For centuries, scarecrows have been erected in fields all around the world. Their sole purpose is to discourage birds from collecting seeds and feeding on growing plants.
Also called a hayman, it consists mainly of straw stuffed right into a shirt and pants.
Sitting on a tall pole or picket stick, the wind whips and waves his sleeves wildly, giving him an allusion to life. The exhibition includes large straw hats that complement the primitive human replica.
To the birds they appear to be people. People find them just terrifying. While nobody knows obviously who actually created the primary scarecrow, there’s one story that’s as disturbing because the faceless hay man himself.
As innovators, the traditional Egyptians used a picket frame covered with netting to guard their wheat fields from invasive quails. Their tactics were twofold: they hid within the fields and chased quails in nets, which later became food.
In one season, the harvest yielded much less wheat than expected. The Egyptians feared that that they had one way or the other angered the gods and were being punished. Ultimately, speculation fell on the flocks of quail that were caught and eaten.
The quail immediately became a protected bird in ancient Egypt, and people who hunted and ate it were sentenced to death.
However, the Egyptians didn’t place all their hope within the benevolence of their deities. Since quail weren’t hunted, they needed simpler deterrents.
Dozens of realistic scarecrows were thus placed on the frames and above the crop line. The net stretched over picket frames was replaced by a dangling body wrapped in human clothing. A head covered with papyrus rested on its side, with two arms and two legs hanging below it.
For years, invasive quail avoided the fields and the crops produced a bountiful wheat crop. When food was plentiful again, the Egyptians praised their benevolent deities.
Eventually, an Egyptian field employee discovered the terrifying truth in regards to the retreat of quails from the wheat fields and the following abundance of wheat.
On a day when the wind was particularly strong, the scarecrow wrapped around one in all the windswept heads fell to the bottom. The preserved face of a well-recognized man, known to have been executed for hunting quails to feed his hungry family, looked down at him.
The employee looked across the sphere at the handfuls of scarecrows placed in the identical position. A sea of death covered with limestone masking the smell of decay stretched so far as the attention could see. He fell to his knees to hope for the haymakers and the gods to have mercy on their souls.
Gare Allen, best-selling creator on amazon.com, The Dead: A True Paranormal Story.
Image Source: Pixabay.com
