The Evil Under The Soil: Burial and Unearthing in Folk Horror
The burial and subsequent unearthing of cursed objects is an act that is astonishingly common in Folk Horror.
Mark Twain’s Wild West and the Presidential Election of 1872
In a daring act, facing frightful peril, Mark Twain exploited a legend to launch his onstage comic career. With his future as a lecturer on a knife’s edge, Twain decided to open with a worn-out narrative that had seen better days. A disgruntled audience nearly drove him from the stage … until they understood his brilliant manipulation of their own folklore.
A Californian Krampus
Relentlessly sunny and known for a love of trend over tradition, Los Angeles is an unlikely home to a new incarnation of the old Alpine devil. It helps, perhaps, that make-believe is serious business in my town, and that it’s filled with creative people prone to see in an old tradition of folk Catholicism a revolutionary way to shake up the holidays.
The Crouch End Spriggan
I feed on as many books of London lore as I can find, everything from Neverwhere to London Orbital, King Rat to A Journey Through Ruins, Savage Messiah, The Great God Pan and The London Adventure.
5 Legendary Monsters of North American Folklore
Legendary monsters thrive in North American lore, of that there is no doubt; and narrowing the array down to a “Top 5” list is a difficult task.