The Scarecrow

One scarecrow sings and dances as he searches for a brain. Harmless if you know what story he belongs to, not so harmless if he has a zombie attribute to him. Another scarecrow takes a beating from some kids and turns a kid into a scarecrow, or skins an adult, whichever story floats your boat. I myself find the skinning scarecrow a little darker and a little more fascinating. Oh Harold, the first scarecrow that really scared me. Well, then there was that scare crow on Supernatural that was a Pagan god and liked to skin his victims as well, wearing their skin as his own. Creepy.

My interest was peaked. What other scarecrows are out there. Well, just looking at films with scarecrows - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fictional_scarecrows - there are at least 19 films that feature a scarecrow that does more than sit in a field and hope birds will stay away from the farmers crops. Mostly murder and mayhem. Thanks Wikipedia.

Why do we find scarecrows so, well, scary? Historians think that since a lot of kids died during a great plague way back when, that people took to making fake people to try and scare the birds away. Food is pretty important. We don't want to feed the birds if it is with our food. They also symbolized death and resurrection of crops year after year with their arms stretched out on a cross. Or maybe they were likened unto Vlad the Impaler who would stake out his enemies heads and bodies on pikes and drink human blood. You know, for normal reasons. The Japanese have a field god named "Kakashi" who couldn't walk, but loved agriculture and so they stood in a field. Ancient Greece, the god of fertility "Priapus" guarded crops. There's also some Norse history of scarecrows. Viking Scarecrows. That's cool. I wonder if Ragnar had a scarecrow in his crops.

"No matter their cultural roots, scarecrows worldwide were conceived of to perform a specific task: to frighten." (Modern Farmer - https://modernfarmer.com/2014/05/scarecrow-history-effigy/) Couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks Modern Farmer.

But why cause fear? As we are all so familiar with, scarecrows don't just scare birds away. There is something about them that scares us. We put them together. We created them. Right? Humans? I don't know, I think there is a whole field of theories concerning how scarecrows came to be. . . Field. You see what I did there? I'm hilarious. Let's go ahead and look into some theories.

Corpses and sinister faces. Even though today we can make scarecrows all cute and nice and non zombie like even if they are looking for a brain. I mean seriously, a scarecrow looking for a brain and a tin man looking for a heart, I wouldn't have been so trusting if I was Dorothy. Has she not seen all the horror movies? Hey, I found some cool art to go with this -

Anyways, today we still can use scarecrows to protect our gardens, but really I don't see them used in big time agriculture. Well, you can look up some high tech scarecrows that could be a drone that flies around and scares birds away, or plastic bags, or even recording of predatory birds. Oh, those fake owls are still used. They are a little creepy too, but less so than a hay stuffed fake man on a stake out in the middle of the field. Modern, useful scarecrows are just way less scary and more technological than they used to be. If we look back, animal skulls and rotting pumpkins could be seen as the heads of scarecrows. Wooden or cloaked arms stretched out to the side with long, straw fingers. Ratted and torn clothing flapping in the wind. Maybe an old hat to tie everything together. Then, sometimes, faces made from leather, cloth, or other materials. What do these represent? Corpses? Like Vlad the Impaler. Do we look at scarecrows, like actual, scary scarecrows, and see death? Sinister faces that stare blankly, sometimes with a smile. Do we put ourselves in the place of the scarecrow, wondering what kind of fate it would be to be staked up in the field to keep the birds away? Well, it would be a bad fate, but HOW bad? Probably pretty bad. It makes me wonder, way back when scarecrows were actually created and used, if a family member died would they be the next scarecrow? Like Grampa Al, Cousin Louis, or Tommy. . . Too dark? Oh, well maybe Al, Louis, and Tommy weren't commonly used names 3,000 years ago.

So, do scarecrows make us unsettled simply based on the fact that they can represent death? That their twisted bodies and decaying bodies remind us all of what is to come? Or is it something like the Uncanny Valley Theory? This theory fascinates me and it makes me want to become a dark historian and just read into all that was weird and dark and messed up in the past. I'll stick with being a high school teacher though. . . don't worry, I'm professional. I can do research on my time off anyways.

The Uncanny Valley is that unsettling feeling we get from objects that appear human, but aren't human. This can be from artwork where humans are supposed to be the main part of the art, but they look off. Their eyes aren't human. Their expression is sinister or different. This could also come from dolls or toys. Chucky. Annabelle. Robert the Doll. Pulau Ubin Haunted Doll. Okiku. Mandy. Lily. Seriously, check them out - https://miamihaunts.com/the-most-famous-haunted-dolls-in-the-world/. These are, of course, haunted dolls. Even dolls that aren't haunted seem weird and sometimes terrifying, staring into space. Expressionless. Murder behind their eyes. I don't trust them. Then there are things like robots that we have created in more modern times that look human, but aren't. So, why do we dread the Uncanny Valley? What is in our history that seemed like a human, but wasn't, and we are afraid of them? Are scarecrows only meant to scare the birds away? Or are they meant to scare others away? Are they the creatures that caused the Uncanny Valley, or representations of them? Part of me hopes something like this is true, yet that terrifies me as well. Hmmm, fear, it's something spectacular.

Could scarecrows really be a representation of beings from the past, like pagan gods, that protect the harvest? I mean, I don't really know what happened in the past, but this has a Supernatural feel to it. Sam? Dean? Want to shed more light on some scarecrow folklore?

Whatever Scarecrows are really meant for, pure functionality, something to scare children into eating their vegetables, or something more unsettling like the Uncanny Valley, I do enjoy their appearance and the creativity behind them in modern times. They represent the harvest, Halloween, colder nights in October and pumpkins. All things I love. I can't help but think though, way back when the first scarecrow was put up. Why was it? What do they really represent? Is it really just to scare crows away? Or is it something more? What are your thoughts?