The London Stone: Protector of the City
Deep in the heart of London, hidden away behind a protective grille, is a stone thousands of people pass by every day without even knowing it’s there. And it could well be the key to keeping the country safe…
Slavic Mythology of Zmaj and Vila: Dragons, Nymphs and Legendary Monsters
Serbian storytelling tradition is among the oldest and richest in Europe.
Margaret Helen James: a forgotten feminist folklorist in Victorian East Anglia
British regional folklorists of the 19th century remain, in many cases, rather obscure figures. Margaret Helen James (1859–1938) deserves particular attention for using her writing about folklore to give a voice to ordinary women and critique a patriarchal society, but until 2017 James was completely forgotten.
Skogsrå and Huldra: The femme fatale of the Scandinavian forests
Tolkien describes the Old Forest, a space filled with deep-rooted mysteries and danger in Middle-earth. Although, this takes place in his “secondary world”, it still sets the mood, turns our thoughts in the right direction, as we try to imagine the deep, dark and mysterious forests of the Nordic countries, which are very real and exists in our world.
The Indigenous Burial Ground: Urban Legends and Popular Culture
In North America, legends of haunted places often claim they have been built on an “Indian burial ground.” Indigenous burial ground urban legends are so widely shared they’ve become a part of popular culture. Writers used them repeatedly as a literary device in horror until they became a comedic cliché and eventually a meme.