0:19

and sickle.

0:22

Bleeding saints

0:25

and forest

0:28

witches. The

0:31

past, unbearied.

0:35

The books,

0:38

unsealed. The

0:41

old celebration.

0:46

Return. Please come in and

0:49

have a seat. All the

0:51

books surrounding you are those used

0:53

to research our show. And

0:55

the individual to my right

0:58

here, along with managing domestic

1:00

duties, serves as our reader for

1:02

any passages that will be

1:04

directly quoted from these sources.

1:06

Her name is Mrs. Carswell.

1:09

Hello. Well, it's been quite a

1:11

week here. We almost didn't get

1:13

the show out. We had visitors.

1:15

And as if that weren't bad

1:17

enough, we're dealing with that thumping

1:20

in the basement again. I thought

1:22

I had gone away this winter,

1:24

but it's back. You never really

1:26

thought it was the pipes. No, I

1:28

don't know. I really didn't think

1:30

it would come to this. Mr. Rydenauer

1:33

invited a ghost hunting

1:35

group to investigate. A

1:37

parasycology group. They investigate

1:40

unusual phenomena. We don't

1:42

have ghosts. We don't need ghost

1:44

hunters. I think you scared them

1:46

a little. Maybe. I... You know, I thought

1:48

Dr. Bartou should be coming with

1:50

them, but apparently he only consults

1:52

with them, and he's not even

1:55

local. What's so special about him? Oh,

1:57

he... He takes a very rigorous approach.

1:59

to these things, this was a

2:01

bait and switch. They were all

2:04

teenagers. They were college students.

2:06

And the matching t-shirts? I

2:08

couldn't figure out what that

2:10

design was. No, and they

2:12

kept handling things, touching things.

2:15

You told them they could.

2:17

Not everyone, just the psychic.

2:19

She was very theatrical, but

2:21

she got fingerprints all

2:23

over the clock. Psychometry.

2:26

She was supposed to be doing...

2:28

psychiatry with the clock touching it.

2:30

And what about the dog? Who ever

2:32

heard of bringing a dog on

2:35

a consultation? Is that in any

2:37

way professional? When you said the

2:39

dog out, I took them over to

2:41

the apiary. But he was scared of

2:43

them. The dog or the person? Both,

2:45

kind of. I think he made

2:47

the dog scared. It was like

2:50

he'd never seen a bee before.

2:52

Just don't understand bringing the dog.

2:54

You know what he asked me. What? Do

2:56

they sting? Do they sting? He wanted

2:58

to know if they sting.

3:01

They're bees. Yes, they

3:03

are. Anyway, I think we

3:05

should do the, uh, patron,

3:07

thank yous. Okay. Thank

3:09

you to our friends who

3:12

listened to the show. Sharing

3:14

in our travels through

3:16

tales of long ago.

3:18

Stories full of folklore.

3:20

Stories full of horror.

3:22

If you give us money,

3:25

we will like you more.

3:29

And our heroes of

3:31

the day are

3:33

Zardar's 1974 Octavia

3:35

Ice and Matilda

3:38

Stick. Thank you so

3:40

much. Yes. Anyway,

3:42

they're not coming

3:45

back. The Ghost Hunters.

3:48

The Para Psychology

3:50

Group. I'm finding another

3:53

way to get in touch with Dr.

3:55

Bartouche. You know, they wanted to stay

3:57

overnight and live stream their investigation. They

3:59

have a you... or a

4:04

ticket-y-talk

4:07

or something.

4:10

Oh my

4:12

God. Anyway,

4:16

this

4:18

is episode

4:22

139,

4:24

The

4:26

Sin

4:29

Eater.

4:31

That

4:34

was...

4:39

The

4:43

sin

4:49

eater.

4:54

Sin-Eater was a figure associated

4:57

with funerals of the 17th

4:59

through 19th century, mostly

5:01

in Wales and the English

5:04

counties along the Welsh border.

5:06

Exceptions to the rule are

5:08

an account from Scotland and,

5:11

more dubiously, suggestions that Sin-eating

5:13

was practiced in America among

5:15

the immigrants to the colonies.

5:18

An 1870 edition of Brewer's

5:20

Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,

5:22

defines the practice. Poor

5:24

people hired at funerals in

5:27

the olden days to eat beside

5:29

the corpse and to take upon

5:31

themselves the sins of the deceased

5:34

that the soul might be delivered

5:36

from Purgatory. In the Welsh country

5:38

of Caraventure, the sin eater used

5:40

to rest a plate of salt

5:43

on the breast of the deceased

5:45

and place a piece of bread

5:47

on the salt. After

5:50

saying an incantation over

5:53

the bread, the sin

5:55

eater consumed it, and with

5:57

it the sins of the dead.

5:59

No. While sit-eaters may save a

6:02

soul, they certainly can't save

6:04

a film. In our opening,

6:06

you heard snippets from the

6:09

2022 embarrassment. Sin-Eder, which presents

6:11

some sort of a modern

6:13

American cult preserving the tradition.

6:15

It earned a grand total

6:18

of 18% approval on rotten

6:20

tomatoes, which is better than

6:22

2024's curse of the sin-eater.

6:25

Also set in contemporary America.

6:27

It didn't even earn a

6:29

rating. And there was also

6:32

a trailer tag from 2007's

6:34

The Last Sin-Eater, which did

6:36

the best of the lot,

6:39

with 22% perhaps because it

6:41

bothered to recreate a 19th

6:43

century setting, albeit on the

6:45

American frontier. Dreadful films, perhaps,

6:48

but there is some fascinating

6:50

history, so we'll just dive

6:52

right in. The earliest historical

6:55

account dates to 1686 and

6:57

is by the English writer

6:59

on history, archaeology, and the

7:02

natural sciences, John Aubrey. It's

7:04

in his book The Remains

7:06

of Gentilism and Judaism, which

7:08

in less archaic language, it

7:11

means something like surviving lore

7:13

of the Gentiles and Jews.

7:15

More specifically, it's a compilation

7:18

of what we would now

7:20

call folklore, a compendium of

7:22

old customs, stories, rhymes, and

7:25

superstitions. For centuries, Aubrey's text

7:27

existed as a scarcely read

7:29

manuscript in the British Library,

7:31

but was finally published by

7:34

the Folklore Society in 1881,

7:36

shortly after the group's founding.

7:38

In the county of Hereford

7:41

was an old custom at

7:43

funerals to hire poor people

7:45

who were to take upon

7:48

them all the sins of

7:50

the party deceased. One of

7:52

them, I remember, lived. in

7:55

a cottage on Ross Highway.

7:57

He was a long, lean,

7:59

ugly, lamentable poor rascal. The

8:01

manner was that when the

8:04

corpse was brought out of

8:06

the house and laid on

8:08

the beer. A loaf of

8:11

bread was brought out and

8:13

delivered to the sink eater

8:15

over the corpse, as also

8:18

a bowl of beer, which

8:20

he wants to drink up,

8:22

and six pence in the

8:24

money. given in consideration whereal

8:27

he took upon him all

8:29

the sins of the defunct

8:31

and freed him or her

8:34

from walking after they were

8:36

dead. So without this ceremony

8:38

the deceased would have been

8:41

barred from heaven condemned to

8:43

wander as a ghost or

8:45

undead creature. It's significant in

8:47

the text that the food

8:50

and drink must be handed

8:52

over the corpse. though in

8:54

later accounts it's sometimes left

8:57

atop the body. Aubrey then

8:59

goes on to mention a

9:01

woman in another town who

9:04

demanded this post-mortem ceremony in

9:06

her will and had set

9:08

aside a special bowl for

9:10

the beer and that the

9:13

local minister could not hinder

9:15

the performing of this ancient

9:17

custom. One which Aubrey admits

9:20

is rarely used nowadays. though

9:22

was previously used all over

9:24

Wales. The only other detail

9:27

Aubrey provides is that in

9:29

Northern Wales, milk was substituted

9:31

for beer. The next account

9:34

comes from 1715. It's a

9:36

letter by the bookseller and

9:38

antiquarian John Baggford. published in

9:40

the work of another antiquarian,

9:43

John Leyland, in his 1776

9:45

compendium, Kolactania. The account uses

9:47

a couple terms probably requiring

9:50

clarification that is a cricket

9:52

meaning a low stool and

9:54

a groat coin worth about

9:57

five dollars. Within the memory

9:59

of our fathers and Shropshire

10:01

in those villages adjoining to

10:03

Wales when a person died

10:06

there was a notice given

10:08

to the old sire for

10:10

so they called him who

10:13

presently repaired to the place

10:15

where the deceased lay and

10:17

stood before the door of

10:20

the house. when some of

10:22

the family came out and

10:24

furnished him with a cricket

10:26

on which he sat down

10:29

facing the door. Then gave

10:31

him a groat, which he

10:33

put in his pocket, a

10:36

crust of bread which he

10:38

ate, and a full bowl

10:40

of ale, which he drank

10:43

off at a draught. After

10:45

this he got up from

10:47

the cricket and pronounced, with

10:50

a composed gesture, the ease

10:52

and rest of the soul

10:54

departed, for which he would

10:56

pawn his own soul. Bagford's

11:00

phrasing, ease, and rest,

11:02

and reference to pawning

11:04

one's soul, are echoed

11:06

in later accounts. The

11:08

next text comes from

11:10

1838, from the travelogue

11:13

Hill and Valley, or

11:15

Hours in England and

11:17

Wales, by the Scottish

11:19

novelist and author of

11:21

children's books, Catherine Sinclair.

11:23

Calling the archaic custom

11:25

Popish, she associates it

11:27

with mummashire in eastern

11:29

Wales and with the

11:32

bordering counties of England

11:34

writing. Many funerals were

11:36

attended by a professed

11:38

sine eater, hired to

11:40

take upon him the

11:42

sins of such deceased.

11:44

By swallowing bread and

11:46

beer with a suitable

11:48

ceremony before the corpse,

11:51

he was supposed to

11:53

free it from every

11:55

penalty for past offences,

11:57

appropriating the punishment to

11:59

himself. Rather

12:03

than adding new details, Sinclair's

12:05

account essentially just keeps the

12:08

story in circulation, significantly it's

12:10

also rendered in the past

12:12

tense, rather than purporting to

12:15

describe a current usage. And

12:17

now you might be surprised

12:19

to learn that there is

12:21

only one more historical source

12:24

describing this tradition. It's from

12:26

1852. and appears in notes

12:28

from a meeting of the

12:31

Cambrian that is Welsh Archaeological

12:33

Association. It was contributed by

12:35

Matthew Mogheridge, an antiquary of

12:37

Swansea, and describes a custom

12:40

from the town of Lendebia

12:42

a bit to the north.

12:44

It is also presented in

12:47

the past tense as a

12:49

tradition that... survive to within

12:51

a recent period. Mogherage writes...

12:53

when a person died the

12:56

friend sent for the sin

12:58

eater of the district, who,

13:00

on his arrival, placed a

13:03

plate of salt on the

13:05

breast of the defunct, and

13:07

upon the salt a piece

13:09

of bread. He then muttered

13:12

an incantation over the bread,

13:14

which he finally ate, thereby

13:16

eating of all the sins

13:19

of the deceased. This done

13:21

he received his fee of

13:23

half a crown and vanished

13:25

as quickly as possible from

13:28

the general gaze, for, as

13:30

it was believed, that he

13:32

really appropriated to his own

13:35

use the sins of all

13:37

those over whom he performed

13:39

the above ceremony. He was

13:41

utterly detested in the neighbourhood,

13:44

regarded as a mere pariah,

13:46

as one irredeemably lost. The

13:53

new elements here are the

13:55

inclusion of salt, which doesn't

13:58

appear to be eaten. exclusion

14:00

of anything to be drunk, the

14:03

placement of what's consumed atop

14:05

the corpse, and the contribution

14:08

of these items by the

14:10

sin-eater himself rather than the

14:12

bereaved family. It's also the first

14:14

to describe the sin-eater not

14:16

only as absorbing the

14:18

sin, but as being outwardly

14:21

despised by the community. From

14:23

previous accounts, we might have

14:25

inferred this, but could... equally

14:27

well have imagined him as

14:29

an object of pity. In

14:31

1879, there appears a suspiciously

14:34

similar account surprisingly relocated

14:36

to Scotland. It's in

14:39

James Napier's folklore, or

14:41

superstitious beliefs in the

14:44

West of Scotland within this

14:46

century. It differs only

14:48

in having the cinneter provide

14:51

separate plates for salt and

14:53

bread, and in this case,

14:55

consuming both. It's also

14:58

presented as a practice

15:00

recently extinct. And then in

15:03

1881, another variation of the

15:05

Magridge account appears in

15:07

the volume, Christmas Evans,

15:09

the preacher of Wild Wales,

15:12

by Reverend Paxton Hood.

15:14

More convincingly, back in

15:16

Wales this time, the

15:18

recently vanished custom is

15:20

essentially the same Sultan

15:22

spread routine with added

15:24

emphasis on the sand-eater's

15:27

pariah status as he

15:29

departs. All the friends

15:31

and relatives of the

15:33

departed aid his exit with

15:36

blows and kicks. The next

15:38

in our chronological

15:40

survey of accounts by

15:43

folklorists and antiquarians was

15:45

printed in the London

15:48

Journal Academy in 1876.

15:50

contributed by an

15:53

E.M. Morris. However, the original

15:55

source, which Morris serves up

15:57

verbatim, appears in the 1836

16:00

volume, The Mountain to Cameron

16:02

by Joseph Downes, borrowing on

16:04

an idea from Ocaccio's 14th

16:06

century collection of traveler's tales,

16:08

Downes offers a series of

16:11

stories told to an English

16:13

visitor to Wales over the

16:15

course of 10 days. So

16:17

rather than a straightforward folklore

16:19

collection, it's more of a

16:21

fictionalized travelogue. On the eighth

16:23

day, the narrator hears the

16:25

story called the last centator

16:27

of Wales. Morris seems unaware

16:30

that his contribution to Academy

16:32

comes from the Mountain to

16:34

Cameron as Down's story was

16:36

also recycled again verbatim in

16:38

Thomas Rosco's 1876 fictionalized travel

16:40

journal wanderings and excursions in

16:42

South Wales which Morris must

16:44

have believed to be the

16:47

original source. In this context

16:49

it appears as a local

16:51

story related directly to the

16:53

author. In a subsequent letter

16:55

to the journal, a reader

16:57

alerted Morris to the fact

16:59

that his sin-eater narrative was

17:01

much more a work of

17:04

literary fantasy than any local

17:06

history. Regardless, it's a good

17:08

atmospheric tale worth relating. It

17:10

presents readers with a traveler

17:12

writing at night through a

17:14

cartagonshire peat fog. He gets

17:16

himself lost despite being... caution

17:18

to ride far around this

17:20

pitchy morass, for no horse

17:23

ever ventured among the peat-pits.

17:25

In truth, its look was

17:27

enough, under a black evening,

17:29

to keep me off, even

17:31

without peril of being swallowed

17:33

man and horse. The large

17:35

moon looking red as blood

17:37

in a foul fog stagnating

17:40

all over it took leave

17:42

of it and its brown

17:44

groove browner and that browner

17:46

black till the last to

17:48

be seen was one horrid

17:50

blackness where nothing lived and

17:52

nothing must but the low

17:54

roar of the sea, washing

17:56

it on two sides like

17:59

the hum of some great

18:01

city. More than once I

18:03

thought a light glimmered in

18:05

the very midst, but I

18:07

took it for a jack-o-lantern,

18:09

if not something worse. Jack-a-lantern

18:11

here, meaning will-o-the-wis, or a

18:13

malevolent marsh spirit that misleads

18:16

travelers with its supernatural luminance.

18:18

And eventually... The traveler comes

18:20

upon. A house on a

18:22

high point and turn a

18:24

road overlooking all those many

18:26

acres of hollow ground. Just

18:28

as I came up hoping

18:30

for lodging, I heard sounds

18:32

of wailing within, and soon

18:35

a woman came out into

18:37

the dead of night late

18:39

as it was, and cried

18:41

and named the top pitch

18:43

of her wild voice that

18:45

seemed one I had heard

18:47

weeping indoors. When I looked

18:49

in, There they took corpse

18:52

of a man with a

18:54

plate of salt holding a

18:56

bit of bread placed on

18:58

its breast. The woman was

19:00

shouting to the cinneter to

19:02

come and do his office.

19:04

A version of the ritual

19:06

is glimpsed somewhat through a

19:09

window and later the traveler

19:11

learns that the cinneter makes

19:13

his home along the coast.

19:15

near point perilous ships. In

19:17

a hovel made of sea

19:19

wreck and nails of such,

19:21

between sea marsh and that

19:23

dim bog, where the few

19:25

could approach by day, none

19:28

dared by night, whether for

19:30

the footing or the great

19:32

fear or at least all,

19:34

which all felt of that

19:36

recluse. Appearing in 1836, the

19:38

Mountain de Cameron was a

19:40

particularly early example of... literary

19:42

sin-eating, but fascination with the

19:45

topic surged around the turn

19:47

of the century with the

19:49

1892 publication of an article

19:51

by E. Sidney Heartland in

19:53

the journal Folklore, the publication

19:55

of the British Folklore. Society.

19:57

Alongside John Aubrey's 17th century

19:59

account, Heartland presented those of

20:01

Bagford and Magridge, as well

20:04

as a great deal of

20:06

material, not specifically qualifying as

20:08

sin-eating. One is the Scottish

20:10

custom practicing wakes the dissoloof,

20:12

a sort of folk blessing

20:14

performed over the corpse, which

20:16

happens to involve a bowl

20:18

of salt placed upon the

20:21

chest of the deceased. though

20:23

nothing is eaten and the

20:25

removal of sins isn't mentioned.

20:27

He also mentions a plate

20:29

of snuff, likewise placed on

20:31

the chest of the corpse,

20:33

at Irish wake, something that

20:35

all in attendance are expected

20:37

to sample, though again nothing

20:40

to do with the eradication

20:42

of sin. And Heartland reports

20:44

that... In South Wales, a

20:46

plate of salt is still

20:48

often laid on the breast

20:50

of the corpse, a custom

20:52

once common in a much

20:54

wider area. And, in a

20:57

parish near Chepstow, it was

20:59

usual to make the figure

21:01

of a cross on the

21:03

salt, and cutting an apple

21:05

or an orange and a

21:07

quarters, to put one piece

21:09

at each termination of the

21:11

lines, while in Pembrokeshire a

21:14

lighted candle was stuck in

21:16

the salt. Another mysterious custom,

21:18

all the more mysterious for

21:20

having nothing to do with

21:22

the removal, or particularly the

21:24

eating of sins. Heartland

21:28

goes even further afield with

21:30

references to a Romani custom

21:32

involving food placed next to

21:35

the corpse, later eaten as

21:37

a funeral feast, and of

21:39

Bavarians setting out dough to

21:42

rise on top of a

21:44

corpse, and then eating cakes

21:46

baked from the dough. This,

21:49

in order to consume the

21:51

virtues and advantages of the

21:53

departed. Tradition I don't find

21:56

mention anywhere else. And then

21:58

it's off to Kashmir and

22:00

Turkestan for other geographically and...

22:03

culturally unrelated analogies. Now, if

22:05

you know anything about bone

22:07

and sickle, you know we're

22:10

not afraid to disappoint, which

22:12

may be the case here

22:14

with sin-eaters. As you've probably

22:16

noted, the evidence for their

22:19

existence seems rather scanty, though

22:21

their reality can't be entirely

22:23

ruled out. Obviously

22:26

it would all be more

22:28

plausible should an account by

22:31

a contemporary eyewitness exists rather

22:33

than the secondhand reports of

22:35

incidents in the ever receding

22:37

past always recently ended but

22:40

within the memory of previous

22:42

generations as they say. Even

22:44

back in 1686 Aubrey said

22:46

the custom was observed rarely

22:49

in our days. While

22:52

distance makes it hard to

22:54

evaluate Aubrey's account or that

22:56

of backward from 1715, the

22:58

more recent report offered by

23:00

Magridge in 1852 was said

23:02

to have occurred within a

23:05

recent period and was pinned

23:07

to a precise location, the

23:09

Welsh town of Lendabilla. Unfortunately,

23:11

this opened his narrative to

23:13

criticism. Welsh scholars balked at

23:15

the fact that no Welsh

23:18

language term for the practice

23:20

was offered, and suggested that

23:22

while a ritual involving salt

23:24

bread may have occurred, it

23:26

would not have been identified

23:28

as sin-eating in the native

23:31

tongue, and that it may

23:33

have served a different purpose,

23:35

something we'll pursue shortly. 83

23:37

issue of the Welsh culture

23:39

journal Red Dragon scholar Reverend

23:41

Sylvan Evans wrote I have

23:44

not been indifferent as to

23:46

the customs and legends of

23:48

the land of my birth

23:50

and my profession often brings

23:52

me into contact with funerals

23:54

but I have never found

23:57

any trace of such a

23:59

custom and I have but

24:01

little hesitation in saying that

24:03

it is altogether unknown in

24:05

the principality. Worse still, a

24:07

schoolteacher from the same town

24:10

mentioned by Magridge wrote, I

24:12

lived there for many years. I

24:14

knew all the parish and

24:16

the history of the parish,

24:18

its legends, customs, and traditions.

24:20

And during the time I

24:23

was there, I attended many

24:25

funerals. But I'd never heard of a

24:27

sim eater. I knew almost every parish

24:29

in South Wales. I collected

24:32

all the legends and made notes

24:34

of the old customs for the

24:36

late Sir Thomas Phillips. If such

24:39

a custom had prevailed, I should

24:41

have heard of it. I have

24:43

no hesitation in writing that it

24:46

is a glaring untruth. Likewise,

24:48

a congregational minister

24:50

voiced his skepticism in

24:52

an 1882 edition of

24:55

the periodical Christian world.

24:57

surprised by the reference

24:59

to sin-eating and Reverend

25:01

Paxson Hood's 1881 Christmas Evans,

25:04

the preacher of Wild Wales,

25:06

an account, if you'll recall, which

25:08

was seemingly derived from

25:11

Magridge, the minister complained

25:13

that... Some octogenarians whom I

25:15

have questioned have never seen

25:18

a sin eater. Neither have

25:20

they heard their parents nor

25:22

their grandparents refer

25:24

to this custom. What did all

25:26

these Welshmen know? Signating was far

25:29

too interesting to be so easily

25:31

set aside. The period from the 1890s

25:33

into the first decade of

25:35

the 20th century saw the

25:37

publication of a rash of

25:39

literary works incorporating the character

25:42

of the sin eater and

25:44

it wasn't just Heartland's 1892

25:46

article in folklore that spurred

25:48

this. In 1893, Irish writer

25:50

William Butler Yates's publication of

25:52

the Celtic Twilight, a collection

25:54

of folklore and folklore-inspired tales,

25:56

set in motion a broader

25:58

literary movement, the Irish literary

26:00

revival, part of the general

26:02

Celtic revival, which an interest

26:05

in Welsh culture and language

26:07

was part, or broadly, all

26:09

this coincided with rising British

26:11

interest and folklore, spurred by

26:13

the appearance of James Frasers,

26:15

the Golden Bowe, published in

26:17

1890 in two volumes, and

26:19

then in 1900 is three,

26:21

and then between 1906 and

26:24

1915 in a full 12

26:26

volume set. But back to

26:28

the Sin-Eaters, the first literary

26:30

treatment during this period was

26:32

the 1895 novel, The Sin-Eater,

26:34

by William Sharp, writing under

26:36

the pseudonym Theona McCloud. It's

26:38

the story of a destitute

26:40

young man, born a bastard,

26:43

who holds a grudge against

26:45

the man who failed to

26:47

marry his mother. When he

26:49

takes up Sin-eating as a

26:51

last-ditch effort to support himself,

26:53

he learns a secret bit

26:55

of folklore created for the

26:57

novel. by which the sin-eater

26:59

can create a demon, one

27:02

that he hopes to send

27:04

against his biological father. That's

27:06

not a good idea, it

27:08

turns out. Then, in 1905,

27:10

there was Hearts of Wales

27:12

by Alan Raine, which displaces

27:14

the synodying tradition back to

27:16

the 15th century. Its sin

27:18

eater takes up the practice

27:20

as a means of doing

27:23

penance for his betrayal of

27:25

the Lord under whom he

27:27

served. It's supposed to relate

27:29

to the Welsh betraying their

27:31

own nationalistic cause. And in

27:33

1910, Henry Ellen Thomas published

27:35

The Forerunner, featuring a sin

27:37

eater who begins his sin-eating

27:39

to atone for the sins

27:42

of a famous highwayman who

27:44

is his father. A

27:47

1920 saw the

27:49

publication of The

27:51

Sin-Eater, a Welsh

27:53

legend, a long

27:55

rhymed narrative describing

27:57

a greedy and

27:59

monstrous Sin-Eater called

28:01

Black Evan, also

28:04

known as the

28:06

Human spider who

28:08

lives in a

28:10

marsh and eventually

28:12

after meeting his

28:14

judgment he's found

28:16

dead and scorched

28:18

as if with

28:20

heaven's bolt. I

28:23

drink to the

28:25

peace of him

28:27

that's gone. I'll

28:33

do it. You're hearing a

28:36

snippet from a rather good

28:38

1989 BBC adaptation of Mary

28:41

Webb's 1924 novel Precious Bain,

28:43

set in rural Shropshire and

28:45

English County on the Welsh

28:48

Border, the novel follows Prue

28:50

Sarn, a young woman who

28:53

believes herself cursed, because... She

28:55

was born with a cleft

28:58

lip. Webb presents a single

29:00

but pivotal incident of sin-eating

29:02

casually engaged in by Prue's

29:05

non-believing brother who uses it

29:07

to ensure his inheritance of

29:10

the family farm. It doesn't

29:12

go well for him, but

29:15

then it hardly goes well

29:17

for anyone in the novel

29:19

with the possible exception of

29:22

Prue who finds a sort

29:24

of bitter sweet destiny. By

29:27

the way, we'll be presenting

29:29

the senating chapter of Precious

29:32

Spain as our bonus episode

29:34

this month, if you're interested

29:37

in hearing that. And the

29:39

last example is Cristana Braun's

29:41

short story, The Sins of

29:44

the Fathers, published in 1939

29:46

and later anthologized in horror

29:49

collections of the 1960s. Its

29:52

rather neatly constructed tale of

29:54

multiple deceptions and turnabouts was

29:56

dramatized in the same name,

29:59

1972, episode of Rod Serling's

30:01

Night Gallery, providing wider American

30:03

audiences with an introduction to

30:06

this concept of sin-eating. All

30:08

these creative interpretations of the

30:10

Sin-Eaters seem to have muddied

30:12

the waters a bit, and

30:15

after World War II, a

30:17

couple new accounts surface, the

30:19

ones which broke with the

30:21

traditional... narratives. In a 1958

30:24

article in Folklore, Folklorers Enid

30:26

Porter reported on a female

30:28

rather than male sin-eater. It's

30:31

unclear when the incident was

30:33

supposed to have occurred, but

30:35

the source relating the story

30:37

was a schoolteacher in the

30:40

town of Little Ouse who

30:42

recorded the account sometime before

30:44

her death in 1906. Whether

30:46

intentional or not, the sin-eater

30:49

she describes was said to

30:51

have... taken a large dose

30:53

of poppy tea that rendered

30:56

her unconscious. Neighbors sent for

30:58

the minister, who on seeing

31:00

her said it seemed she

31:02

would not recover. He read

31:05

the prayers for the dying

31:07

and gave her absolution. Soon

31:09

after his departure, the woman

31:11

sat up and gradually recovered.

31:14

She was then assured by

31:16

her friends that as she

31:18

was now free from her

31:21

own sins by virtue of

31:23

the absolution of the absolution.

31:25

She was now free to

31:27

take on those of others.

31:30

Another figure often mentioned in

31:32

histories of sin-eating is Richard

31:34

Munslow, who died in 1906,

31:37

and like many before him,

31:39

was given the title The

31:41

Last of the Sin-Eaters, albeit

31:43

at a slightly later date

31:46

than most. There aren't any

31:48

details specific to his alleged

31:50

practice of sin-eating. But it

31:52

is known that he was

31:55

a wealthy farmer employing three

31:57

laborers working 70 or 75

31:59

acres of water. land. His

32:02

prosperity makes him highly atypical

32:04

of the poor wretches, traditionally

32:06

recruited as sin-eaters. Since he

32:08

wouldn't have pursued sin-eating for

32:11

financial gain, it's been suggested

32:13

that he did so due

32:15

to the loss of his

32:17

children to scarlet fever, three

32:20

within a single week. Well,

32:22

this might impart a special

32:24

empathy towards those losing loved

32:27

ones. A concern with the

32:29

burden of unforgiving sin doesn't

32:31

seem particularly relevant with the

32:33

deaths of young children, but

32:36

who knows. There also appears

32:38

to be no mention of

32:40

Munzlow's sin eating before the

32:42

1970s, when it appears in

32:45

a pamphlet promoting Shropshire lore

32:47

and history. Munsel's legendary

32:49

vocation seems to have been

32:52

particularly associated with his grave

32:54

in the town of Ratchip,

32:56

presumably as a spooky legend,

32:58

inspiring midnight visits by daring

33:01

teens. His place in the

33:03

cemetery was of such interest

33:05

that in 2010, town stonemasons

33:07

dedicated money for the restoration

33:10

of the monument and a

33:12

special service was held in

33:14

a local church. honoring Munso

33:16

and his weird pagan practice.

33:18

It did generate more publicity

33:21

for the legend, though. Anyway,

33:23

and now for something completely

33:25

different. In this Hampshire Village

33:27

in the year 1150, the

33:30

curse of the Titchbournes began.

33:32

On her deathbed, Lady Mabel

33:34

Titchbourne told her family that

33:36

unless each year on that

33:39

day they give the villagers

33:41

one gallon of flour, the

33:43

house of Titchbourne would crumble

33:45

away. To this day, a

33:47

Latin benediction marks the ceremony.

33:50

In country life and tradition,

33:52

curses have a longer history

33:54

than rationing. The curse describes

33:56

is associated with the Tish-born

33:59

doll, that is the doling

34:01

out of all that flower.

34:03

It's said the curse was

34:05

fulfilled after a brief suspension

34:08

in the practice in the

34:10

late 1700s, which was followed

34:12

by the crumbling of a

34:14

corner of the Tish-born house

34:17

in 1803, and a failure

34:19

thereafter to produce male air.

34:21

It's a satisfying story, but

34:23

it's the doll itself or

34:25

doles generally that's related to

34:28

our topic. Before

34:30

Dole came to mean government

34:32

handouts in the early 20th

34:34

century, it referred to donations

34:36

from individual states, either of

34:38

money or things like bread

34:40

and ale, given to the

34:42

poor, immediately following an individual's

34:44

death, the funeral dole, as

34:46

it was called. Or, more

34:48

rarely, it could be an

34:50

ongoing annual distribution written into

34:52

a will, as with Lady

34:54

Tishbourne. All of this

34:57

is relevant because of something Aubrey

34:59

appended to his account of sin-eating,

35:01

namely... Methinks, doles to poor people

35:04

with money at funerals have some

35:06

resemblance to that of the sin-eater.

35:09

Doles at funerals were continued at

35:11

gentlemen's funerals in the West of

35:13

England till the Civil War. The

35:17

reference to the Civil War

35:19

is significant as it resulted

35:21

in Cromwell's Puritans, largely rooting

35:23

out any lingering traces of

35:25

Britain's Catholic culture, which included

35:27

the funeral doll. In our

35:29

newsreel clip, the reference to

35:31

Latin rights is a reminder

35:33

of the doll's Catholic nature.

35:35

A Latin benediction marks the

35:37

sediment. Well, for Protestants the

35:39

course of the soul's journey

35:41

to heaven or hell is

35:43

fixed by the time of

35:45

death. The matter is more

35:47

flexible under the Catholic doctrine

35:49

of purgatory, that is, the

35:51

stage of the afterlife during

35:53

which the soul is purified

35:56

before its assent heavenward. Therefore

35:58

the purpose of many of

36:00

the older funeral customs was

36:02

the shortening the deceased's time

36:04

in purgatory, which is generally

36:06

not considered a pleasant place.

36:08

Charitable doles could work towards

36:10

this end, and implicit in

36:12

the giving, wasn't understanding that

36:14

the recipient would offer prayers

36:16

for the deceased in return

36:18

for the doled-out items to

36:20

quicken that assent. For this

36:22

reason, it's been suggested that

36:24

practices like sin-eating represent either

36:26

a garbled memory of former

36:28

Catholic funeral customs. or an

36:30

actual folk ritual preserving certain

36:32

elements of these. Given all

36:34

this, it's worth noting that

36:36

none of our reports of

36:38

sin-eating are associated with Ireland

36:40

where Catholic ritual was still

36:42

intact and ungarbled. Funeral feasts

36:44

were another ancient custom rewarding

36:46

those attending the ceremony. In

36:48

the days before herces, when

36:50

transported the body to the

36:52

churchyard was the responsibility of

36:54

the family, These feasts serve

36:56

to reward those who assisted

36:58

with the heavy lifting, so

37:00

to speak. It would not

37:02

only be family and friends

37:04

called to assist, especially if

37:06

the road to the grave

37:08

is very long, then more

37:10

remote acquaintances might be recruited,

37:12

or even strangers who might

37:14

be more interested in free

37:16

food and especially drink. Such

37:18

questionable recruits are commented on

37:20

in the 1867 book Lancashire

37:22

Folklore by Thomas Turner and

37:24

John Heartland, of no relation

37:26

to the author of the

37:28

folklore article. It mentions rural

37:30

funerals sometimes becoming a matter

37:32

of sad notoriety. Indeed, it

37:34

was not very unusual to

37:37

see those who were to

37:39

convey the dead to the

37:41

sepulchre, tottering from intoxication under

37:43

their sad burden. It's

37:46

possible that elements of the

37:48

Senator legends were in part

37:51

inspired by the transactional aspects

37:53

of the funeral feast and

37:56

the unsavory characters, the outsiders,

37:58

allowed into the... family circle

38:00

to perform a necessary evil.

38:03

In some cases funeral feasts

38:05

could also bear resemblance to

38:07

funeral doles as with what

38:09

was called the Arval. A

38:11

word in custom rooted in

38:14

Norse culture transmitted to Scotland

38:16

and the North of England.

38:18

The Arval meal held after

38:20

the burial was also known

38:22

as an inheritance feast and

38:25

was the occasion to make

38:27

public the will of the

38:29

deceased and distribute their goods.

38:31

And later still, Arval became

38:33

a type of round-spiced cake

38:35

or cookie served to funeral

38:38

guests. The

38:40

Arvol cake was just a local

38:42

name for funeral biscuits or funeral

38:44

cookies in American which were part

38:47

of traditional syndos from the 18th

38:49

century into the Victorian era. These

38:51

are the best cookies I've ever

38:54

eaten. These cookies were particularly common

38:56

in the north of England but

38:58

could be found throughout and also

39:01

in early America. An article from

39:03

a 79 edition of the periodical

39:05

gentleman's magazine described them as a

39:08

kind of sugar biscuit biscuit which

39:10

are wrapped up. Generally, two of

39:12

them together in a sheet of

39:15

wax paper, sealed with black wax.

39:17

Funeral cookies might be distributed in

39:19

one of several ways. They could

39:22

be sent to individuals' homes before

39:24

the funeral as an announcement of

39:26

the death and invitation to the

39:29

funeral, or they could be given

39:31

out during the wake or sent

39:33

to those unable to attend the

39:36

rites. The recipe and form of

39:38

the funeral biscuit varied. A kind

39:40

of shortbread was often used, usually

39:43

flavored with caraway, and stamped with

39:45

the impression of some image associated

39:47

with death. When they made their

39:50

way to the American colonies, they

39:52

were stamped with designs like those

39:54

on Puritan gravestones, winged heads representing

39:57

the soul, hourglass, or skull. By

39:59

the late 1800s, Ladyfinger's, the sponge

40:01

cake cookie also known as Savoy

40:04

Biscets or Naples Biscets, had become

40:06

a popular form of the funeral

40:08

cookie. By this time, the custom,

40:11

which was never as strong in

40:13

America, had died out there, and

40:15

the Ladyfinger trend was unknown, as

40:18

noted in an 1897 article appearing

40:20

in the New York Times. The

40:23

American fashion of serving lady

40:25

fingers at afternoon tea is

40:28

said to be a source

40:30

of some surprise to English

40:32

people, for the little cakes

40:34

are generally known in England

40:36

as funeral biscuits. In rural

40:38

areas the custom remains stronger

40:40

and families bake their own

40:43

funeral cookies, but by the

40:45

1800s they could also be

40:47

ordered from bakeries. This was

40:49

preferred in the cities and

40:51

by the upper classes. Serving

40:53

lady fingers rather than the

40:55

round cakes also signified a

40:57

higher status. Whatever their form,

41:00

the cookies would come packaged,

41:02

folded in black-bordered papers, generally

41:04

used for deaf notices, and

41:06

printed with a suitable verse.

41:08

An example from 1882, preserved

41:10

in London's Pitt Rivers Museum,

41:12

used these words from a

41:15

hymn. Thee, we adore, eternal

41:17

name and humbly own to

41:19

thee. How feeble is our

41:21

mortal frame, what dying worms

41:23

we be. The text goes

41:25

on, but I'll leave it

41:27

there at the image of

41:30

worms wriggling in a rotting

41:32

corpse, just the thing for

41:34

a food wrapper. Oh, and

41:36

the funeral cookies also played

41:38

a role in the tradition

41:40

of telling the bees, which

41:42

was discussed, I believe, in

41:45

our bees episode. An 1838

41:47

article from the lead space

41:49

newspaper Northern Star says, At

41:51

all weddings and funerals, they

41:53

give a piece of the

41:55

wedding cake. or funeral biscuit

41:57

to the bees, informing them

42:00

at the same time of

42:02

the name of the party,

42:04

married or dead. If the

42:06

bees do not know of

42:08

the former, they become very

42:10

irate and sting. That does

42:12

sound like the bees. I

42:15

thought you liked that. Finally,

42:17

let's consider a 1911 entry

42:19

on sin-eating in the Encyclopedia

42:21

Britannica. It describes an 1893

42:23

Shropshire funeral at which... A

42:25

woman poured out a glass

42:27

of wine for each bearer

42:29

and handed it to him

42:32

across the coffin with a

42:34

funeral biscuit. The burial cakes

42:36

which are still made in

42:38

parts of rural England, for

42:40

example, Lingagea and Cumberland, are

42:42

almost certainly a relic of

42:44

sin-eating. Certainly, or possibly, or

42:47

possibly, or possibly the other

42:49

way around. That is, that

42:51

the figure of the sin

42:53

eater is a bit of

42:55

folklore which was inspired by

42:57

the appearance of strangers, perhaps

42:59

very strange or undesirable strangers

43:02

showing up to render services

43:04

at funerals. Hauling the body

43:06

to the grave, however, isn't

43:08

really a matter of saving

43:10

or cleansing the soul. But

43:12

what if we mixed in

43:14

memories of those saving prayers

43:17

expected in exchange for feeding

43:19

the funeral guests? And then

43:21

these funeral biscuits we've been

43:23

discussing, are they really very

43:25

different in function from soul

43:27

cakes? You may have heard

43:29

of these in connection with

43:32

Halloween. In Britain, they were

43:34

given out to children circulating

43:36

through towns on All Souls

43:38

Day. Begging for soul cakes

43:40

with songs like this. A

43:42

soul, a soul cake. Please

43:44

good misses a soul cake.

43:47

Apple a pair, a plumber,

43:49

a cherry. Any good thing

43:51

to make us marry. One

43:53

for Peter, two for Paul.

43:55

The sweets were given out

43:57

with the understanding again that

43:59

in exchange. the singers would

44:02

pray for the families dead,

44:04

which in the original Catholic

44:06

understanding, it would mean praying

44:08

for the soul's assent from

44:10

purgatory. But the practice of

44:12

solely was maintained also by

44:14

Protestants, because these customs just

44:16

die hard, just like the

44:19

headstones carved with rest in

44:21

peace long after we feared

44:23

the restless dead rising from

44:25

their graves to wander earthbound

44:27

and another form of purgatorial.

44:29

imprisonment. I drink to the

44:31

peace of him that's gone.

44:33

Raising a glass, eating a

44:35

cookie, eating bread and salt,

44:37

they were all actions intended

44:39

to free the soul in

44:41

a sense to see it

44:43

off to a restful, joyful

44:45

eternity. So as the folklore

44:47

of senators, just a fanciful

44:49

embodiment of all these ideas,

44:51

or in remote times and

44:54

remote regions, were there, at

44:56

least a few, at least

44:58

few, Who really didn't serve

45:00

as sin-eaters, as described? Is

45:02

there a sin-eater? I really

45:04

don't know. I certainly wouldn't

45:06

want to do it.