Japanese Folklore of the Ocean: The Ama Divers, Sea Demons, and Ise Jingu
Mie is home to the ama divers, an ancient tradition of women who breath-dive for abalone, and Ise Jingu, the most sacred Shinto shrine in the whole of Japan.
The Six Creepiest Creatures from Scottish Folklore
Scottish lore contains some of the darkest and strangest figures in folkloric history: shape-shifters, blood-suckers, monsters without skin.
A Pied Piper Mystery
hile the Pied Piper of Hamelin is undeniably a fairy tale, it’s uniquely grounded in real-world specifics – the date for one – June 26. That’s the date in 1284 when the town lost a significant portion of its population, a matter treated as fact in the first written allusion to the incidents, the initial […]
Fact or Fiction? The Fate of the Witchfinder General
here is no name from the period of England’s witch trials more infamous than that of Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled witchfinder who was instrumental in the witch-panic that swept East Anglia in the middle of the 17th century.
Smuggler Legends: Owlers, Woolers & Restless Ghosts
Smuggling. The word has been entwined with romantic delusions and depictions for many years. However, in reality this could not be further from the truth. From concepts of men in fancy clothes to moonlit coves and caverns; the idea of the smuggler has been mixed with an almost heroic taste. Yet, the graphic novella ‘The […]