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.
Bat Myths and Folktales from Around the World
Bats feature in many myths, legends and folklore from many diverse cultures around the world, and are often associated with darkness, death and the supernatural.
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 […]
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.
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?