One of these was to sacrifice some animal to the old gods beside the foundation-stone or outside the churchyard wall. “WHEN the first churches were built, they were generally consecrated with the observance of various heathen customs which the people would not part with. II: Scandinavian Popular Traditions and Superstitions) London: Edward Lumley, 1851 Benjamin Thorpe, Northern Mythology, comprising the principal Popular Traditions and Superstitions of Scandinavia, North Germany, and The Netherlands (Vol. It wasn’t until I began searching through old public domain books about folklore that I began to get somewhere. If Year Walk was really based on Swedish folklore, surely there must be more out there about my favorite character? But what the internet turned up were pages and pages of Google results that just referenced the game itself. While there it fed on people’s hopes, dreams and fears.”įascinated by this, I wanted to know more. There are other stories that suggest the Church Grim was not a guardian at all, but rather a sort of parasite drawn to the energy of the church. Some stories say that if you were unlucky enough to be the last one to die during the year, you would serve the Church Grim the following year. The Church Grim guarded the church against thieves and grave robbers, but because of it even honest folks avoided the church at night. In other versions the criminal’s heart was cut out and placed inside an animal carcass that was sacrificed… There have also been stories of criminals being buried alive as punishment.
“Little is known of it, since it was considered bad luck to even speak about it…When a church was built in medieval times, an animal was sometimes buried alive under the floors- most commonly goats since these were comparatively cheap.
An abridged version of that text follows: Year Walk ends at the local church, which is where you’ll find the Church Grim- a goat-headed ghost whose heart you’re asked to shatter.īut what is the Church Grim? I sought information in the companion app (a guidebook). The narrative of Year Walk is modeled after the Swedish Å rsg å ng- a divinatory ritual that involves a long, solitary passage through dark woods, where the walker meets with various supernatural entities. I first met the Church Grim in the iOS game Year Walk (Simogo Games, 2013)- one of the few games I’ve played since adolescence and one that held me in its subtle, moody spell.