Bone and Sickle

Category: death

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,[…]

Read more

Slavic Mermaids: Water Ghosts and Goblins

classical music, death, demons, EPISODE, fairies, fairy tales, folk customs, folk music, folk tales, folklore, ghost stories, ghosts, Green Christmas, history, horror, legends, literature, mermaids, movies, mythology, opera, pagan, paganism, Romanticism, rusalia, Rusalka, Russian, Semik, Slavs, vodnik, Whitsunday

Quite distinct from their Western equivalent, Slavic mermaids might better be described as water ghosts, as they are almost always[…]

Read more