Loremen Podcast

Hark, the jingling of bells! 'Tis two fools come to make merry. What luck! Alasdair and James recorded a live episode at the Bill Murray in London's London. The Evil Jester of Muncaster Castle features all the Loremen classics. We're talking bowls. We're talking Cumbrian superstitions. We're talking trombones and a comedian who kills (literally).  And that's not the last live show the lads have in...

Kintyre is the name of a mysterious (and objectively NOT sexy) peninsula in the western highlands of Scotland. Alasdair plumbs its depths, skips along its beaches and gazes at its glinting surface, hypnotised by his own reflection. Oh yeah, and he also told James a bundle of tales from the collection of Cuthbert Bede. We're talking tartan pirates, shapeshifting kelpies and one very lucky ship's ca...

Artist, author and excellent podcast guest Amy Jeffs guides the Lorebois through the lesser known mythic origins of STONEHENGE! We meet a load of giants having an Irish spa day. We encounter the treacherous (and definitively real) King Vortigern. And we attempt to turn "Wallace and Grommitting" into a verb. Don't forget to join... us... at the Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival - 31st October https:...

Cheeky little minisode with film maker Miles Benson and a little treat about devilish simians from across the pond. Here's the link to Miles' project... https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dream-clean-a-short-film-about-urban-legends#/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Loreboys are back to doing what they do best - making mistakes via a podcast medium. Fortunately, James's snafu this week is quickly corrected. Listen, as he tells a thrilling tale, racked by self-doubt and undermining himself at every turn. Edric the Wild's adventure begins with the Norman invasion, and takes us from flooded Roman garrisons to burnt Shrewsburys (not a euphemism). Be sure to l...

New York, London, Bendigo (it's a place in Australia). These are the three equally famous cities visited by celebrity apparition Katie King. Apart from being the daughter of the legendary pirate/drink Captain Morgan, Ms King was a world-wide spiritualist sensation in the 19th century. This is the story of her other-worldly jaunt to Victorian-era Victoria. This is the concluding part of Spiritualis...

James and Alasdair are joined by the hilarious (and crafty) comedian Bec Hill. Series 5 (series 5) begins with tales of Australian apparitions, antipodean seances and the scariest monster of all... Scotsmen. With cameos from Arthur Conan Doyle, the pseudonymous Demonax and the Wizard Bombardier of Ballarat. And this is only part 1! Join us next week for the levitating Mrs Guppy, the unsettlingly b...

While James continues his convalescence, we are busting out another bonus episode from the vaults! Enjoy some more previously Patreon-only extra stuff from episodes with the hilarious Amy Gledhill. Plus join us for live shows... At the Bill Murray - 17th September https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/event-detail/loremen-live-again-17th-sep-the-bill-murray-london-tickets-202309171830/ At Cheerful Earful...

*Now with fixed audio* We are having one of our patented (unplanned) Loremen series breaks.  So, we applied to the Lore Council and they agreed to release this juicy bonus episode from the vaults. Enjoy some previously Patreon-only extra stuff from our episode with the wonderful Robin Ince in April 2021. Plus join us for live shows... At the Bill Murray - 17th September https://www.angelcomedy.co....

 James is on holiday, but before he left we recorded a little minisode. So enjoy this tale of a ghostly premonition, and join us for our upcoming London live shows: At the Bill Murray - 17th September https://www.angelcomedy.co.uk/event-detail/loremen-live-again-17th-sep-the-bill-murray-london-tickets-202309171830/ At Cheerful Earful Podcast Festival - 31st October https://www.designmynight.com/lo...

The Loremen return to the North East of England, for a stroll through Nicky-Nack Woods. We meet a Teeside Miller with a skeleton in his closet (literally), and solve the murder of the Lumley Mill ghost. It's a spectre-packed episode, with flaming face-holes, a green lady (plus mouse) and a floating hand holding the ghost of a dead knife. In the words of Gossack's ghost... GOODNIGHT! Content Warnin...

A little Loreman met a Pie Man, going to the fair. Said little Loreman to the Pie Man, "Is Datchworth Green near Ware?" And the Pie Man said, "Yeah, but it's closer to Knebworth." James takes Alasdair to the many-spectred village of Datchworth in Hertfordshire - a hamlet terrorised by both spirits of the dead and a flesh-and-blood highwayman. From poor farmer Pennyfather, to Oakenvalley Bottom and...

Alasdair bundles James into a red telephone box and dials S for snail. There are ghosts in the wire. There are signals from the other side. The Wichita lineman is still on the LIIIIINE. The year 1850 saw the bizarre tale of the "snail telegraph" play out in Paris: an eccentric inventor, a gullible journalist and forty-eight alphabetic-sympathetic snails. Magical molluscs? Or simply the work of a F...

Comedian Yuriko Kotani returns to the pod to tangle with a shapeshifting trickster. The tanuki (or racoon dog) is both a real animal and a very cheeky yōkai. (That’s a spirit in Japanese folklore, but you probably knew that.) This furry little fellow is famed for his enormous… that is to say his massive… well… he’s got a lot of chutzpah, let’s leave it at that. But who’s that by the side of the ro...

This four poster bed was built for royalty, but take our word for it - it's a lot more than king-sized. This bed is big. You might ask, how many butchers (plus partners) can you fit in it? The answers will surprise you! James gives Alasdair the old 'come to bed' podcast tale. About a big bed. The biggest bed. Bigger than you're thinking of. Oh, and bad news: it's haunted. Loreboys nether say die!...

The Loremen are joined by Tom Mayhew (from Radio 4's Tom Mayhew Is Benefit Scum) for one of our stinkiest, sexiest episodes to date. Following in the footsteps of Victorian journo Henry Mayhew (no relation), the boys meet the Battersea rat-charmer Jack Black: mole destroyer by royal appointment. We gawp at the Original Happy Family™, we follow "toshers" into the sewers of Bermondsey and we wince a...

Man vs Cow! The epic battle continues. James tells the romantic tale of the English knight Guy of Warwick, who (rather unromantically) killed a massive cow. The cow was very, very angry and bigger than a van, so don't judge Guy too harshly. He also killed a handful of dragons, but we skip over them. It was all a witch's fault, really. Listen carefully, and you will learn about a rude flower, what...

The Loreboys are still in the county of Cornwall when they encounter a remarkably haunted inn named The Dolphin. And, steel yourself listener, because Alasdair not only visited the titular pub, he actually received a message from the other side. With extracts from Haunted Inns by Marc Alexander and Ghosts of Cornwall by (his eminence) Peter Underwood, there's a fair few chills for your spine. (Not...

Ghostbusters! In Cornwall! That's very much the premise. Alasdair returns from England's westernmost peninsula with a slew of tales about Cornish ghost-layers, spirit-quellers, exorcists and general demon-botherers. PLUS a bonus excerpt from James's appearance on The Quantum Mechanics https://t.co/kjWayikqVO, when the team went to look at a standing stone, to see if it moved. (It didn't.) Also ava...

James takes Alasdair way out west; as far west as you can go in the UK without getting wet. We're talking about the wall of corn itself: Cornwall, and the tale of a peculiar vicar who managed to alienate his entire community. Basically, this episode is like Wild Wild West, but with two Kevin Klines and no Will Smiths. Guest starring: a pack of dogs; a 14th Century heretic and some lovely, lovely a...

James dazzles Alasdair with a selection of grifts, scams and swindles from Edo period Japan. Marvel at the adventures of the legendary Hikoichi, featuring a bucket of fish-guts, a red-faced demon (literally and figuratively) and pub-based nudity. This marks the Loremen's long-awaited return to the shed / garret livestream format. If you want to witness it all with moving images (and an hour of ext...

This is a biscuit-heavy minisode, in service of our upcoming LIVESTREAM. Join... Us... on the 12th June 2023 (2023) at 8:30pm BST (bst) on youtube.com/loremenpodcast for tales from James Shakeshaft's trip to Japan!  It will be fun! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Loreboys are off galivanting! Well, Alasdair is on tour in the UK and James is on a family holiday in Japan. (Friend of the podcast: Japan.) So, think of this episode as a horror anthology. If you're afraid of talking cats and hairy trees, that is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In April 2022, the Loremen recorded their shortest episode ever: Dame Creswyke’s Spectre. Did you think one haunted hotel was all Moreton-in-Marsh had to offer? Well, you were wrong! That sleepy Cotswold town on the Fosse Way is a veritable horn of plenty. Plenty of ghosts, that is. Expect spectres, mists, coughs, sensations and a bevy of airborne phenomena. Loreboys nether say die! Check the swee...

England's best "true" vampire story springs from the pages of the prolific hob-nobber Augustus Hare. Bleh! Alasdair tells James a blood-soaked Cumbrian legend, gleaned from Hare's (ludicrously long) autobiography. Sorry, autobiographies. The walrus-faced Hare had a gift for extracting dubious ghost stories from minor aristocrats. And tales seldom come taller than that of the Croglin Grange vampire...