Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

Actually, that's a really good idea - some sort of corruption that appears initially beneficial ... until it's too late.

Ideally, accepting the benefits will provide some dark power with a level of consent that will make it hard or even impossible to resist later.

Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

That or it originated as a caution against picking up abandoned babies.

Konaki-Jiji

In Japanese folklore, is formed from the soul of a child left to die of exposure in the mountains, the size and shape of an infant. Oddly, its face is that of an elderly man. It is always crying like a baby and lurks in secluded areas, like mountain paths, where babies shouldn't normally be. When a kind hearted traveler comes by and hears the crying, he will pick the yokai up in an effort to comfort it. When the traveler notices the odd face, the konaki-jiji attacks. It will increase its weight tremendously, crushing the foolhardy good Samaritan.

Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

The imperative for self-survival so you can raise all those other children to a breeding age exists for good reasons - it's better odds for your genes. There's a reason why young children were generally treated as property rather than people for most of history: you can always make another one.

I'm of course not saying that there isn't a big emotional block against killing your children - but if you think that just-birthed babe with a birth defect is a demon-spawned monster, you're not killing your child. You're killing a curse.

Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

Rationalizations allow the behavior in the first place. But I find it hard to believe that guilt, however subconscious or repressed, wouldn't be common among those that did murder their own kids. Necessity and culture may say it's my duty to do something, but evolutionary biology tends to push back hard too.

Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

Interesting then that the Romans - for whom infant exposure was very much a institution (although how commonly performed may be up for debate) didn't have a cultural artefact associated with it. Presumably, given that the children to be exposed were either deformed or otherwise rejected by the paterfamilias (e.g. because their legitimacy was in doubt) you could expect your lares and penates to deal with any spiritual fallout.

Likewise, presumably, the Spartans who were famous for their exposure of "unfit" babies (but again, who knows how frequently this actually happened?) considered that the spirit of a weakling was no threat to them.

I suspect you also need a culture with a concept of personhood in infancy before the undead baby becomes truly established - if every birth means a person who needs to be baptised and ushered into the church (as in clericalist Christian tradition), leaving one out to die without benefit of clergy would seem a much worse act than if your culture holds that personhood is something that develops over time.

Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

Areas or people that seem to attract fog.

As above but they actively repel fog.

Lightning out of a clear sky.

The village lunatic swears he heard voices in the town well.

Statues large and small, might or might not be limited to religious icons, are found in odd places or odd positions even if the statue itself is exactly the same.

Nightbirds or insects making noises exactly in time with a dying person's breath. Local legend says this means they are waiting to catch the soul as it leaves the body and torment it.

Areas where the ground is unnaturally fertile or sterile. Maybe anything that grows there comes out... wrong.

Animal tracks outside the window every night for a week. No animal is ever seen no matter how hard you try.

Bird flocks flying in unusual patterns.

Spiders are inherently creepy. Use your imagination.

Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

All the hearth fires go out at the same time... And no one feels even the slightest chill despite It being freezing rain outside.

All statuary moves and alters slightly when out of sight, progressively becoming more realistic, but also more lewd and blasphemous.

Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

There's a bridge up in Scotland from which dogs tend to jump to their deaths for no apparent reason... easily recycled. The bridge that is, but possibly the dogs as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overtoun_Bridge

Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

Well, except for the naming and founding legend of Rome itself, and all those statues of Romulus and Remus sitting around, or appearing on their coins and such...

Re: [Horror] [Low-Tech] Hearthfires going cold and other Low-Tech spookiness
 

If you get to the age of Iron flint & steel are quite possible.

While iron is going to be expensive in any medieval setting someone in the village will have one, the blacksmith if no one else.

You do need dry tinder & patience but unless you're on a tight time schedule it will produce fire with some minutes' work.