The monsters of Supernatural, Season 2, Episodes 16-18: the Poltergeist curse, how to turn into a werewolf and rituals for summoning spirits.
More than four in 10 Americans believe in ghosts. Do you?
S2E16: “Roadkill”
Monster: Ghost
Where it’s from: All over the world
Description: A ghosts is the spiritual remains of a human who’s dead. They often appear much like the person they once were, though typically stripped of color and substance.
A perhaps surprisingly high number of people believe in ghosts: 42% of Americans, for instance, according to a 2013 Harris poll.
Apparently, there are eight different types of ghosts, as described by Roger Clarke in Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof.
“You’re like a walking encyclopedia of weirdness.”
This episode deals with the spirit of Jacob Greely, who haunts the road where he was killed on the anniversary of his death.
We learn that spirits are like wounded animals, lost, in pain. They remain because of their remains — or unfinished business, Sam says. Jacob is trapped in a loop, replaying the same tragedy over and over.
What it does: This one speaks through the radio, disappears in cloud of smoke and kills an innocent person in punishment.
How to defeat it: Salt, again. “In most cultures, salt’s a symbol of purity, so it repels impure and unnatural things,” Sam says. “Same reason you throw it over your shoulder.”
So the boys are off to dig up another corpse and salt and burn it. They need a new hobby.
But there’s another option: Get the ghost to accept its fate and let go.
Fun fact: It’s an old country custom to plant a tree on a grave, Sam exclaims.
“You’re like a walking encyclopedia of weirdness,” Dean replies.
When a woman from Chesterville, Illinois spoke out against the conservative views of the Amish and Mennonite faith, she was accused of witchcraft and found dead. The townsfolk planted a tree over her grave to trap her spirit inside and prevent her from taking revenge, according to Mysterious Heartland.
Her ghost is said to haunt the area.
Lycanthropy, the fancy word for turning into a werewolf, happens during the full moon
S2E17: “Heart”
Monster: Werewolf
Where it’s from: Many parts of the world, particularly Europe
Description: “I’m sorry, man, but what about a human by day, a freak animal killing machine by moonlight don’t you understand? I mean, werewolves are badass,” Dean says.
The ones on Supernatural tend to keep their human form (maybe for budgetary concerns) — just with more hair, longer nails and sharper teeth.
In some cultures, individuals born during a new moon or suffering from epilepsy were considered likely to be werewolves, according to an Imgur post.
That’s a good question. Have you been bitten by a werewolf lately? Eaten wolf brains? Made a deal with the Devil?
There are various means to become a werewolf:
Getting bitten by a werewolf
Making a pact with the Devil
Suffering from a family curse
Drinking water from a wolf’s pawprint
Eating wolf brains
Wearing a wolfskin
What it does: On the week leading up to full moon, the werewolf mauls people to death, removing their heart. Then the werewolf wakes up as a human again, not remembering anything that happened the night before.
“Like a really hot Incredible Hulk?” Dean wants to know.
The connection between lycanthropy and the full moon goes back to the ancient Greeks, according to Werewolves.com:
They noticed the way that the weak gravitational pull of the moon affected the ocean tides and figured that since the human brain contains moisture that the moon could also screw up someone’s mind in the same way, which would cause savage feelings to come forth. The “civilized man” might be gradually transformed by the pull of the moon into a raging, irrational creature — a lunatic. Many of the well-known Greek scholars, such as Aristotle and Hippocrates, agreed with this theory. Then taking in account one of Greece’s moon goddesses, Selene, was often portrayed as a wild and unpredictable woman that would dance unrestrained in the woods, the Greeks felt that they had further proof the moon made people wild and crazed.
Turns out they were on to something. A study performed at the Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital in Sydney, Australia stated that some of its emergency patients admitted with very violent and dangerous disturbances were similar to werewolf behavior. And a quarter of those happened during a full moon — double the number for the other phases of the moon, according to Leonie Calver, a clinical research nurse in toxicology.
This fellow won’t even remember this in the morning
How to defeat it: Tie them up — you can’t let them go on an all-you-can-eat buffet, as Dean says.
Lycanthropy might be cured if you can kill the werewolf who bit you. You can sever the bloodline. So posits Daddy Winchester’s theory.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t pan out. So a silver bullet to the heart it is.
Necromancy, which comes from the words for “dead divination,” is a fun, if dangerous, pastime
S2E18: “Hollywood Babylon”
Monster: Spirits raised from the dead
Where it’s from: All over the world
Description: Certain movie productions are said to be cursed or haunted.
As if the movie Poltergeist wasn’t scary enough — it’s also said to be cursed, with some of its stars suffering untimely deaths
There are some freak deaths associated with the Poltergeist series, for example, including one of the stars being strangled by her ex and the little girl who played Carol Anne succumbing to a sudden illness.
And there’s a famous shot in Three Men and a Baby in which you can make out an image of a young boy…who supposedly is a ghost. (It did give me the chills when I first saw it.)
Three Men and a Baby…and the ghost of a boy?!
In this ep, studio executives fake the death of a crewman to drum up publicity.
But then a black and white ghost lures a jerky producer up the scaffolding, puts a noose around his neck and throws him down to his death. It seems connected to a starlet from the ’30s. She was used by a studio exec and hanged herself from the rafters.
Then a ghost from the ’60s of an electrician who died on set caused the same thing to happen to a producer — he was sucked into a giant fan that chopped him up like a blender.
What it does: Turns out a screenwriter named Walter is pissed at the people who ruined his movie. He’s using a necromantic summoning ritual to call forth vengeful spirits.
You can try summoning a spirit to do your bidding — but it’ll attack you if you don’t have the proper protection
Rituals to Summon the Dead
Here’s how you too can raise the dead to do your bidding. (Sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it?) Perhaps it’s best that the ritual is all rather vague:
First, draw a series of concentric circles of power on the ground, on which you’ve inscribed crosses and other symbols, together with the holy names of God. The circle should be blessed and consecrated — be sure to stand in the center so you’re protected from danger. Then, with your wand in hand, call for the dead to rise, using names of power.
Some sorcerers like to strengthen the connection between the living and the dead by using a portrait of the deceased or offering a piece of bread for the ghost to consume. In this invocation, you call the dead by name — and, if it succeeds, you’ll be rewarded with a screaming ghost full of rage at having been forced against its will to return to the realm of the living. Sometimes the dead materialize as furious beasts threatening to tear you to pieces.
Necromancy is a serious business. The dead don’t want to be disturbed.
Here’s another invocation that sounds promising, from Encyclopedia Satanica (gulp):
Perform this ritual at midnight at the grave or crypt of the dead person you’d like to summon.
Burn asafoetida incense and use a “dagger of art” and black candle of summoning.
Ia! Shub-Niggurath!
I invoke thee, spirits of the flame!
I invoke thee, spirits of the air!
I invoke thee, spirits of the earth!
Hysorga! Teamon karazan!
Spirits of the earth,
Give up thy secrets,
Release them from the cold grasp of thy bosom!
I invoke thee, spirits of the earth!
Hysorga! Teamon karazan!
By the unholy name, I thus invoke!
From the grasp
Of the roots that choke.
By the name of the She Goat of the Wood,
Who hast a thousand young!
Ia! Shub-Niggurath!
Ia! Tananan Kr’razorda!
Ia! Orkazonar
Zerlkktrayr
Ia! Shub-Niggurath!
Spirit of [dead person]
The name doth compel thee.
I now do call thee forth from the abyss.
Spirit of [dead person]
The name doth compel thee,
Come now to this place,
Into this circle I call thee.
Spirit of [dead person]
The name doth compel thee.
Come unto me, and show thy self.
For thou shalt answer fully and truthfully
And be compelled to do my bidding.
So it is!
Ia! Tananan Kr’razorda!
Ia! Tananan Kr’razorda!
Ia! Orkazonar
Zerlkktrayr
Ia! Shub-Niggurath!
How to defeat it: You can create a magic talisman to protect yourself. As mentioned, the dead don’t like being anyone’s slave. Be sure you always have the talisman that controls them. Silly Walter breaks his, setting the spirits free — and they can’t wait to pounce on him and pummel him to death. –Wally
