What The Folklore?

The time has come, once more. The clock has rolled over again, another year has passed, and to usher us into Year 11 of WTFolklore is none other than our dear, dear friend, Madame d'Aulnoy. Thank you to Dani for joining us on this particular ride! Suggested talking points: Fae Notary, Technofecalism, The Fortnite of Cookies, Goo That Is Alive, The Unrelenting Postman, The Delivery Olympics, Meat i...

This week, after celebrating our own brand of "Big Game", we dive into one of the Four Great Folktales of China, The Butterfly Lovers Suggested talking points: The Super Toilet Bowl, Secret Treaty (to Defeat Gordie), All of the Beach Happening To You at Once, The Franz Kafka University of Turning Into Things, Good But Worse LLC, Hauntings Are Just Your Soulmate Missing You Check out Gordie's TTRPG...

A slightly-less-but-still-bite-sized episode of WTFolklore as the Whimbus continues to throw its tantrums on us. This time we crack open a tome that threatens to remain with us for some time to come, The Cats' Arabian Nights, or, King Grimalkum Suggested talking points: A Folklore Receptacle, The Return of Ichabod, I Can Has Mammothburger?, Our Annual Cat-Meme Reunion, The Ever-Present Custard Pie...

It's a bite-sized episode this week on WTFolklore as we race against the sky to complete a recording. Not all of us made it... we read Shippeitaro, a tale from Japan. Suggested talking points: Nary a Goof, Boat% Speedrun, The Adventure Famine, Yowllicle Cats™, Stinky-Girl Pageant, The Boy Who Left His Yard to Climb a Rock and Didn't Even Punch a Robber Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorphosis If y...

This week on WTFolklore we read The Bad Mother, a Romani tale so chock-a-block full of chaotic magic, it may well be our Primordial Fairy Tale.  Suggested talking points: The Price is Wrong, Speaking of Brain Diseases, Going Backwards on the Simba Log, My Other Horse is a Bus, Dentures and Draggins, When the Apple Trees Nap, A Garage of Many-Winged Horses, More Porker Than Man Check out Gordie's T...

We return in 2026, kicking things off with two short tales, one from Hans Christian Andersen, the other a Grimm, with the sliveriest of slivers for connective tissue to one another: traveling occurs in both. Suggested talking points: BYOB(omb), Self Actualized Pokémon Card, Doxxing Hans Christian Andersen, Any Tree; Giving or Otherwise, Hans Christian Andersen's PCP Shower Thoughts, The Cult of Co...

We cut it VERY CLOSE this year, but it wouldn't be a year of What The Folklore without us dipping in to another chapter of The Journey West. Thanks to Dave, Jayson, Matt and Melissa for all joining in on this one, and Thank YOU for listening to another year of this show. See you all in 2026! Music used was "Auld Lang Syne Instrumental Jazz", provided royalty free by E's Jammy Jams Check out Gordie...

After a quiet December of very little posting, we've returned with a gift for the holidays as we read The Wooden Shoes of Little Wolff. Suggested talking points: Gordiesmas, Golfception, Pulp Fiction: The Grandma Cut, The Krampus is Now Literate, The Year Without a Monkey King, A Record-Breaking Tangent, The First Grilled Cheese, Have Yourself a Merry Little Radical Day Check out Gordie's TTRPG, M...

Content Warning: The story this week revolves around the central plot point of a dog's death. This week on WTFolklore, we read The Dog and the Sparrow, another Grimm tale that has somehow yet alluded our eyeballs...but no longer!  Suggested talking points: The Tortoise and the Highlander, A Private Collection of Spheres, KrampusCon, Bart Simpson's God-Fearing Face, Maintaining the Crime Ecosystem,...

This week on WTFolklore, we read The Lambikin, originally an Indian story, retold as an Irish story, that we then wrestle into the shape of a Thanksgiving story. Suggested talking points: Gordie's House of Pain, Garfield Shrugged, Bored Halfway Through a Burger, Sillybles, Spending Corn to Make Corn, Patrick Bateman Visits Grandma, A Turkey in the Background for Legal Reasons, Tom Bombadil Disease...

This week on WTFolklore, we read Vukub-Cakix, a Mayan tale that purports to be about "Twin Hero-Wizards". We purport they are neither. Suggested talking points: Make N' Shake, Forgive Me For the Blow Dart (and the Strangling...), Nobody Eats Plums, We Are Famous Doctors Trust Us, Licensed to Stethoscope, It Sounds Like Overkill Because It Is, Mountain Dribbling Check out Gordie's TTRPG, Mythomorph...

It's back to business-as-usual this week on WTFolklore as we re-calibrate our fairy tale senses with some good ol' fashion eastern european fare, The Glass Mountain, which stars a guy dressed as Hugh Jackman, who is dressed as Jack Black, who is dressed as a school boy. Suggested talking points: A Farquaad Wandering Amongst the Furries, Schrödinger's Wizard, Everything is Shaped like Jack Black, U...

DISCLAIMER: Gordie lost about half of his audio recording this week, so we had to improvise. See if you can guess the parts that got re-recorded! Spooklore 2025 draws to a close this week, and we have another WTFolklore-exclusive, custom made Cryptid tale for you! Join us as we venture to the most terrifying location in North America...New Jersey... Suggested talking points: Bricked My Toothbrush,...

Spooklore 2025 continues this week, with a bit of a twist. Rather than continually avoiding every instance of a "This is a THING, and here are it's SCARY FEATURES" type stories, Carman has elected to assemble her own folktale about one such THING, The Santa Compaña. So enjoy this custom-made spooky story! Suggested talking points: Spooktralizer Prime, Facebook Marketplace: Post-Apocalypse Edition,...

Spooklore begins in earnest this week, as we read what may well be the earliest-recorded Found Footage ghost story, The Haunting of Athenodorus, or as we elected to call it, "Ghost Hunters: Ancient Athens Edition" .  Suggested talking points: A Barbershop Quartet of Air Horns, A Gas Station for Mimes, Eldritch Horny, The Clanking of the Whimbus, Haunt Me In a Second, My Spooky Wagon of Ghost Milk,...

On what is TECHNICALLY the first Spooklore installment of the year...we got a little distracted. Thankfully, our spooky instincts kicked in and we accidentally turn The Vision of Mac Conglinne into a ghost story anyway. Suggested talking points: Sorry About the Belly Ghost, Whetstone Dentistry, Applesauce IV, Creamgate, Consider the Butter, Cloudy With a Chance of Post-Apocalypse Check out Gordie'...

This week we return to our good friend Carl Sandburg for a Rootabega-adjacent story, The Haystack Cricket, and How Things Are Different Up in the Moon Towns. If you like random sounds strung together with no evident rhyme or reason, buddy look no further than a Carl Sandburg story... Suggested talking points: A Lamp Shaped Like a Scary Arm, A Leather Homunculus, Hummadummadarmanda, DJ of the Corn,...

We are joined this week by very special guest T. Kingfisher ! We had to call in back-up to wade our way through Princess Miranda and Prince Hero, a Polish tale featuring everyone's favorite creep, Koschei the Deathless. It also features a hero (named Hero) who makes some staggeringly questionable inventory-management choices on his quest.  Suggested talking points: A Very Successful Quarry/Brothel...

After talking about some crucial current events (read: Stuart Little Lore), we dive into The Little Purse with Two Half-Pennies, a Romanian tale with some stunning revelations about Project Birdfall's humble beginnings. Suggested talking points: An Awkward Starbucks Date with Spiderman, Skateboarding up the Wrong Tree, Geriatrics Anonymous, Chief Chicken Flogger, Decorative Ladies, Discovering New...

This week on What the Folklore, we read FOUR different explanations for where the heck all these god-dang mosquitos came from. As is our want, we take a more...buffet approach to the answer. Suggested talking points: Label Maker x Spooktralizer Slash Fic, Panera Bread Crime Aura, Wandering Around with a Mosquito Sack and a Grude, Petty Revenge Ravens and Snacks, Never Stop Gaz-Snacking If you'd li...

This week on What the Folklore, we read two different stories, The Eye Juggler and Gobbleknoll, which inadvertently creates our most Body Horror-oreinted episode yet! It's Spooklore Summer, baby! Suggested talking points: An Artificial World of Body Parts and Holes, Flirting for Free Cream, An Organic "Guess Who?" Board, A Spider in a Wig, Buffalo Tears, Dedicated to Being Eaten If you'd like to s...

This week on What the Folklore, we read The Nodding Tiger, a Chinese story that introduces us to the humble beginnings of a beloved friend. Suggested talking points: Modular Lego Road, Trained on Gas Station Roller Food, A Robust Evening Wood-Market, These are Man-Catchin' Nets, The Only Son That's Ever Mattered, The Definitive Temp-Tiger Timeline If you'd like to support Carman's artistic endeavo...

This week on What the Folklore, we read the Spanish tale The Bird of Truth, which has some serious texture pop-in issues. Either that, or the protagonist is legally blind and shy about it. Suggested talking points: Grizelda's Bar and Grill, Back to the Chaos Mines, Like Moses, but Way More Gucci, Pigeons in Leather, Serious Boy Business, Every Lizard is a Hot Man, Great Rejoicing (Some Be-headings...

This week on What the Folklore, we're reading Ligur the Water Giant, an obscure German-language tale with a wizard that rivals even the mighty Gaznak! Suggested talking points: A Bowl of Loose Toppings, We've Done a LOT to Vampires, Queen Oprah, Briefly At War with Whales (and Wales), A True Graduate of Princess Academy, Eagle-Surfing, WTFolklore DLC If you'd like to support Carman's artistic ende...

This week on WTFolklore, we head back to our old stomping ground of France for Blanche and Vermeille. You can tell it's a riveting tale, because we spend a good chunk of the episode discussing things you could wear instead of pants. Suggested talking points: Sneaking Agenda Into the Prose, 2,370,563 Ziplines to France, Hot Egg, A True Thing About Pants, Deep in the Pleats, Pants That Need Feeding,...