theater Archives - Bone and Sickle

Christmas Devils and the Feast of Fools

December 12, 2022 boneandsickle Boy bishop, Catholicism, Christmas, Devil, EPISODE, Feast of Fools, folk theater, folklore, history, holidays, manuscripts, New Year, Nicholas Plays, Satan, St. Nicholas, Twelve Days of Christmas

From St. Nicholas Day through Christmas, the Devil figured prominently in medieval plays, embodying a subversive seasonal element also celebrated[…]

Ghost Trains & Railway Terrors

October 14, 2021 boneandsickle American lore, ballads, Britain, death, EPISODE, folk music, folklore, ghost stories, ghosts, history, legends, literature, urban legends

Ghost trains and real-life railway terrors intermingle in this episode’s exploration of old train-wreck ballads, nervous and funereally obsessed Victorians, urban[…]

#21 A Deal with the Devil

February 27, 2019 boneandsickle black magic, Devil, EPISODE, Faust, folk theater, folklore, Germanic, Germany, history, horror, legends, literature, magic, movies, necromancy, occultism, opera, saints, theater, Theophilus, witchcraft

The legend of Faust is the archetypal deal with the Devil. This episode looks at the figure as represented in[…]