Bone and Sickle

Category: criminals

Gallows Lore

ballads, black magic, Charles Dickens, crime, criminals, cunning folk, death, England, EPISODE, execution, folk customs, folk medicine, folk music, folk tales, folklore, gallows, hand of glory, hangmen, history, Ireland, Jack Ketch, legends, literature, magic, puppets, science fiction, Scotland, superstition, William Calcraft

We examine the lore of the gallows, focusing on the British Isles, encountering hangmen as figures straddling history and myth,[…]

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Toad Magic

antiquity, Astor Place Riot, black magic, broadsheets, Canidia, criminals, cults, cunning folk, Devil, EPISODE, familiars, folk customs, folk medicine, folklore, frogs, history, James I, Macbeth, medicine, Middle Ages, mythology, necromancy, poison, Scotland, Shakespeare, superstition, toads, witchcraft, witches, zombies, Zugarramurdi

Toads have long been associated with magic, as witches’ familiars and as a source both of poison as folk healing.[…]

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