Corpse roads might conjure up weird mental images of highways paved with the dead, or possibly byways only used by them. But they’re actually more straightforward than they sound. In days gone by, remote communities often had nowhere nearby to put their dead. Only the churches held burial rights, but they could be miles away […]
Folklore
Can You Stop Faeries Swapping Your Kids for Changelings?
Imagine you live in the 17th century. After surviving the ordeal of childbirth, you now have to find enough food for your family and keep a roof over your head. You might think that’s plenty to worry about on its own. But for some families, the extra worry of changelings was very real. alt=”In folklore, […]
Did the Hand of Glory really work or is it a myth?
The Hand of Glory is a peculiar artefact. It appears in the folktales of northern England, and examples even exist in museums around the country. But this is a strange one for this blog because Hands of Glory weren’t simply a folk tale. They really did exist. Question is, how true were the stories about […]
[Book Review] A Treasury of British Folklore: Maypoles, Mandrakes and Mistletoe
It’s a testament to the growing interest in folklore as both an area of academic study and a topic worth further investigation by the general public that the National Trust would commission a collection of folklore. Written by #FolkloreThursday‘s own Dee Dee Chainey, A Treasury of British Folklore: Maypoles, Mandrakes and Mistletoe collects lore from the […]
[Review] England’s Witchcraft Trials by Willow Winsham
The subject of witch panics and witchcraft trials remains a hotly contested one, even in these more enlightened times. Recently, I posted an article about northern witchcraft trials that surprisingly didn’t end in execution. One accusation occurred as late as 1867, and the accuser ended up paying damages to the accused. Yet an indignant tweeter […]
What is the Day of the Dead and how is it celebrated?
For the past few years, colourful skulls have joined the more traditional skeletons as Halloween decorations. More people outside of the Americas are adopting Day of the Dead celebrations. The 2015 James Bond outing, Spectre, even opened with a huge Day of the Dead parade. But what is the Day of the Dead? How does it differ from […]
