Bone and Sickle

Category: ghost stories

The Lover’s Head

Arthurian, ballads, Black Death, books, children's literature, crime, death, Decameron, decapitation, EPISODE, execution, fairies, fairy tales, folk music, folk tales, folklore, ghost stories, ghosts, gore, history, horror, legends, literature, madness, Middle Ages, murder, murder ballads, punishments, renaissance, Romanticism, seduction, skulls

The motif of lovers retaining the head of a decapitated partner is surprisingly widespread. In this — our romantic Valentine’s[…]

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The Hellish Harlequin: Phantom Hordes to Father Christmas

Carnival, charivari, Christmas, demons, Devil, dwarf, England, EPISODE, Father Christmas, folk customs, folk theater, folklore, France, Furious Army, ghost stories, ghosts, giants, Harlequin, Hellequin, Herla, history, holidays, Italy, legends, Middle Ages, mumming, pantomime, theater, Twelve Days of Christmas, Wild Hunt

Harlequin is an enigmatic figure with roots in dark folklore of France, specifically that of the Wild Hunt (Chasse Sauvage)[…]

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