Welcome to this week's Freaky Folklore Bonus Episode, where we explore the darker corners of human imagination and bite-sized doses of dread.

I'm your host, Carmen Carion, and today we're digging into humanity's most universal fear, the dead returning to trouble the living.

Throughout history, across continents and cultures,

humans have developed elaborate rituals to ensure the deceased stay exactly where we put them.

These practices reveal our ancestral terror that death might not be the end,

merely a revolving door through which the departed might return, with

unfinished business or malevolent intent. This show proudly haunts the Eriecast Podcast Network.

For more nightmare fuel, visit Eeriecast.com or follow us wherever you consume your podcasts.

Before we proceed, a content warning. This episode contains detailed discussions of death practices, corpse handling, and historical mutilation of human remains.

Consider yourself warned as we venture into the world's most macabre funeral traditions.

In the fog-shrouted villages of England, Scotland, and Wales, a peculiar professional once made their living by consuming the sins of the dead.

Quite literally, sin-eaters were individuals who performed a ritual

feast upon the recently deceased, absorbing the transgressions of the departed, and thereby

allowing their souls to rest in peace. This practice continued well into the 20th century

with the last known professional sin-eater,

Richard Munslow, dying in Shropshire, England in 1906.

The ritual was deceptively simple.

When someone died, the village sin-eater would be summoned to the home where the corpse was laid out. Family members would place a

plate of bread and salt, sometimes accompanied by beer or wine, directly on the chest of

the deceased. The sin-eater would consume this meal, reciting a specific prayer or incantation,

often along these lines.

I give easement and rest now to thee, dear man, come not down the lanes or in our meadows,

...