About this episode
This episode explores the Boo Hag from Gullah folklore and its similarities to vampires, featuring insights from Jacob Stroyer's writings.
Have you ever heard of the Boo Hag? No we are not talking about Ghost Gossip, but she does join us on this episode to talk about this very interesting cryptid. In Gullah folklore, boo hags are similar to vampires. Unlike vampires, they gain sustenance from a person's breath, as opposed to their blood, by riding their victims. Hags who were "witches" sold their souls to the devil and had the power to change into animals and insects and drain their victims' spiritual essence. Jacob Stroyer, born enslaved in South Carolina in 1849, wrote about hags and conjurers on a plantation in South Carolina. According to his autobiography: The witches among slaves were supposed to have been persons who worked with them every day, and were called old hags or jack lanterns. Those, both men and women, who, when they grew old, looked odd, were supposed to be witches. Sometimes after eating supper the enslaved would gather in each other's cabins which looked over the large openings on the plantation, and when they would see a light at a great distance and saw it open and shut they would say 'there is an old hag,' and if it came from a certain direction where those lived whom they called witches, one…
People in this episode
Host: Para-Chum, J.D.
Guest: Boo Hag
Topics covered
- Gullah folklore
- Boo Hag
- cryptids
- vampires
- spiritual essence
- witches
- enslavement
Keywords
- Boo Hag
- Gullah folklore
- cryptid
- vampires
- spiritual essence
- witches
- Jacob Stroyer
Mentioned in this episode
Books & works: The witches among slaves, autobiography
Places: South Carolina
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