The Feral Folklorist

A knock at the back door in the middle of the night is bad enough. A second one is worse. By the time the third comes, it may already be too late. In this first episode of Feral by Night, Papa Gee pulls you into a dark and uneasy tale of a house, a warning, and the kind of sound that changes the whole night around it. The Third Knock at the Back Door is a story meant for the late hours — eerie, in...

The Boo Hag is one of the most chilling spirit figures in Gullah folklore. In this episode, we dig into the old Lowcountry belief in a skinless night spirit that slips through cracks, rides the sleeping, and leaves people waking up weak, breathless, and afraid. We’ll trace the Boo Hag through Gullah Geechee tradition, look at the cultural roots that shaped her, and talk about why stories like this...

This time, I’m sharing “The Boy Who Drew Cats,” a Japanese folktale about a small temple boy who won’t stop sketching cats—on scraps of paper, in margins, anywhere he can get a bit of ink. The priests think it’s a pointless habit until the temple starts to feel unsettled: food goes missing, something moves through the hall at night, and the cats in the story aren’t always the kind that breathe. It...

Hot Foot is the most well known term. In this episode, we dig into the old Southern conjure practice known as foot track magic —the belief that a person’s footprint can be used as a direct line to their body, luck, and movement. From West African spiritual traditions to hoodoo and rootwork in the American South, we trace how the simple act of walking became a point of magical contact. We’ll look a...

This time, I’m sharing “The Woman Who Married a Bear,” an old northern folktale about a girl who goes missing into the woods and returns with a husband no one quite understands. In some versions he is gentle, in others he is feared, but he is never entirely one thing. It’s a story about promises made in winter, the thin line between human and animal, and what it means to live with something powerf...

Medusa is more than a monster in a hero story. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist , we look at Medusa as a protective figure tied to the Evil Eye and the old idea that envy and bad intent can reach a person through attention. We cover the history of the gorgoneion (Medusa’s head) as an apotropaic charm—meaning a harm-turning image—used on shields, temples, coins, armor, and doorways to hold a...

This time, I’m sharing “The Man Who Sold His Shadow,” a European-style folktale about a bargain that looks harmless at first and the quiet trouble that follows it home. When a man trades away his shadow for comfort and ease, the world slowly stops responding to him the way it should. People look past him. Doors hesitate. Even daylight feels uncertain. It’s a story about belonging, recognition, and...

Some moments aren’t for action—they’re for waiting. In this episode, we step into the folklore of time itself: the hours we were warned not to touch, the nights we were told to leave well enough alone, and the ways folk magic used clocks, moons, and calendars not for beauty, but for boundaries. We trace the old timing rules—why certain work was only done by daylight, why the dark moon was consider...

This time, I’m sharing “The Monkey King Tricks the Demon,” a Chinese folktale-style story about a mountain road gone quiet and the kind of creature that thinks a sealed jar is the same thing as control. The Monkey King walks in looking harmless, lets the demon believe he has him caught, and then turns that belief against him—escaping without being seen and returning to the jar just in time to be “...

This time, I’m sharing “The Men of the Turning Year,” a Czech and Slavic-style folktale about a girl sent into a winter forest to fetch what winter doesn’t give. In a clearing, she finds twelve men around a small fire—each one tied to a piece of the year, each one taking his turn. When she asks plainly and takes only what’s offered, the year bends for her just long enough. But when someone else sh...

Needle and thread don’t just mend. In this episode, we step into the older folklore of sewing—where stitches could bind a person’s luck, knots could lock a fate in place, and finishing the wrong piece at the wrong time was believed to invite trouble into a house. We trace the warnings that followed the needle: why sewing after dark was avoided, why certain garments were never completed during illn...

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...