There’s More Than the Devil at the Crossroads
Don’t worry about my search history, I’m a writer
Something wasn’t right. The words were clunky. It just wasn’t working.
Something about my new novel just wasn’t right.
It took me a while to figure it out that it was the plot. The whole plot.
I took a week off, let my subconscious work on it and while I was out on a run (I go running every now and then so I can eat more cake), it hit me.
A new idea. A new plot.
Inspired by a song because the crux of this idea seems to have music at the heart of it, that is, until you delve a little deeper.
It turns out it’s not just musicians and the Devil at the crossroads.
If you’ve ever watched Supernatural, that might be where your mind has immediately gone to. I feel like that show has brainwashed me when it comes to the crossroads. But the folklore has existed for centuries before the Winchesters came along, and Supernatural have pretty much stuck to the basics.
The idea of the crossroads being a special location dates back as early as Ancient Greece, where Hecate was the Goddess of the Crossroads (take that Crowley!). She was also the Goddess of Magic, overseeing witchcraft. Her fierce independent nature made her unwilling to marry and instead of long walks on the beach, she loved long walks along the roads and into cemeteries at night (my kind of goddess). Pillars known as Hecataea were often placed at crossroads, as Hecate was also known for being something of a gatekeeper and protecting boundaries.
In Norse mythology, it’s suggested that Odin was honoured at crossroads and left offerings where the roads met. I think we all know the name Odin as a Norse god of war and Thor’s dad. He was also the Norse god of the dead and of magic.
Elsewhere in Europe, a German myth tells us that if you want to know who will die that year, you should visit the crossroads in the hour before the New Year and you’ll hear their names called on the wind. Whereas, in Belgium, a black dog named Oschaert hangs out at the crossroads. He’s a trickster, preying on passersby. The only way to save yourself from him is to stand in the very centre of the crossroads until he gets bored and leaves.
In the UK, those convicted of crimes and those who died from suicide (considered a crime) were buried at crossroads as early as the Anglo-Saxon period and being particularly popular during the Medieval period. The land wasn’t consecrated and was often on the outskirts of towns and villages, possibly serving as a warning to visitors. Or maybe the crossing of the roads confused the dead so that their spirits wandered.
Crossroad burials in the UK continued until 1823 and were finally abolished after a man with severe mental health issues who had murdered his father was buried at crossroads in London, to the horror of nearby locals. This was as our understanding mental illness and depression grew and developed.
In Central Africa, crossroads are considered places that represent the life cycle and a prime location to speak to the dead. The God of the Roads and trickster, Papa Legba, could be summoned at African crossroads. He’s another god who opens the door between this world and the world of the dead, and is said to be able to speak any and all languages. He is called upon at the beginning and end of every spiritual ceremony in order to ask him to open and close the door to the spirit world. These beliefs were brought over to America during the transatlantic slave trade. I imagine the earlier British and European settlers brought similar lore over to America when they landed too.
Like many concepts in folklore, the idea of crossroads being special has existed throughout human society for a long time, spanning not just centuries but continents. Which is magical in its own right.
Wherever you go, crossroads represent a place where the veil between worlds is thin.
A place where spirits can be reached, the devil summoned and deals made.
The crossroads is where souls are bartered and sold.
Possibly the most famous man to sell his soul at a crossroads is Faust, who is a fictional character from a German legend…but based on a real man. Johann Georg Faust.
Johann was an astrologer and alchemist but also a magician of the 15th century. One night, he went into the woods, found a crossroads, drew a circle and summoned the devil. That was the explanation given for how he came to be able to do incredible feats of magic in front of large crowds.
When he died in an alchemy explosion, leaving his body in something of a gory state, it was said that the devil had come to collect what was his.
That’s what the crossroads deal usually entails. In the folklore, it’s usually the devil himself who appears to strike the deal. Or perhaps, instead of devils and gods, the creatures you’re making those deals with are the souls of the dead buried there.
You can have whatever you want, although historically most people ask for a specific skill, but you only have ten years. After ten years, it’s time to pay with your life, condemning your soul to hell (or that religion/folklore’s punishing equivalent).
The idea of making deals at crossroads hasn’t gone away.
In the 1930s, it’s said that Blues musician Robert Johnson sold his soul for an exceptional skill in guitar playing. The fact that he died so young only adds to the tale.
Sometimes legends are built on until fact and myth mix.
Which is what makes crossroads so fascinating. The stories live on, the lore continues.
The crossroads will feature in the fourth book of my paranormal fantasy series. You can check out Beginnings, book one, right here.
