Fabulous Folklore with Icy

This month, I've got the absolute pleasure of bringing back not one but two previous guests, since they've only gone and written a book together! Yes, I mean Mark Norman and Dr Delyth Badder, co-authors of The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts . So in this chat, we'll be talking about misconceptions about Welsh folklore, types of Welsh ghost, and what it's like co-writing a book! Enjoy... Pre-order The Fo...

If you go looking for ghost stories, you very quickly stumble across haunted hospitals. In fact, it was finding so many tales about Cardiff Royal Infirmary that prompted this post in the first place. And not all of the stories are necessarily sad. The resident ghost at St Nicholas Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne is known as 'Matron', but she's also said to be friendly. But we're going to go beyond...

In a lot of ways, it's hardly surprising there is a lot of university folklore. People are away from home, often for the first time, in a strange environment with a lot of new places. They're also often in old buildings where who only knows what has happened in the past. So it's easy for unusual stories to emerge. Let's look at some university folklore, including myths about failing your exams in...

Think back to the schools you've attended. Did they have a Grey Lady in a disused corridor? A hell hound in a supply cupboard? A secret tunnel to a neighbouring building? The ghost of a former pupil, forever roaming the halls? Many schools end up with urban legends and folklore attached to them. Yet these stories can be circulated both by students and by staff. They can be cautionary tales, or sim...

Belfast is the capital of Northern Ireland, and its site has been occupied since the Bronze Age. It's been a major port since the 19th century, and the Harland & Wolff shipyard built RMS Titanic here. It's a city of much history, so it comes as no surprise that there are plenty of ghost stories linked with Belfast. Haunted prisons, railway stations, private homes, even roads - Belfast has the...

Cardiff, capital of Wales, has a history that dates back some 6000 years. Naturally, it's amassed a lot of legends in all that time. They include secret tunnels, the Beast of Leckwith, strange figures in Bute Park, phantom coaches, and a Royal Infirmary so haunted it needed an exorcism. Let's explore some of Cardiff's ghost stories and other tales in this week's instalment of Fabulous Folklore! Fi...

In this 14th episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I chat with Dr Shepherd Siegel about the trickster archetype. Dr Siegel is the author of Tricking Power Into Performing Acts of Love: How Tricksters Through History Have Changed the World, an examination of the ways in which the trickster archetype appears across mythology and popular culture. In this interview, we chat about what tricksters are...

Arthur's Seat is the ancient, extinct volcano that lies just a mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. Myths cling to its peak like mist in the autumn, but one particular mystery is far from ancient. In 1836, some boys hunting rabbits on the hill found a strange hoard of miniature coffins hidden in a small cave. Each held a rudimentary figure, clad in fabric, its eyes open as it stared across the ag...

The Charterhouse area of London has played host to a monastery, a School, and university buildings...as well as the Charterhouse Plague Pit.  Yet the plague pit gave rise to schoolyard rumours in the nearby school, with the dead seemingly still screaming in their grave. Ghost sightings of monks give the tranquil square a slightly different kind of appeal. So what is the Charterhouse Plague Pit and...

Minerva was the Roman goddess associated with all things intelligence, crafts-related, and military strategy. How did she combine so many disciplines? And how did people worship her? Let's look at some of her myths and how people worshipped her in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/minerva-goddess-of-intellect/ Man...

In this 13th episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I chat with Daniel Clarke, a Cape Town-based artist, illustrator and animator who has worked with BBC and Disney, among others. He is the co-author of Kariba, a graphic novel with his brother James Clarke, which explores the Zimbabwean myth of Nyaminyami, the great river god of the Zambezi River. In this interview, we chat about the building of m...

For some among you, Vulcan conjures mental images of Star Trek, with the name being that of the planet Spock calls home. For others, you'll know Vulcan as the Roman god of fire, volcanoes, and blacksmiths.  That's the incarnation of Vulcan we'll be looking at in this article. He's the equivalent of the Greek Hephaestus. His worship dates at least to the 8th century BCE, as far as records go, when...

Depending on who you ask, Juno is either a NASA space probe studying Jupiter, or she's the Roman queen of the gods, wife of Jupiter, god of thunder. As the Roman counterpart of Hera, the wife of Zeus in Greek mythology, she's often characterised as a jealous, bitter, and vindictive wife, often punishing the nymphs or goddesses with whom Jupiter had various dalliances. That said, she does have some...

Roman mythology offers plenty of gods associated with the natural world - just look at Neptune and his dominion over the sea, or Luna's role as goddess of the moon. Yet it also offers a god of nature itself in the form of Silvanus. But he was also so much more than a nature god. Let's find out who Silvanus was and why he was so popular in this week’s episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images a...

For the unwary visitor to their lair, redcaps can be deeply dangerous creatures. These malevolent little folk are classified ‘goblins’ and that’s a word that’s rarely attached to anything positive. While they do appear in northern European folklore, they’re most often found in Border folklore. In many ways, it’s hardly surprising. The Border region is a particularly blood-soaked part of the Britis...

I have an announcement to make... I have a folklore book coming out! Rebel Folklore: Empowering Tales of Spirits, Witches and Other Misfits from Anansi to Baba Yaga , illustrated by the fantastic Melissa Jarram, is due out in September. In this episode, find out more about the book and hear one of the chapters (spoiler: it's Robin Hood)! Preorder links are: Bookshop US: https://bookshop.org/p/book...

Church bells appear in a range of ways within folklore. Sometimes they continue to ring far beneath the waves in a church under the sea. Or perhaps their peeling in the darkness guided a lost traveller back to the path and away from danger. In some tales, they’re stolen by the Devil, or by mermaids. Other times, they’re stolen by people. That’s the case in Northumbrian folklore, in which the Brink...

You might not expect to see northern vampires among the tales of Northumberland, the Borders and Cumbria. But they're there! William de Newburgh included three stories of revenants at Berwick, Melrose and Alnwick in his Historia rerum Anglicarum , a collection of five volumes that told a history of England from 1066 to 1198. And then there's the tale of the Vampire of Croglin Grange, made famous b...

Tales of fairies exist all over the world, and there are hundreds to choose from right here in the British Isles. Yet they often have a particular 'flavour' or motif that lets you group them together. One of the common motifs of folk tales in the northeast of England is that of dancing fairies. It seems the fairies in these parts loved a good feast, or a sing-song after dark. Many of the stories a...

Never mind canals, famous nightlife, and beautiful architecture - there is another side to the Dutch capital, one full of supernatural terrors and bizarre tales. Think 13th-century magicians, fleeing families, ghostly monks, and vengeful sisters, and you’re partway there. Let’s go and meet them in this week’s episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and references on the blog post: https://ww...

Barcelona lies on the Mediterranean Coast in Catalonia. It's a gorgeous city, famous for architect Antoni Gaudí, artist Joan Miró and writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón, among many others. Yet you'll find more than a few Barcelona ghost stories amid the winding streets and Gothic cathedrals. Enjoy these 4 creepy ghost stories tales from Barcelona, featuring vengeful monks, poltergeists, and haunted Metro st...

The City of Light is an architectural and cultural wonder, packed with history, art, great food, and music. But there are also ghosts in Paris, loitering in the parks, wandering the boulevards, and sobbing on the bridges... Enjoy these four ghost stories from Paris, featuring the Phantom of the Opera, a blood red omen of death, a Resistance conspirator, and a lonely musician in this week's episode...

The Jewel of the Adriatic is a gorgeous wonder, filled with masks, bridges, alleyways, and mystery. But there are also ghosts in Venice, often only seen in the brief half-light when daytime gives way to the night... Enjoy these 3 creepy folk tales from Venice, featuring the Devil, the helpful dead, and even watery ghosts in Venice in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and re...

Thistles are a beautiful plant, and the beloved floral emblem of Scotland. But looks can be deceiving and thistles are considered an invasive plant. According to the 1959 Weeds Act, landowners actually have a duty to stop thistles from spreading! But do they have any value in magical or medicinal terms? Find out how thistles can banish evil, drive away gloomy thoughts, and protect your home in thi...

Daisies are a familiar sight at this time of the year in the UK, popping up in lawns and on grass verges. Their proliferation, particularly on lawns, makes them an unwanted plant for some gardeners. The flowers, or Bellis perennis , are also known as bairnwort, bruisewort, common daisy, English daisy, garden daisy, and wild daisy. Yet they're more often associated with love, childhood, and divinat...