Loremen Podcast

(No, not that Hellfire Club.) The Loremen return for series 6 and it's a saucy start to the year. We travel to the county of Buckinghamshire to meet some rich and powerful men who are behaving disgracefully — what a twist! William Hogarth, Sir Francis Dashwood and The Notorious John Booth set up a secret drinking society in the 18th century. The first rule of the Hellfire Club was that you had to...

It's still the 'tween times and the Loreboys are on their winter break. But fear not! Here is a wealth of bonus bits from the last year to keep your earholes warm! If you would like these bonuses and access to the Lorefolk Discord you can join the Lorefolk here... patreon.com/loremenpod AND ALSO! Join us LIVE in Leicester on the 9th February 2025 (2025): comedy-festival.co.uk/events/loremen-live C...

The yuletide is over, Xmas Pig is a dim memory and it is already time to tear down the Plough Monday decorations. There's just time for a bit of sentimentality. So join the Loreboys as we look back on the 5 (five) best episodes of 2024 (twenty twenty four). What an exciting year we had! A heartfelt thanks goes out to you, the listeners for all the listening you did. We could not do it without you!...

It's Almanac time! The Loreboys take a look back over the episodes of 2024 and re-listen to some of the best clips, as voted for by the Lorefolk. This is a bumper compilation, with loads of extra chit-chat and a deep dive into The Art of Kissing. (The book.) This is one of your classic Top 11 countdowns, starting at 9 and counting down to 6. We'd love to say that'll make sense when you've listened...

For the last Xmas Pig of 2024, The Quantum Mechanics join James for a final piggy tryptic of tales. With stories from the UK's "Cannock Chase" to America's "Road Bridge" it seems The Pigman gets around a bit. Whether he be a butcher gone wrong or the victim of a science experiment also gone wrong, The Pigman is always a source of terror... This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor....

To brighten these gloomy days between Xmas Pig and Plough Monday, we have another wonderful deputy loreperson! It's Bethan Briggs-Miller of Eerie Essex with an original (and porcine) method of dispersing youths. Plus a dark bit of Peppa Pig-lore that will chill you to your trotters. Check out the East Anglian Folklore Centre here. This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor. LoreBoys...

Mark Norman of The Folklore Podcast joins James to share a bit of porcine folklore that hits very close to home! Christmas is a time for reflection, and who among us can say, "Non, je ne piglette rien"? This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor. LoreBoys nether say die! Support the Loremen here (and get stuff): patreon.com/loremenpod ko-fi.com/loremen Check the sweet, sweet merch he...

Would you have another slice of Xmas Pig? You would! Well, today's stocking filler features our Welsh correspondent Jenny Collier, so you are in luck! Look forward to some peculiar pig-based folklore, and a bit of chat about Disney's 1980s "Dark Phase". We're talking about The Black Cauldron! This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor. LoreBoys nether say die! Support the Loremen her...

The Xmas Pig keeps on rolling! Returning deputy Sunil Patel joins us for a chat about the festive customs of Sweden and Germany. But beware, you'd better have your wits about you in the depths a Swedish winter, or a glowing hog might get you! Catch Sunil on rival podcast Rural Concerns and/or the Sky Original comedy Bad Tidings. https://open.spotify.com/show/1UE33s636jHPCIUDMe622P This episode was...

It is the second pig of Xmas Pig! We are joined by Maso of  @WeeklyPlanetPodcast  and @mrsundaymovies  for a very peculiar Jesus-based story. One of those teen bad-boy Jesus tales, you know. The odd ones... With a bonus bit of local Charlbury Fitch folklore. This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor. LoreBoys nether say die! Support the Loremen here (and get stuff): patreon.com/lore...

Xmas Pig, everyone! Icy Sedgwick brings us a creepy pig-themed tale, which the eagle-minded listener will recognise as being part of the Amityville Horror mythos. What a scary old pig! This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor. LoreBoys nether say die! Support the Loremen here (and get stuff): patreon.com/loremenpod ko-fi.com/loremen Check the sweet, sweet merch here... https://www....

A strait-laced reverend meets a surprisingly seductive ghost with the face of a pig. Who will win? The pig-faced phantom of Chelsea, of course! Christmas Pig has come early. The Loremen dig into the origins of the porcine spectre, and uncover what might be one of Britain’s earliest urban legends. If you believe the tabloid press, cities were once awash with swinish visages and hoggish fizzogs. The...

Nick "Maso" Mason of The Weekly Planet and Mr Sunday Movies drops in from Melbourne for a chilling tale of ghosts, ghouls and... town planning. From "God's own country" (Australia) to "God's own county" (Yorkshire), we visit the haunted building site that was to become the infamous Stocksbridge bypass. Since the 1980s, this stretch of road has been associated with a ghostly hooded monk. Has he got...

Alasdair tells James the tale of a ghostly pedlar with no head... and no body! The Loremen journey to the lowlands of Scotland and encounter some Nithsdale ne'er-do-wells. Join us! Meet the pranksters of Sanquhar and Kryten the android's Scottish ancestor. Walk the lonely road to Littlemark Farm. (Oh, hi little Mark!) Marvel at the girthy trees and... beware the murderous Mary Graham. (No Marks we...

Bring a sandwich, grab an iron horseshoe and don't be a Greedy Jack because we are going fairy finding! James returns to Oxfordshire's Rollright Stones for some genuine fairy stories. Learn real-world strategies that YOU can use to avoid falling foul of the fae folk. Don't follow the corpse lights, abstain from shooting at your neighbour's trees and steer clear of making assumption about bakers. P...

James tells Alasdair the spooky story of a poltergeist in Dorset*. All your polterguy classics are in play here: scratching sounds, flying objects and a young girl with a talent for throwing things while no one is looking. Prepare yourself for strange happenings in a Durweston semi, witnessed by a gamekeeper whose perception of time and space is all slantwise. Let's be honest, this episode gets a...

The Loremen travel to the North Country and meet the Trash Hounds of Lancashire. No, not the live lorefolk audience. We're talking tales of headless dogs, skeletal huntsmen and be-buttocked pipers. This is another episode from our "Sold Out" "National" "Tour". James brings stories of boggarts and barghests and Alasdair presents three northern eccentrics. And we briefly hop across the border to the...

This episode was recorded live (or at least undead) in West Norwood Cemetery, in front of a sold-out crowd. The brave lorefolk were chilled, literally and figuratively, by tales of subterranean mystery and otherworldly encounters. James told the story of an eccentric English aristocrat who took to burrowing like a badger, while Alasdair hopped aboard London's defunct Necropolis Railway. And the cr...

The Loremen were LIVE at the QED festival in Manchester and we were joined by Deputy Loreperson Hayley Stevens. Sceptical listeners might be familiar with the Hayley is a Ghost blog, all about ghosts that (spoiler warning) probably don't exist. In this episode, we meet roadside ghosts and road-adjacent spectres from across the UK (and beyond). Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? No, neither have...

A country walk always brings to mind certain maxims. "Stop and smell the roses," for one. "If a tree falls..." is another. But now there's a new one - "Beware the Crooker!" The boys are taken to a spooky Derbyshire riverside by historian and author Willow Winsham. You might feel a gnarly wooden finger tingling your spine in this episode. But James and Alasdair find time to ask the big questions. W...

Deputy Loreperson Icy Sedgwick (Fabulous Folklore with Icy) joins James and Alasdair, and she brings with her the stories of a Geordie graverobber and a Mackem resurrection man. It's Newcastle vs Sunderland, and the bones of the dead do not rest easy in this Tyne-Wear derby. Plus the Loreboys come up with several new business ideas. Anyone for glow-in-the-dark coffins? Come see the Loreboys LIVE i...

The terrifying tale of the Grey Hitchhiker (or the Gray Hitcher, for Americans) comes from that spooky road, The Notorious A38. Over several decades, drivers have made the mistake of stopping for a hitchhiker who does not obey the laws of hitchhiking (or nature). If you're driving between Tiverton and Taunton, you might see the Grey Hitchhiker. If you've reached Wrangway, you're going the wrong wa...

The Loremen encounter what might be the biggest ghost in the history of the podcast. We're talking about a house that is a ghost. (Pretty big, right?) James takes Alasdair to the South West of England to view a property that's just come on the market and could vanish at any moment. Could this phantom maison be an echo of The Anarchy from the reign of King Stephen? Or do lone walkers on the moor go...

The boys are back, with yet more tales of Moreton lore! This time James visits South Moreton in Oxfordshire, for the outrageous story of a faux-poltergeist (fauxtergeist?). But don't fret, folklore fans - the village of South Moreton boasts enough "real" ghosts to spook the horses. Plus, a deadly locomotive and a very misleading prophecy. Come see the Loreboys LIVE in spooky West Norwood Cemetery...

Who's that, beckoning to you from the mouth of a weird looking cave? Why it's Alasdair Beckett-King of course! Join him and James Shakeshaft, and enter a subterranean labyrinth hidden beneath a leafy London borough. In 1907, The Illustrated London News called it The Great Chislehurst Cave Mystery: 22 miles of hand-carved tunnels, with stories of smugglers, druids, and rock and roll legends. Come f...