Our Numinous Nature

Philippe G. Willis
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Our Numinous Nature is a traveling podcast in search of profound stories focused on regional flora & fauna, folklore & history with a penchant for the mysterious and the hunt. We’ll be hearing from folks with a deep connection to the land, from herbalists to hunters, folk artists, paranormal investigators, & living historians. The hope is to reach the soul of these people & places through tales of profundity & awe. Find a comfy log and join us at the sonic campfire. 

  1. 3D AGO

    ARTIFACT HUNTING + FORGOTTEN HISTORY OF EARLY VIRGINIA | Amateur Archaeologist | Dominique Kostelac

    Dominique Kostelac is an amateur archaeologist, artifact hunter, farmer and all-around history buff living outside Charlottesville, Virginia. After a newspaper reading from 1869 about uncovering the skeletal remains of a conquistador in Appalachia, we open with Dominique describing the Monacan village he discovered on his riparian farm. From there we get into shocking examples of early, forgotten, and/or theoretical first arrivals of Europeans [and even the Chinese!] to Virginia and the East Coast in general. So how does one go about being an artifact hunter? With archival maps, jet skis, metal detectors, goggles and shovels, in search of eroding banks and knocking on farmers' doors. With over 50-years experience, Dominique previews the most prized finds from his 17th-century collection, all dug up in and around the Chesapeake Bay and up her waterways: a Turkish pirate coin; a flintlock pistol; a Spanish coin made into an Indian ornament; clay pipes; and a Jesuit stamped glass bottle. After skimming his overflowing trays of artifacts and hearing what the amateur has to offer to the professional field, we end on human remains and haunted places.  Reading from Conquistador Found Buried Less than Twenty Miles from Saltville by Jim Glanville for Saltville Progress, April, 11 2013. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

    2h 7m

  2. MAR 12

    WEST VIRGINIA FUR AUCTION: BEAVERS & SKUNKS, ROOTS & ODDITIES | From Trappers to Buyers

    The West Virginia Fur Auction is an annual fur, root, skull & antler consignment sale in Glenville, West Virginia. After a reading about the first fur-trade explorations over the Alleghenies into West Virginia in 1671-74, we head into the auction with in-the-field reporting on the modern fur, root, meat, gland and oddities markets, interviewing the likes of trappers, fur hangers, graders, buyers and members of the West Virginia Trappers Association. Many grew up trapping and we hear how meaningful it is to continue the very trade that founded America. From protecting endangered species to supporting natural materials over synthetic textiles, the trapper is discussed as an environmentalist. Throughout are charming moments like a young lady demoing how to skin a noxious skunk or what to do with a raccoon's pecker bone. As the buyers stand around the racks of bobcat pelts, piles of beavers, boxes of skunks and deer horns, we find out what they're looking for whether they specialize in garments, felt, costumes or oddities. As the auctioneer rattles off the bidding, you've got a front row seat to the fascinating world of American fur.  Reading from The West Virginia Encyclopedia by Philip Mallory Conley To learn more about the West Virginia Trappers Association: wvtrappers.com Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

    1h 39m

  3. JAN 22

    44-YEARS AN APPALACHIAN TRAPPER; NATURAL HISTORY ON THE BOBCAT-LINE | Trapper | Steve McCue

    Steve McCue is a trapper, naturalist, all-around outdoorsman & Vice President of the West Virginia Trappers Association from Nicholas County, West Virginia. On this in-the-field episode we visit his wall-tent camp and head out for a morning on the bobcat trapline. After a 1929 reading about handling & relocating backcountry bobcats, Steve opens on the significance of the bygone American chestnut. We hear of his deep Appalachian roots & how his outdoorsman lifestyle is a spiritual pursuit that reaches back into pre-history where trapping was the oldest way to procure food & clothing. After some archaeological examples of ancient trapping, Steve describes the 4-types of modern trappers: the hobbyist, the animal damage controller, the longliner, and the territorial/conservationist. From there we get into the natural history of Steve's favorite furbearers starting with the gray fox whose population is in decline. Leaving the tent behind, Steve walks & talks on the trapline about such things as: chaga foraging; uses of birch bark; the origin of "fairy-diddle;" making cat sets; skunk essence; lure-making as the witchy side of trapping; and what one might find in a bobcat's stomach.  We wrap it up on what we've learned from reading historical accounts, how an inexperienced trapping family survived on plants alone in the north woods followed by Daniel Boone's bear bacon enterprise.  Reading from West Virginia Wild Life Magazine Vol 7. Ep. 1 [1929].  Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

    2h 14m

  4. JAN 2

    BEAR HUNTING BROTHERS, PART II: THE CHASE | Houndsman | Nathan Griffin

    Nathan Griffin [like his younger brother] is a lifelong houndsman, bear hunter, and commercial turkey farmer in Pendleton County, West Virginia. On this 2nd part of our in-the-field, ride along with Appalachian bear hunting brothers we open with a riveting reading from the memoir of an early-1800's backwoodsman about a bear skin umbrella & hunting with a knife. As we drive the snowy mountain roads in search of a fresh track, Nathan describes various aspects of being a modern houndsman: from dog-work to being a good example, selective harvest and seasons based around wildlife management. We hear about sleeping in the woods, finding den trees, and a wildcat encounter in a rock hole. Of course a major part of any hunt is the food it provides and thus we talk of bear roasts, pies, meat handling and uses for rendered bear fat. And that's just about when we find a track! The dog box is thrown open and the howling dogs are cut loose into the cold mountains. While they lose the track in melted snow, we end up bushwhacking a thousand feet down a ridge to a bear in a tree where Nathan's hounds have joined another hunting party's and Jacob [from Part I] successfully tags out on a beautiful he-bear. From the mountains to the farm workshop, we come together around the Griffin family hearing from both brothers, a wife & their father about butchering, cooking and this truly American folkway.  Reading from Fourty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter by Meshach Browning.  Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

    1h 40m

  5. 12/18/2025

    BEAR HUNTING BROTHERS, PART I: SCUFFLES, CAT TRACKS & A WAR WHOOP | Houndsman | Jacob Griffin

    Jacob Griffin is a lifelong houndsman, bear hunter and turkey farmer in Pendleton County, West Virginia. This is the first of a two-part podcast series recorded in the field with the Griffin brothers as we drove up rough mountain forest roads covered in snow and ice in pursuit of bear tracks. After a reading of Abraham Lincoln's 1846 poem, "The Bear Hunt," we jump right into it, hearing how the dogs work including Jacob's fearless mountain feist, Pete, who recently was nearly killed by a bear. Our jovial huntsman summarizes an exciting lifetime of dog injuries, harrowing bear encounters, and a pile of destroyed trucks. We hear how meaningful this Appalachian folkway & tradition is to the Griffin family, including how the old timers did it before modern GPS technology.  Moving on to felines, we discuss large cat tracks we've found and regional panther-lore. As we finally reach our remote starting point, Jacob tells a haunting story of a paranormal scream he heard in that exact location which opens up talk of finding long forgotten graveyards as well as eerie signs of people hiding out in this mountain fastness. Let the hunt begin! To be continued... Reading of The Bear Hunt by Abraham Lincoln Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

    1h 36m

  6. 11/12/2025

    HUNTING GROUNDS OF THE EASTERN WOODLAND INDIANS | Living Historian | Doug Wood

    Doug Wood is a West Virginia living historian portraying the life of the eastern woodland American Indians. After a reading about bear hunting & raccoon trapping with Mohawks in 1755, Doug describes how a historical trail project mixed with his own Cherokee ancestry got him interested in representing the lives of the various woodland Indians of the 18th-century. We begin on captive-taking practices and West Virginia being abandoned by the time of European arrival, yet remaining as a hunting ground for more northern tribes. Then we shoot right into the details of their hunting & trapping methods as described in historical first-hand accounts: excursions of 100s-of-miles for furs & skins; uses of bear grease; catching beavers before Europeans' metal traps; deer stalking in buck hides; fire rings; smoking bears out of dens; a Cherokee bear hunting song; dogs for the chase & for food; pet raccoons, parrots & a caged bear; eating box turtles & toads; bird snaring; and finally, Doug shares a childhood story about the Indian practice of fishing with black walnut hulls. Intermixed throughout are side tangents about: pictographs on trees as a way to relay information such as the outcome of a raid; buffalo in West Virginia; Doug's uncanny memories; and visiting significant historical places.  Reading from An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels of Colonel James Smith; 1755-1759 by James Smith Check out Doug's schedule of living history events at appalachianlivinghistory.com Archival Native American [Seneca, Iroquois, & Chippewa] music thanks to Drumhop.com Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

    2h 2m

  7. 10/16/2025

    THE ANTIQUARIAN ANGLER; FLY FISHING FROM THE MEDIEVAL TO EARLY MODERN | Sportsman | Harrison Idol

    Harrison Idol is a sportsman, fly fisherman, Army Officer and budding antiquarian currently building up his collection of antique sporting books in Maryland. After a reading from The Compleat Angler written in 1653 about fly tying & trout, Harrison opens on growing up on his family's generational tobacco farm in North Carolina. While inspired by vintage sporting aesthetics, Harrison boldly embarked on a collector's shopping spree of antique fishing & hunting books dating back to the 15th-century.  From Ancient Greece & Rome to the medieval, we hear of Dame Juliana Berners' 1420 treatise [the first English book on fishing] which introduces angling not solely as a means to acquire food, but as a contemplative art loaded with Christian symbolism. A prayer, a review of a 350-year-old trout recipe, an unlikely collaboration between men of vice & virtue; pike folklore; and historical rod & tackle materials; Harrison's collection culminates with a leather bound, time worn copy of the famous 17th-century instructional fishing narrative, The Compleat Angler by Englishman, Izaak Walton. Bringing this episode into the spirit of the autumnal season, we end on a hunting ghost story from Harrison's old family farm.  Reading from The Compleat Angler by Izaak Walton.  Follow Harrison on Instagram @idol.hour Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

    1h 50m

  8. 09/18/2025

    THE FRONTIER LIFE OF THE LONGHUNTERS | Living Historian | Simeon England

    Simeon England is a blacksmith, traditional flintlock hunter, and living historian portraying the 18th-century frontiersmen, scouts and longhunters of Kentucky. We start this living history episode about the daily lives of the colonial longhunters [1760s-1770s] who set out from Virginia & North Carolina for deer skins & furs in the wilds of Kentucky, with readings of first-hand accounts about beavers and salt licks. From their hunting methods to their frontier camps we discuss topics such as: tomahawks; boiling salt; hide work; backcountry blacksmithing; traps; horses; dogs; wolves; a slippery elm cure for peeling feet; deer & bear hunting; and buffalo traces. There's learning from books & then there's learning from doing, as Simeon shares some lessons learned from hunting with period gear & flintlock rifles. We hear of Simon Kenton's harrowing experiences running the gauntlet while captured by natives and conclude on a sort of reverence for the craftsman's raw, natural materials [that perhaps we have lost in our age of fast & cheap mass manufacturing].  Readings from The History of the Dividing Line Betwixt Virginia and North Carolina by William Byrd and by A Tour of the United States of America by JFD Smyth. Check out Simeon England's blacksmithing at SimeonEngland.com. Follow him on Instagram & watch his Townsends Longhunter living history features. Support Our Numinous Nature on Patreon. Follow Our Numinous Nature & my naturalist illustrations on Instagram Check out my shop of shirts, prints, and books featuring my art Contact: herbaceoushuman@gmail.com

    1h 38m
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About

Our Numinous Nature is a traveling podcast in search of profound stories focused on regional flora & fauna, folklore & history with a penchant for the mysterious and the hunt. We’ll be hearing from folks with a deep connection to the land, from herbalists to hunters, folk artists, paranormal investigators, & living historians. The hope is to reach the soul of these people & places through tales of profundity & awe. Find a comfy log and join us at the sonic campfire. 

Information

  • Creator
    Philippe G. Willis
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    110
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Our Numinous Nature
  • Show Website
    Our Numinous Nature

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