Tag Archives: Folklore

Have Yourself A Gothic Little Christmas from OGOM

Posted on 21st December 2015 by Sam George

OGOM wishes you a gothic little Christmas! Have yourself a gothic little Christmas Let your heart be light From now on, our troubles will be out of sight Have yourself a gothic little Christmas Make the Yuletide dark From now … Continue reading →

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The Publication of Grimm’s Fairy Tales

Posted on 20th December 2015 by William the Bloody

On this date (20 December) in 1812, the Grimm brothers published the first edition of their Kinder- und Hausmärchen (Children’s and Household Tales). Richard Cavendish writes about it here.

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Black Dogs and Hell Hounds

Posted on 5th November 2015 by Sam George

Ted Hughes described this time of year as ‘The month of the drowned dog’ in his evocative poem ‘November’ where after long rain ‘the land  was sodden as the bed of an ancient lake/ Treed with iron and was bird … Continue reading →

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Britain’s Medieval Vampires – Review

Posted on 4th November 2015 by firekrank

Last night I caught up with ‘Britain’s Medieval Vampires’ on Channel 4. The programme looked at a number of ‘deviant’ burials which had occurred in the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain and related them to a 12th-century text, the ‘Life and … Continue reading →

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How Did I Choose Me My Witchcraft Kin? My Past and Future in Witches

Posted on 28th October 2015 by Sam George

‘My Nannie says I’m a child of sin. How did I choose me my witchcraft kin?’ (Waterhouse, ‘The Magic Circle’, 1886, thanks to Janette for this) I found myself in the north of England at the weekend for the Gothic … Continue reading →

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Witch-Finding, Marina Warner

Posted on 27th October 2015 by firekrank

Set your alarms for 10.00pm tonight (or head to BBC iPlayer tomorrow) in order to hear Marina Warner’s edition of Radio 3’s Free Thinking, ‘Witch-Finding’. The show includes Catherine Spooner talking about the history of witchcraft trials. If you are … Continue reading →

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CFP – Reflected Shadows: Folklore and the Gothic

Posted on 20th October 2015 by firekrank

Kingston University are holding a joint conference with The Folklore Society on the 15th – 17th April 2016. They have released a CFP and require the abstracts in by the 31st December 2015. The subject matter is incredibly fruitful and … Continue reading →

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The First Global Fairy Census Wants To Hear About Your Close Encounters

Posted on 17th October 2015 by William the Bloody

A fascinating account by Jess Zimmerman of investigation into the existence of and encounter with fairies.

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Before Bram: a timeline of vampire literature

Posted on 16th October 2015 by William the Bloody

More useful information from Roger Luckhurst on the origins of the vampire. This timeline illustrates the ethnographic and literary precursors of Stoker’s Dracula.

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Roger Luckhurst, ‘The birth of the vampyre: Dracula and mythology in Early Modern Europe’

Posted on 16th October 2015 by William the Bloody

An extract here from Roger Luckhurst’s excellent introduction to the OUP World’s Classics edition of Dracula. The notion that the vampire is universal and archetypal is debunked, and its origins shown to lie in the Enlightenment response to folkloric panics … Continue reading →

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