Tag Archives: death

Halloween story seed.

According to Scandinavian lore, the ghost of a dead infant was called an utburd, which meant *child carried outside*. The utburd was vengeance incarnate, and also a symbol of an old tradition: letting newly-born children die of exposure when it wasn’t practical to feed them. The illustrative tale associated with this ghost (real quick) is: a fisherman and his wife must live a sickly child outside to die because of all the mouths they already have to feed. Later, it enters through their keyhole, then crawls up on the woman while she sleeps and tears out her eyes.

Other traits of the utburd; generally invisible, but can take the shapes of animals such as owls, or black dogs. It can also grow to the size of a cow or turn into a curl of wispy smoke. It could make sounds like boulders dropping. It also continued to take victims long after it exacted its revenge on the parents that killed it. Its main method of attack was to chase down lonely travelers, and then press an invisible weight down on the victim’s chest, crushing him/her

Sakes… Teach me to read Norse Eddas at 2 in the morning. I’m going to have nightmares now for sure.

Reminds me of the 1930’s pulps.

Not to make light of someone’s death, but if this doesn’t sound like the beginning of a Doc Savage story… Note what the poor guy was wearing, and of course, what floor he fell from…

Friday October 6 12:54 AM ET
Man Falls Off Empire State Building

NEW YORK (AP) – A man fell off the Empire State Building Thursday night, plunging 65 stories to his death.

It was not immediately clear whether the man was attempting suicide or if his fall was accidental, said police Sgt. James Foley. The man, whose identity was not released, was in his 20s and was dressed in a pirate costume, Foley said.

The man managed to get over the tall barriers on the observation deck on the 86th floor before falling 65 stories to an outcropping on the
21st floor, Foley said.

There have been more than 30 suicides at the 1,472-foot skyscraper, the world’s tallest when it opened in 1931. The 1,483-foot Petronas
Twin Towers in Malaysia are now the world’s tallest skyscrapers.