Gruesome Folk Healing: The Curious Cures for Warts and Wens

These remedies, many of them fairly gruesome to our ears, were recorded only 100 years ago by Mrs Ella Mary Leather at the beginning of the 20th century, from the towns and villages of Herefordshire. Here are the folk memories of people who remembered these remedies being used and, what’s more, being efficacious. They are […]

Faces in the Mirror: The Urban Legend of Bloody Mary

Bloody Mary is a scary urban legend that has been told for decades, but what might psychology tell us about its appeal and origins?

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 […]

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.

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