Now that the media stories behind the brutal stabbings in Wisconsin have somewhat quieted, I wanted to spend some time discussing legend, urban legend, folklore and myth since we have heard these words very often these past few weeks. http://time.com/2817725/slender-man-killing/

However, first and foremost, as a publisher of horror we want to say that we do not condone any real-world violence. Horror fiction is just that, it is fiction. Our goal with Burial Day Books has always been to highlight new and emerging horror authors, and ultimately to celebrate good writing. Our thoughts are with the victim and her family.

In the news stories, many of you read mention of myth, folklore, urban legends, and creepypasta. We wanted to go through and discuss some of those terms.

Myth
A myth is a story based on a tradition. Some do have factual origins, but some are completely fictional. These stories tend to explain experiences of man and nature. Their endings are not always optimistic. Gods, fantastic creatures and super humans are often featured in mythology. Popular myths include stories of the gods and goddesses of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece.

Folklore
Folklore, or folk tales consist of legends, stories, and tales that are written, spoken, or communicated through music that are tied to a specific culture or group of people. Artifacts can also be connected to folklore.

Legend
A legend is a popular story often thought to be based on historic events. The Brother’s Grimm defined legend as a story that has historical origins. Examples of legends include the story of the Fountain of Youth, the story of Atlantis, Robin Hood, and King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Urban Legend
Urban legends are modern legends. Despite its name, an urban legend does not necessarily mean it originated in an urban setting. The name ‘Urban’ associates it with taking place in contemporary settings and for this many folklorists prefer the term “contemporary legend.” Examples of urban legends include Bloody Mary, The Hook, the Vanishing Hitchhiker, or even the story of cryptid Chupacabra.

Internet Urban Legends
A phenomena on the rise is that of urban legends circulating on the internet. Internet urban legends spread through posts on various blogs, chat rooms and other social media settings. Creepypasta is part of this grouping. The word creepypasta is a mutation of the words “copy paste.” “Copy pasta” is an internet term for a block of text that is copy and pasted from website to website. Creepypasta are horror stories that are posted on multiple sites. Creepypasta can include images, audio and video. Creepypasta, is a literary sub-genre of horror that originated on the internet.

Many of us are familiar with the stock of characters that appear in myth, folklore, legend, and urban legend. However, we are not all clear on the emerging cast popular in internet legends and creepypasta tales. In our next post, we will explore some of these individuals and their origin story.

-Gravedigger

It is believed that on April 23^rd, 2014 legendary playwright William Shakespeare turned 450 years old. Raise a glass of ale to dear ol’ Bard and give thanks to the father of Viola, Beatrice, Lady Macbeth, Othello, Prospero, Hamlet and hundreds more!

Shakespeare’s baptism record state he was born April 26, 1564. In those days, it was typical to have official birth records drafted on the date of the baptism, usually three days after the actual birth. Still, many experts disagree as to the actual date of Shakespeare’s birth.

Regardless as to his actual birth date, Shakespeare is the most famous English playwright in history. The complete works of Shakespeare are available for free here at Project Gutenberg. Please enjoy his works and the brilliance of this famous playwright and poet http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/100.

Shakespeare rests in the chancel of Holy Trinity Church in his hometown of Stratford Warwickshire. A supposed curse is written on his grave, supposedly written by him. It reads:

Good friend for Jesus sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.

It’s believed this curse was written to strike fear into the hearts of grave robbers, who were common at that time, and also anyone seeking to move Shakespeare’s remains.

-Gravedigger

We at Burial Day Books have the families of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that went missing after leaving Kuala Lumpur in our thoughts right now.

We have flown frequently in the past, and long distance flights do stir our fears and anxieties, more particularly my fears and anxieties. The Undertaker is a levelheaded flier. Each time we have been on an airplane and the aircraft hits a pocket of turbulence I feel the blood rush from my face, I dig my fingernails into his hand and I stop breathing. The Undertaker will then whisper to me ‘We’re on a bus, and we’ve hit a bump. That is all.’ While his words are kind, I can’t relax on board a plane. I frequently have nightmares about planes, because I have read so much about mysterious disappearances that involve aircraft. The recent event of the missing Malaysia flight has kept me up reading about recent findings, and thinking about the passengers and their families. It’s strange to think that planes can go missing in this modern age, but strangely they do. Below is a list of famous missing aircraft.

• The most famous flight disappearance is that involving Amelia Earhart in 1937.  Earhart, and her navigator Fred Noonan, disappeared in her Lockheed Electra on her attempt to circumnavigate the globe. She was the first woman to fly independently across the Atlantic, and she was nearing the end of her around-the-world trip when her plane disappeared over Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean.
• In Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince [SPOILER ALERT] the story ends with the narrator searching for the Little Prince who had previously stepped away with the snake, but when the narrator awakes to search for the Little Prince he is nowhere to be found. In 1944, while in the military, Saint-Exupéry too disappeared like his Little Prince. He was on his last reconnaissance mission when his plane disappeared.
• I have spent much time researching the Bermuda Triangle, and the Bermuda Triangle is such a fascinating phenomenon that it deserves its own blog post one day, but for now, I wanted to cover a few flights that went missing over that area, and beyond. For those unfamiliar with the Bermuda Triangle, it’s the points between the Florida peninsula, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Bermuda. A number of aircraft and ships have mysteriously disappeared in this area, which have led a variety of government officials and paranormal investigative groups to investigate the location.

The legend of the Bermuda Triangle was cemented on December 5^th 1945 with Flight 19. Five Navy Avenger planes set off on a series of training exercises. After an hour into their flight, pilots began reporting that they felt disoriented and were unable to recognize landmarks below. Pilots even reported that the compass on board their planes had malfunctioned. All five planes disappeared , which included 14 airmen and 13 crew members.  An airplane that set out to search for the training mission also disappeared.

In recent years, there has been growing suspicion over the numbers “19” and “191” in relation to air travel. In 1967, experimental X-15 Flight 191 crashed killing its pilot. In 1979, American Airlines flight 191 crashed shortly after take-off from O’Hare International Airport killing all 258 passengers and 13 crew members. In 2012, JetBlue Airways flight 191’s pilot had to be restrained by passengers when he had a sudden panic attack. Many airlines have since retired the use of the use of the use of the “191” number.

Other flights that have mysteriously disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle include British South American Airways Star Tiger, which went missing in 1948 and the Star Ariel that went missing in 1949.

Again, our thoughts are with the families of Malaysian flight 370. These mysteries are tragic and heart wrenching for so many.

-Gravedigger

Today is Edgar Allan Poe’s 205^th birthday and here at Burial Day Books we honor the master of the short story, inventor of the fictional detective, and the man who perfected the horror tale. Poe’s contributions to American literature are staggering.  Often Poe’s shadowy life marred in tragedy overshadows his work, but don’t be fooled by the deceptive characterization that his rival, Rufus Wilmot Griswold, portrayed of Poe in his scathing obituary of him.

As a young man Poe saw many people he loved die terribly from illness, including his mother, Elizabeth Arnold Hopkins Poe, and his young wife, Virginia Clemm. These early images of beautiful women sickly and in death are recurring themes in his works, such as in The Raven, Annabel Lee and The Fall of the House of Usher.

Yet, beyond the melancholy we must see the brilliance. In addition to writing the macabre Poe explored technology in the emerging genre of science fiction with The Balloon-Hoax, and even his prose-poem Eureka which demonstrates how difficult it is for artists to take science seriously. He also invented an entirely new genre of fiction, detective fiction, with the invention of C. Auguste Dupin, the first ever detective who solves crime through logic and reasoning.

Beyond poetry and fiction Poe was an editor and a literary critic and wrote articles reviewing writers such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Sir Walter Scott.

Today, take a moment to read Berenice, MS. Found in a Bottle, Ligeia, The Devil in Belfry, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, William Wilson, or even The Raven. Do this in memory of Poe, a great American writer whose memory should be ever preserved.

-Gravedigger