The Feral Folklorist

Feral Folktales is where I step aside from the main show and tell a straight folktale—simple, spoken, and exactly as it’s meant to be heard. These bonus episodes are just a little something extra between the full installments of The Feral Folklorist, which is where you’ll find the deeper dives into history, folklore, magic, hauntings, and the stranger corners of human belief. This time, I’m sharin...

Season 2 opens with spirit communication. In this episode, we’re stripping the velvet off the Victorian séance to look at the grit underneath. We trace the path from the first mechanical "raps" in a drafty New York house to the high-stakes, locked-door sessions that governed the lives of the living. You’ll learn how the Fox sisters turned grief into a telegraph system, why an invitation...

Holiday folk magic, protective charms, and old-world winter witchery you can still use today. While the world decks the halls, we’re lacing cookies with fixed sugar, slipping sachet powders into gift wrap, and turning ornaments into spell jars. This bonus episode of The Feral Folklorist unwraps the older, darker magic baked into the season—from Yule fires and Saturnalian chaos to the Wild Hunt and...

Feral Folktales is where I step aside from the main show and tell a straight folktale—simple, spoken, and exactly as it’s meant to be heard. These bonus episodes are just a little something extra between the full installments of The Feral Folklorist, which is where you’ll find the deeper dives into history, folklore, magic, hauntings, and the stranger corners of human belief. This time, I’m sharin...

Feral Folktales is where I step aside from the main show and tell a straight folktale—simple, spoken, and exactly as it’s meant to be heard. These bonus episodes are just a little something extra between the full installments of The Feral Folklorist, which is where you’ll find the deeper dives into history, folklore, magic, hauntings, and the stranger corners of human belief. This time, I’m sharin...

Feral Folktales is where I step aside from the main show and tell a straight folktale—simple, spoken, and exactly as it’s meant to be heard. These bonus episodes are just a little something extra between the full installments of The Feral Folklorist, which is where you’ll find the deeper dives into history, folklore, magic, hauntings, and the stranger corners of human belief. This time, I’m sharin...

The Dybbuk Box - wood, metal, a couple of drawers. But the moment people touch it, things start to unravel—sickness, nightmares, strange smells, broken lives. In this episode, we dig into the origin story of one of the internet’s most infamous “haunted objects”—and what it gets right (and wrong) about Jewish folklore, spirit possession, and the figure of the dybbuk itself. We’ll look at where the...

She stands by the road. In a white dress. Silent. Watching. And no matter what country you’re in, someone has a story that starts just like that. In this episode, we trace the recurring shape of the Lady in White—across highways, rivers, cultures, and centuries. From La Llorona to Resurrection Mary to the Irish Banshee, we’ll break down the folklore behind these mourning spirits, and why their sto...

High in the Carpathian hills, the ruins of Cachtice Castle still whisper her name. In this episode, we descend into the history and legend of Elizabeth Bathory—the Hungarian countess accused of bathing in blood and condemned without a trial. You’ll hear what really happened inside those castle walls, what the records say, and what the folklore invented to fill the gaps. We’ll trace how a powerful...

White-washed and sun-cracked, the tomb of Marie Laveau stands in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 like it’s still waiting for someone to knock. In this episode, we dig into the magic and myth surrounding the most famous Voodoo Queen of New Orleans—and the strange rituals that still cling to her grave. You’ll hear how this Creole healer became a living legend, why her tomb draws thousands each year, and wh...

In 1928, a Pennsylvania folk healer named Nelson Rehmeyer was beaten and killed by three men who believed he’d hexed them. They weren’t strangers—they knew him, had sat at his kitchen table, and came armed with folk instructions: steal his spellbook, take a lock of hair, and destroy them to break the curse. When the fire they set didn’t catch, the legend began. This episode unpacks the true story...

Blue bottle trees aren’t just porch decorations—they’re spirit traps. In this episode, we dig into the Southern and African origins of this folk magic tradition, where glass bottles are used to confuse, trap, or drive off wandering spirits. You’ll learn how this practice came over from the Congo, how it changed in the American South, and why blue is the color most often used to keep bad energy awa...

Mirrors are supposed to show us the truth—but in folk magic, they do a whole lot more. In this episode, we’re heading to Louisiana’s most famously haunted home to unravel the legends behind the Myrtles Plantation and the mirror said to trap spirits inside its frame. We’ll walk the line between history and haunting, breaking down the folklore of Chloe, the footsteps that stop on the seventeenth sta...

For as long as there have been hearths, the kitchen has been more than a place to cook—it’s been the heart of household magic and the first line of defense against what doesn’t belong. In this episode, we delve into the world of culinary omens, protective recipes, and everyday tools imbued with meaning. From bread that rises—or refuses to—to iron pots hung for protection, from salt lines to spoon...

For generations, sharp tools have done more than carve wood or cut rope—they’ve drawn boundaries, ended spiritual ties, and held protection in place. In this episode, we’re digging into the world of ritual knives, iron nails, and other edged tools used in folk magic across cultures. From black-handled conjure blades to coffin nails pulled from grave dirt, we’ll break down how these objects are use...

For centuries, people have whispered about the signs that death is coming—a knock at the window, a bird tapping on glass, a shadow in the shape of someone still breathing. From eerie sounds to black dogs and flying birds, this episode pulls back the veil on the chilling world of death omens: where they come from, how they’ve shaped family customs, and why they still creep into our dreams. We’ll tr...

Robert Johnson didn’t invent the story of making a deal with the Devil at the crossroads—but he sure made it sing. In this debut episode, we dig into the Southern folklore that shaped the myth, the deeper meaning behind crossroads in folk magic, and how these stories get tangled up with race, power, and fear. From Hoodoo conjure work to Delta blues to long-forgotten tales of midnight bargains, thi...

In 1897, a young woman died under mysterious circumstances in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. Her death might’ve gone unnoticed—until her mother claimed she returned from the grave with a shocking truth. This isn’t just a ghost story—it’s a legal case where spectral testimony helped convict a killer. We walk through the legend, the court records, and the folk beliefs that gave voice to the dead....

For centuries, people buried glass bottles under thresholds and hearths, stuffed with hair, nails, pins, and other nasty bits—desperate measures to trap evil or send it crawling back where it came from. In this episode, we dig into the history and folklore of witch bottles: where they come from, why they work, and how they show up in both archaeology and modern magic. You’ll also learn how to make...

The Feral Folklorist is a podcast about the eerie, the enchanted, and the stories we’ve been whispering for generations. From haunted objects to weather witches, buried charms to crossroads deals—it’s where folklore meets real history and a little bit of dirt-under-the-nails magic. The show launches June 30, 2025 with a three-episode drop, followed by new episodes every other Monday. If you’re int...