In Texas, as in some other areas of the Southern US, folklore has it that persimmon seeds can also be used to predict winter weather. The shape revealed when the seed is split in half supposedly tells the tale. A knife means a cold, icy winter. A spoon means a wet winter with lots of snow. A fork shape predicts a mild winter.

#Folklore #Weatherlore #TexasFolklore

Hutto, TX is known state-wide for having adopted the hippo as a town mascot and being the self-proclaimed "Hippo Capital of Texas". Popular local legend would have it that an escaped circus hippo decided to take a dip in a nearby creek one day in 1915, thereby causing stopped trains and something of a general ruckus.

https://www.huttotx.gov/481/Hutto-Hippos

#FolkloreThursday #TexasFolklore #Folklore

More Texas folklore for #FolkloreFriday: "The Crying Mermaid of Salado"

This story concerns a young woman who is magically granted the man of her dreams. Of course, there is a catch.

"The story of Sirena the Tonkawa maiden has been passed down through generations in the town of Salado. Every year there is a festival and parade dedicated to the Crying Mermaid, and one can pay homage to her story at the bronze statue in Salado Creek."

#TexasFolklore #Folklore #Mermaid

https://talesoftexas.com/2021/09/12/the-crying-mermaid-of-salado/

Thanks to the bestselling "Devil in the White City", the story of serial murderer H.H. Holmes and his Chicago "murder castle" is somewhat well-known. What is less well-known is that Holmes built another near-identical "murder castle" in Fort Worth, Texas on land acquired from a victim. Although urban legends about the place persist, he is not known to have murdered anyone at this location.

#TexasFolklore #TexasHistory #HHHolmes #UrbanLegends

http://exploredallashistory.com/h-h-holmes-in-dallas-part-xi/

https://fortworthbusiness.com/culture/fort-worths-murder-castle-americas-first-serial-killer-came-within-a-hairs-breadth-of-building-his-house-of-horrors-downtown/

More folklore from my native Texas- this one coming again from South Texas. La Lechuza is a huge owl who preys on drunk pedestrians and cars driving on lonely roadways. In some accounts they also have a woman's head. Lechuza are often said to be brujas (witches) who have transformed themselves into an owl (sometimes an eagle) but others also say that some Lechuza are the spirits of women angry at faithless husbands or remarried widowers.

#TexasFolklore #Folklore

https://truehorrorstoriesoftexas.com/la-lechuza/

Already got my black-eyed peas and collard greens for NYE. I can usually find some kind of champagne even the day of but stores have been known to run out of black-eyed peas. Who wants to chance a whole year's luck?

When I was growing up we always had Hoppin' John and my mother would hide coins in it for us to find. Because someone always wants to know, yes, she washed them first, and no, no one ever swallowed any (we were looking for them!).

#TexasFolklore #NewYears

https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/texas-history-101-44/

Everyone who has lived in Denton, TX for awhile knows about Goatman's bridge, but there are also stories about a PigMan haunting the Bonnie Brae Bridge.

Intriguingly, two very different origin stories exist, one fairly traditional (an unlucky drifter is transformed into a monster after an attack by a wild boar) and a more haunting tale of a doomed criminal with a cut-off nose and "Glasgow smile" courtesy of the "Cowboy Mafia".

#Denton #TexasFolklore #UrbanLegends

https://dentonhaunts.wordpress.com/2011/10/01/the-pigman-of-bonnie-brae-bridge/

Some folklore from my native Texas. I find this story particularly interesting because multiple cultures have some variation on it, and in the version told around the Rio Grande Valley, the devil has chicken feet (or one chicken foot and one cloven hoof).

"Though variations of the story change, it was discovered that, as the couple danced, the handsome stranger, assumed to be the devil, had one hoof and one chicken’s talon in place of feet."

#TexasFolklore #UrbanMyths

https://www.utrgv.edu/newsroom/2019/10/31-the-devil-still-dances.htm