Bone and Sickle

Category: Romanticism

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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Bottled Spirits: Imps, Devils, Ghosts

Aeolus, antiquity, bottled spirits, EPISODE, exorcism, folk customs, folk tales, folklore, gothic literature, Greek myth, Grimm, Hebrew mythology, history, Homer, Ireland, literature, magic, manuscripts, Middle Ages, mythology, Oddysey, Romanticism, Satan, Scotland, witch bottles, witchcraft, witches

Western tales of bottled spirits, imps, devils, and even ghosts are largely borrowed from the Islamic and Jewish legends of jinn[…]

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