Awakened Wicker Man

Forest

Grassland

Urban

Slam

Villages, churches, or cults sometimes construct tall humanoid statues of wicker that are sacrificially burned in effigy as an offering or appeasement to deities or forest spirits, or to hopefully scare away evil forces within an area. When the presence of evil forces is strong enough or when the sacrificial burning ritual is tampered with in some way, a wicker man can awaken and turn on the very people who built it hoping it would benefit them. Scary stories recount a wicker man suddenly moving on its own in front of stunned onlookers at the climax of a ritual and walking silently away into the forest, only to return later that night to wreak havoc upon those that created it.  

For some sacrificial burnings, live offerings are made in the form of bound or sedated individuals that have been placed inside the frame of the wicker man to be sacrificed when the construct is alighted. Such involvement of death is much more likely to result in a ritual that malfunctions and produces an awakened wicker man. In these cases, the awakened wicker man becomes all the more horrifying as charred corpses become zombies gnashing through the flaming wicker. 

A wicker man doesn’t require air, food, drink, or sleep.

Awakened Wicker Man

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