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Crystal Ponti

@crystalponti.bsky.social

1.4K followers 710 following 2.3K posts

A freelance writer exploring the intersection of history and folklore. Bylines: The History Channel, The New York Times, BBC, etc. Also @HistoriumU (Historium Unearthia); Grieving mom of Adam. muckrack.com/crystal-ponti

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 1d

The Civil War didn’t just change the nation. It gave rise to embalming, and America’s funeral industry as we know it. Here's my latest for HISTORY. #history #funeral #Americanlife

👉 www.history.com/articles/civ...

How Civil War Deaths Advanced America’s Funeral Industry

Embalming advanced as a way to preserve and disinfect remains.

www.history.com

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 8h

Folklore says phantom ships sail still. The Flying Dutchman, doomed to roam forever, appears as a glowing omen of storm and death. Mariners feared its sight more than the waves themselves. #WyrdWednesday

Art: Albert Pinkham Ryder

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 9h

Hindu temples often use murti, sacred deity dolls or idols, as vessels for divine presence. Rituals treat them as living beings, with offerings of food, clothing, and care. #LegendaryWednesday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 10h

The immrama were voyages of saints and heroes into the Otherworld. Some ships found islands of joy, others of terror - seas as thresholds between life and death. #WyrdWednesday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 11h

In Slavic tradition, motanka dolls were made without faces to protect households. With no eyes or mouth, spirits could not enter. They became guardians against both envy and evil. #LegendaryWednesday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 12h

The Arctic itself is a haunted expanse. Franklin’s doomed expedition sought the Northwest Passage, but ice and scurvy swallowed the crew. Their ghosts linger in stories and naval lore alike. #WyrdWednesday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 13h

Horror cinema gave us the possessed doll. From Chucky to Annabelle, folklore fused with fear to create dolls that walk, whisper, and kill, carrying childhood’s comfort into nightmare. I wrote about this several years ago: www.theatlantic.com/...

#LegendaryWednesday

'Child's Play': Chucky and the Horror of Creepy Dolls - The Atlantic

The 1988 film introduced an iconic villain in Chucky—just one of many living toys that have haunted cinema for decades.

www.theatlantic.com

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 14h

In poetry, Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner makes the sea a haunted stage. Albatrosses, curses, ghostly crews; it is a voyage where the unknown punishes hubris. #WyrdWednesday

Art: Gustave Doré

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 15h

Ancient Rome used poppets of wax and clay for curses or blessings. These dolls were vessels, carrying wishes to gods or binding oaths in secret. #LegendaryWednesday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 16h

Erik the Red, Leif’s father, had already braved exile to colonize Greenland. His own saga is one of banishment and survival, showing how perilous journeys often begin with broken ties. #WyrdWednesday

Art: Carl Rasmussen

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 17h

In Mexico, the Island of the Dolls is a shrine of horror and grief. Hundreds of dolls hang from trees, left by a caretaker who believed they appeased the spirit of a drowned child. #LegendaryWednesday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 18h

Leif Eriksson sailed west around the year 1000 and found Vinland, a land of grapes and forests. The sagas make it sound both wondrous and dangerous, a liminal shore where luck could turn to doom. #WyrdWednesday

Art: Christian Krohg

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 19h

In Japanese folklore, the Okiku doll is said to grow human hair. Housed in a temple, it belonged to a little girl who died young. Visitors swear the strands lengthen year by year, alive with her spirit. #LegendaryWednesday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 20h

The Norse sagas are filled with voyages gone awry. Sea serpents, whirlpools, and ghostly islands awaited sailors who dared to sail too far. The ocean was not just water but mystery. #WyrdWednesday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 21h

The voodoo doll is more complex than pop culture portrays. In Haitian Vodou, dolls and effigies honor spirits or guide prayer. They've been twisted into objects of fear, but their roots are devotional. #LegendaryWednesday

Art: GM Binder

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 1d

Superstitions swirl around pumpkins. In some European villages, people believed pumpkins left too long in the field turned into vampires, rolling through the night in search of blood. #FairyTaleTuesday

Art: Navita Gujral

Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 1d

Edgar Allan Poe’s raven tapped at midnight, echoing grief in a single word: “Nevermore.” In poetry and folklore alike, ravens perch between mourning and mystery. #FairyTaleTuesday

Art: Greg Cartmell

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 1d

Ravens croak through myth and legend. Odin’s twin birds, Huginn and Muninn, flew across the world to bring him thought and memory. Ravens are not just scavengers but keepers of knowledge. #FairyTaleTuesday

Art: Jerome Weber

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 1d

Medieval lore feared black cats as omens of misfortune. Yet in Scottish tradition, a black cat at the hearth meant prosperity was near. Fortune or doom often walked on the same paws. #FairyTaleTuesday

Art: Ocean's Bridge

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 1d

How Civil War Deaths Advanced America’s Funeral Industry

Embalming advanced as a way to preserve and disinfect remains.

www.history.com

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 1d

The black cat slinks through folklore as both curse and companion. Witches were said to keep them as familiars, while sailors believed a ship with a black cat would never sink. #FairyTaleTuesday

Art: RachelsStudio (Etsy!)

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 1d

Old cookbooks brim with pumpkin lore. In colonial America, pumpkin pie was less dessert than survival - a baked custard in hollowed gourds, sweetened with molasses. Sustenance became tradition. #FairyTaleTuesday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 1d

Folklore gave pumpkins protective power. In Ireland and Scotland, carved turnips warded spirits. In America, the pumpkin took their place, becoming the jack-o’-lantern we know today. #FairyTaleTuesday

Art: LiudmylArts

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 2d

In Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, Greek myth collides with modern America. Demigods navigate quests and schools, while Olympians perch atop skyscrapers. Myth proves it can still raise heroes. #MythologyMonday

Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 2d

Maria Tatar’s The Heroine with 1001 Faces reframes Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey. From Scheherazade to Wonder Woman, it gives mythic space to heroines whose voices were long overshadowed. #MythologyMonday

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Crystal Ponti @crystalponti.bsky.social · 2d

Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths mixes retelling with wild speculation. For some, a reference. For others, a fever dream. But always, it insists myth is not static, but alive with interpretation. #MythologyMonday

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