Ghosts, Angels & Death Omens: The Seven Whistlers in Mining Folklore
On 21st September, 1874, after hearing the cries of the ‘Seven Whistlers’, miners employed in North Warwickshire refused to descend into the coal pits.
Speaking to the Dead: Necromancy in Magic and Folklore
So, what is necromancy and what does it have to do with folklore? Come with me, and let’s enter the peculiar world of death divination…
Deadly Ghosts: The Murderer Who Returned from Beyond the Grave
The residents of a Swansea street were shocked to be able to recognise the ghostly spirit haunting their home, but were even more frightened as the ghost had been a murderer when alive…
A ghost story that caused a riot: the strange case of Maude Carew
In February 1862 a riot broke out in a Suffolk churchyard over a ghost story. Margaretta Greene, the story’s author, originated an enduring legend of the ghost of a nun, Maude Carew, who haunts the ruins of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. But the story of Maude Carew, and the riot she inspired, raises intriguing questions about the origins of folklore and beliefs about the supernatural.
Death Takes Wing: Birds and the Folklore of Death
One could write an encyclopaedia on the appearances of birds in folklore and their association with death and mortality, travelling from Japan to Scandinavia, France and beyond.