The Folklore Podcast

In this bonus interview from The Folklore Podcast, recorded live at the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research 40th anniversary conference at Sheffield Hallam University, Dr Megan Kenny sits down to chat with Folklore Podcast host Mark Norman and Perry Carpenter from the Digital Folklore Podcast. Megan is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Sheffield Hallam and talks about power an...

As listeners in the US celebrate Thanksgiving, this bonus minisode takes a look at what we actually know about the history of this celebration versus the popular myth. Support the Folklore Podcast via our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcas t for additional content.

In this episode of The Folklore Podcast we enter the secretive world of the circus and the carnival sideshow - a community with much tradition and folklore but at the same time many secrets. Our guest Nathan Wakefield, himself a variety performer, uncovers the world of the Sideshow Geek - controversial and eccentric acts which shocked many an audience member in the sideshows of the past. But how m...

We meet musician and composer Freya Waley-Cohen to talk about her work and the ways in which folklore and the occult have inspired her music. In particular, we look at 'Spell Book', a dramatic song cycle which sets spell-poems from Rebecca Tamas' book WITCH to original music. You can visit Freya on the web and learn more about her work at https://www.freyawaleycohen.com/ To support the work of the...

There can be few people who don't have at least a passing awareness of the legend of the lost continent of Atlantis. But probably a significantly smaller number don't know much about Lemuria, another alleged land mass which sunk to the depths and which has since been seized upon by occultists to posit theories about our ancestral past. In this episode of the Folklore Podcast we sort the aquatic wh...

In this episode of the podcast, we explore the use of folklore as an inspiration for the creation of music, with award-winning musician, composer and songwriter Kate Young. At the time of release, Kate has just released her much-anticipated debut album, Umbelliferæ (pronounced ‘um-bell-ifer-aye’), a captivating record inspired by plantlore and the ancient medicinal uses of wildflowers from the Bri...

Folk tales have been important to us for centuries, but in the grand span of their existence we only started writing them down relatively recently. In this episode of the Folklore Podcast, we are joined by Scottish storyteller Allison Galbraith, who is one of those who not only tells in person, but also commits stories to print. Amongst these is the tale Zombie Cow, which she performs as part of t...

In one of our occasional Folklore in the Field episodes, recorded live at events, Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman is joined by Bronte Schiltz for a discussion of representations of the ghost on television. This interview was recorded at the UK Ghost Story Festival 2024 at the Museum of Making in Derby, UK. To support the Folklore Podcast on Patreon, please visit www.patreon.com/thefo...

A quick interruption to your lives with some news about the podcast!

In another of our occasional series looking at the work of American storytellers, we meet the award winning Laura Packer. Based in Minnesota, Laura has over 25 years of storytelling experience and was recently inducted into the United States National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence - a select group of storytellers determined by their peers to be standard bearers of the art, and masters...

To coincide with his new book 'Zoinks - The Spooky Folklore Behind Scooby-Doo' going to pre-order, Folklore Podcast creator Mark Norman presents a special episode looking at the way that folklore and the paranormal are represented in Scooby-Doo through the lens of Shaggy and Scooby's favourite thing - food. To pre-order a copy of Zoinks and receive an exclusive set of collector's cards with your o...

In terms of folklore, ghostly encounters are not about the proof of existence of the supernatural so much as they are about the meaning of the experience to the individual. Folklore is about examining the story, the meaning that it has for the witness, and the way in which that narrative is both transmitted and recorded. We discuss the recording process of ghostly encounters, the 'writing of ghost...

An episode of 'Folklore in the Field' presenting interviews and discussions recorded live at events we attend. This episode features a roundtable discussion on the topic of folklore and magical practice, recorded in association with Crossed Crow Books. Folklore Podcast creator Mark Norman hosts guests: Blake and Wycke Malliway - owners of Crossed Crow Books and Malliway Bros occult shop Jac D Hawk...

Wherever we might be in the world, we find that folklore will always take on very specific regional variations: any area will have both its own unique stories and versions of other tales which have been shaped by local knowledge or events. In the UK, where the country is divided into counties, records vary very much from place to place. The country of Lincolnshire has some fascinating folklore and...

In this episode of the Folklore Podcast we explore the psychology of trauma and its intersection with alleged paranormal phenomena, with guests Bill and Jaci Kousoulas. For some, paranormal occurrences can be a precursor to later trauma, either on a personal level or on a larger scale. For others, trauma may act as a catalyst from paranormal events and they find after suffering a personal loss or...

The image of the fox appears in many cultures as a trickster figure, but in Asian folklore there are some subtle differences. The Chinese fox is a symbol of intelligence, and has the ability to shapeshift for example. Exploring the folklore of the Asian countries, with particular reference to foxes, in this episode creator and host of the podcast Mark Norman is joined by New York Times bestselling...

In the field of Gothic literature, from the Penny Dreadful and Chapbook through the Penny Bloods and novels. whether it a classic like Bronte or something less well known, there are many ways in which the female characters may as monstrous. We explore the landscape of 'mad', murderous and shape-shifting women with Gothic scholar Dr Nicole C. Dittmer, author of 'Monstrous Women and Ecofeminism in t...

We welcome writer and folklore graduate Liza Frank to the Folklore Podcast for an episode looking at the many different ways in which you might be able to combine a bit of folklore into your daily life. In conversation with Mark Norman, creator and host of The Folklore Podcast, Liza looks at divination, calendar customs, food folklore and lots more ideas which came out of the Everyday Lore Project...

Nick Medina's debut novel from 2023, 'Sisters of the Lost Nation', describes the hunt for answers as a Native girl searches for information about women who have been mysteriously disappearing from her tribe's reservation. As she searches for clues, she learns more about the myths and stories of her people and how they may offer help. In this episode of The Folklore Podcast, we chat with Nick about...

Folklorist Mark Norman, the creator and host of The Folklore Podcast, returns to write and present an individual episode of the show. Spurred on by the recent viral sharing of the Chicago Rat Hole, Mark takes a look at the history of this simulacrum as well as other folk art and belief associated with our roads from flacking to the Virgin Mary, and from holes in the ground to manholes in space. Ma...

Aisling is the Irish for dream or vision, and it may take the form of a vision poem. The genre was developed as a part of the wider Irish language poetry field at the end of the 17th century, going into the 18th. More broadly, aisling is a vision which is said to connect the seer strongly with the landscape and identity of Ireland and its sacred sites. Our guest today, author Jeremy Schewe is cons...

Season 9 of The Folklore Podcast kicks off with another examination of folklore writing for a younger audience. Special guest on this first episode of a new season, Louie Stowell, discusses Norse Mythology, gods, writing folklore for children and much more as we examine her ongoing book series "Loki - A Bad God's Guide". There's also a chance to hear an extract from the first audiobook in the seri...

The Folklore Podcast Christmas Special for 2023. In an interview recorded live at the science fiction and fantasy convention Armadacon, we chat with Pat and Jan Harkin, the husband and wife team responsible for rediscovering all of the Terry Pratchett short stories published together for the first time in the new anthology 'A Stroke of the Pen'. The episode closes with a reading of one of these st...

We welcome award-winning children's author Sophie Anderson back onto the podcast to celebrate the launch of her latest book, 'The Snow Girl'. Sophie researches and works closely with Slavic and Russian folk stories, using them as inspiration for her own stories. We talk about this rich vein of lore as well as her thoughts on using folklore more generally in fiction writing. There's also a chance t...

A short trailer for our new storytelling podcast, 'Stories from the Hearth', where you - the Folklore Podcast listeners - narrate old folk and fairy tales. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts by searching for 'Stories from the Hearth (A Folklore Podcast Production)