folklore Archives - Page 8 of 50 - Bone and Sickle

Inside the Hollow Earth

July 1, 2024 boneandsickle cults, Edgar Allen Poe, EPISODE, fairies, folklore, Gerald of Wales, history, hollow earth, mythology, science fiction, subterranean, subterranean adventure, utopia

Borrowed from fairy lore, the notion of a hollow earth peopled by superior beings became a theme of literary fantasies as[…]

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The Dark Art of Ventriloquism

May 23, 2024 boneandsickle Bible, broadsheets, channeling, demons, Devil, diabolism, EPISODE, exorcism, folklore, ghosts, Hebrew mythology, history, Judaism, magic, necromancy, Old Testament, possession, puppets, ventriloquism

While the dummies may be inherently creepy, they were not the source of ventriloquism’s dark reputation in earlier times. This[…]

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The Mesmerist

April 20, 2024 boneandsickle EPISODE, folklore, Franz Mesmer, Gothic, gothic literature, history, literature, magic, medicine, mesmerism, Svengali

Our understanding of hypnotism, once known as “mesmerism,” has radically evolved over the centuries. This episode looks at where it[…]

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