he initial focus of Lowlands-L was language—similarities and differences among
the North Sea Germanic languages and their offshoots. However, pretty much
at the outset it was apparent that language is inseparable from culture—“culture”
in the most general sense of the word. This is why we broadened
the
official
focus accordingly.
Once in a while during
the following fourteen-odd years of Lowlands-L activities, tales, poems and folk beliefs dealing with the supernatural made
their way into our discussions and on-line presentations. The frequency of
this tends to increase during the dark months in the Northern Hemisphere, especially
as
days
become
shorter
and we approach Halloween.
This year we decided to invite Lowlanders and visitors to submit such material
and to display it in an on-line gallery. And here we are with a modest beginning
in
time for
Halloween 2009! Some of the works displayed here are found in our other presentations
as well; others are unique to this one.
As is well known all around the world, Britain and Ireland abound with tales
of haunting and of other types of supernatural events and beings, and similar
traditions exist wherever else in the world Irish and British people settled
in large numbers. Less is known internationally about such traditions in the
Continental Lowlands of Europe, in places in which Frisian, Dutch, Limburgish,
Cleves Low Frankish and Low Saxon (“Low German”) are the traditional languages,
and among the Afrikaans-speaking people of South Africa.
You are welcome to send us comments and/or to contribute to this collection (with
a focus on the Lowlands). If you do, please write to us under
the subject line “LL-L Supernatural” at lowlands.list(a)gmail.com (replacing
(a) with @). And please provide your name (or write “Anonymous”) and also
your town and country.
Thanks, and have a scary time browsing, reading and sharing!
Reinhard “Ron” F. Hahn
Co-Founder & Chief Editor,
Lowlands-L,
September 6, 2009
he initial focus of 
