ballads Archives - Page 2 of 6

Spirits of the Corn

October 2, 2022 boneandsickle Austria, ballads, EPISODE, folk customs, folklore, Germany, Grimm, harvest, history, monsters, Noonday Witch, Rye Aunt, Scarecrows, superstition

Spirits of the corn (grain) fields from the United Kingdom to Russia have been imagined as embodiments of the harvest[…]

The Dead Lover’s Heart

February 13, 2022 boneandsickle ballads, cannibalism, death, Decameron, EPISODE, folklore, gore, history, holidays, homicide, horror, legends, literature, love, Mary Shelley, murder, murder ballads, Romanticism, seduction, Valentine's Day

Whether freshly removed or strangely preserved after death, the dead lover’s heart occasionally has continued to be embraced as a[…]

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[…]