The Scottish Play and the Welsh Wizard: Witches in Punch Cartoons
From its beginnings in the 1840s until the late twentieth century it was Shakespeare’s Three Witches who inspired the majority of cartoons featuring witches in Punch.
Sleepy Hollow: The Headless Horseman’s European Roots
orever immortalised in Washington Irving’s ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ the Headless Horseman has undoubtedly become one of horror fiction’s most iconic spectres. This monstrous phantom which torments and pursues the lanky figure of Ichabod Crane set against backdrop of Tarrytown New York has become a staple of Americana. Whilst it’s said Irving was influenced […]
Cursed Paintings: Ill-Fated Portraits and Unlucky Landscapes
The cursed painting is an enduring urban legend that continues to have the ability to scare us, and also makes a good tabloid news story.
The Sluagh: Spirits of The Unforgiven Dead
Celtic folklore has given us some of the darkest and most frightening tales in folkloric history: three-headed monsters, headless horsemen, famine-spreaders, joint-eaters and spirits of terror.
Restless Ghosts and Black Dogs: Was Black Vaughan Really as Evil as Rumour Tells?
According to local legend, after Black Vaughan’s headless body was buried, he proved to be a restless spirit who wreaked havoc amongst the townsfolk.