Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???

Subject: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: sian, west wales
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 09:53 AM

The Treacle Mine thread drew to mind the song, When the Ice Worms Nest Again (here ) and the accompanying explanatory Ode here . Now, I know that the song is discussed in various places, but I'm just wondering what other 'alternate universe' creatures and things exist in song or story in this particular reality?

I speak as someone who believed that mohair sweaters were made from the hair of moes well into her teens, because my big sister told me so.

Big sisters. Who'd have 'em?

sian

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: MMario
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 09:58 AM

Haggi

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: sian, west wales
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 10:37 AM

Being the plural of haggis? (or singular?)

I've never hunted one, being convinced that you should never kill something you're not prepared to eat.

sian

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: MMario
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 10:46 AM

Haggi being the plural of Haggis; I prefer the domestic variety myself, far less gamy.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: MMario
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 10:50 AM

The Haggis of Dunbar

The Haggis season (thread)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 10:54 AM

Could this be transferred to BS please?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 11:02 AM

Guest; The heading "Folklore" seems to cover the discussion nicely. The idea of having separate headings is to make it easier to identify the underlying text of the thread.
I think this should stay here.

Nigel

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: sian, west wales
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 11:39 AM

Thanks, Nigel. As far as I'm concerned, the concept of ice worms, haggi, treacle mines, et al. fit snuggly into the Tall Tale tradition.

sian

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: JennyO
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 11:46 AM

We have a wonderfully talented duo here in Australia, called "Us Not Them", who sing the iceworms song. I had never heard it before until they did it.

And what of polyesters? How many died to make this thread? ;-)

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 11:47 AM

Of course Siân you've avoided mentioning the one fabulous creature that should be here. Y Ddraig Goch! or his effeminate relative 'Puff'.
While I am typing this the CD player is churning out the marvelous sounds of songs and tunes based on Anne McCaffrey's Dragon books. Where the songs written in the numerous books have been put to music by Tania Opland and Mike Freeman (of Alaska and England)

Nigel

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 03:36 PM

Like it or not, believe it or not, ice worms actually exist. See here
, for instance. Scientists have found ice worms near methane sinks at the bottom of the ocean, and hope to find evidence of them on Europa.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Tinker
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 03:43 PM

One of my husbands favorite tall tales is about his childhood in the south where he spent long hours in the hot sun picking polys of ester. The price of polyester being higher and more profitable to share croppers in the south... Scary/ funny on several occaisions folks actually have joined in the conversation glad to finally know where that fabric came from.

Tinker

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: sian, west wales
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 03:46 PM

Ah, Rapaire,Thou hast burst my bubble!

Nigel, think - our Dragon is a girl (y DDraig). Apparently Welsh is the only language with a gender system where 'dragon' is Welsh. Interesting, eh? Also screws up heraldry, as it would seem that dragons are supposed to show ... ummm ... errrr... their 'manhood'.

JennyO - I'm riddled with guilt. I'm sewing a costume for the little boy next door and I've just opened a new reel of poly thread. Oh, the shame!

sian

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 04:08 PM

yep...iceworms are all-too-real, and there are complex pages on the web explaining more than you ever wanted to know about them...

but my favorite creature is the Nauga....I have several hides downstairs I intend to re-upholster some furniture with. They are shy creatures, though, and one needs to lure them gently from hiding in order to capture one. I find that 'folding money' is excellent bait.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Allan C.
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 04:38 PM

It is a well-known fact that the fur-bearing trout, found mostly in the Arkansas River of Colorado, is can be lured from the depths by use of ice worms. It is not certain if the two creatures are genetically identical to those found in Michigan, Pennsylvania or Maine.

There is some question as to whether the fur-bearing trout is a result of cross-breeding between the more common varieties of trout and the silver foxes. Some say the foxes weren't silver until after the crossbreeding.

My understanding is that the Arkansas River Basin habitat of the fur-bearing trout has begun to become usurped by the Spiral Mango-bats. However, I haven't yet been able to find substantiation.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: MMario
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 04:43 PM

Not that long ago we also had a discussion of the fur bearing fresh water dolpins and whales of the Great Lakes.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 09:17 PM

I've heard of the furbearing trout, but where and when I was a-growing, we used to capture furbearing catfish. This was on the Upper Mississippi (above, that is upstream of, St. Louis) and the fish had developed their fur as a defense against the cold of the last Ice Age. Long and very silky, much like the underhair of the muskox, it was greatly in demand by those who made fur coats. Naturally we didn't shear the poor fish; we would capture them in Spring and hasten their shedding of the underhair with curry combs and then turn them loose. Unfortunately, these fish are now either extinct or, more probably, in hiding, ashamed of being classed with such creatures as the Fauxfur Carp. Ah, well....

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 10:23 PM

Rapaire, I believe they have survived in Alaska, USA. Their fur is in as much demand as qiviut and is often mistaken for it.

Incidentally, honey bees in Alaska also wear fur coats. They look just like a bumblebee.

What I don't understand is the generations old 'snipe hunt'. Since snipe actually exist, why was their name used for the trick?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Troll
Date: 04 Mar 03 - 11:46 PM

Ah, Ebbie, the common snipe is a diurnal creature and goes to roost when the sun goes down, just before the time that the Night-running Snipe leaves its burrow and goes on the prowl for food. There's no trick involved.
The Night-running Snipe is extremely good eating but incredibly difficult to catch as witness by the myriads of people who have been taken on a Snipe Hunt only to return with an empty sack.
The idea that it is all a trick has been fostered by these inept greenhorns to such an extent that most of the world now believes -as you yourself have indicated you do- that the Night-running Snipe is a myth. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the population is burgeoning isnce the hunting pressure has been taken off.
In fact, there are several snipe borrows within walking distance of my house. The population is so healthy that I am able to supply my family with plump, suculent snipe on a regular basis. Needless to say, I only take them is season and with proper attention to size, sex, and limit restrictions.
I hope that this clears this perplexing point up for you.

troll

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 02:43 AM

I am chastened (if not chaste), troll. I didn't realize the common (you could even say, vulgar) snipe was so different from its cousin. I should have thought of it, though, because even the common snipe has an unusual burrow.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 05:39 AM

Siân: Nice try, but you don't catch me that easily. Y Ddraig Goch may well be of the male persuasion. Mochyn is a masculine noun, although the term describes a pig irrespective of gender, although 'baedd' (boar) is masc. and 'hwch' (sow) is fem..
Presumably 'Ddraig' is the generic form, and there are alternate words for the cock dragon & the hen Dragon.
Alternately, someone may have considered the dragon to be a mere legend, and as with inanimate objects, assigned a gender at random.

However, the best solution is to ascribe the expression "Y Ddraig Goch Ddyry Cychwyn" to a description of the Welsh coat of arms, or to the Welsh flag. In which case, 'flag' translates as 'baner' a fem. noun.
"I bob un sydd fyddlon
Gan ei faner ef"

Hwyl Fawr

Nigel

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 08:29 AM

Ebbie, the dinosaurs all moved to the other side of the Brooks Range. I know, 'cause I told my neices and nephews so.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Ebbie
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 01:36 PM

Rapaire, you say the 'other side' of the Brooks- would that be the underside? Because I don't think they have been sighted (sited?) lately.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Allan C.
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 01:49 PM

I think most of those dinosaurs may have been buried inadvertently when Paul Bunyan dug the Puget Sound.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: weerover
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 02:00 PM

Mario - surely all dolphins and whales are fur-bearing (even if the fur is pretty short and fine)? Isn't that what makes them mammals?

wr

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: MMario
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 02:10 PM

But only the (nearly-extinct) Great Lakes Dolphin had a pelt that was usable for knitwear.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: CraigS
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 02:50 PM

Ciumnich an tabhartas Blarneia

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: delphinium
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 02:55 PM

And don't you forget the un-i-corn...

There's the hunting of the snark, that mentions the song of the jub jub. But maybe Lewis Carroll isn't folklore.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 03:54 PM

Ah, Ebbie! There are more sides to the Brooks Range than are dreamt of in your philosophy. As mountains, they have a "corrugated" sort of surface, which makes them topologically interesting -- so much so that they have actually intersected more planes than ours. I could describe the geometry involved, but doing so would require me to make use of higher math, like the square root of negative imaginary numbers and even that would require an n-dimensional computer screen.

Here's good question for you all: there is something with only one (1) side, and I'm sure you've all seen it. What is it?

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: MMario
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 04:00 PM

besides opinion?

Celtic Soul has a muffler with only one side - but I don't think everyone has seen it.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 04:21 PM

Nope, it's out there in the so-called real world. Naturally, you can't touch it, smell it, or taste it. You can only see it from one side.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: MMario
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 04:22 PM

bigotry fits that definition - but of courswe your probably mean "rainbow"

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 04:43 PM

That's it! Got it. Only one side to a rainbow.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: sian, west wales
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 04:59 PM

So ... the fauxfur carp was so named because its fur was very similar to that of the faux which inhabits Ply forests (from which we get plywood)?

Speaking of trees, we must remember Richard Dimbleby's famous coverage of the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest in 1957:

"... the British news show, Panorama, broadcast a segment about a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. The success of the crop was attributed to an unusually mild winter. The audience heard Richard Dimbleby, the show's anchor, discussing the details of the spaghetti crop as they watched a rural Swiss family pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets.

"The spaghetti harvest here in Switzerland is not, of course, carried out on anything like the tremendous scale of the Italian industry," Dimbleby informed the audience. "Many of you, I'm sure," he continued, "will have seen pictures of the vast spaghetti plantations in the Po valley. For the Swiss, however, it tends to be more of a family affair"

Yum. Swiss Spag-Bol.

sian

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Mar 03 - 07:23 PM

Fauxfur carp feed on polyesters that fall into their deadly traps. This is becomes the essence of their fauxfur, but it's much inferior to the real thing.

Here in Kentucky, this is the time of year when the bourbon trees are tapped for their sap. This is first reduced by boiling and then diluted with "branch water," producing the State's signature tipple. To see the bourbon makers out with their teams of horses or mules, pulling the sledges of sap barrels, is reminiscent of maple syruping in Vermont or palming in Florida or Arizona.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: MMario
Date: 06 Mar 03 - 08:14 AM

The fire hazard of bourbon reduction is much higher though!

Subject: Ballad of the Ice Worm Cocktail
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Sep 03 - 08:25 PM

I saw real, live ice worms at Portage Glacier south of Anchorage Monday. In my Internet travels today I found this poem that Micca linked to, and I thought it would be appropriate to post it. The Website where Micca found it says it's by Robert W. Service - I'm not sure I believe that, but several other sites give (or repeat) the same information. Anybody know which Service collection it's in?.
One of our tour guides explained why glacier ice is blue - all the iceworms have blue eyes....

-Joe Offer-

---

The Ballad of the Ice-Worm Cocktail

(Robert W. Service?)

To Dawson Town came Percy Brown from London on the Thames.
A pane of glass was in his eye, and stockings on his sterns.
Upon the shoulder of his coat a leather pad he wore,
To rest his deadly rifle when it wasn't seeking gore;
The which it must have often been, for Major Percy Brown,
According to his story was a hunter of renown,
Who in the Murrumbidgee wilds had stalked the kangaroo
And killed the cassowary on the plains of Timbuctoo.
And now the Arctic fox he meant to follow to its lair,
And it was also his intent to beard the Artic hare...
Which facts concerning Major Brown I merely tell because
I fain would have you know him for the Nimrod that he was.

Now Skipper Grey and Deacon White were sitting in the shack,
And sampling of the whisky that pertained to Sheriff Black.
Said Skipper Grey: "I want to say a word about this Brown:
The piker's sticking out his chest as if he owned the town."
Said Sheriff Black: "he has no lack of frigorated cheek;
He called himself a Sourdough when he'd just been here a week."
Said Deacon White: "Methinks you're right, and so I have a plan
By which I hope to prove to-night the mettle of the man.
Just meet me where the hooch-bird sings, and though our ways be rude
We'll make a proper Sourdough of this Piccadilly dude."

Within the Malamute Saloon were gathered all the gang;
The fun was fast and furious, and the loud hooch-bird sang.
In fact the night's hilarity had almost reached its crown,
When into its storm-centre breezed the gallant Major Brown.
And at the apparation, whith its glass eye and plus-fours,
From fifty alcoholic throats responded fifty roars.
With shouts of stark amazement and with whoops of sheer delight,
They surged around the stranger, but the first was Deacon White.
"We welcome you," he cried aloud, "to this the Great White Land.
The Artic Brotherhood is proud to grip you by the hand.
Yea, sportsman of the bull-dog breed, from trails of far away,
To Yukoners this is indeed a memorable day.
Our jubilation to express, vocabularies fail...
Boys, hail the Great Cheechako!" And the boys responded: "Hail!"

"And now," continued Deacon White to blushing Major Brown,
"Behold assembled the eelight and cream of Dawson Town,
And one ambition fills their hearts and makes their bosoms glow -
They want to make you, honoured sir, a bony feed Sourdough.
The same, some say, is one who's seen the Yukon ice go out,
But most profound authorities the definition doubt,
And to the genial notion of this meeting, Major Brown,
A Sourdough is a guy who drinks ... an ice-worm cocktail down."

"By Gad!" responded Major Brown, "that's ripping, don't you know.
I've always felt I'd like to be a certified Sourdough.
And though I haven't any doubt your Winter's awf'ly nice,
Mayfair, I fear, may miss me ere the break-up of your ice.
Yet (pray excuse my ignorance of matters such as these)
A cocktail I can understand - but what's an ice-worm, please?"
Said Deacon White: "It is not strange that you should fail to know,
Since ice-worms are peculiar to the Mountain of Blue Snow.
Within the Polar rim it rears, a solitary peak,
And in the smoke of early Spring (a spectacle unique)
Like flame it leaps upon the sight and thrills you through and through,
For though its cone is piercing white, its base is blazing blue.
Yet all is clear as you draw near - for coyley peering out
Are hosts and hosts of tiny worms, each indigo of snout.
And as no nourishment they find, to keep themselves alive
They masticate each other's tails, till just the Tough survive.
Yet on this stern and Spartan fare so-rapidly they grow,
That some attain six inches by the melting of the snow.
Then when the tundra glows to green and nigger heads appear,
They burrow down and are not seen until another year."

"A toughish yarn," laughed Major Brown, "as well you may admit.
I'd like to see this little beast before I swallow it."
"'Tis easy done," said Deacon White, "Ho! Barman, haste and bring
Us forth some pickled ice-worms of the vintage of last Spring."
But sadly still was Barman Bill, then sighed as one bereft:
"There's been a run on cocktails, Boss; there ain't an ice-worm left.
Yet wait . . . By gosh! it seems to me that some of extra size
Were picked and put away to show the scientific guys."
Then deeply in a drawer he sought, and there he found a jar,
The which with due and proper pride he put upon the bar;
And in it, wreathed in queasy rings, or rolled into a ball,
A score of grey and greasy things, were drowned in alcohol.
Their bellies were a bilious blue, their eyes a bulbous red;
Their back were grey, and gross were they, and hideous of head.
And when with gusto and a fork the barman speared one out,
It must have gone four inches from its tail-tip to its snout.
Cried Deacon White with deep delight: "Say, isn't that a beaut?"
"I think it is," sniffed Major Brown, "a most disgustin' brute.
Its very sight gives me the pip. I'll bet my bally hat,
You're only spoofin' me, old chap. You'll never swallow that."
"The hell I won't!" said Deacon White. "Hey! Bill, that fellows fine.
Fix up four ice-worm cocktails, and just put that wop in mine."

So Barman Bill got busy, and with sacerdotal air
His art's supreme achievement he proceeded to prepare.
His silver cups, like sickle moon, went waving to and fro,
And four celestial cocktails soon were shining in a row.
And in the starry depths of each, artistically piled,
A fat and juicy ice-worm raised its mottled mug and smiled.
Then closer pressed the peering crown, suspended was the fun,
As Skipper Grey in courteous way said: "Stranger, please take one."
But with a gesture of disgust the Major shook his head.
"You can't bluff me. You'll never drink that gastly thing," he said.
"You'll see all right," said Deacon White, and held his cocktail high,
Till its ice-worm seemed to wiggle, and to wink a wicked eye.
Then Skipper Grey and Sheriff Black each lifted up a glass,
While through the tense and quiet crown a tremor seemed to pass.
"Drink, Stranger, drink," boomed Deacon White. "proclaim you're of the best,
A doughty Sourdough who has passed the Ice-worm Cocktail Test."
And at these words, with all eyes fixed on gaping Major Brown,
Like a libation to the gods, each dashed his cocktail down.
The Major gasped with horror as the trio smacked their lips.
He twiddled at his eye-glass with unsteady finger-tips.
Into his starry cocktail with a look of woe he peered,
And its ice-worm, to his thinking, mosy incontinently leered.
Yet on him were a hundred eyes, though no one spoke aloud,
For hushed with expectation was the waiting, watching crowd.
The Major's fumbling hand went forth - the gang prepared to cheer;
The Major's falt'ring hand went back, the mob prepared to jeer,
The Major gripped his gleaming galss and laid it to his lips,
And as despairfully he took some nauseated sips,
From out its coil of crapulence the ice-worm raised its head,
Its muzzle was a murky blue, its eyes a ruby red.
And then a roughneck bellowed fourth: "This stiff comes here and struts,
As if he bought the blasted North - jest let him show his guts."
And with a roar the mob proclaimed: "Cheechako, Major Brown,
Reveal that you're of Sourdough stuff, and drink your cocktail down."

The Major took another look, then quickly closed his eyes,
For even as he raised his glass he felt his gorge arise.
Aye, even though his sight was sealed, in fancy he could see
That grey and greasy thing that reared and sneered in mockery.
Yet roung him ringed the callous crowd - and how they seemed to gloat!
It must be done . . . He swallowed hard . . . The brute was at his throat.
He choked. . . he gulped . . . Thank God! at last he'd got the horror down.
The from the crown went up a roar: "Hooray for Sourdough Brown!"
With shouts they raised him shoulder high, and gave a rousing cheer,
But though they praised him to the sky the Major did not hear.
Amid their demonstrative glee delight he seemed to lack;
Indeed it almost seemed that he - was "keeping something back."
A clammy sweat was on his brow, and pallid as a sheet:
"I feel I must be going now," he'd plaintively repeat.
Aye, though with drinks and smokes galore, they tempted him to stay,
With sudden bolt he gained the door, and made his get-away.

And ere next night his story was the talk of Dawson Town,
But gone and reft of glory was the wrathful Major Brown;
For that ice-worm (so they told him) of such formidable size
Was - a stick of stained spaghetti with two red ink spots for eyes.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: GUEST,ozmacca
Date: 04 Sep 03 - 09:33 PM

On the subject of folklore, I couldn't resist posting this item which was discussed on the Annexe a little while back.

Haven't you all ever wondered where all those plastic bags come from? You probably think that they're made in factories, but actually we grow them in plantations out here in Oz. There's a particularly famous commercial plantation at Coffs harbour in NSW, where this photo was taken.

http://www.bigbanana.com/html/plantation_walk.html

The plastic bags grow in layers, like skins on an onion, and when the outer skin goes blue, the fruit is ready to pick. In the factories, the fruit is dried and then each layer is peeled off to form a complete bag slightly smaller than the one before. Then they are graded and packed together, and the natural fine fibre helps them to nest together. Australian plastic bags lead the world production because of the climate and the excellent growing conditions. The tree is often grown as a companion plant with bananas and is a member of the same family as the spaghetti shrub which is grown commercially in Italy.

Also discussed were Drop Bears, which are a real danger in the plantations. You will notice that the people in the photo keep well together for safety as they pass through the plantation, and try to keep on the path, away from the tree canopies. Drop bears are members of the koala family, but have a particularly well padded rump. They're mainly nocturnal, and wait until some animal walks under the tree and drop on top of them, usually causing unconsciousness, then begin feeding on the prey. It's not wise to go out after dark in the plantations. In fact there was an old Oz folk tale to that effect, which was, I believe, adapted for use in other countries as a children's nursery song.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 04 Sep 03 - 09:34 PM

Sure enough, there are Ice Worms that live in the cracks of glaciers up here in Alaska. Although they are kind of fantastic, they also are quite real.

Mike

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: GUEST,Cookieless Rapaire
Date: 04 Sep 03 - 09:56 PM

Out here in Idaho they grow potatoes, lentils, and other things. The fields are full of sagebrush, and tumbleweeds can be seen rolling across the open spaces.

Along the fences can be seen the fruits of the bagworms. These are not
webworms
as they are generally thought of, but a still-undiscovered species that spin literal plastic bags as nests. These bags break away from the trees and are blown willy-nilly and hither and yon, finally coming to rest in fences.

The worms which create the bags are thought to have been mutated by Canadian atomic bomb testing during the 1950s.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: Alaska Mike
Date: 04 Sep 03 - 10:01 PM

OK, all we have to do is cross the Ice Worms with the Bag Worms and we all become millionairs by selling "bags of ice"? Man, that is fantastic.

Mike

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: LadyJean
Date: 04 Sep 03 - 11:05 PM

I thought I might mention the giant catfish found in our famous three rivers. These whiskered piscines find their way into the locks along the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio rivers, and are trapped there. Lacking space to move, the little suckers grow, and grow, and grow, sucking up the slime on the bottom, until the reach the size of Volkswagon Beetles, which they sometimes swallow. Now, I've neve seen one of these creatures, but many locals swear they exist.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Of Treacle Mines, Ice Worms and ???
From: GUEST,derek stanton ex Bluwater Folk
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 12:28 PM

How do folks you can now watch two new videos I have posted on Youtube.

I'm A Rover song about Blackburn Rovers Football Club

Sabden Treale Mines Raid.

yours gradely

derek stanton