Other options --
 

Livestock giving birth to perfectly normal livestock -- of another species. A sheep will deliver a goat. A cow delivers a litter of piglets.

And people think that these odd-borne have special powers. Don't give them any -- it will drive the PCs nuts to think about what's hidden.

Squirrels in the high branches with what appear to be human faces. [From HP Lovecraft.] But when they're shot with bow or hit with stone when they hit the ground they seem perfectly normal.

Faint sounds, such as groans, coming from beneath the earth. [A materialist would simply attribute this to freezing/thawing or minor earth tremors. An early Low Tech person might consider demons.] [Also Lovecraft.]

A peddler comes through the ville. He seems perfectly normal as do his products -- but some, which he offers only when one and no more of the villagers are . . . special. Magic beans that produce no avenue to giants but lots of oddly colored fruit -- very tasty. Perhaps . . . too tasty. A folding knife that never gets dull -- as long as you feed it with blood once a week. Animal blood . . . at least to start with. A hair ribbon that makes the owner irresistible to the opposite sex. At least the wearer thinks so.

Just a few coppers a purchase, and an X-signature on a piece of paper with some writing on it. "Nothing important . . . a mere formality. You'll never miss it -- excuse me, I meant to say something else."

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

Those interesting items do sound like Needful Things. ;)

Re: Other options --
 

Which reminds me of stories from various east-Asian countries about the local weird non-human-primate being the ghosts of the dead villagers.

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

I meant a taboo artefact, like the aforementioned undead children.

Re: Other options --
 

I'm pretty sure I've heard/read something about cicadas or other noisy insects being ghosts or evil spirits, but I'm not sure where or when.

Re: Other options --
 

From someone being driven slowly mad by the thunderous sound of an entire cohort of cicadas, perhaps.

Whippoorwills sing for the dead; when they gather outside a home and sing in unison, someone is sure to die before dawn. Having an enormous, passenger-pigeon-style flock of them appear and coat the landscape would be... alarming.

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

Being the only one whose estate isn't covered in seasonal loud creatures would probably be just as creepy and prone to angering neighbors.

Re: Other options --
 

Isn't there a Japanese horror film called "cicadas when they cry" (or the equivalent in translation)?

Re: Other options --
 

It's a horror game, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (the red is apparently important), which was made into various other media, including a couple of live action films. Rather scary and creepy, too. The version I'm familiar with involves a time-loop in June, 1983, as the characters kill each other over and over again.