday and I miss
her.
Next time you see her, oh, Iwill, all right.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
Her boyfriend shows us Are you, are we?
Speaker 2 (10:12):
sure he's gay.
You know what?
I'm straight for Aunt Pat.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
You're 90.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
I am so straight for Aunt Pat.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
You know what's so funny, though?
This is so cute.
And they weren't lying A tablenext to us was like.
After that, when they got up toleave and they were like happy
birthday.
They're like are you really 90?
Because she doesn't look 90.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
No, and she was like oh my god.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
And I said oh, I paid them to ask you that, all right
, okay, we ready, we are ready.
Well, I'm opening the shop thecorrect way, because I do have a
question for you.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
Okay, so we all know that when you go into the forest
, that you feel like you have aconnection, like with nature.
But where do you think, wheredoes it come from?
Why do you feel so connected toit?
Speaker 1 (10:55):
I just went to take a drink out of my straw and
spilled it everywhere.
Why do I feel so connected toit?
Speaker 2 (10:59):
Yeah, like, what do you think it is about?
Walking in the forest thatmakes you feel more connected to
nature?
Like, is it somethingmetaphysical?
Is it just because you're withthe plants?
Like, what is it about nature?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
That's a good question.
I think it's just because Ifeel like you were born into
nature, okay, like we used to bejust born into nature, like we
were part of it, like we wereall one.
Now, as, like we've progressedand things like that, we are so
far removed from nature, likethere are some people that, like
the, the most nature they getis walking to outside, to their
(11:35):
car.
So I think that we're so muchfar removed, but then it's kind
of like it's just an instinct,instinctual thing, like kind of
like you know, basically, theonly thing I think of is like
when people are like motherhood,like it's just an instinct, but
like I think it's just aninstinctual thing, when you're
in nature, it like comes to you,like, okay, that makes sense.
Sure, I'm trying to articulateit, yeah I know you.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You did a good job, so I think people have a hard
time explaining why it isobviously so.
The slavic people set out tofigure this out for us.
So, oh yeah, and they came upwith some lore.
So imagine that you're walkingthrough the woods and you do
something that might piss offnature a little bit.
(12:16):
Maybe you accidentally kill aplant, you purposely cut down a
small tree, maybe you litteredwhere you just didn't clean up
after your campsite.
Well enough okay and the nextthing you know you're lost.
Maybe you hear some whistlingor singing from deep within the
woods.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Oh no, you know how I feel about whistling,
especially at night.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We don't do that here yeah, well, you're gonna figure
out where this lore actuallycame from today.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So maybe you might see something that might be a
wolf, oh my god I gotta getthrough parts of this you're the
one always whistling at nightand I want to kill you, okay, so
?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
next thing you know you're lost.
You hear whistling or singingfrom deep within the woods.
One minute you see somethingthat appears to be a wolf or not
a wolf, but a man that growsbigger and bigger.
You try to escape, but now youare caught by the leshy I'm so
excited you're covering thisI've stumbled upon this randomly
(13:12):
recently.
Oh, I started playing a newgame on my switch called cult of
the lamb, and it is the cutestgame.
It's like one of those littlecity builder games, but you're
reincarnated lamb into this andyou're a reincarnated lamb and
you're a reincarnated lamb andyou have to grow a cult of all
these wooden critters to like doall your bidding for you and
you have to like go through theforest and beat bosses to like
(13:33):
get more cult members.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
But one of them was named leshy and I didn't think
anything about it at first, Ijust thought it was kind of like
a random name then I wasscrolling yes no, it just made
me think so I I was listening toSmoshry's Reddit stories the
other day and they were talkingabout Stardew Valley and how
it's just like such a littlewholesome game and I was like oh
, I love.
Stardew Zachary, and naming allthe animals in it after animals
he's actually met.
Speaker 2 (13:56):
Oh yeah, I just finally got my sister on it too.
If you haven't played Stardew,you need to, Okay?
So then I was like scrollingthrough Facebook and I sent you
this screenshot.
I'm like oh my God, this is mynext episode, Cause there was
something about Leshy.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Oh, you did send me that.
Yeah, you're right, I totallyforgot.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Right, it was titled the legend of Leshy the vodka
chugging baby stealing.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
trickster of Slavic lore.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
I totally forgot you sent me this I know I've been
sitting on this one a minute.
Okay, love it.
This is Slavic lore, right?
So they are people whooriginated in Central and
Eastern Europe.
They were nomadic people who,like, spread from Indo-European
origins around 2000 BC.
Okay, by the 4th century ADthey established large sediments
(14:43):
and began to spread into, likeBalkans, central Europe and East
of the Black Sea.
So these are, like, pretty muchyour Eastern European people.
A lot of them have Slavicgenealogy.
That's not the word I'm lookingfor, but that works Descent.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Thank you, I'm like, is it?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Their original culture, though, was obviously
being so, so, old, right.
A lot of it wasn't written, butit was handed down generation
to generation and a lot of theirlegends and lore, and history
definitely changes over time,but through the 7th and 12th
century they were a pagan peopleand they believed in many
different gods and entities andspirits.
Later they did becomeChristianized, but it's during
(15:19):
this time that they start to,before they were Christianized,
when they're still pagan, thatwe start to hand down stories of
the protector of the forestnamed Leshy.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Which I think that's such a cute little name.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
It is.
It is the cutest name ever.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
We got to name something after that.
Your next reptile, Leshy.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
My next reptile, or just my next stuffed reptile,
because half of them are justnamed Kevin.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Kevin.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Leshy though his physical, physical description.
He is an important so woodlandspirit for the slavic people.
Sometimes he's considered a godor like the god of the forest.
Sometimes he's just a lesserdeity.
Some describe him as demonic, aspirit shapeshifter, all sorts
of things, but I think theeasiest way to describe him is
just like the elemental spiritof the forest.
(16:07):
So he is like the embodiment ofwhat you feel when you go into
nature.
Who protects the land but alsomesses with anybody who
disrespects them?
see, I like this it's definitelyhard to tell if he is outright
evil, nice or just somethingelse entirely, and I almost
think it's like we're trying toput too many human
(16:29):
characteristics on him I wasgonna say, because I guess it's
like.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
It's probably just like how maybe you and I
articulate like we don't mindwhat religion or what beliefs
people think or have right, likewe respect all.
Like you can tell me about it.
But as long as you actually doall like you can tell me about
it, but as long as you actuallydo good and like you have good
energy and you're like a goodperson, like it's fine.
It's kind of the same thing,like if you're just walking
(16:52):
around in the woods like you'reprobably gonna be fine, don't do
dumb shit.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Not always, though.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Well, it's vibes.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
So one of the best ways I did see him describe it
is he his personality is not toofar off for how current pagan
people view fairies.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Oh, so you know, fairies aren't either good or
evil, but they just are kind ofon their own prerogative.
You just can't mess with them,yes, and you have to respect
them.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Yes, as far as leshies looks are concerned, he
is often described as like amasculine humanoid, looking like
really old and weathered largebeard, one eyebrow and eyelashes
only on the other eye and he'smissing his right ear so it's
not an eyebrow just like astraight eyebrow.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
It's just one eyebrow over one eye and eyelashes over
the other.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, yeah, he's like missing symmetrical features of
his face.
We don't know, but I think thething is is like this isn't his.
It's his most common form, butit's not his only form, so he's
just taking on human.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Can I ask a question?
Are you going to or do you wantme to wait?
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Let me get through all of the description and then
you can ask your question,because I'm probably going to
answer it.
Okay, he's also part forest,though, so he's covered in moss
and sticks.
Sometimes his beard is evenjust totally made out of trees,
like limb or moss, andeverything His skin is usually a
pale bark, like greenish color.
(18:21):
He has wild green hair and hisclothing is also made out of
elements of the forest, but thetwo surefire ways you're seeing
him is his glowing eyes and hislack of a shadow, no matter the
time of day.
Oh, I kind of think like okay,were you a Lord of the Rings
person?
Uh-huh, if you took Gandalf andan Ent and just mashed them
(18:43):
into one being.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Okay.
So what I was going to ask isIf you took Gandalf and an Ent
and just mashed them into onebeing Okay.
So what I was going to ask isdo we think that the mixed up
facial features are because he'strying to portray a human in
some way but just can't quiteget it?
But then the rest of thedescription doesn't really match
that.
That's what I was just tryingto think, like you know how,
like the only thing that'scoming to my mind is like black
(19:05):
eyed kids, how they're there'sreally obviously their eyes are
black, but something else is offabout them and you can't really
picture it.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
but you know they're not right I think he's just
supposed to look a little bitchaotic, because he's also not
always in this form.
He is a shapeshifter if he'sgonna take the form.
A lot of times he'll show as awolf, a bear, but unlike other
shapeshifters we've talked about, he can turn into anything.
(19:31):
So sometimes a tiny littleinsect, right.
But he can also appear as amushroom, a log, a pebble, any
animal or person, or just becometotally invisible altogether.
So he can literally take on anyform in the forest, whether
it's living or dead.
I love this.
He can also control his size.
(19:51):
People have seen it going froma small ant to this giant
imposing human, with no limitson the size like just
transforming just transformingas it moves through the forest.
This, I think this is cool.
So he he's very ethereal and I,you know this is more, less
think cryptid and more thinkfolklore I don't think cryptid
(20:13):
at all when you're telling methis right, this is more
ethereal spiritual okay onto hispersonality, powers and
behaviors, because he's got abig personality.
So he is said to protect thewoodlands, and the slavic people
believed that the forest was aliminal space between life and
death and he is the embodimentof that duality can I ask does
(20:36):
he go by he?
Because I feel like he would belike general gender fluid
pretty much always shows, as ahuman or as a male figure, very
masculine energy, and everyarticle did say he key.
Okay, just curious so, and inthis it's a good question,
because the slavic pagan culturethey did have both male and
female energies okay, cool sohis was always yeah, marked as
(21:00):
he okay, okay, cool so heprotects the woodlands.
Like I said, he lives in kind ofthat duality between life and
death.
He has the ability to mimic thesounds of animals, but also the
voices of travelers, so he cansound very familiar, luring you
deeper into the woods, but notsometimes evil, sometimes more
(21:21):
mischievous.
I I think, if I'm going to behonest, that in reading this, I
think this is where we start toget some of the lore of Flesh
Pedestrian and things from.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Appalachia.
I was just going to say thisreminds me of Flesh Pedestrian
Wendigo-ishy.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
And less from the Native American lore but more
the Native Europeans.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Which.
Speaker 2 (21:44):
There's very a ton of similarities.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Correct, dang I.
I was gonna ask something oh,do we think, or do you think or
maybe you're gonna tell me later, are we luring just anybody
random like do you think it goes?
Speaker 2 (21:57):
on to vibes okay a lot of the lore says too.
If you hear your name beingcalled in the woods and no one's
around, it's the leshy yeah,which that's just no.
While tricking humans, he alsotakes care of all the wildlife
and, loving all forms ofwildlife, he can also command
them and use them as hismessengers or spies.
(22:18):
Usually, it would be wolves,bears, owls and snakes that do
his bidding I mean wait, wolvesbears, owls snakes yes that
makes sense so that's his usual.
If he's going to control animals, what he does.
Okay, we said earlier he canwhistle a haunting tune, but he
can also make the forest comealive with laughing echoes,
sudden changes in weather likethick fogs, wind or storms.
(22:42):
I love him, I.
I really it's an interestingthing because it like with that
being the duality between lifeand death.
I think it's also like betweena good and bad.
I think you just can't give himthe human characteristics that
you want to.
Also, you'll love this.
You know who he's supposedlygood friends with, who the baba
yaga.
Oh, they're friends, they'refriends.
(23:06):
They're.
They're like tight.
Okay, getting into his liketrickster behaviors.
Okay, he's sort of playful andhe'll make like trick people who
come into the forest so he'llcash cash.
He'll cast illusions anddisorient people, a skill he
usually uses to protect animalsfrom hunters who are not acting
(23:28):
right.
And it makes you go into partsof the forest and get lost.
Some of his more benevolentportrayals depict him luring
children and babies into thewoods, especially those who
haven't been baptized, those whowander into the forest alone
and those who've been mistreatedby their kin, especially their
(23:48):
parents.
Now, don't get sad, because itsounds evil.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
I mean, I'm not, I was really just thinking.
But then I'm like is he takingthem to raise them?
Speaker 2 (23:57):
So you know, have you ever seen trees with like those
big round kind of lumps in themiddle?
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Yes, those are the kids.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Those are where he traps the souls of his victims,
but it opens them up to aparallel world.
So, as far as the legends kindof tell, it seems like this is
the ethereal realm of the forestdwelling folk.
So it's almost like he's takingkids who aren't saved or who
are mistreated or whatnot, likesometimes it's just stealing the
babies, but other times it'slike whisking them away to this
like different land.
Speaker 1 (24:27):
I don't know.
It's hard to tell if he's goodor bad.
Every time I hear anythingabout stealing children's, I
just think of Gryla.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
So, yeah, it's less the evil like taking the bad
kids, it's more like those whodon't have anywhere else to go.
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Gryla also does that.
If the baby doesn't have a home, they take it.
She takes it, but she's crazytake it she takes it, but she's
crazy.
Okay, he's probably friends withgrilo too.
Let's be honest, I don't know.
I'm feeling like it's like anenergy thing.
He can tell if you're like inthe woods and you're like a bad
person, maybe I'm gonna lure youover here.
(24:59):
If maybe these kids are gonnabad souls, I'm gonna take the
bad ones, but the good ones thatare just in really awful
situations maybe I'm gonna likere-home I don't know that's kind
of how I'm I'm with you to thispoint, but he also likes a good
bribe which that's fine.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
That doesn't make you bad he can be calmed down with
offerings and a man after my ownheart.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
Okay, I was gonna say his two favorite though are,
can be bribed.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I can be bribed, and I would probably fall for his
two favorite offerings, whichare tobacco and buckets full of
vodka, but I yeah me and theleshy, we would have a good time
.
You're besties.
So hunters firmly believe thattheir success was always
determined by the leshy.
He was kind of responsible fordistributing the bounties of the
(25:48):
forest, so, to make sure theyhad a good hunt, they would
enter into a pact with leshy now, this is usually done during
easter and they would offer hima gift such as either the first
easter egg bread with saltalthough he liked the bread if
they mixed it with their ownhair and nails A sacrifice of
one's own blood, a contractwritten in blood, or tobacco or
(26:11):
vodka.
What he would do, he wouldguide herds of animals towards
hunters or to their traps,ensuring accurate shots.
Now the contract was, though,is that the hunters could not
take more than they needed.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
Say the first part to me, he would guide he would
guide herds of animals towardshunters traps.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Okay, and help the hunter ensure an accurate shot
but they couldn't, yeah, butthey couldn't take more than
they needed so you can't takemore than you need, you can't
disrespect the land and you haveto like keep making offerings
to the leshy now.
If you stopped or you fucked up, you would lose his protection
and usually face severeconsequences, up to illness and
(26:56):
death do you know if he wouldoffer you all of those like I
can bribe you can give me all ofthese.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Or would he just come to you and be like do do we
know that?
Speaker 2 (27:07):
I think it was.
It's more of these huntersweren't physically meeting with
him.
It's you leave the offering,almost like you would for an
ancestral or an ancestor, onyour altar, or you know, like
different, so you leave thesethings out for him.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And hope for this.
Ah, that makes so much moresense, okay, okay, so you're
basically picking the bribe.
What?
Speaker 2 (27:28):
do you mean?
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Out of all of those bribes, you're basically picking
what you're offering him.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
You're, yeah, you're picking what you're offering him
.
It's the most powerful during.
I'd give him vodka.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Right, I'm not picking the blood contract that
I might mess up.
Speaker 2 (27:43):
I mean, it depends on how bad you and your family
were hurting for meat you know.
Yeah, that's kind of like abroad description of him, though
Okay, because, though this isremember, not written history,
this was orally passed down.
There's so many differentdescriptions.
Like I said, sometimes he'sgood, sometimes he's tricky,
sometimes he's a demon,sometimes he's a god.
(28:03):
It seems like he lives inconstant dualities, and many of
the articles had sometimes theywould capitalize Leshy and
sometimes they wouldn't, and itseems to me like there's almost
one godlike Leshy who is thephysical spirit and all these
other energies of him that aremore like minions.
(28:23):
Oh yeah, it's a very it it'shard to grasp idea.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
I think he's just multifaceted and he is just, but
he's also everywhere.
That's okay.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
So is mother nature right, I, I just, I love, I love
sometimes with folklorecreatures that they, it, just it
goes beyond the physics weunderstand but.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
But doesn't that make sense?
It does, it does I like it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, I'm not, I wasn'tquestioning like you did, I'm
just mean like.
But to me it makes sensebecause if you go walk in the
woods to me at least and I knowwe've talked about this before I
need to just sometimes put myfeet in the grass or lay in the
grass and I don't care how crazymy neighbors think I am.
(29:11):
Where grass freaks you out, Iknow, on your little bare feet.
I hate that feeling.
It just does something to me.
And if I just go walk in mylittle small woods, kind of
behind my house, by myself,through the trails, it gives me
the most magical feeling thatyou cannot describe Like you.
Just so I do get it.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
But have you ever had that moment too, where you walk
in there and you just don'tfeel right, like maybe he's just
having a bad day, maybe theenergy is off?
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yes, so that's kind of where I was going to go, is
that?
But there are some days I'llwalk through the exact same path
and you do kind of feel likeyou're watched, like maybe you
shouldn't be there and it's notwatched by a human, like you
know the difference, like if,like a weirdo creep is watching
you at least I do, and I havefelt that and then, like the
deer will pop out and they'lljust be staring at me and it'll
(29:53):
just be like really weird, likewhat the hell is going on.
So I do get that.
But is that any different thanyou and I just having a bad day
and I would love to spitesomebody and I would love to
fucking dagger somebody.
So you know, he's just having abad day.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Somebody didn't give him enough vodka.
Speaker 1 (30:11):
And you just.
I know I'm going to go forwalks with vodka.
Now Sprinkle it in the bushes.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
There you go.
Perfect, it's a perfect excuseto drink in the woods.
Speaker 1 (30:19):
When you come here, we should just go to the forest
with vodka and our water bottlesDown Deal.
Speaker 2 (30:28):
OK, I with vodka and our water bottles down deal.
Okay, I have three folk talesfor you.
Oh, I'm so excited for this.
Do you want the hunter, thechild or the merchant?
First child okay, the child.
And the trickster spirit.
This is a ukrainian folk taleand it tells of a young boy
named danilo and he chased abutterfly into the woods while
his mother was tending thefields.
Do it, how old was he?
This is a folk tale.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
I don't have any information otherending the
fields do it?
Speaker 2 (30:46):
how old was he?
This is a folk tale.
I don't have any informationother than the little story I'm
going to read you, and it's fora lesson.
So no questions.
Questions.
At the end he was chased, or hechased a butterfly into the
woods while his mother wastending the fields.
Hours passed.
When his mother called for himand there was no answer, only
the sound of distant laughter.
The villagers.
When his mother called for him,and there was no answer, only
(31:06):
the sound of distant laughter,the villagers warned his mother
that the leshy had taken him.
So the elders performed an oldritual they turned their clothes
inside out, they walkedbackwards into the forest, they
rang church bells and afterhours of searching they found
Danilo sitting under the branchof a pine tree, dazed but
unharmed.
(31:26):
He claimed he'd been playingwith a tall man with a beard of
leaves, who gave him berries andshowed him dancing animals.
This story it was showing thathe wasn't always malevolent,
that he liked to just play withand take care of lost children
and would rarely harm them ifproperly respected.
The whole thing about puttingyour clothes on backwards,
(31:47):
walking backwards and ringingchurch bells are ways to
disorient the leshy back offyour path.
So if he was trying to hide thechild from them, the only way
they could find him were bydoing these bizarre rituals.
But anyway, the lesson here isto you know not wander near the
forest alone and leave yourchildren unattended.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
What if it was just like a homeless guy that lived
in the woods and had just likeleaves in his beard?
Speaker 2 (32:13):
And like buckets of vodka, I mean we're not far off.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
Exactly.
So like I don't know that oneOkay, next Wait.
What are my options?
Speaker 2 (32:21):
So I mean, these aren't not him, these are
literally the stories that werehanded down of the lashing.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
What are my other two options?
You have hunter or merchant.
Merchant.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
So this is kind of one of the darker tales.
This comes from Belarus culture, and a traveling merchant named
Pavel took a shortcut through adense forest, ignoring warnings
that the leshy walks there.
As night fell, he heardbranches cracking and a voice
calling his name in his mother'svoice Eww.
Confused, he followed the sounddeeper and deeper until the
(32:55):
forest seemed to close in, thetrees forming walls and the
paths vanishing.
Hours turned into days.
Oh Havel.
Tried marking trees, but themarks disappeared, he swore.
He saw shadowy figures laughingjust beyond his torchlight.
In desperation, he prays, heturns his clothes inside out, as
the folklore advised, and theforest shifts.
(33:18):
Walking backwards, he stumblesinto a clearing near his village
.
Days after he had entered, thestory goes the merchant came out
alive, but utterly changed.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
He refused to ever speak about what he'd seen in
the forest and never steppedfoot in them again um, okay, so
the putting your back backwards,putting your clothes backwards
and then walking backwards, isthat just to basically like
you're confusing him?
Is that kind of what we think?
Speaker 2 (33:43):
it seems to be like you have to confuse him back
yeah, because he is assuming,right by doing like that, that
you're still walking the otherway, right, okay, that's the way
to beat the illusions that hecreates got you.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
Okay, that's kind of what I thought.
Uh, that is creepy.
But also, guess what?
He went in?
Not like, haha, you don't exist, I don't believe in you.
And so he was like, let meteach you a lesson.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Had he left an offering, he probably would have
been fine, but yeah, he ignoredthe warnings that Aleshi was
walking there.
Mm, hmm, OK what a ding dong.
Ready for the hunter tale.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Oh, I sure am.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
All right.
So this is the hunter's pactwith Aleshi and this is a tour
folk tale.
A skilled hunter named jagorwanders deep into the forest
searching for game but findsnothing.
Exhausted, he sits under anancient oak tree and muttered
curses about his bad luck.
(34:41):
Suddenly the forest becomessilent and a massive man with
moss for a beard and eyesglowing like embers steps out
from behind a tree.
He asked Jaeger why he daredcurse the forest.
Terrified, he fell to his kneesand begged for forgiveness,
which amused the Leshy, and theLeshy offered him a deal If
Jaeger left an offering of breadand tobacco every new moon, he
(35:04):
would never leave the forestempty-handed.
So from that point forward,jaeger never returned from a
hunt without game, until onemonth when he forgot his
offering.
The next time he entered thewoods, oh yeah, the forest
twisted around him, the pathslooped endlessly, whispers
echoed his names and the wolveshowled all night.
(35:27):
So he stumbles home days later,gaunt and shaking, vowing to
never break his pact again.
And as long as he kept puttingofferings, he kept returning
with game.
So it's like, once you sort ofenter into a deal with him,
you're stuck yeah that's whereit's like.
The whole thing with him justseems to be like the force is
mine, you're in my domain,you're gonna do as I say, or
(35:49):
else I'm gonna make it hell foryou I'm mad about that because,
let's be honest, human, humans,yeah, they never take good care
of the forest, so like he's.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
He's just protecting the land and the animals no, I
don't like.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
I think we just have to get rid of, like, the
humanization of good or bad,he's just is what he is.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
I like it.
Speaker 2 (36:09):
I like him.
In case you ever run across oneon your travels, because I know
you spend a lot of time outthere, Turn my clothes backwards
.
I have a whole whole list ofthings you can do.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Oh my God, you pulled a carrot.
You should make a sheet.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
I know, I know.
So the first thing you have todo is confuse him with the
clothes trick.
You're right, okay, but youcan't just put your clothes
inside out or backwards you haveto do both, and it works best
if you switch your left and yourright shoe, oh Lord.
So it confuses him and makes ithard to track.
You is kind of why you have todo that.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Okay, oh, okay, yeah, because the tracking, because
it's wrong.
Okay, okay, okay yes.
Speaker 2 (36:49):
Now, this is depending on your belief.
So, remember, he existed inpagan times and his story still
existed after Christianization.
So you have to invoke either aprayer or some sort of blessing
to break his illusions.
So, if you believe inChristianity or whatever
religion, you could say a prayerof that religion.
(37:09):
You could, um, you know, uselike the lord's prayer or
something okay.
Otherwise you could usedifferent incantations or
offerings to the woodland, okay.
And if you are pagan, you canalso call upon different deities
to come in and disrupt hismagic oh, okay, okay, hmm if you
(37:29):
think he's on to you but youhaven't been totally lost and
turned around and freaked outand the animals aren't coming
for you yet.
It is wise to carry bread, salt, tobacco, vodka, coins or
really cool rocks beforeentering the woods, and you can
always leave it on a tree stumpfor him.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
So just bring all of that on all your hikes.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
I mean, let's be honest, I always have cool rocks
on me, so I'd be golden.
Speaker 1 (37:55):
But do you have bread coins to back off of?
You don't have to leave all ofthem, you just have to leave
something for him.
I thought you had to leave allof them.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
And this is before he's totally pissed off.
So if you think he's kind ofonto you Now, you also have to
ask him for permission.
So when you leave the offering,it's wise to say Leshi, we are
guests in your forest, pleaselet us pass safely.
Oh, I like that though.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Forgetting to ask for permission could render your
offering completely useless.
Speaker 1 (38:22):
That makes sense.
So what I will say is I feeland you could correct me if I'm
wrong, but I feel like the rocksthat you leave should not be
rocks that you've taken from hisforest.
They should be ones that youfound ahead of time.
Speaker 2 (38:33):
I would say yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:34):
Okay, at least not, you know, maybe from a different
Leshies forest or something.
Speaker 2 (38:39):
Yes, you can also carry protective charms with you
, though, if you forget youroffering.
Okay, one of the easiest ones,and this is just from ancient
universal Slavic spiritrepellent just have something
with iron in it.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
Oh, you could also use holy water I think I just
want to bring vodka vodka workstoo, but you have to ask for the
permission.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
if you carry a birch branch, he said, for whatever
reason, to not mess with you, orblessed herbs like wormwood or
saint john John's wort, he'llleave you alone.
And then the final one, whichgoes with putting your clothes
on backwards, is the walkingbackwards.
Speaker 1 (39:16):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
So it's to help you retrace your steps in a way,
because his illusions arebelieved to disorient only
forward progress.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
So if you appear to be going backwards, you trick
him into letting you go.
That makes sense.
Yeah, okay, I still think I'mjust going to like bring a flask
of vodka or something and thenhope for the best.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Worst case scenario if he's messing with you too
hard, you just drink a bunch ofvodka yourself and hey, who
cares?
Speaker 1 (39:44):
I don't really want to drink vodka straight.
You would.
Well, I'm.
Speaker 2 (39:48):
Polish.
I cannot do that straight.
You would well, I'm polish, Icannot do that.
It reminds me of a time at workwhere I won a bottle of vodka.
This was many jobs ago and theywouldn't give it to me until
the end of the day oh, Iremember my boss.
I'm like why can't I hold on toit?
He goes because you're polishand you refer to vodka as potato
water.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
Yeah, it's just hydrating, but they don't want
there I although I can't drinkvodka like I used to.
Speaker 2 (40:10):
Let's be honest I'm old now.
Speaker 1 (40:11):
Oh my God, what cult was it where she?
Speaker 2 (40:15):
Mother God, mother God With a colloidal silver,
yeah.
She literally just didn't eatfood.
She drank vodka.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Because it was potatoes and she thought she was
fine.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
I was just talking about her last weekend, really.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
Really, that's so wild.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Oh, she didn't think it was potatoes, she just was a
raging alcoholic and delusionalas hell.
Speaker 1 (40:30):
I thought that she told people that it was vegan.
Speaker 2 (40:34):
Oh, that's what it was.
That's what it was, because Iwas a fan of.
Oh my God, I knew it wassomething.
Anyways, a lot of the you knowhe's a folklore creature at the
end of the day, so a lot of itis symbolism.
No, lot of it is symbolism.
No, it's real.
The lessons are to teach you toalways respect nature, have a
healthy fear of deep forests andunderstand the boundaries
(40:55):
between civilization and thewilderness and when they should
and shouldn't be crossed.
And he was kind of meant aslike a way to teach people
lessons of caution, humility andreverence for the natural world
I, I love it.
Speaker 1 (41:09):
I love a Lushy.
Speaker 2 (41:10):
I really like him.
I feel like we could befriendhim easily.
Plus, we respect the forest.
So here's my final words ofwarning for you.
The biggest thing you canremember or take away from this
lesson respect the damn forest.
You know how to do things right.
Pack in, pack out, take onlywhat you need.
(41:31):
Don't cut down trees, overhuntor treat animals badly, and if
you do, you ain't never leaving.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Or you could run with the my Favorite Murder route
and stay out of the forest.
There you go.
Oh, I love that.
So I have a question for youthen.
Are you done?
Speaker 2 (41:48):
Are you done?
Yep, that's what I got for you.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
What's your favorite Taylor Swift folklore song?
Speaker 2 (41:55):
You know OK, so I I know I shit on you for your
Taylor Swiftiness.
I did.
I liked her first two albums,although I would never have
admitted that in high school,and then I really got into 1984
1989.
Yes, I don't know that I couldHold on.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
I don't think you know anything from folklore.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I might, though.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
My favorite from folklore is Invisible String and
then Mirrorball, and then theOne.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Yeah, I'm looking at the list now.
This is not an album I reallygot into.
What was the one where sheturned like to bad Taylor?
I really liked that one.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
Reputation.
Yeah, so here's what's funny isthat even our Swifty of all
Swifties, Emily, folklore isn'treally one of the like.
She knows it, but she's like.
I never really got into it, butit's becoming one of my
favorites, and so every time youkept saying folklore, I was
like Taylor.
Speaker 2 (42:47):
Swift, I have totally lost you.
I'm going to leave an offeringfor the Leshy to get rid of your
Taylor Swift addiction.
Speaker 1 (42:55):
Y'all you know what.
Here's the thing If anaddiction is bad and bringing
you down, then I think youshould get rid of it.
If your addiction is a womanwho is a lyrical genius and does
hundreds of millions ofthousands of dollars worth of
great things, okay, here's.
Speaker 2 (43:10):
Here's my theory on her.
I have watched anti-taylorswift people yeah, do 180s.
I have watched her climb to thetop.
I watch all the ritual shit shedoes with the way the albums
all relate to each other.
That woman's a witch and youcannot convince me otherwise oh,
I won't doubt it, she.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
She literally puts narcotics in her lyrics.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
As she says in one of her lyrics yeah, she is witchy
but you know what I as not a bigfan of hers.
Yeah, you don't have to be nowI I liked a lot of her older
stuff.
I I don't know why.
I just kind of fell off.
But it's fine, it is what it is.
She's a powerful ass witch andshe knows what the hell she's
doing.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
She's genius, she's 100 genius, she's 100% genius.
But you know what me and momwere talking about the other day
.
It's like, you know, music ismagic, because what else can
just put you in, like, when doyou just this is well, whatever,
it's fine, it makes sense forus.
But when can you just like?
You know you put on songs whenyou're sad and they like put you
in, they express what you'refeeling, and then you just like
(44:08):
you're good, and then you getout of it, or you stay in a
little bit because you need to.
Or you put on a song that makesyou so happy and like vibes,
and then it makes it pumps youup, or you, you know you put on
a song that like calms you down,like that.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
I mean, I just saw street light for the first time
in six years and I'll tell youthat was oh, oh, thomas Kalanick
is a god.
So, okay, yeah, magic.
We could keep ranting aboutmusic, but we could also start
to wrap things up and let thesepeople out of here.
So, um, any weird tales thathave happened to you in the
forest, write those in.
(44:40):
Um, leave a tree emoji.
Yes, perfect.
And what else do these peopleneed to do?
oh um, was it this episode thatI talked about tarot?
Join the patreon for free andask for a tarot reading.
Speaker 1 (44:55):
I will do my best to start knocking those out I'm
laughing and this is my ask isthat you leave review as you
comment on our stuff.
Any of it tiktoks at all?
I?
I'm laughing because somebodySpeaking of music, somebody
commented I think it was onYouTube, where it's the Wild
Wild West, but I could be wrong.
(45:16):
I can't remember.
I could barely get through thisawful theme song yeah, where
was that?
Speaker 2 (45:24):
I think that was YouTube.
Speaker 1 (45:27):
I'm like.
Oh, I said I'm.
Speaker 2 (45:30):
You know what, if we lost you at the theme song, you
ain't our people.
Speaker 1 (45:34):
I love our theme song and my good friend since like
elementary school, middle school, something like that wrote that
song, wrote, produced,performed that song and I love
it.
Speaking of songs, that justmade me laugh so hard because I
just remembered that.
But if you're still herelistening, I really.
If you don't like the song, Iget it.
I understand it's not foreverybody, but thanks for being
here.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
There's a 30 second skip button you can pass right
by.
Speaker 1 (45:57):
But I do appreciate you sticking through and being
here for us.
Everybody else, please likereview?
Actually, we really do needreviews.
We need Apple reviews andSpotify reviews.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
Yes, Apple and Spotify would be amazing.
Speaker 1 (46:08):
So if you guys could do that, or if you know people
that listen to us, could you askthem to do that for us please?
Like that's something that Idon't normally ask for, but we
really desperately need it.
Yeah, and let's join thePatreon.
Let's do some stuff.
Let's have some fun.
That reminded me of Lady Gagasong.
Let's have some fun and wrap itup.
The most important thing youcan do for us is to creep a
(46:29):
really little oddballs.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Goodbye.
Speaker 1 (46:31):
Bye, I'm home with the dogman At the ID shop, woke
(46:53):
in the shadows At the ID shopand home with the eyeballs At
the ID shop.
The door's always open At theID shop.
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