Elementals | The Leaves That Stood Up

A guy Josh works with was reviewing motion-triggered footage when the wind picked up and the leaves began to move. Then a large pile of them stood up off the ground, held its shape for several seconds, and dropped back down. Josh told him to go look up elementals. Then Josh went and did the reading himself, and that is this week's episode.

Elementals are the beings folklore assigned to earth, water, air and fire. The trail leads back through Greek natural philosophy, medieval thought and Renaissance alchemy, and it gave us four families that still turn up everywhere. Gnomes hold the earth: mines, caves, stones, buried treasure, and that one hill nobody in the village will discuss. Undines hold the water, nymph-like spirits of rivers, springs and waterfalls, and the old book that carries their name is older than The Little Mermaid and considerably sadder. Sylphs hold the air, and get blamed for sudden inspiration, lost hats, and rumors that move faster than a horse. Salamanders hold fire, and have nothing at all to do with the amphibian.

Josh's framing is the best line in the episode. Elementals are what you would get if nature had a backstage crew, moving the scenery, making the fog, and occasionally setting the curtains on fire.

The folklore gets specific about consequences, and it fits the punishment to the crime. Cross the earth and you get cave-ins, spoiled foundations, and a path that stops being where you left it. Cross the water and you get floods, drowning dreams, a reflection gone missing, and a voice that knows your name a little too clearly. Cross the air and you get sudden storms, broken messages, and endless wandering. Cross fire and it skips the warning entirely.

The gang also ties it back to last week. If a thing can lift a pile of leaves, it can roll a ball back across a floor.

Before any of that, there is a solid hour of hangout. Shane brought Amish crack from a Fort Wayne bakery, which turns out to be a box of cinnamon sugar donut holes and a genuine hazard to everyone at the table. He picked up a twenty five dollar parking ticket in Warsaw and has decided to fight it in court on principle. He got locked in a coffee shop bathroom without his phone. He walked past a former Bachelor and learned that a town once built a fake fall festival for a TV shoot and then liked it enough to keep holding it. And a friend's five trading cards turned out to be worth a great deal more than anyone at that table guessed.

Plus Josh reads everyone's element, and there is a Dollywood trip on the calendar.

What you'll hear in this episode:

The trail cam footage that started all of this

Gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders, and what each one guards

What folklore says happens when you disturb the wrong threshold

Amish crack, a parking ticket worth fighting, and a card shop surprise

The gang is going to Dollywood in Sevierville, Tennessee, December 4 through 6. Patreons and listeners are welcome to come along.

Want to send the gang something? PO Box 690, Wabash, Indiana 46992.

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