Thread by @folkhorrormagpi

TREELORE

Whether they heal, harbour ghosts or commune with the gods, The Bleeding Tree looks at the trees in our world and in the folklore we create to describe it. I became fascinated with trees that ‘bleed’ whether physical, like the red sap of the El Drago Milenario...

or ‘dragon tree,’ to the more figurative, those that bleed in sorrow, sacrifice or accusation.

Indeed trees can bleed in evidence of crime, as recorded in one of the great New England folk legends collected by the renowned folklorist Charles M. Skinner. Skinner reports on the origin of the Micah Rood apple variety, or ‘Bloody Heart Apple’,

that grows only in the area around Franklin, Connecticut. Unusually for a dark red apple the fruit is sweet, but in the centre of its white flesh lies a blood red core and an even bloodier story.

Micah Hood was by all accounts a lazy and avaricious man, a farmer who didn’t care much for the toil of his trade. One day in 1693 Hood saw a peddler come up the hill, his pack heavy with all sorts of knick-knacks and purse full from the previous village,

to solicit the people of Franklin. But the peddler never made it to the town; he was found the next morning slumped under farmer Hood’s apple tree, wagon empty of wares and pocket of coins, head split in two by a farm axe.

Hood denied everything and managed to talk himself into being acquitted, becoming a recluse. But the townspeople knew his nature and would no longer trade with the supposed murderer among them; Hood’s farm fell into disrepair and the man died in penury.

The tree on Hood’s land from then on grew only blood-stained fruit so that the world would know the truth of the crime. The apple variety was grafted and now grows on many orchards across the county.

Images are from short film The Curse of Micah Rood (dir. Alec Asten, 2008) which you can find on youtube and vimeo.

#folkhorror #folklorehorrormagpie #10daysofbleedingtree #thebleedingtree #newengland #americanfolklore #micahrood #bloodyheart