Folkore of Wales: The Skeleton Tree, Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyll
Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyll, which means “The Hollow Oak, Haunt of Demons” or “The Blasted Oak of Spirits” was a real tree. Its story is dark and terrifying.
‘May I have some water?’ The Fair-Haired Lady from the Toilet
Folklore changes and evolves with the peoples and their societies. It’s not rigid, it’s not concrete. As time passes, new characters emerge and others get their stories and features improved. Some may also disappear. This character (or monster!) I talk about in this post is quite modern – and scares many people, just by being so. Let’s meet A Loira do Banheiro (The Fair-haired Lady from the Toilet).
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.
Finnish Folklore: Louhi, Witch of the North
Do you know the stories of The Kalevala? If you do you are in select company like J.R.R. Tolkien who loved the stories and drew on them for his own writing.
The Pit of Ghosts: Exploring the Haunted Mines of Victorian Wales
Welsh miners of the nineteenth century held strong superstitions in supernatural elements, which they believed existed deep in the mines.