She Wanted to Be a Living Garden Gnome | The Strange History of Human Garden Ornaments (Ep 283)

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very spooky this is two girls one ghost two girls one ghost and we are your ghostesses that is Karen and I am Sabrina and pay and I were in Atlanta this past weekend and the witches were out what do you mean by that we went to this Whiskey Bar and pay was paying at the bar and all of a sudden I get called over and they're like are you a witch and then everyone at the bar everyone who's sitting at the bar is asking about Witchcraft and they're like I feel like I'm kind of witchy but I don't have an altar and I was like I don't think you need to have an altar like witchcraft is very personal how in the world did this

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happen this is so cool I have no idea I still don't know how it happened but everyone was it was like multiple different groups just coming together to speak about witchcraft witchy intuition yeah and being witches that's freaking sick I know and then I've been having crazy dreams lately so maybe you are opening something up because youve you're finally moving on to your like next stage of life in a very healing place that brings a lot out of you Marblehead it does it is a very like it's the first place I started reading oracle cards full on witch mode I really am excited about this for you I feel like I have a million questions that's wild though I do wonder what you'll feel like how things might change being in Marblehead 2 because it is such like a Whimsical witchy place and it's like you know I told you about Marble Head pottery that I'd learned about through my friend Allison where in the 1800s these hysterical women were sent to go by the seaside and make some pottery and like kill themselves so there's a lot of

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just like female energy I feel in that space uhhuh I'm really excited what are the questions do you have how many groups were coming together talking about witchcraft was anyone actively practicing witchcraft at this bar who came over to you to ask so I was called to the bar it was all women four different women and we were all like just started talking about it and everyone kind of agreed that they felt like they had a desire to explore but felt like they didn't know how and so I like whipped out my you know Knowledge from Foo and I was like the first step is saying that you are claiming your witchiness and the second step is practicing like you're like I may not actively say that I'm a witch all the time but we know a witch who told us what to do yeah exactly and then we all kind of agreed that it feels fraudulent to say and claim that you're a witch but I don't know I think this is the year of

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the witch I think the witches are back in full force yeah I'm so curious I guess because I've been kind of perpetually online since Co I feel like a lot of conversations are influenced by what's also happening online and I'm so curious if that conversation just was naturally occurring and triggered or if it was the result of a video that just went viral the other day where this girl was like wait you guys all think your witches too and it just it went viral and it was like this whole big thing where everyone was talking about how you don't actively talk about it cuz like sometimes it's weird and it does feel fraudulent but everyone does it's almost like part of the woman experience where it's like you feel like you have a lot of intuition you feel really witchy like you feel like you have more power than what you can explain to someone it's also like the eclipse is happening today right at the time of recording this episode comes out August 4th but we're recording it April 8th so I feel like maybe there's something with the eclipse that is happening too that people are really tapping in yeah I'm in Vermont

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I'm gonna see it in a few hours have my approved goggles so that I don't go blind glad very very I can't wait oh my

Construction and body changes

gosh wait I have to tell you this is not related at all I'm totally pivoting the conversation okay so you know how I've been having like a lot of con I keep calling it construction but they're like projects and stuff at my house and we have a contractor and he has his teams that come and helps do the projects so in the laundry room we were having the walls fixed cuz it was kind of a mess in there and in preparation I had been like trying to clear out some of the rooms because they basically had to access a bunch of different rooms in this project things are everywhere things have never been put back because there it's just been chaos so I was like oh I need to put as much away as I can and one of those items that I put away is a wand I bought from Freedom mom for your paranal massage and it totally looks like a dildo and so so I unwrapped it I stuffed

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the wand cuz you know you're supposed to start using it like a month before you give birth and I'm like 10 weeks out so I'm going to use it soon so I like stuffed the wand like in the closet like in this thing or whatever and I was like I'm in the clear I put the packaging into a trash bag I forgot to remove the trash bag before the people came to work and what I didn't realize was that they had to then move the trash bag out of the way to get into the laundry room and it was the that was on top of the trash bag that wasn't wrapped up closed and it must have fallen out because why does that always happen I don't know and these guys are so nice but like I don't speak Spanish and they don't speak English so there's a lot of just like smiling and like waving at each other and like doing charades when we're trying to communicate about certain things so like they're always really nice and always really lovely but when it was lunchtime like they were all eating lunch and I was eating lunch like 5T away from them and I was on my

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pregnancy ball and I was like bouncing up and down and a couple of them were like looking at me and kind of like smiling and giggling and I was like either they're just thinking that I'm a lovely pregnant person or like there's something I don't know and later that night I walk upstairs and my dildo packaging is basically what I'm just going to call it at this point was neatly placed on top of like a pile of laundry and I was like oh [ __ ] I love that they put it on top of your laundry yeah it was it was like a laundry bin had clothes on it but like it was very neatly placed right there and I was like [ __ ] they saw it that happened to me very recently but with uh Plan B packaging no mhm it was one of those things where like it was in a trash bag and it was the one thing that fell out of the top of it and I was like of course God the worst oh this also brings up my nipple hair I texted you about it wa I was on the phone with my mom when you texted me and I

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immediately read it to my mom and we were both cackling so I'm in the shower I also was texting you from the shower and I like you know was doing my like monthly nipple pluck nipple hair plucking and I found a gray hair yeah I didn't know that they could go gray I didn't think about that but I loved that you went immediately from shock here's the thing we started this episode with witchcraft and now we're going back to it because you found the gray hair and within like a split second you went from from holy [ __ ] gray hair to texting me saying oh man I wish i' had saved it for some sort of like witchcraft ritual or I should have done a spell with it like yeah you should have you know how they like bottle people say it's you should save your cat's whiskers when they fall out like I feel like I should save my nipple hairs that are gray when I [ __ ] your gray nipple hairs they're the special ones the chosen ones they're the special yeah there's something magical about a gray nipple hair honestly there really is maybe you could save a few for me for when I need to do some rituals

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until I get some okay I I'm hoping there's only one but uh if I spurt multiples I will absolutely save some okay perfect you're this is going to be the weirdest [ __ ] gift it's going to be like a t I'm going to find this like really beautiful antique little like treasure box yeah you know you know the types of things you to put your teeth in when you yeah the little trinket they're like pill boxes basically exactly and I'm going to gift it to you yeah I'm going to open it up and no one else is going to understand they're going to be like what's that tiny little silvery thread and I'll be like you guys don't understand this is worth more than gold this is Magic this is Sabrina's magical gray nipple hair and only special people get to see it wow and my first is down the drain shoot that's okay it will grow again woo that's where we are all righty anyway life man

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bodies growing up someone actually messaged us the other day I don't know if it was like a DM or an email or whatever and in some form I saw them write out that they really appreciated that we're at the same stage of life as them because when they started the podcast they were also you know like going on dates and like wo going out and now we're like we have gray nipple hairs and weird things happening to us yes and they're like well I'm also there too and it feels good to to grow this way together yeah and you know what maybe you might be in that beginning stage there's some days where I'm still part of that beginning stage and you know we revert and then we we can be versatile creatures we are we go through phases but I do have a pitch for all of us for something that we could partake in as we get older a new phase of Life a new phase of life this episode is dedicated

The history of garden hermits

to one of my dream jobs and that is becoming a living garden gnome I had found somewhere on the interwebs about a

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job where you could be a living garden gnome this is a real job for like living human beings this was not just like some magical Whimsical lore this was human beings pretending to just be fixtures in the garden and being paid to do it because it's a job you get paid yes well I guess not all jobs you get paid I shouldn't say that but you should be paid if it's a job so this started in the early 15th Century Francis of paa wrote about this hermit living in a cave on his father's estate and then throughout France there was evidence of dukes and Lords having these Hermits these paid for Hermits and these people who were these like quote unquote Hermits they would live on these wealthy people's properties to provide entertainment to their landlords essentially there's evidence of this existing for a long time in history but it wasn't until the 18th and 19th centuries that guard Hermits also called

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ornamental Hermits also referenced as like living garden gnomes they have many different nicknames I really prefer living garden gnomes over all those other terms oh you don't want to be an ornamental hermit no because it kind it feels icky it's like look at my prize yeah why is living Garden gome seemingly more respectful than ornamental hermit they're both odd but living Garden gome seems like a choice whereas the other one seems like a forced upon title that's true in way we'll find out that some of it was by choice some of it was you know kind of testing out someone's Free Will and what they were willing to do got it so these ornamental Hermits or maybe I should just call them living Gomes they became very popular and permanent structures on many people's lands and it wasn't just that they would have these eccentric people it was all men by the way so it was like these eccentric men who would live freely on their properties in exchange for work or entertainment they would quite literally be hired

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to act and dress and behave a certain way so those that would work as these garden gnomes these Garden Hermits they would have these like structures built for them by their employers so there'd be these Grotto these Huts it's kind of like Hagrid 100% it's I was going to compare it to Lord of the Rings but it's exactly like Hagrid too like it it feels like they're supposed to be these like really natural lived in like how is that even standing type of structure and these people would be encouraged to live there permanently so if you thought living as a garden gnome was you showing up to work at 7:00 a.m. chilling in the garden and you're gone by 5: that is not how it works you were living on the estate this is a fulltime employment full-time employment yes their homes would be built with heaps of stone they'd be covered with moss and shrubs and really made to look disheveled in some cases people would construct makeshift caves to make it seem like the hermit was coming out of the cave like

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in the little Hillside of their property like people would go to these extremes and the owners of the land here's a perk with the job they would feed them so they would give them you know maybe not the house they want to live in but they'd give them a place to stay they would feed them so their servants would come out multiple times a day to give them like meals and snacks or whatever and really the Hermits were expected to just like be there to always be in the garden to be a living statue was the function supposed to be like a scarecrow was it supposed to protect the gardens or was it truly just an entertainment purpose of like oh look at look out yonder in my garden at my gnome it was dependent for some of the jobs the wealthy people who had employed these Hermits they would be like I want you to be here so that when I go for a stroll with my wealthy friends we can wander through the garden and you're essentially there for some people they were like you cannot speak at all like never ever speak to any human you should just be almost like in your own world

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meditating or reading or like doing something like that oh but they could yeah yeah okay so they didn't have to just like sit there and like stare no they were props and stuff unless they were someone who was like your boss tells you that you should just pretend to be meditating the entire time it there were stipulations it was like different employment contracts you know like different things were required of different people but for the most part they were really supposed to be these contemplative creatures just kind of like moving slowly about the land but but in some cases they were also asked to make themselves available for conversation for the guests so the people who owned the land weren't necessarily going out and conversing with their living Garden Gomes but if they had friends over they'd be like oh let's go ask the hermit because Hermits were you know very wise and contemplative and trying to understand like their existence and how it works with the world and like going back to Simple Times and whatever so they'd be like oh we can go stroll and see my her hermit in the garden and that hermit

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would have to make themselves available for conversation about like heavy topics too like Enlightenment and giving life advice and all of this sort of stuff so they were these living installations that so they were kind of like philosophers 100% And depending on their employer they had kind of like a wide array of skills and abilities like why why you would go see these living garden gnomes this is one of those things where it's like you look back at different in history and I you know I'm thinking of the Protestants in 1600s 1700s before the Salem Witch Trials where they weren't allowed to play with toys like they had like wooden objects and that's it it's just like this boredom that is festering and they're like well what can we do now it is interesting how things change and I feel like this one's interesting because like yes it was very popular in the 18th and 19th century but there is evidence of these sort of like ornamental Hermits exist for a lot longer than that so it was like I guess

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maybe it's one of those things where like trends like there's always someone in the world who's doing something and then there's just like a pocket of popularity so you know with your reference to the Protestants being super bored playing with their wooden toys it was a lot more fun for them to point fingers and yell witch and so now we view that as like the Witchcraft craze that spanned a couple centuries but like it happened before and it still happens today right so for some of the people who were a little bit more wealthy and had these lands and had these Gardens but were not so wealthy that they could afford an actual person to full-time be employed on their lands they would set up like fake Hermits they would essentially insinuate that there was a Hermit living in their Gardens so they would set up these little chairs and tables and theyd put like some reading glasses like a pair of reading glasses and a book on the table and kind of hint at the idea that someone was there oh I don't know where the hermit is so they were like faking okay and so what's the difference between hermit and gnome I will get there okay cuz I'm just

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curious like the evolution of this and you know folklore I feel like plays a prominent part of this Evolution and this like desire where gnomes have this like mysticism and ability about them that maybe is s after and it's also like the belief in gnomes we'll get to it but like in different cultures they were thought of as being able to do different things and there is a connection between some of the beliefs of like gnome's abilities and their connection to Nature and these living Hermits so the reason behind this trend gaining so much popularity in the 18th and early 19th century specifically in Britain it really was happening in the UK it had to do with an increased focus in industrialism so people at the time they had way less time on their hands they were like constantly working it was the the pressure that we all feel today that started then where it was like your identity is work and you're expected to do all of these different things and people were were just really feeling way

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more disconnected with like life and they didn't have time to keep their manicured Gardens and they didn't feel connected to the manicured Gardens anymore it's like us and so yes we're like literally repeating history right now this generation which happens all the time yep I guess they wanted more like contemplative natural spaces surrounding them because they needed that like Stark difference where it's like they don't want structure at home because they have so much structure at work so they want to be able to kind of like float through the gardens have a place to meditate feel one with the earth and the grass but at the same time it was like okay well if that's the trend if that's the direction everyone's going how do the rich differentiate themselves from the people who have less money than them and one way was Dad caves and aviaries and menageries and hills and grotto and gnomes and living ornamental Hermits to be there full-time because that's something that the regular person would not be affording right okay so again like we referenced

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earlier these were real jobs so some families wanted their Hermits to be completely mute not heard at all sometimes they would barely want them to be seen and it should be like a magical experience if you catch a glimpse of the hermit sure but then again some Hermits were expected to answer questions and make themselves available to guests when guests would be coming over and this does make sense because just a little bit of background on who Hermits were because I feel like the word hermit has kind of like evolved over time and sometimes people use it to try to like degrade someone else or like suggest that someone is like reclusive in a bad way and that's not how it started at all so Hermits were given the name like ornamental Hermits or garden Hermits because Hermits at the time were these people who were a bit more reclusive but there was no negative connotation with it really they would withdraw from society kind of in the way the philosophers would do to be more intellectual and philosophical or to kind of like have time and space to

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explore their spiritual Pursuits yeah so it's like today's version of us wanting to go live in the woods and be by ourselves and read books it's like this seeking peace and Solitude and quiet and in a lot of ways it reminds me of monks yeah sure yeah so it was also believed some people viewed that these Hermits in society would have mystical powers and they could provide medical cures or provide readings of the future so I guess for there's a lot of lore and magic and mysticism around actual like Hermits so then of course the people who are employed to pretend to be a Hermit in the garden had a lot of learnings and needed a lot of acting skills I think to be able to kind of execute this in a way that's believable well they also have to be intellectual clearly and have some type of education in order to speak

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philosophically yeah 100% it wasn't just anybody who was being like plucked for this job okay this reminds me of like ancient Roman and ancient Greeks where they had I'm feel like I'm speaking kind of out of my butt but based on like you know the little knowledge that I have where they had their advisers who were employed yep but were able to speak philosophically to them yes the philosophy world's so crazy because I feel like it's just like one big circle with who would ADV too but I guess the hermit world was kind of similar and that there was like a lot of influence from just like different Trends and different philosophers and just like different phases of life but it all goes back to trying to kind of understand the universe understand one's purpose understand our relationship with the world around us and if you're watching on patreon or YouTube I'm about to put a couple photos in here they're not actual photos they're like etchings you know it's artwork of an 18th century hermit big who was an actual hermit so he was

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not an ornamental hermit he was a real life like this was his reputation of being a Hermit but I'm including the etchings of him because I think the way that he dressed is a good what is he wearing I I know he looks like he's wearing a costume and that is essentially what a lot of the ornamental Hermits were expected to look like they would have the big scraggly beard they have you know like kind of like the old patchwork multi-layer just you've been wearing these same clothes for a long time I feel like we're a Narnia yeah and it is a little bit gnome likee too with some of the the Hat situations wow yeah I'm very curious about this outfit because it kind of looks like there's holes in it too it does and I don't know if that's supposed to be missing holes or if that's supposed to be like true Patchwork sort of like stitched together I have no idea but that's John that's John for you John The Hermit okay but being a hermit not all rainbows and butterflies if you're

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thinking right now like Karan you opened this up saying that this was a dream job you talked about how you just get to act and have free life in the garden and free food and a Hut to live in is there

Hermit contracts and lore

a catch yeah yeah some of these employment contracts were super strict and crazy so I'm going to give some examples of some of them apprehensive here yeah it's like I want this to be one thing but I know that that's not the case especially given that this is 15th century is that what you said well there's references in the 15th century but most of this happens in the 18th and 19th century okay but still it's like still that time period you understand that it's probably not as Whimsical and dreamy as we want it to be no it is not and a good example of this is Charles Hamilton he was an 18th century British Aristocrat and he was a member of Parliament and he wanted himself an ornamental hermit so he was like I want to hire someone here were his requests for a seven-year term contract to live

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in the sprawling Gardens of pain till estate so you're like oh my gosh seven years I think I could do that like steady income coming in sure but the hermit was not allowed to speak ever completely mute total silence even the servants that would bring this hermit his meals not allowed to converse like literally would not be able to have any human contact or interaction why right he also would have to wear a oats hair robe he cannot cut his hair ever same goes for his nails and his beard okay the nails I'm not a fan of I know like come on some some self-care maybe he'd make like a rock and just like scratch his nails on the Rock I don't know that's was like too specific yeah it's really specific it's like weird it's like it feels like a power Kink what the P I was literally just about to say that yes yeah it does feel like a power Kink odd requests and you know it's something that would hurt someone else right and he's doing because he can he's doing it because he can and it's like it rides on

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the line of like someone feeling desperate enough that they're like I think I could survive that but it does hurt them in the end totally so this ornamental hermit would also not be allowed to wear any shoes they would not be able to have any visitors they would never step outside of the estate for seven years like could not leave the estate at all and in return they would be paid in today's money $130,000 I I have no idea if that was an annual salary or if that's what they would be paid over the entire seven-year contract I can't believe that's a yearly salary and also if they're working there for 7 years yeah they're getting paid but they can't leave the property they can't speak to anyone so what are they even doing with that money well and also that's not enough money like to be completely alone and have to abandon taking care of your body in certain ways to be paid like what what is that it's like $188,000 or something a year that's nothing no that's not worth it but if you're desperate mentally what you'd go

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through right see this is one of those things where like he's clearly seeking someone who's in need of finances and maybe in need of home like of Housing and a little bit desperate and it's he's taking advantage 100% okay so Charles Hamilton he places an ad with all of these stipulations in extreme detail and surprisingly there are some answers some people who are like hey I think I could do this job this sounds fine and the person who got the job was named Mr Remington have you seen the new Wonka with Timothy chel no I wanted to to watch it and I started it for like 5 minutes and then it just it just got such terrible reviews and the first five minutes didn't dazzle me so I gave up pretty much immediately I watched it on the plane the other day I wouldn't recommend and I I didn't realize how musical it is but it kind of gave me like Little Orphan Annie Sweeney Todd Vibes because he checks into this like place and they seem super nice but they have him sign a contract and then

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because he can't pay all the dues he's like basically stuck in indentured servitude for years and years and years along with all these other people who got tricked by the contract yeah and it's just like people taking advantage of people's Misfortune happens all the time yeah still happens okay so Mr Remington there's no record of his first name but Mr Remington he's the one that gets the job he goes to the estate he's fully ready to hermit it out on these beautiful lands but just three weeks later he is fired and you're like how does a Hermit get fired maybe did he talk that's what I had first thought but no he did something so much worse what did he do so much worse in in terms of the contract remember he's not supposed to leave he's not supposed to speak to anyone he's not supposed to have any contact he was found drinking at a local pub so he blew his ornamental hermit cover I mean I don't blame him I would need to drink if I had that to I feel like this is proof where like for 3 weeks he was just like I need a drink I

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need to be around people and he was expected to not have any contact for 7 years years wasn't it we were talking about that woman who volunteered to live in like a cave or something like that you had it was 500 days or something she was supposed to be in a cave it was in Spain and when they went to go get her after the 500 days she thought she was on like day like 200 something she quite enjoyed it it seemed I'm curious for everyone who's listening how long do you think you could live in complete silence and Solitude what do you think for yourself if I had books and Leia it's one one answer but if I didn't have any of that it's a very different answer I agree I also feel like sunlight plays a big part where it's like if I were on anate or like if I did have like a farm and land and could be outside in the gardens and explore it would be very different than being in a dark cave I would have to speak out loud to the animals and nature around me or else I

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really know like I truly know I would lose it pretty quick just inside my own brain same we need interaction with something we do okay so he was fired there's one unanswered question I have which is if you are fired obviously you're breaching your employment contract if you quit too because there was no like employment at will were you allowed to quit I have no idea but like you're not going to be like beheaded if you did I don't know I don't know if they would be paid though like I don't know if if you're fired or if you quit you get paid a certain amount or if like that's just time wasted I'm not sure I'm like thinking of this as a like a rental property contract you know like what are the Clauses how do you get out how do you get out what are the repercussions all right so for Mr Remington clearly this was not not the job for him but maybe he or other people could have viewed some of the requests that Mr Remington had as easier than some of the other ones that have been required of people or requested one land

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owner asked for a Hermit who could remain dirty and live in a cave just far enough away from their great house that they could take strolls out to the cave in the afternoon with their fellow artists and poet friends peer into the dark cave and glance upon this dirty little hermit and feel inspired to create interesting so mean so mean it's like a zoo I don't like that right it totally does feel like a zoo and it's like they're meant to look like they have a lot less like Fortune than they do you know like they right there's some enjoyment in looking upon someone who appears to watching with someone be struggling to survive our like human brain we are sick we are yeah just sick creatures I guess the only like the only Silver Lining I can see in this one job posting is that it was a six-month gig so it would be like six months on 6 months off it was like 6 months of acting in this okay terrible situation but then you get to live your normal life for 6 months you know what I kind

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of equate it to right now is there was like a I feel like there's going to be a pun intended here but a wave of desire for people to dress up as mermaids and there are mermaid exhibits and people show up to work put on fins and literally swim underwater as entertainment pretending to be mermaids yeah it's close but it's there's like still a lot of rules about being a mermaid totally you know there's like real serious training there's health and safety prot protocols I just feel like being a Hermit to me I was like Wow dream job and then when I actually started reading about it I was like oh God it's dream job if you can control all of the elements and make it what you want it to be right I guess what seemed appealing to me was just getting to live in a garden with free rent and free food well but that's I made this comment to you before we started recording but that's practically what you are going to be at mine and Payne's house because you are allergic to Leia so every time you come over you you'll just be our little garden gnome in the backyard I have to

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be in the garden I'll wear my outfit my Patchwork Leathers my giant beard and my pointy hats you get paid in Gray nipple hairs honest why am I like yes yes that sounds more than fair it's so easy to employ you that's all I need folks the promise of maybe a magical gray nipple hair so one of the most famous garden Hermits his name was father Francis and he lived at hawkstone which was an estate in England owned by the Diplomat Richard Hill so father Francis he was such a great hermit that he literally became an attraction so people would come and travel to see him to get to witness him and he was this old man he would spend most of his time sitting at this table and on the table he had some Decor he had a couple tools he had a book he had a pair of reading glasses an hour glass to pass the time you know with his meditation and contemplation of

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life and he also kept a skull so it was like very much a oh that's very witchay yeah very witchy father Francis was such a great hermit that he also figured out kind of how to cheat the system a little bit too so he was an old man he was like let's be real I can't always be on all the time like I'm older I'm tired and so he literally set up a replica of himself like he made a replica of himself a stuffed mannequin essentially to sit in his place while he was sleeping or doing whatever so he didn't always have to be out there when people came to see him and it is said that not only did he create a mannequin of himself but apparently there was some sort of automation so it was like if you think of like OG Disney World like I guess it was able to like move a bit and like say some words I'm thinking of like Zer the psychic where you get the little you put your dollar in or whatever and Zer gives you your fortune yeah something like that there was no other details to this

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but it was just basically saying like somehow he built a robot of himself wow so people are feeling very inspired by father Francis and I guess all of his Innovations and so other people started to follow suit and to basically like create scarecrows which you were like are these scarecrows in the beginning of the episode but like they would essentially create these scarecrows or mannequins of themselves to sit out in wow their Gardens was he a religious man or where did the name father come from that is a great question I have no idea okay because like I'm I'm picturing him giving off father energy because he has this like hom and yeah grandfatherly aspect to him but I don't know I'm curious yeah given the time period I would assume he had some sort of like religious affiliation okay but he was also very old so maybe it was just like a respect thing or like part of his character the old timey daddy oh my God that's not the Vibes that I was thinking from him but I guess maybe it could have been that people

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were like now that is a Gil a gome I'd like to [ __ ] that's more than a daddy that is a father do you agree Leia come here Leia is like just a reminder this man was old so he was he was more than beekeeping age this man okay So eventually in the 19th century climbing you like a SL she's like oh this angle is interesting I'll stay inversion so in the 19th century people eventually started to say like huh are we exploiting people by making people work as ornamental Hermits and you're like oh interesting that it took you so many centuries to understand that especially when the whole purpose of Hermits were to kind of contemplate the existence and treatment of people and like what is life and bla but it took a lot of people a lot of time to understand like maybe we can't require some of these things things that we're asking of these ornamental Hermits and

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so basically they were like yeah we're taking advantage of people we're trying to control their hygiene we trying to control their food their socialization their freedom so started to fizzle out people were not really wanting to be an ornamental hermit nor were people employing them as much yeah so this trend it really peaked between 1727 and 1830 and then since then hasn't really been around however there was in recent passed in 2014 a Craigslist ad posted that was totally posted as a joke but it was a job that said gentle lady seeking an ornamental hermit was this you Karan yes me a gentle woman of good birth and in the bloom of Youth possessed of vast Estates and holdings including a natural cave under a waterfall in the midst of my identic Gardens ideal for hermit life of find sensibilities and a Melancholy disposition you an ornamental hermit not

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younger than 30 not yet older than 50 possessing a great grizzled beard true lover of solitude unafflicted by any social diseases the successful candidate shall be provided with books water spectacles a cape an hourglass and food from the house and sex too right like for sure seems like that they're like oh me and just over 30 you maybe the same this is like a weird start of a romance novel yes terms of the agreement include seven years of service during which you shall not cut your hair or beard trim your nails bathe leave the premises of the Hermitage accept money from my gentle guests duties shall include reminding all passerbys of our shared mortality living most simply as our forefathers did providing the lady of the house such entertainments as she

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requires wink wink that's the sex Clause yep serving as occasional bartender at Feats and balls and then they said an etching of our last hermit is provided for your reference your response is kindly requested and then the etching was the etching of John big that we showed earlier and his like Patchwork designs from centuries ago but I did appreciate that someone posted that and I'm so curious if they got any responses people didn't understand that it was a joke and truly were like this sounds interesting considering that there was cuz in one of the future episodes I want to do like most unusual deaths in history and there's like an entire Wikipedia page of all of them and I was looking at them and like considering that in and this is more recent there was that person who agreed to be cannibalized through a Craigslist listing so like considering that someone was willing to do that I guarantee someone was willing to do this I know oh it's so gross it's so I hate thinking

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about it it's one of those things where it's like The Morbid side of me I just need to hear about it I need to learn about it but I my body like reacts to actually hearing about it rejects it yeah yeah yeah well I'll tell you all can't wait for that episode soon yeah

The origin of garden gnomes

okay so now that we couldn't have humans in the gardens what do we have enter Garden Nomes so garden gnomes often made of ceramic or terracotta materials Rose to Fame in the 18th cury so right around the time that actually having living Hermits in your garden started to fizzle out they were like oh this is a better alternative oh interesting these ones really don't talk back let's get these well it's also kind of similar to like Father Francis kind of made that right like he was making iterations of himself that were not real I hope he gets credit for the original garden gnome he does not he does not the original Garden Gomes they do predate this time it just they became popular at this time in place of a human gnomes are said to be

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these tiny Earth thrilling creatures with knowledge of hidden treasure and a desire to guard nearby plant life so people are like well this is surely a perfect icon for the garden someone to come here he's like little magical creatures to protect our Gardens gnome is kind of like a confusing term because when you look up gnomes there are so many different iterations of gnomes I guess it's the same with like fairies sometimes when we talk about fairies or Bigfoot where it's like like depending on where you are there's different beliefs of like what gnomes are so like some people call them elves some people call them dwarfs some people call them dend like different little Spirits like they're associated with so many different things so it really just depends on what culture you're a part of and where you are but gnome adjacent creatures they have and gnomes themselves have popped up for centuries in various cultures but gnomes apparently weren't given the name gnomes until the 16th century when there was this Swiss doctor he was a Pioneer in the medical science world named philippus Aus theopus bombastus Von

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hinam that is quite the name Theus bombastus love that yeah he said that gnomes have minds but no souls so they weren't capable of any Spiritual Development but that's okay because that's not their main focus that goes like totally against kind of like the the connection between ornamental Hermits and like the in gnomes if we think of gnomes as like just having no ability to like be enlightened or develop further thoughts on the world and themselves he said these twoot tall creatures they lived underground they could communicate with one another and with humans apparently and sometimes they two would get sick and they would die and these gnomes would sometimes take a liking to humans and like give them little gifts and give them special treatments but then sometimes they would take a dislike to people and they would show them a lot of hostility and he was like these gnomes these creatures that are underground and sometimes out in your garden they are very very ugly it

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reminds me a lot of elves like when we did the Christmas episode when I was talking about Santa and how elves kind of became associated with Christmas there is a lot of similarities where in some lures and legends they were pretty nasty and they would kind of be mean to you and it's one of those things too where it's like I don't want to place blame on anyone but it's like did you do something to trigger The Gnome or the elf to be mean to you or are there just totally different personalities of gnomes and elves and some of them are just really cranky and are going to be rude regardless of who you are maybe a little bit of both another person that's credited with naming gnomes gnomes is Alfred bear and Johan mares from Germany in 1841 they started creating these little figurines out of ceramic depicting these dwarf-like beings doing various jobs and they named the figurines gnomes so that's another example of the term gnomes being used to describe like elves or dwarves or like these other mystical beings M but the

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history and the presence of gnomes is developing still as we in modern day discover new evidence and texts from our ancestors and more recently there was evidence of a man who lived around 1200 ad so this is way earlier than we've heard about gnomes before or like it's credited to have been first identified as like a name for a creature there was evidence of a man who lived in 1200 ad in Norway and he had told of a statue that he had found which read gnome actual height so I guess this guy is like describing his Discovery and I I think we have that text but also we have the gnome statue apparently because the statue is on display in a Swedish Museum called abala so I don't know too much more about it but in the articles that I was reading it it insinuated that it was like is this evidence of someone who lived you know 800 some years ago who found like an actual like if you see this this is the actual height of a

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gnome like this is how to know if youc a gnome well I was just thinking because I so I had an opare growing up who was from Norway and there's a lot of lore and legend about trolls in Norway and I feel like trolls and gnomes could often be I know there's a lot of different appearances and you know characteristics but I wonder if there is like a was that actually a troll or I don't know I I I just remember she brought us these little like troll doll that are actually hideous but they are really important to Norwegians and it's like a massive part of their history and folklore yeah well I think like to your point again there's there's these creatures that like have different characteristics and some are very similar and some are said to be a little bit different but like the names in which we give those creatures and who we associate these Cryptids these creatures these Spirits these entities to be maybe they're all the same and they're just like little iterations of based on where they come from and the C what those people how they put them into

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language 100% yeah it reminds me of when we did the yo-kai episode some of the like Japanese Yokai right and there's so many different similar are yeah yeah it's like is this just the same creature it's just like one of them's bald like I don't know right I mean if you look at humans there's so many different types of humans we don't all look the same we're all human mhm we all possess the same abilities and inabilities yeah Orient abilities there are more examples and artifacts of like chronicled sightings of gnomes over time many of them were familiar with I think like if you ask someone what a gnome looks like they might say like oh they're wearing a red pointy hat and they have a Long White Beard and some of these drawings like the depictions of gnomes in that way even date back to 470 ad so like this has been around like these different depictions whether they were called gnomes or not like these small creatures were visually depicted in the same way for a very very long time so I was curious in this because there's kind

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of like a light connection between garden gnomes and the ornamental Hermits I guess the light connection is that the popularity of the Gnomes in your garden started very soon after humans were no longer being a fixture in your garden and the reputation of like the garden Gomes being kind of like Protectors of the earth and contemplating life a little bit does perfectly draw back to the ornamental Hermits but I was like this is a paranormal podcast and a big fear that people have with gnomes as they have with dolls as they have with

Paranormal gnome encounters

fures is do these gnomes ever appear or do garden gnomes ever come to life the answer is obviously yes so naturally I went to Reddit to look for some quick gnome encounters to share so I have a few okay this was posted by user sodic 70 they write when I was seven I woke up in the middle of the to steal some biscuits or sweeties from the kitchen our kitchen is right

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beside our Conservatory which has big open windows and allows you to glance into the garden while eating I heard some chatter outside curious I went to goer outside and what I saw was these three little men in red pointy hats outside in my garden they were bickering amongst themselves in this strange language that I've never heard before or after and I was just so stricken with Terror that I dared not speak oh my go I ran to my parents bedroom to tell them about our Intruders and my dad was Rel to believe me but he could see that I was obviously shaken up by something and he came downstairs to investigate they must have heard us coming because by the time we got to the conservatory they'd already pegged it and they were running through the back gate my dad caught a glimpse of them too but he only saw their pointy Red Hats I have never seen my dad look so scared before or in complete disbelief I decided to write this post now because my father recently brought this up and asked if I remembered it still completely baffled by the whole thing and then someone had else had asked like do you remember what they looked like and the person

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responded again and said they were three or four feet tall they looked quite old they all had white beards and they wore dark clothing and the red pointy hats and their skin color was white interesting I just love that the dad is the one that comes back and like do you remember this happening when you were a little kid I do love that that was like a shared experience and it wasn't just one like as a kid it's like write it off as a child's imagination totally okay nethe on Reddit I like saying that they wrote my mom told me a similar story however she didn't see them instead she heard them she was staying at my cousin's house and this happened at the start of her stay she was sitting on a wide bench of papag and she heard a small squeaky voice from underneath the bench it asked her cousin who she was meaning my mom because she looked unfamiliar my cousin answered that they were cousins and her cousin later told my mom that this was a dend day a gnome dwarf who was very friendly and often visited the house my mom isn't typically

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a bullshitter and her mystical stories are often backed by Recollections of other people like there are witnesses who can attest to them wow so this child is like befriending the backyard gnomes and someone else responded when their username is kokobo and they said you just reminded me of a memory that I have and I've tried to convince myself that it didn't happen my parents had recently purchased a gnome for the garden and it was sitting on our counter I walked out of the kitchen and I turned around because I forgot something and now the gnome was sitting upside down I was the only one home and 20 something years later I still will randomly think about this do you have any gnomes in your backyard no do you want one I I did consider it I think I'm scared I still think that they'll come to life yeah I feel like if you do decide to do anything with that tree the acorn tree we can like create a little fairy garden for it and maybe then we can bring out a gnome I like how I'm a part of this now like I get to decide because I'm your neighbor now

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we're neighbors now so you do I don't know would you have one it doesn't really fit my aesthetic so yeah for that reason probably not you could have some interchanging gravestones for that body m in the back yes yeah and maybe you could do like a he lies a gnome who tried to [ __ ] with my garden right and honestly they can enjoy the garden as much as they would like as long as they don't wreak havoc and they don't hurt us you know yeah I think that's a fair agreement it is I would be fine with gnomes venturing around my garden if they're seen from a distance like if I'm coming out I don't know I'm scared of them to be honest I think we're scared of a lot of things here two girls and ghost okay I have one more story from Reddit to end us on okay this is from zarian one and they write a few years ago I suddenly woke up from my sleep which never happens and when I opened my eyes I saw a gnome inches away from my face observing me I found it odd mind you I was just waking up so I really didn't have any time to process

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it and get scared so I lifted my head from my pillow to look at it better and as soon as the gnome realized that I was wake he got startled because he definitely was not expecting me to wake up and slapped me back to sleep the slap didn't hurt at all it just felt like this sort of magical power to pull me back into sleep oh it was really so cool but he looked just like the garden gnomes do maybe a little bit older and a tad bit uglier but still he had a red pointy hat maybe had a beard and he was like 19 in tall excluding the Hat I do have to say that he was absolutely not malicious I didn't get that vibe from him I think he was simply curious I'm absolutely obsessed with this story right well it kind of makes me think like it it has alien Vibes to it where it's like with a physical slap but kind of a being able to manipulate their reality yeah it's like such a silly visual to like picture like an actual

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like human's head which is clearly so much bigger than this gnomes being so close and like leaning up and then just the gnome is basically slapping a giant to sleep that's wild I know so knowing all of this perhaps you're like maybe ornamental Hermits are a better option to gardom Yeah because sometimes gardom come to life and they slap you into unconsciousness but on the flip side you could befriend them they could come venture over and hang out with you when you're sitting on a bench maybe you could be adopted as one of their own I don't know will I consider being a garden gnome maybe would I consider buying a garden gnome feel more on the

Ghost stories and final words

fence about that okay well I have a story that actually I think might make you want to buy a garden gome if hauntings ever occur to you I'm intrigued so this is from our listener merera and it's just called my ghost story hi my name is Mera and I'm brand new here I'm a fan I don't exactly know how to do this cuz I've never sent an email like this before so I guess here

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we go you're doing great I live in Oklahoma and I've experienced multiple hauntings in multiple houses it started in about 2014 my little sister who was 7 or8 at the time was passed out sleeping and I was 12 at the time I woke up and heard her screaming so I ran in there and I find her sleeping peacefully this happened multiple times in one night where I'd go back to my room and then immediately lay down and hear her scream again go and check on her she's sleeping peacefully hm she screamed about a face and it terrified me as her big brother but then after we moved the little boy of the family we sold the house to said it was haunted so his parents and my parents had the kids describe the ghost separately both kids described a little girl who liked to prank them and play after we moved everything got more intense we were all watching TV together when a monopoly box went flying about 4T and it was set firmly in the back of a bookcase then one time while I was home alone a pen flew 10 feet straight across

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my kitchen and it freaked me out cuz I was truly watching a ghost show at the time so I put the pen back and not even 5 minutes later it happened again so this time I got angry and I threatened the ghost honestly it was all me faking confidence trying to intimidate it but it worked and the Paranormal Activity only happened when I was not home wow my parents and siblings have also seen shadow figures run across the yard at night but I got a gnome to be a protector of my space I named him Grandpa Tom and no activity has happened in any room when Tom is in there I've moved him around a lot and tested it out I really like your show and I hope you found this interesting this is really interesting this has changing my perspectives of garden gnomes because maybe you just have to assign The Gnome a job and a purpose yeah to protect right because normally they protect the gardens and that means nothing about how they interact with you and so if you just let them in the gardens it's like okay well maybe that's when people are having these scary interactions because so long as you're not wreaking havoc on the garden you may or may not see them

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or they may just find you interesting and be like oh what's that but if you're like no you're supposed to protect me and protect these spaces and not let any of these other creatures [ __ ] around then it seems really successful yeah where's the gnome from is this just like a regular you went to like a garden supply store you went to Walmart got a gnome or is this like a haunted gnome we'll have to ask yeah I want to see a picture of Grandpa Tom me too actually I'll ask we'll do do a followup and hopefully we'll get a photo yeah if you have a gnome or if you've seen a gnome or if you have garden gnomes and believe that they are keeping it safe please let us know and then also if you have any paranormal encounters at all please email them to us at two girls1 go podcast gmail.com you can rate and review on iTunes you can or Spotify wherever you listen you can tell everybody about us it's a pyramid scheme and you can head over to patreon because we have some really awesome stuff over there you get every episode ad free one week early we have quarterly book clubs that do usually happen more than quarterly we have campfire stories every

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Tuesday night where we are live telling ghost stories and bringing people on stage with us we have exclusive merch discounts and stickers and all that good stuff so head on over there it's $5 a month or less than that if you pay annually yeah and tell your friends about our podcast it's the pyramid scheme so just tell two people tell them to tell two people and then you get promoted and get gifts except for more ghost stories that's that's the best thing and thank you so much to our editor and producer Jamie Ryan for editing our podcast we're so grateful for you and thank you to all of you for coming back each week we love you and we will see you on the other side very spooky