Witch in the Woods

Leave the real world behind...

Credit: All photos by Cori Bren, divider art by Dreamstime.com - Portal to the witching wood

Labor Day weekend brought with it a veritable whirlwind of plans with family. Family is love, but nature beckoned me once more and by Monday my flight to the woods was utterly non-negotiable. My sister in law, Jamie, went with us, and like us she was drawn to the magic of our woods, hushing her words to almost a whisper.

There was a hint of something menacing in the air, notable only because there was bird chatter even while we walked, which NEVER happens. While we are present the birds normally watch and wait, as if they don’t exist. It was like the earth’s poles were reversed. Almost immediately upon entering the path, we saw sticks stacked oddly against a tree. Hubby said “kids must be building forts”. I said “no way. that’s witch sign”. Jamie laughed at us.

A prehistoric genetic memory washed over me with heebie jeebies at the site of this

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While my husband always leads the way with a stick because the spiders work across the paths, Monday’s trek was especially creepy. There were spiders EVERYWHERE and they’d built all the webs at face height. He would see the sun glint off their gossamer traps, many still hard at their day’s work. One shot I captured had the witch’s arachnid masterpiece only about half finished and it was still mid-morning. We ducked under and marked the spot for the return march. A bit further along our maiden voyage on this stretch of trail we saw the most amazing piece of arachno~engineering ever - a web shaped like a dome and approximately the size of a cantaloupe. My picture does not do it justice, but the creep factor ratcheted up to a stratospheric rating.

A window into the industry of the witch’s arachnid army (enhanced to accentuate the web)

Blue mound is hive-like web which made me shiver. No one wanted to get a better view (filtered to accentuate the ball)

We didn’t venture too far down this particular path, wonder why. As we walked we saw a ‘witch’s eye’ following our progress at about calf-height. We were surprised by a beautiful frilled fungus in bright gold hidden off the path. It seemed to stand alone in the creepiness of the morning. To which, Jamie said “If it’s pretty, don’t touch it. Especially in Panama.” LOL. The other fungus of note was black. See, witchy! But the crowning glory, was the work of the witch’s familiar, Buttercup, a huge well-armored black beetle who was harvesting innocent mushrooms for the witch’s insidious potions. Note the video of him moving his catch across the path at our feet, unhindered and utterly unconcerned by our presence in her wood.

Her ever-watchful servants kept an eye on us

This bare stem heralds movement at my feet. Upon bending down, I see Buttercup at work.

Buttercup’s mushroom heist