Swan-Upping and Other Curious British Customs

June 18, 2023birds, Britain, curiosities, EPISODE, folk customs, folklore, history, holidays, local legends, London, Midsummer, Victoriancelebrations, festivals, folk custom, history, saint's days, traditionsboneandsickle

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Explore some curious British Customs with us, including those of Midsummer, swan-upping, egg-hopping, St. Bartholomew’s knives, and the violent tradition of St. Michaelmas “ganging.” Our source for this episode is the 1911 volume by T. F. Thistelton Dyer, British Popular Customs Present and Past. Illustrating the Social and Domestic Manners of the People. Arranged according to the Calendar
of the Year.

Malignant Vapor

May 30, 2023anomolies, books, death, disasters, dwarf, Egypt, EPISODE, history, plaguegothic, historyboneandsickle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:00 — 30.9MB)

A malignant vapor, weird plagues and punishments, a Polish dwarf, and a perilous journey into the lightless depths of a pyramid — all included in this pleasantly macabre collection of short tales from a favorite Victorian compendium of curiosities: The Terrific Register, or, Record of Crimes, Judgments, Providences, and Calamities (London, 1825)

Animal Ghosts

May 16, 2023animals, cryptozoology, EPISODE, folk tales, folklore, ghost stories, ghosts, legends, local legends, monsters, superstitionfolk belief, folk tales, folklore, German literature, ghosts, legendsboneandsickle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:27 — 32.6MB)

Tales of animal ghosts are usually relegated to the periphery of ghost story collections, but in this episode, we showcase this class of apparition. Our stories were collected in a volume from 1915 called Human Animals by Frank Hamel. It covers werewolves, animal transformations through witchcraft, possession by totemic animal spirits, and the phantom animals that haunt lonely roads, ancestral homes, and the storytellers’ imaginations.

The Colony of Cats

April 29, 2023cautionary tales, EPISODE, fairy tales, folk tales, folklore, The Colony of CatsAndrew Lang, cats, Crimson Fairy Book, fairy tales, felines, Italian Fairy Tales, storytellingboneandsickle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:22 — 32.5MB)

Fairy tales featuring cats are generally pleasant. After our last show about malformed births, we thought, Andrew Lang’s story, “The Colony of Cats” might be a pleasant tonic, albeit one with a bizarre punishment sequence included. Published in 1909 in Lang’s Crimson Fairy Book, this story (read by Mrs. Karswell) seems to be a version of the tales discussed in our July 2022 show, “Heads in a Fountain, Bones in a Bag.” Lang provides no background on his sources, but it’s presented as an Italian tale.

Strange Births and Monsters

April 14, 2023cryptozoology, curiosities, EPISODE, folklore, hybrids, monsters, Monstrous births, omensfolk belief, folk tales, folklore, history, horror, legends, Monster of Ravenna, mythology, superstitionboneandsickle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:39 — 27.1MB)

For centuries, strange births, often sounding like mythological monsters, were regarded as portents of ill omen. We hear a number of these fantastical accounts, including a description of the birth of the”Monster of Ravenna” believed to foreshadow not only the defeat of Louis XII’s forces during the 1512 Battle of Ravenna but also taken later as a sign of God’s wrath and religious turmoil roiling up in the Reformation.

The accounts related are compiled in the 1820 volume, edited by R.S. Kirby, and entitled Kirby’s wonderful and eccentric museum; or, Magazine of remarkable characters. Including all the curiosities of nature and art, from the remotest period to the present time, drawn from every authentic source.

The Man Who Crucified himself

March 29, 2023crime, EPISODEcrucifixion, history, religious maniaboneandsickle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:40 — 34.0MB)

A self-crucifixion that occurred in 1806 on the island of San Servolo in the Venetian lagoon is the topic of our story this time around. The perpetrator and object of this crucifixion was Mattio Lovat, anglicized in our text as “Matthew Lovat.” The selected narrative comes from an 1826 collection edited by Henry Wilson called Wonderful Characters: Comprising Memoirs and Anecdotes of the Most Remarkable Persons of Every Age and Nation: Collected from the Most Authentic Sources.

An illustration of the event from Wonderful Characters…

An Irish Ghost Story

March 16, 2023decapitation, EPISODE, fairy tales, folklore, ghost stories, ghosts, Ireland, legends, literature, superstitionfolk tales, folklore, Headless Horseman, horror, legends, superstitionboneandsickle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:28 — 31.4MB)

An Irish ghost story seems a good way to add a bit of Halloween spice to your St. Patrick’s Day. Our selection, which will be read by Mrs. Karswell, comes from the 1825 publication Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland. It’s the first of three volumes of stories told by the Irish antiquarian Thomas Crofton Croker, one of the earliest collector of the island’s folk tales.

Croker's book — Croker’s Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland.

Epitaphs

February 24, 2023books, Britain, cautionary tales, death, EPISODE, gravescemeteries, gallows humor, gothic, macabreboneandsickle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:23 — 29.1MB)

Epitaphs can sum up the life of the individual buried beneath or can comment on the human condition generally. From the melancholy to the absurd to the catastrophically caustic, we survey in this episode a spectrum of final thoughts and grim punchlines culled from a favorite 19th-century volume.

A Remarkable Circumstance

February 9, 2023anomalies, books, Britain, crime, criminals, curiosities, death, EPISODE, history, horrorgothic, Karswell's Corner, legends, Victorianboneandsickle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 24:55 — 28.5MB)

A potpourri of peculiar tales culled from a favorite 19th-century volume. This episode features some outstanding British eccentrics, an extraordinary case of delusional morbidity, lethal religious fanaticism, graveyard shenanigans, and more. Plus, more black-humored poetry from Harry Graham in “Karswell’s Corner”

The Stone Eater and other Curious Cases

January 23, 2023books, celestial phenomena, curiosities, EPISODE, folklore, giants, Victorianhistoryboneandsickle

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:18 — 26.7MB)

Enjoy with us a collection of short curious tales culled from a favorite Victorian volume — the Stone Eater of London, a mariner’s report of fire from the sky, the rise and fall of a French giant, 18th century blasphemies involving a donkey, and more. Plus, more sardonic verse from Harry Graham in “Karswell’s Corner”