Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Unraveling the Unknown

Episode Title: The Basilisk

Hello Curious people and welcome to a world of mystery.

You are listening to Unraveling the Unknown with your hosts Lily and Tessa.

In this episode of Unraveling the Unknown, the Podcast we will discuss: The Basilisk.

• One day on a farmhouse in ancient times, a farmer was shaken awake by loud screams and croaks from his farm animals. He dashed out of bed and rushed outside.
• Eyes adjusting to the light of morning, he glanced around, spotting an abnormally large chicken egg cracked and broken on the ground. The farmer looked around at all the commotion, roosters running around, feathers and dirt flying in the air. The horses, cows, and other livestock were spooked, breaking fences and crying out.
• He saw dead black grass near where the chicken egg was hatched, and dead livestock littering the ground around it. Then, following this trail of death, he looked up, meeting the gaze of a huge rooster-like creature with the characteristics of a serpent. He gasped, Immediately falling over, face banging against the muddy ground. He was petrified, dead.
• This creature was a basilisk, a Serpent-like creature with the ability to turn things into stone with its glance- even in a reflection, causing immediate death. The basilisk also is extremely venomous. It originates in Ancient Greece and Rome and is often thought of as the King of Serpents. Basilisk is also the name of a genus of small lizards, The Green Basilisk, also called plumed basilisk, is often called the "Jesus lizard" for its ability to run on the surface of water. They are roughly 2.5 feet in length, so relatively small, and kind of cute.
• There are a lot of variations and species that originate with the basilisk. For example, Medusa is a side species of basilisk - a lot of legends of the basilisk involve a mixture of a snake or serpent combined with other animals.
• Medusa is an example of this because she is part snake and part human. Other combinations can often include farm animals like cows, roosters, etc.
• Basilisks have haunted legends and terrorized kings, kingdoms, and people all over the world since ancient times.
• The only two weaknesses of a basilisk ever recorded are hearing the crow of a rooster and seeing its own deadly gaze in a mirror.

SPOILER WARNING!!!

• HARRY POTTER- the movie Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets has a basilisk as its main enemy.
• When Harry Potter discovers the chamber of secrets and Voldemort plans to resurrect himself, he goes into the chamber, preparing to destroy a powerful notebook with the basilisk venom.

Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Unraveling the Unknown

Episode Title: Wicked Werewolves

Hello Curious people and welcome to a world of mystery.

You are listening to Unraveling the Unknown with your hosts Lily and Tessa.

In this episode of Unraveling the Unknown, the Podcast we will discuss: werewolves.

Segment 1: Story Time

In 1589 Germany, in the village of Epprath on a simple farm ranch, Peter Stumpp, worked as a successful farmer for many years of his life until one day when mysterious disappearances from nearby towns began to conjure up suspicion.

Neighboring farms and passersby began sensing strange and dark energy as well as hearing occasional unexplainable noises coming from Stump's house.

Soon, Peter was accused of werewolves, witchcraft, and cannibalism.

He was put on trial and confessed after being tortured to killing and eating several of his livestock and villagers including women and children

He confessed further that he had made a pact with the devil to become a werewolf. He was then sentenced to death after they found several half-consumed human remains on his property. He was executed in one of the most horrible and tortuous deaths on record, execution by wheel.

His daughter and mistress were also put to death in fear of further werewolf tendencies spreading through the village.

In Germany at the time, Roman Catholics were attempting to push out Protestantism, of which Stupp was a proud member.

This could have influenced his trial and story into a monstrous devilish horror story in order to create paranoia and switch people to catholicism.

At the same time, werewolf panics and witch hunts were springing up around Germany, causing mass hysteria and paranoia.

He could have been innocent, or he could have been just a serial killer with no other abilities who went crazy and made up a story. There are many different versions of the story that could have been stretched or misinterpreted.

Segment 2: Origin and Facts

Werewolf is a well-known mythological animal and is commonly throughout many stories throughout the world

People can morph into vicious powerful wolves, or can be half- human half-wolf. No matter the form, all of them are bloodthirsty monsters who cannot control themselves when it comes to killing animals and people.

Werewolves did make an early appearance in Greek mythology with the Legend of Lycaon. Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus, made Zeus mad, and as a punishment Zeus turned Lycaon and his sons into wolves.

Back in 1521, in France, people thought that werewolves were the serial killers. Frenchman Pierre Burgot and Michel Verdun allegedly swore to the devil and claimed to have turned them into wolves. After they confessed to brutally murdering several children they were burned to death at the stake.

The Beast of Gévaudan, a man-eating animal killed by the hunter Jean Chastel in 1767, brought the idea of bullets with a coat of silver to kill werewolves.

Silver is known to have antimicrobial properties, and the substance is even used in some forms of medicine. Silver is extremely pure, and effective against impure forces.

In multiple stories of werewolves, we only see werewolves turning into her beast-like form during a full moon. According to a study conducted at Australia;s Calvary Mater Newcastle hospital, a full moon brings out the “beast” in many humans.

At this hospital during a full moon, patients attacked staff, and showed wolf-like behaviors such as biting, scratching, and spitting.

Although most of these patients were under the influence of drugs or alcohol, it is unclear why they became intensely violent when the moon was

Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network

Show Name: Unraveling the Unknown

Episode Title: La Llorona

You are listening to Unraveling the Unknown with your hosts Lily and Tessa.

In this episode of Unraveling the Unknown, the Podcast we will discuss: La Llorona

Story

In Mexico City, around 1550, a woman gave birth to two children of a man she was arranged to marry.

the woman caught her husband having an affair with someone else.

One day soon after she went with her children by the riverbank near her house.

her children playing in the river reminded her of her husband's betrayal.

she rushed into the river, pushing the small heads in front of her down until they were submerged in water, drowning the happiness of the man who had stabbed out her heart.

she was filled with regret and sorrow

She held their floating bodies in her arms and wept for her lost children.

she then drowned herself in the river.

Today in her regret, the ghost of La Llorona- “the weeping woman”- haunts children, always by the dark of night, looking for children to keep with her forever.

Origin

Now we'll take a short break but stay tuned for what secrets will be revealed about La Llorona and classified information next

PAUSE….

Welcome back, get excited to unravel this ghost spirt.

La Llorona is a mythological woman throughout Mexican and Latin American stories. La Llorona is a popular ghost story that is said to be about a siren-like woman who wails to lure adults and children to their imident deaths.

La Llorona was once a beautiful woman named Maria who had a husband who was unfaithful and abusive towards Maria.

In another retelling they say that her husband left Maria for a wealthier woman, and out of jealousy and anger, she lured her two sons to a nearby river and drowned them.

After realizing what she had done she then drowned herself.

In another version, she neglected sons who drowned accidently while she was talking and distracted talking with gentlemen callers.

Maria’s ghost, now La Llorona, is wandering the Earth searching for her lost sons, and she has a distinct wailing cry, “My sons! My Sons! Where are my Sons?”

The rumor has it that she appears when children misbehave or when lost men are alone by a lake or river. She appears as mothers and steals their children, mistaking them for her two lost sons.

La Llorona is described to have long hair, dressed entirely in black or white or having the bones of her dead children embedded in her backbone. She is normally associated with water. You should avoid encountering La Llorona at all costs. If you even hear her cries you are destined for misfortune or death.

People do not know exactly where her tale originated from. Some say it originated in Mexico and others say it traveled through oral tradition from Spain.

La Llorona also known as the crying women is a mexican legend that is at least 500 years old.

La Llorona possesses great powers, both to create life and to destroy life.

Discussion

How believable is La Llorona on a scale from 1-10? 1 being not believable 10 being super real.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Have you ever seen a ghost?

La Llornoa serves as a symbol of loss, grief, and the consequences of one’s actions.

Did you know that if you see a person with a La Llorona tattoo that is signifies that the person has gotten cheated on.

La Llorona’s narrative is passed down through the centuries as a reminder that our voices are...