Tales from the Medieval Crypt: Walking Corpses, Devils and Haunted Shoemakers in Walter Map’s De Nugis Curialium

Graverobbers stealing the bones of John the Baptist. The Taymouth Hours (C14th), British Library, Yates Thompson MS 13, fol. 109r

De Nugis Curialium is a strange book in which history, religious debate and court satire are interwoven with a tangle of mythology, folklore and eerie supernatural tales.

Dog Folklore: Companion Dogs as Seers, Healers, and Fairy Steeds

Companion dogs were often believed to have mystical abilities. Dog Illustration from Johnson’s Book of Household Nature, 1880.

When considering dog folklore, we generally think of those stories which feature the Grimm, the Gytrash, or other sinister black dogs roaming the moors in the North of England. But there is more to canine folklore than the ominous black dogs of legend. Companion dogs, such as Pugs and Corgis, have their place in dog folklore as well.

Michaelmas: The Day the Devil Spits on the Blackberries?

The Devil's Blackberries

On Michaelmas Day the Devil takes possession of the blackberries and to eat one after that day would risk… well, something on the spectrum between a bad taste and instant death.

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