The Feral Folklorist

A mermaid rises beside a ship with fish in her hands, and the sailors watch for a sign of who will survive the coming storm. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist, we explore sea women as tempters, messengers, and bearers of dangerous knowledge—creatures whose appearance could mean a crew would never make it home. From Odysseus tied to the mast while the Sirens call his name, to the sailors in T...

In medieval England, a boy and a girl were said to have appeared near the village of Woolpit with green skin, unfamiliar clothes, and a language nobody could understand. They were hungry, but they wouldn’t touch the food offered to them—until somebody brought in freshly cut bean plants. When the girl learned English, she described a country where everyone was green and daylight never grew brighter...

In 1726, a young English woman named Mary Toft began producing pieces of rabbits during what appeared to be labor. Local surgeons were baffled, royal physicians were called in, and before long, the strange case had reached the court of King George I. The doctors examined the animals, argued over how such a thing could be possible, and tried to explain the births through everything from anatomy to...

This time, I’m sharing “The Water-Nixie,” a retelling of the Grimm fairy tale about a brother and sister who fall into a well and find themselves trapped in a water spirit’s home. She gives them work they can never finish and refuses to let them leave. When they finally find a way out, the nixie follows close behind, and three ordinary objects—a brush, a comb, and a mirror—become their only hope o...

A black cat beside a witch may look like a trusted companion, but older familiar stories describe creatures that spoke, changed shape, carried curses, and demanded payment for their help. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist , we explore the witch’s familiar as spirit helper, guardian, magical partner, and beloved companion. From Sathan, the white spotted cat said to have been traded for a cake...

In the winter of 1804, people around Hammersmith were convinced something white and ghostly was appearing after dark. Witnesses reported a strange figure near the churchyard and along the roads, and before long, frightened residents were going out at night trying to catch it. Then one of those ghost hunts ended with a gunshot, a dead man, and a murder trial that raised a question English courts wo...

In March of 1876, Rebecca Crouch was making soap outside her home in Bath County, Kentucky, when pieces of flesh began falling from a clear sky. Meat landed across the yard, caught on fences and briers, and soon attracted neighbors, newspaper reporters, doctors, and scientists trying to figure out exactly what had fallen. Some people smelled it. Some put it under a microscope. And for reasons that...

This time, I’m sharing “The Three Little Birds,” a German fairy tale about three royal children taken from their mother at birth and sent down a river by two jealous aunts. A fisherman saves them and raises them as his own, while their innocent mother is blamed and locked away. Years later, the children return to the castle, and three strange little birds help bring out the truth that was hidden f...

Baba Yaga waits at the edge of the forest in a hut that turns on chicken legs, surrounded by burning skulls, bones, and strange servants. But the old witch of Russian folklore is not always the same creature from one story to the next. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist , we explore Baba Yaga as cannibal, host, taskmaster, helper, and keeper of dangerous knowledge. From Vasilisa and the burni...

This time, I’m sharing “The Grey Lady of Glamis,” a Scottish ghost tale set inside Glamis Castle, where one chair in the chapel is always left empty. A young servant named Elspeth is warned never to move it, but when unexpected guests leave the family short of seats, she decides one old rule can’t possibly matter. What follows is a cold reminder that the chair already belongs to someone—the Grey L...

Strange knocks, unseen hands, disembodied voices, and a presence that seemed to know every secret inside the Bell family home. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist, we explore the Bell Witch, the talking spirit said to have tormented a Tennessee family, attacked John Bell and his daughter Betsy, entertained visitors, and become one of America’s most famous hauntings. From a strange dog-like cre...

Storm magic, wind knots, hail charms, thunder candles, weather workers, and the old fear that someone could call trouble down from the sky. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist , we explore the folklore of weather magic, from sailors buying wind tied into knots to witches accused of raising storms, sending hail, and working with thunder, rain, and lightning. From Agobard of Lyons and the strang...

n this Feral Folktales bonus episode, Papa Gee tells an Appalachian-flavored version of Jack and the Beanstalk , one of the best-known Jack tales in folklore. Jack is poor, hungry, and sent out with one last chance to make things better. Instead of doing the sensible thing, he trades for something that looks useless. But in Jack stories, foolish choices have a way of opening strange doors. Soon th...

Death watch beetles, tapping in the walls, old house omens, sickroom vigils, hidden insects, and the old fear that a small sound in the wood could warn a household that death was on its way. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist , we explore the folklore of the death watch beetle, why its faint ticking became an omen of death, and how ordinary sounds inside a house can turn into supernatural war...

Coyote Steals Fire | Native American Trickster Folktale. s a Feral Folktales bonus episode about one of the great trickster stories: the tale of how Coyote helped bring fire to the people. Before fire, the nights were colder, food stayed raw, and the dark had more control than it should have. But Coyote sees what others see and decides waiting won’t fix it. So he slips close, snatches a burning st...

Devil handprints, witch marks, haunted churches, strange marks in stone, burned signs in wood, and the old fear that evil could touch the ordinary world and leave evidence behind. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist, we explore the folklore of the Devil’s Hand, from claw marks in Scottish chapels to burned paw prints on courtroom tables, protective marks in old houses, and the dangerous belief...

This time, I’m sharing “The Red Shoes” by Hans Christian Andersen, a dark old tale about vanity, obsession, and what happens when desire turns into punishment. Like a lot of Andersen’s stories, it reads like a fairy tale on the surface, but underneath it is much sharper and harsher than many modern retellings. What begins with a simple pair of beautiful shoes turns into a story about pride, tempta...

Ghost brides, wedding curses, haunted bridal objects, and the old wedding customs meant to protect marriage from envy, death, bad vows, and trouble at the threshold. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist , we explore the darker side of wedding folklore: ghost brides, cursed marriages, haunted bridal objects, and the old belief that marriage was a crossing that had to be protected. From the Mistl...

In this episode of Feral Folktales , I’m sharing “The Lion’s Whisker,” a traditional teaching story told in several parts of Africa and later carried into folktale collections around the world. It’s the story of a woman who struggles to find peace in her home with a temperamental husband, and the unexpected advice she receives from a village elder. She tells her that if she truly wants to solve he...

Spell books, grimoires, family Bibles, charm books, and Books of Shadows all belong to the same old habit: writing down what people did when ordinary help ran out. In this episode, we open the drawer on the private working books people kept in kitchens, bedrooms, church pews, rootwork shops, and hidden boxes. We’ll look at family Bibles filled with names and funeral cards, old receipt books that m...

This time, I’m sharing “The Raven Who Walked the Road,” a folktale about old warnings, strange signs, and the danger of ignoring what people before you already knew. In stories like this, trouble does not always announce itself in some dramatic way. Sometimes it starts with a bird behaving oddly, a path that feels wrong, or a house that seems a little too prepared for your arrival. It is the kind...

In this episode of The Feral Folklorist , we dig into one of the most persistent figures in supernatural folklore—the vampire. Long before the polished versions that show up in novels and movies, people across Europe were already telling stories about the restless dead who refused to stay buried. Villages blamed them for sickness, livestock dying, and families wasting away one member at a time. Wh...

This time, I’m sharing “The Jar That Caught a Demon,” an old folktale about trickery, containment, and the dangerous hope that evil can be shut up and sealed away for good. In stories like this, the jar is never just a jar. It becomes a boundary, a trap, and a test of who is clever enough to use it without being fooled themselves. The tale turns on an old fear found in a lot of folklore—that once...

Sin-eating is one of those borderland customs that sounds too strange to be real, which is probably why it lasted. In this episode, we dig into the old belief from the Welsh Marches and nearby border country that a dead person’s sins could be taken on by a living eater through bread, salt, and ale laid over the body. We’ll look at how this custom took shape in poor rural communities, why it clung...

This time, I’m sharing “The Story of the Night Mare,” an old piece of folklore about the strange weight that sometimes comes in the middle of the night. Long before people had medical names for sleep paralysis, many believed a spirit called a mare slipped into houses after dark and sat on the chest of the sleeper, pressing the breath out of them while they lay unable to move. It’s one of those sto...