ghost stories – #FolkloreThursday

The changing faces of ghosts in the Wild West … or what I learned from #FolkloreThursday

February 17, 2022 by Ronald M. James

Let us begin with a ghost story. In 1872, fourteen-year-old Agnes McDonough announced that she was communicating with the spirit of her deceased father. She was part of a community of Irish Americans who settled in Virginia City, Nevada, home to the fabulous Comstock Lode and the Big Bonanza (giving its name to a famous television show). Crediting her father’s ghost, the young girl revealed insights about the afterworld, all scrutinized by a local priest who hoped to control the sensational aspects of the incident.

‘May I have some water?’ The Fair-Haired Lady from the Toilet

October 29, 2020 by Daniel Faria

Folklore changes and evolves with the peoples and their societies. It’s not rigid, it’s not concrete. As time passes, new characters emerge and others get their stories and features improved. Some may also disappear. This character (or monster!) I talk about in this post is quite modern – and scares many people, just by being so. Let’s meet A Loira do Banheiro (The Fair-haired Lady from the Toilet).

A ghost story that caused a riot: the strange case of Maude Carew

December 5, 2019 by Dr Francis Young

In February 1862 a riot broke out in a Suffolk churchyard over a ghost story. Margaretta Greene, the story’s author, originated an enduring legend of the ghost of a nun, Maude Carew, who haunts the ruins of the Abbey of Bury St Edmunds. But the story of Maude Carew, and the riot she inspired, raises intriguing questions about the origins of folklore and beliefs about the supernatural.

Gloson: The Swedish Ghost Pig That Will Cleave You in Half

June 13, 2019 by Tommy Kuusela, PhD

You turn around, and all of a sudden, you see that something is approaching, moving towards you. You notice a pair of glowing red eyes and discern the silhouette of a creature in the distance, the size of a large dog, or maybe it is a boar? You panic when you realize that the shape is rushing towards you at full speed. When it comes close it becomes clear that it is indeed a big pig, but one with burning eyes, white skin and a sharp back, formed like a sawblade. It runs straight at you and quickly comes between your legs, with the result that it will cleave you in two halves.

The Dreaded Headless Horseman and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

October 25, 2018 by Randi Samuelson-Brown

he Headless Horseman captures the imagination like nothing else at Halloween. Regional American history and urban legend influences the interpretation of this apparition more than supposed.