Bad Luck comes in Threes: Matches, Murderers or Mathematics
One installment in a series of common superstitions in the English speaking world: ‘Bad luck comes in threes.’
Roses are Red: The Sinister Side of Valentine’s Day Folklore
Sending mean cards? Eating mashed earthworms? Using jack o’lanterns to light medieval love banquets? They’re all surprising yet vaguely sinister ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day.
Magic, Myth & Medicine in the Calvin Wells Archive
A project cataloguing the archive of a renowned British palaeopathologist has revealed fascinating insights into how superstition and a belief in magic influenced ancient peoples’ approach to medical diagnosis and treatment.
Horse or Dragon? May Day’s ‘Obby ‘Oss of Padstow, Cornwall
A horse or a dragon? Anyone who has seen May Day’s ‘Obby ‘Oss of Padstow may conclude that it looks like neither.
Fighting Magic With Magic in Italy: The Good Walkers
The Benandanti were a surprising third party in the fight of good versus evil in Medieval Italy; one that not even the Holy Inquisition could make sense of.