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  Modern historians have suggested that dragons were proven to premodern populations by none other than unearthed fossilized dinosaur bones. Given how close modern dragons look to these bones it is entirely possible, though dragon truthers would very much disagree. #WyrdWednesday

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  In autumn she is Sharada, the goddess of that season: Saraswati prefers this season, the goddess of learning blessing it in India and beyond. It is a time for music, for speech, for learning and art and create but also to regenerate and grow. #WyrdWednesday 🖼: R.R. Varma

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  Autumn sees an increase of kitsune sightings and with it, fox fire. As reapers take to the fields, they see foxes moving in and about them, not always a bad sign but always an auspicious one. #WyrdWednesday 🖼️: Jeepster

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  Contrary to popular belief tarot began its life as a set of cards meant for playing games. It was not until the 18th century that tarot became a divination tool. Like most decks it has four suits (the minor Arcana) but adds 22 additional cards (the major Arcana) #MythologyMonday

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  The Scorpion begged the Frog to ferry it across the pond, promising not to sting him, so he agrees; halfway across, the Scorpion stung him. "Why? Now we will both drown," he asks. "A Scorpion cannot change its nature, dear Frog." So goes the famed fable. #FairyTaleTuesday

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  Aesop's Fables comments on the intelligence of crows in "The Crow and the Pitcher," which is not so much a fable on perseverance and cleverness, as it is an observable fact that crows are problem-solvers. #FairytaleTuesday

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  He lassos tornados. He brought a storm from California to solve a drought in Texas, only to create the Gulf of Mexico. He dug the Rio Grande to give his horse water. He is Pecos Bill, a giant of Southwestern storytelling and of proportion, too. #FairytaleTuesday

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  The mythologies of the Aztec peoples come to us in two sources, in the same book: the Florentine Codex, the most complete work, is written on one side in Spanish, and one side in Nahuatl, recording indigenous life, but sometimes telling it differently. #WyrdWednesday

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  Ancient Mesoamericans imagined the night's sky like that of a cave, with light glistening from each stalactite from far above. Rain is water rushing into our cave, and for that rain gods are given much prominence in Mayan and Aztec mythos. #WyrdWednesday

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  Found in Mesoamerican art until the Spanish conquest, the Olmec werejaguar motif is found in all manner of art and may have represented rain, sovereignty, or priestly help. Said to be born of women and jaguar, their power was summoned by warriors to defeat foes. #WyrdWednesday

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  Nagual are shapeshifters, human tricksters born with shamanic powers and familiars they can use for good or evil: the person must choose. Found across Mesoamerica with evidence stretching back millennias, modern Mexican naguals are often associated with brujería. #WyrdWednesday

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  In pre-Christian Slavic tribes, Dożynki was an autumn equinox festival, one celebrating the gifts of the earth and the hope of renewal next year, when the gifts would come once again. Holdovers from these celebrations include the baking of massive pancakes. #FolkloreSunday

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  On Christmas Day, 1948, Ladell Allen's mother noticed she was missing and found her dying from drinking mercury cyanide over a jilted lover. Though once contained to a sealed-off room, the ghost of Ladell Allen now haunts all of Allen House in Monticello, AR. #SpookySunday

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  Zoroastrian Valentines is called Jashn-e Mehr, an Iranian festival of the autumnal equinox which celebrates the ties that bind, whether platonic or romantic. Dedicated to Mithra, kings were crowned on this holy day and the festival survives Islam. #FolkloreSunday

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  Hardly faithful to Hephaestus, Aphrodite crawled into bed with her lover Ares and the trap was sprung: god of invention, Hephaestus had created a trap to ensnare the lovers so they would be on full display for all to see, humiliating them as they humiliated him. #MythologyMonday

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  Mabon, a modern neopagan name for the autumn equinox, derives its name from Mabon ap Modron, himself derived from the pan-Celtic Maponos, the Great Son. Mabon is the second of the main autumn harvest festivals, after Lunasa and preceding Samhain. #WyrdWednesday

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  In Daoist astrology, autumn is the time of the White Tiger of the West and the element of metal. It represents a movement inward, a time to reflect, to grieve, and to celebrate the good things life brings, in preparation for the harsh truths of winter. #WyrdWednesday

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  The ancient Greeks had little agreement over the centuries regarding how to portray the seasons as gods. The most common depiction of autumn was fruitful Karpo, one of the original Horae. A goddess of harvest and ripening food, she attended to Persephone. #WyrdWednesday

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  The Gaelic Cailleach accepts offerings of bread, often burnt, varying by region and time of year. In autumn, near Samhain, she accepts this gift for her time of year has begun. #WyrdWednesday

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  Founded at the onset of Santa Fe's creation, the La Fonda Hotel was where law enforcement tried and hanged outlaws. Though destroyed several times, ghosts of outlaws, businessmen, lynch victims, and one territorial judge have been reported. #SpookySunday

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  Angels as winged humanoids becomes standard in the 3rd century during the reign of Theodosius, and as such, Islam adopted this version quite early, though Islamic angels are often shown with much more colorful wings. #MythologyMonday

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  The Crown of Justification was placed on the dead of ancient Egypt, a sign one had overcome death in the Duat and risen to the company of the gods. It could be as simple as a laurel or palm leaves or as elaborate as a jeweled crown. #MythologyMonday

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  Cernunnos is the Celtic horned god, called the great peacemaker and master of the wild places. This figure is largely mysterious, and we only know his name from a single source, a stone pillar in Paris, yet he has captured the modern imagination of Celtophiles. #WyrdWednesday

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  The Horned Serpent of Muscogee Creek myth has crystalline scales and a gem imbedded in its forehead, feasting on sumac and being a magnet for wild game. Its horns are used for medicine, its scales for divination. #WyrdWednesday 🖼️: Dracarian

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  Hunters among the Hopi and Zuni tribes revere Toho, the Cougar spirit and Guardian of the North. He teaches hunters to be clear in their goals, steadfast in their dedication, and prefer action to cunning. #FairytaleTuesday 🖼️: J. Gash

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  Red Riding Hood can be found all over the world: in Taiwan, Aunt Tiger is a version where the tiger must eat three children to gain shape-shifting powers and hopes to do so by pretending to be their aunt. A clever girl sees through his disguise. #FairyTaleTuesday 🖼 HodariNundu

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  While tigers are not native to most of Europe, at best coming to the Black Sea's eastern edges, tigers have been part of European art since Antiquity: Dionysus is sometimes depicted in Hellenistic art as riding a tiger or a chariot driven by tigers. #FairytaleTuesday

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  Dawon is Durga's battle steed, a powerful celestial tiger-lion that attacks alongside his mistress and devours the enemies of righteousness in Indian myth. #FairytaleTuesday

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  Bengkala is Indonesia's Village of the Deaf, where two witches fought and deafened one another, passing that on to their descendants and creating a unique sign language, Kota Kolak. Despite its reputation, only 2% of the population has genetic deafness. #MythologyMonday

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  In the tale of Hoichi the Earless, Buddhist monks paint a blind musician's body with a Buddhist sutra that makes him invisible to ghosts as long as he stays still: but they forgot the ears! #MythologyMonday