Norfolk Folklore Society

We were delighted to welcome the wonderful Laura Cannell to our November at The Louis Marchesi in the pub’s 15th century undercroft. Laura spoke about her new project, MARSHLORE , which has so far seen the publication of two zines, each of which include a miscellany of stories, original artwork, folklore and more, inspired by the East Anglian marshes, ancient folklore and living traditions. She ca...

This month’s podcast is all about ghosts – or rather, the ghosts we’d all draw if anyone asked us to mock up a quick doodle. You know the one: looks like a floating bedsheet with eyes.  Round on top, wiggly on the bottom, with a couple of eyes holes – it’s the image that always pops to mind when thinking of ghosts: but why? This very specific image of ghosts as white sheets has been engrained in o...

On October 24 Christian Hudson from Norfolk Ghost Hunters came to speak to us at the Norfolk Folklore Society’s monthly meeting.  Christian works within a team of five, each of whom specialise in different fields, and is a paranormal investigator and demonologist. He works in tandem with the Church of England and the Catholic church and he and his team have been involved with hundreds of paranorma...

Today’s podcast was recorded on Gressenhall Farm and workhouse’s Apple Day, which we were delighted to be part of, representing Norfolk Folklore Society in the farmhouse kitchen. From the kitchen table we offered people a host of apple folklore and it was lovely to welcome so many people and to hear their own folklore and ghost stories. 

Simply because they are not expected, ghosts that appear in modern surroundings and with no warning often feel like the most terrifying of all.  Today’s ghost is absolutely terrifying. Our witness tells us: “ It was like a damp sheet of very black space wrapping itself around me…” And where was this horrific patch of dark matter? In the very middle of Norwich city centre, in buildings which have p...

This episode takes us back to the Black Shuck Festival on August 5. Thank you to everyone who attended and to the festival for having us: we had such a magical time and hope to be involved with next year’s Shuck shenanigans. We hope you enjoy Shuck Storytime!

We were delighted to welcome the wonderful Alice Crick as our next speaker on July 26 at Arboretum on St Benedict’s Street. Alice’s talk was called  Faunus: Landscape, Memory, and Folk Practice. Here, she explains what she spoke about: “The great god Faunus has haunted the wildwoods of Norfolk for aeons, leaping across heathlands and fens into other counties whilst also keeping his fluid limbs rea...

We’ve got a very special podcast for you today: we travelled across the border to Bungay to speak to two eye witnesses who have seen – or heard – everyone’s favourite cryptid canine, Black Shuck. Another eye witness account from Bacton is also shared. This episode's cover image is by the very talented Matt Willis and taken from Shuck Zine. TheFolkLoreBox - Etsy UK

We were honoured to interview the legendary Black Shuck at our June 2023 at Arboretum and what an evening it was! Black Shuck was absoultly charming, James Mayhew performed and illustrated a wonderful poem and Stephanie Timberlake shared detail of what we have to look forward to at the festival in August. Just a little warning that this is a live recording so has some background noise. Also, it pr...

Today’s podcast is all about the slightly unusual story of time travelling…in an abandoned Norwich underground toilet which has now been demolished. So this isn’t one you can try at home… This curious tale is courtesy of Reverend Lionel Fanthorpe.

Last week Stacia and I shared some of our favourite stones in Norfolk with the Norfolk Folklore Society. We told tales of stones said to increase fertility, stones with curses attached to them, stones where offerings are left, stones that induce orgies, haunted stones and even a mysterious Druid’s stone in the centre of Norwich.  Thanks as always to Arboretum for being such lovely hosts.

Today’s podcast is a classic bit of Norfolk folklore that takes us along the country roads near Cantley, past dykes and low-lying marshland, fields and hedgerows, ancient villages and hidden treasure. We are talking about Callow Pit, a tree-shrouded pond at a crossroads said to have been a hiding place for outlaws, smugglers…and the Devil.

In April we looked outside of our magical county to virtually visit the ancient ritualistic landscape of the South Dorset Ridgeway with Alex aka Stone Wizard. 

Today’s podcast is a brand-new story (for us!) about a well-documented haunting close to Fakenham in the 1970s in two flats built on the site of a village lost to time many centuries earlier. Ghosts seen included a figure wearing white, a teenage girl and a man: residents reported feeling “a terrible sense of evil” and dreadful things have happened to these buildings over the decades.

We had the privilege of welcoming Chris Spalton to our March 2023 Norfolk Folklore Society talk at Arboretum in Norwich. Chris shared tales from his childhood in the Fens as well as some of his favourite folklore stories from his book. This is an unedited recording of the talk, so there is a little bit of swearing.  

This week we tell the tale of a mummy's curse on a school and graveyard in Great Yarmouth.

In this episode Stacia and Siofra have a second go at recording this episode about a terrifying haunted house in on one of Yarmouth's rows. 

We are back! After a long break, which is explained in the episode, we discuss the tale of the rising dead in the village of Corpusty. Just a warning, this episode does get a little gory so you may not want to listen while you are eating...

On this episode we discuss the gruesome tale of the Happisburgh Torso. We actually thought that we'd lost this recording so please excuse the references to Christmas!

In this episode Stacia and Siofra discuss No Man's Friend. A field which was said to be cursed and is now lost to the sea. 

On this episode Stacia and Siofra go adventuring in north Norfolk to visit the shrieking pit in Northrepps. It gets a bit windy out there!

On this episode we discuss the stories behind the name of Cutthroat lane in the little village of Yaxham.

On this episode we share the festive tale of mistletoe bride and we look at its possible connection to Norfolk. Merry Christmas everyone! 

On this episode Stacia and Siofra discuss an an unsettling time slip in Horning and ask some big questions about time.

On this episode we discuss the curse of the crying boy. The phenomena rose to fame in Britain in 1985 and an incident in Great Yarmouth prompted a national newspaper to organise a mass burning of the prints.