The Terrifying Tale Of The Lantern Man

A disturbing entity encountered on the Fens of East England

Video I mentioned:
Gary Reed Unfrequented World - My Bigfoot Story Ep. 142 - Mysterious Lights In The Swamp

SECOND CHANNEL:

Music Credits:

Darkest Child by Kevin MacLeod

Ghost Story by Kevin MacLeod

Gustav Sting by Kevin MacLeod

[MrBNCLE]

People: "The Lantern Man attacks people"

The Lantern Man: "I just really hate lanterns"

[i_swear_im_normal]

OMG!! We have the same story here in the Middle East, it is said you will see a man with a lantern in the middle of the desert so people would go and try to help him but The more closer they got the man would go further away then they end up in the middle of nowhere and goes missing we also have a lot of people caught them on camera

[peter-]

“Don’t follow the lights”
I have no doubts that Tolkien had heard of a swamp light folktale and used it as inspiration

[Kawaiikooo]

I know here in Trinidad, there is one where a woman will guide you with a lamp or fire in her hand who is beautiful and when she gets you somewhere alone, she blows out the light and kills you. She is called a Lajabless.

[purplehaze]

I actually find things that lure prey in via the use of light, whether fictional like will-o’-wisp variants or real like bioluminescent deep sea predators, oddly fascinating. They represent an inherent subversion of light as this beneficial, necessary aspect of life and representation of all things good.

[nmnic]

The US has a similar character who travels along train tracks. A thick fog rolled in on a train car got unhitched and stopped on the tracks. The conductor saw oncoming lights and realized that it was an approaching train and tried to signal them with a lantern. The engineer didn't see it. After the crash, the conductor was found lying a short distance away after being thrown from the collision, beheaded and very dead. Since then, North Carolina residents claim to spot a light by the tracks where the crash occurred, and when it reaches the point of the crash, it would go flying off into the distance. Its said to be the conductor still looking for his head that was never recovered.

[punkrckr]

And I’m JUST NOW realizing this is where Tolkien got the idea for the Dead Marshes in LOTR.

[Gislileet]

These old English stories are so good. Nice work Shroud

[zaygezunt]

Brilliant! I live in the Lincolnshire village of Billinghay (from the old English meaning island in the marsh) and the fens at night are really scary. There is an atmosphere of terror, as though you are about to plunge off an unseen cliff and be swallowed by blackness. A heavy silence and the feeling of thousands of years of fear. So, yes I believe in the lantern man.

[Crookedkittykat]

"Shrouded Hand, tell me a bed time story"

The story:

[somebvnny]

this is really similar to the will o wisps. i wonder if the human form aspect of this rendition comes from oddly shaped trees in swamps. i live near a swamp and its not uncommon to see misshapen trees and branches coming out of the marsh, so maybe that inspired of the "man" part of "lantern man"

[ezrastardust]

As someone who spent five years living in the fens during my childhood, I grew up surrounded by eerie stories like this
There was even a ghost trail at a nearby nature reserve with this sort of theme
In a way, this whole video feels oddly nostalgic for me
I’d love it if you covered more English legends like this one

[SpookiCooki]

We have very similar stories in Sweden too. They're called "lyktgubbe" which is a direct translation of lantern man. Except "gubbe" is more specifically an old man.
He was said to lead people astray and kill them.

[Kookaburrow]

We have similar stories in Australia. It’s known as the ‘min min light’ or ‘Paddy’s lantern’. It’s interesting how universal it is..

[aidanfarnan]

"I have made a mistake". God, I love the humour in these vids, it's what sets you above the othe spooks story you-tube channels.

Your right in almost every nation having some version of the bad light that lures travellers of the path: Will o'the wisp, Jin, Hobby (or fairy) lanterns, drunk Jack, Lajabless, Kistune-bi, Rävelden (weird that both Sweden and Japan blame this on foxes playing with fire, although being Sweden Troll treasures are also involved sometimes).

[Userbts]

Whistling in the woods is a no no in many cultures around the world....for these very reasons.

[alecdionne]

This reminds me of a story about my granpa, it was in the middel of winter and he was staying in our cabin in the woods, it was dark out and he had to go tend the horse so he put on his big fur coat and took a lantern. After tending his horse he walked back to te cabin, frost in his long beard and at least 1m of snow. Suddenly 5 snowmobiles came toward him, stoped, turned around and drowe off. He was confused and told the story two my mother and aunt. It was in the middel of nowere so seeing other people was rare and it was strange. About ten years later my aunt heard a story from her freinds about a time they got lost in the woods in the middel of winter and encounterd a creepy big figure holding a lantern and yes it was my granpa they saw. He scared the sh*t out of them and ever sens i dream of becoming a scary story like him.

[incredibleedibledez]

"it's time once again for..."
Me: don't care what it is as long as you're telling it!!!

[pollywogapocalypse]

As soon as I thought to myself *swamp gases* you brought it up. It’s such a great relief to see a spooky channel that actually makes proper mention of scientific based expansions in their videos. I see you’ve managed to do better and better at this and I’m really glad you work so hard considering so many big names never bother looking deeper into things. The world we live in is truly amazing and mysterious. Great video.

[bp]

Speaking of how whistling supposedly attracts him; I remember my mom always told me to never whistle at night when I was in Bosnia. I never knew why, and I wish I asked.