@wyrdwednesday.bsky.social
Here's to spread the Wyrd - join us for a different theme every Wednesday!
Another #WyrdWednesday for the books! Thank you for all of your glorious grayscale posts.
Our next topic will be announced on Monday. Until next time, have a lovely week!
Dying CรบChulainn by Oliver Shepperd with Mรณrrรญgan, General Post Office, Dublin; photocredit 1. Neu-Kelte
#WyrdWednesday #LegendaryWednesday #Celtic: `As #CรบChulainn died he bound himself to a standing stone with his own entrails, to die on his feet, and none of his enemies would come close until the Morrigan perched on his shoulder in the form of a raven.` #Celtic
Source: emeraldisle.ie/the-m...
#WednesdayWins for #WyrdWednesday - November Noir in Black & White - ๐
murder is afoot... in the strange case of a dead man who altered his eating habits...
Four and Twenty Blackbirds, Agatha Christie ๐
#silicasun ๐ค๐โค๏ธ
When the forest spirits of the Schรถmberg region abandoned their former homes, they left white sparrows behind so that the mortals would remember them.
#WyrdWednesday #Poland #folktale #folklore
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Forest_Spirits_and_the_White_Sparrows
Thanks to @cwreeve.bsky.social for the last round!
@prairiebones.bsky.social is ready for your black, white, and all things grayscale posts!
#WyrdWednesday #BookChatWeekly
"The crow wished everything was black, the Owl, that everything was white."
William Blake
๐จJamie Heiden * Annabel Spenceley
Raven cut out from Henry Emerson Tuttle's Ravens MET DP832890, artist QS-P170,Q52156669, Conversation Piece, CC0 1.0
#WyrdWednesday #LegendaryWednesday #Celtic: `The raven has long been an omen of ill-tidings around the world, bearer of bad news and warnings, but in Ireland it was known once as a servant of the fairy Morrigan, or the raven was herself in person!`
19.11.2025 17:36 โ ๐ 7 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
A black cow haunts the vicinity of Kirrwiller.
#WyrdWednesday #France #folktale #folklore #cow
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Black_Cow
The Peacock Skirt
1892
Illustration by Aubrey Beardsley
Salomรฉ by Oscar Wilde
#WyrdWednesday
Keeper of the Dark Copse II (1951-1952). Silhouettes of trees and vegetation are highlighted by the whiter or lighter 'auras' around them. Some are almost anthropomorphised or resemble the chimeras of folk horror images. The Keeper is a mysterious, solitary, possibly ghost-like figure, its light colour standing out against the dark copse. Apparently 'dualistic' traits make up a picture that might be complete, but one that is also unending ...
"I'm trying to get beyond the world of appearances to something more absolute". Using a monochrome palette, artist Alan Reynolds went under the surface of the landscape and into its soil, evoking what he experienced as the spirit of place #WyrdWednesday
19.11.2025 16:30 โ ๐ 21 ๐ 7 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
The Raven by Tupulak, CC BY 2.0
#WyrdWednesday #LegendaryWednesday #Celtic: `Several kinds of riddles figure in marriage stories and rituals, as means of bringing opposites together. In 'The Wooing of Ailbe' there are many of the kind which requires finding a degree beyond the superlative:
...
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In black-and-white films, the enterprising set designers made the perfect snow out of corn flakes painted white ... hehe, frosted flakes โ๏ธโ๏ธโ๏ธ
#WyrdWednesday
In 1519, a long, black figure was spotted in Murder Alley of the town of Hof.
#WyrdWednesday #Germany #folktale #folklore
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Long_Man_in_the_Murder_Alley_at_Hof
#WyrdWednesday
#Hookland
Novembre noir
The trees mostly sang to me
The ash rang like a lyre
The oak hummed a dirge, deep, sad and slow.
Birches chanted a soaring polyphonic chorus.
But the blackthorn uttered dark, bitter oaths about the hard times still to come
#WyrdWednesday
The fascinating Day and Night print by Dutch artist M C Escher.
Raven, photo credit 1. Neu-Kelte
#WyrdWednesday #LegendaryWednesday #Celtic: `The wizard swineherds of Ochall, king of the sid of Connacht, and Bodb, king of the sid of Munster, were first friends and later rivals.
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![[โฆ] their sakes who are of my brotherhood." On the other hand, the "base vermin" has been regarded with far different feelings by the peasantry of a water-side. The Highland people affectionately call it caraid nam bochd, "the poor man's friend," because of its habit of eating no more than a bit from the back or shoulder of a salmon, and then leaving the fish lying on the bank, to be picked up by the first passer-by. In Scotland it has been an old belief that the otters have a king, of larger size than the rest of the species, and farther distinguished by having his coat streaked or varied with white. His skin, moreover, was thought to possess inestimable virtues to mankind. It was an antidote for infectious diseases: the Highlanders were anxious to line their targets with it to ensure victory in battle; and mariners valued it as an infallible preservation against shipwreck at sea. But, as we are told, "the otter-king is very rarely seen, and very hard to be killed;" and he is never killed without the sudden death of a man or an animal at the same moment!](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:vmd2oqboco524fhpqdu7pnbn/bafkreifz7pne3gkqmycprrzwh4zxb7r2pieri73q3omoxqneuepnynkovi@jpeg)
[โฆ] their sakes who are of my brotherhood." On the other hand, the "base vermin" has been regarded with far different feelings by the peasantry of a water-side. The Highland people affectionately call it caraid nam bochd, "the poor man's friend," because of its habit of eating no more than a bit from the back or shoulder of a salmon, and then leaving the fish lying on the bank, to be picked up by the first passer-by. In Scotland it has been an old belief that the otters have a king, of larger size than the rest of the species, and farther distinguished by having his coat streaked or varied with white. His skin, moreover, was thought to possess inestimable virtues to mankind. It was an antidote for infectious diseases: the Highlanders were anxious to line their targets with it to ensure victory in battle; and mariners valued it as an infallible preservation against shipwreck at sea. But, as we are told, "the otter-king is very rarely seen, and very hard to be killed;" and he is never killed without the sudden death of a man or an animal at the same moment!
โIn Scotland it has been an old belief that the otters have a king, of larger size than the rest of the species, and farther distinguished by having his coat streaked or varied with whiteโฆโ
โRobert Scott Fittis, Sports & Pastimes of Scotland (1891)
#WyrdWednesday
A strange black figure guards a treasure hidden in the streets of Wernigerode.
#WyrdWednesday
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Black_Man_with_the_Rod
Artist Donovan Humphries' depiction of the GAZ-21 Volga in an alleyway, shining its brights and ready to abduct you.
From Hungary to Mongolia, children are taught to fear the Black Volga, a car with white interior curtains that belonged to either the secret police, the mafia, or to Satan himself, depending on region. Those who see it are never seen again #WyrdWednesday
๐ผ๏ธ: D. Humphries
B&W still of a woman holding a gun and looking down at a bulky, hinged box.
A cross between #Wyrdwednesday and #Noirvemberโ๏ธ Hereโs the wyrdest of original noir films: Kiss Me Deadly. The criminals all seek this box, not realizing that just opening it will [๐ฅ๐ฉป๐ต] them. Iโm certain it inspired Repo Man. With the oddest of villains, and the debut of Cloris Leachman (Blรผcher!๐ด).
19.11.2025 14:59 โ ๐ 7 ๐ 2 ๐ฌ 1 ๐ 0
A Santiso's Tulpar, showing a black winged horse with golden hair and wings, the night's starry sky on its coat, with clouds all around it as it flies.
Among Turkish mythology across Central Asia, the Tulpar is a winged horse, black or white in color, known to be faster than a storm and able to cross great distances quickly. The first fiddle was made from a Tulpar's hair and sinews. #WyrdWednesday
๐ผ: A. Santiso
Hereโs Surt preparing to destroy the universe with monochromatic flames, courtesy of John Charles Dollman.
#wyrdwednesday
The Black Knight in Arthurian legend is the mystery character reduced to silhouette. His armor hides name, face, allegiance. Folklore loves a battle against the unknown. #WyrdWednesday
Art: Julek Heller
Mannequin dressed in a long, trained black dress, wearing a waist-length veil.
Cover of The Ghost Wore Black Ghastly Tales from the Past, Chris Woodyard. A skeletal face is seen under a semi-sheer lace veil.
#WyrdWednesday The apparitional "Women in Black," veiled and dressed in widowโs weeds, were a female equivalent of Spring-heeled Jack. Seemingly bullet-proof and uncatchable, they flitted about in the dark, causing small-town panics across the 19th-century US. hauntedohiobooks.com/news/mistres...
19.11.2025 14:28 โ ๐ 24 ๐ 4 ๐ฌ 0 ๐ 0
An eerie black cat haunts a meadow near Salzderhelden.
#WyrdWednesday
https://wiki.sunkencastles.com/wiki/The_Black_Cat
A photo of Peel Castle, a gothic edifice of brown stone looking above a small bay. Photo by Bjorn Bjorklid, Wikimedia Commons.
One of the many Black Dog #ghosts of British #folklore haunted Peel Castle on the Isle of Man. It seemed tame and the garrison became quite used to it. But one night a drunken soldier followed it into its lair, a dark tunnel. He came out again gabbling in terror - and fell down dead.
#WyrdWednesday
#WyrdWednesday
In Welsh mythology, white is traditionally the colour of the beasts of Annwn, the Otherworld.
It is the colour of Rhiannon's magical steed, the enchanted boar tracked by Pryderi and Manawydan, and the white-furred, red-eared Cลตn Annwn, dubbed "Hell Hounds" by Christian storytellers.
An old photo of a Javanese woman sitting on a bench in a dressing room with her hands folded on her lap. She wears a thick bun hairstyle with flower-shaped hairpins, tiered gold necklace, black, long-sleeved top with gold embroideries on the hems, and a batik skirt.
An old photo of a Javanese woman and man. The man stands next to her with his hand on her shoulder, and she sits on a bench in a dressing room with her hands folded on her lap. She wears a thick bun hairstyle with flower-shaped hairpins, tiered gold necklace, black, long-sleeved top with gold embroideries on the hems, and a batik skirt. He wears a long-sleeved black coat with gold embroideries and batik skirt.
A wedding photo of a man and a woman in traditional Javanese wedding style outfits. The man wears a tall black cap with black coat and gold embroideries, his lower half wrapped in a thick batik sarong with gold and black details. He smiles at a woman with floral hairpins and jasmine wreaths on her hair, wearing a long-sleeved black top with gold embroideries and tiered necklace, and a long batik skirt.
A wedding photo of a man and a woman in traditional Javanese wedding style outfits. The man wears a round embroidered cap with a brooch, black coat and gold embroideries, his lower half wrapped in a thick batik sarong with delicate brown patterns. He smiles at a woman with floral hairpins and jasmine wreaths on her hair, wearing a long-sleeved black top with gold embroideries and red sash, and a long batik skirt.
Dressing room photos of my parents wearing black Javanese-style wedding outfits, with "cunduk mentul" hairpins for my mom.
Black is a classic color worn by brides and grooms in Javanese wedding, representing earth-related qualities like humility, strength, magnanimity, and wisdom.
#WyrdWednesday
Alasdair Gray โ an elderly Scottish pedestrian โ is facing us, leaning on a table on both elbows. His hands are supporting his forehead. He has grey hair, a white beard, and spectacles. He is pondering a game of chess, being played on a red-and-white chequered chessboard. The board is circular and the squares have been distorted to fit.
The artist Nichol Wheatleyโs photo of the artist & author Alasdair Gray playing chess during the creation of the #mural in Glasgowโs Hillhead subway station. The circular chess board was developed by Alasdair & his son Andrew.
#WyrdWednesday #Chess #art
nicholwheatley.com/portfolio/al...
