Episode Details

In this eye-opening episode of Based Camp, Simone and Malcolm Collins dive deep into the ancient archetype of the “Swamp Hag” – those deranged, liminal women from folklore who live on the edges of society, brewing potions, keening like banshees, and disrupting the peace. Drawing from European, Eurasian, and global myths (think Baba Yaga, Banshees, and even Jewish Bal Shems), we explore how these figures warned communities about real threats: spiteful mutants, mystical outsiders, and unmoored individuals who could harm society if not isolated.

But are swamp hags just insults, or do they reveal timeless truths about human genetics, physiognomy, and social roles? We discuss modern manifestations – from screaming protesters (hello, banshees like Greta Thunberg) to bureaucratic “Karens” in the deep state, Wiccans on Etsy, and even Disney’s evolving witch tropes (from villains in Snow White to mentors in Owl House). Why do cultures converge on these stories? How have we lost the plot by empowering liminal people in leadership? And what can we learn to protect our kids and rebuild prejudice against dangerous mystics?

Plus, a fun tangent on family life, JD Vance’s fourth kid, and mystery curries. If you’re into folklore, cultural evolution, pronatalism, and unfiltered takes

Episode Notes

* Asmongold:

* Regularly refers to deranged women at protests as swamp hags; he and his chat sometimes also realize, while watching clips of white women losing composure, that they’re basically banshees

* He has pointed out that every major culture has some sort of trope or mythology around this archetype:

* He has also mused over how these women are just born in the wrong time and place; that they’d probably be just fine off in a swamp somewhere selling mushrooms

* And this had me thinking he’s on to something

Swamp Hags

The “swamp hag” or woods-dwelling old woman selling herbs and mushrooms is a modern variation of a very old European and Eurasian hag/crone figure: an aged, liminal woman at the edge of society and of the wild, who can be healer, monster, or initiatory guide.

Deep roots of the hag

* The English word hag comes from Old English hægtesse, a term for a witch or night spirit, later generalized to mean a wizened old woman associated with magic and malice

* Across European folklore, hags and crones are depicted as ugly, elderly women living apart from the community and engaging in witchcraft, often as figures who threaten children, twist weather, or curse travelers.

* At the same time, early hag figures also preserve traces of older wise-woman roles—midwives, healers, diviners, and nature spirits—whose powers later get demonized as witchcraft.

Swamp hags

* Swamps and bogs have long been imagined as uncanny spaces—places of rot, spirits, and monsters—so attaching the hag figure to swamps (rather than just generic woods) taps into older associations between wetlands, death, and dangerous female beings.

* Specific “old woman of the swamps” or swamp crone figures appear in Native and global folklore as spirits born from decaying tools or matter, personifying swampy decay and moisture as an aunt or old woman who haunts wet lowlands.

* Contemporary fantasy and horror (RPGs, video games, TV tropes) codify all this into the recognisable swamp/forest hag: a dirty, old woman in a shack or hut amid trees and bogs, trading herbs, fungi, and curses—directly inheriting the wise-woman healer, the cannibal witch (like Baba Yaga), and the land-crone goddess, but flattened into a stock “witch in the woods” character.

Mythological forest hags

* In Slavic folklore, Baba Yaga is a classic forest hag: an ancient crone in a hut on chicken legs, deep in the woods, who may eat people or aid them, embodying both threat and rough mentorship.

* Baba Yaga’s hut, bone fence, skull lanterns, and association with wild animals mark her as a guar