From the heart of Cascadia, and the edge of the world, you from that presence, nitrift.

Good evening, I'm Jim Perry, and you are listening to nitrift, presented by Ufama. You are not alone.

Tonight, a conversation with Joshua Cuchin. If you go to his website, the title reads

Weird Words and Brass Beats, and that just may be a preview of the energy that's

to come tonight. Josh Wright's books, sometimes with co-author Timothy Rinner, with topics at the

intersection of paranormal and folklore. Tonight, under this cold blanket of clouds, days away from

Christmas. We get very, very weird. Broadcasting tonight from the studio at Alternative Talk, 1150AMKKNW.

I'm thinking a lot about this season, sharing space with others and exchanging gifts, stories,

enjoying meals, exciting the senses, blinking colored lights, red and green and gold. Welcome us as

we meet somewhere in the snowy town square of your mind for a feast of the strange. You see,

our tradition is linked to our folklore, stories of festivities with elves, fairy folk and woodland

beasts. Describe a holiday like Christmas very much. But what can we learn from this lore? How does

it inspire our family feasts today? Perhaps we've been accepting gifts from others than family

and kindly strangers whose treasure comes at a great price. Some suggest, do not eat the food.

And if our holidays are inspired by Great War, in which we'll explore tonight, what can we learn

of the beasts that must be considered? If you're listening to this in West Seattle, you may know that

there's quite the enchanted park there in your town. Jeremy Puma and Gareth Kelly of limelworth

took me up muddy trails to come to an outcropping of trees under which many fairy houses reside.

It was an entire fairy village. You stand there and you get lost in the trinkets and little structures

and alter to fade. And no matter if these structures are made by children or adults having fun or

paying tribute or maybe a coffin, it doesn't quite matter because when you find yourself in that

place, you can't help but become enchanted. And that's kind of what the holidays are like.

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