Tag Archives: witches

Egg Shell Lore: Witches & Fairies

Posted on 29th March 2024 by Sam George

There’s an interesting overlap between witches and fairies in folklore, this is seen, for example, in the shared idea of their uncanny voyages and the unusual vessels they choose to travel in. According to A Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584), witches … Continue reading →

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CFPs and Events: Crones, vampires, Alice, Blake, Shelley, Burns Night

Posted on 18th December 2021 by William the Bloody

An assortment of conference CFPs and calls for articles, plus online events. 1. CFP: Crones, Crime, and the Gothic, In-person Conference, Falmouth University UK, 10-11 June 2022. Deadline: 1 April 2022. Older women have traditionally been portrayed negatively in folklore, … Continue reading →

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Burns Night: Tam O ‘Shanter

Posted on 25th January 2021 by William the Bloody

As it’s Burns Night, here’s a link to Robert Burns’s delightfully Gothic poem Tam O ‘Shanter (1791), in which, after a heavy bout of drinking, Tam narrowly escapes the clutches of a horde of witches. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43815/tam-o-shanter

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OGOM Gothic New Year Tour

Posted on 5th January 2020 by Sam George

Happy New Year OGOMers. Why not catch up on the dark fest that was Gothic Advent and celebrate 2020 by joining us on 18th January to explore the magical and spectral history of St Albans. Your hosts will be vampire … Continue reading →

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The Haunted Landscape: Magic and Monsters of the British Isles; 23rd November, Conway Hall, London

Posted on 12th November 2019 by Sam George

‘The Haunted Landscape: Magic and Monsters of the British Isles’ is a one-day symposium on folklore, magic and beyond. Authors and researchers discuss fairies, witchcraft, werewolves, vampires, dragons, the lore of autumn, and the magic of common folk. Up the … Continue reading →

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OGOM Halloween Countdown: 31 Days of Spookiness

Posted on 31st October 2019 by Sam George

Those who believe that the spirit world and the living world co-exist, always hidden from each other, will see the barrier between them open in the witching hour. Here at OGOM we are leaving the doors of perception open. We … Continue reading →

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Night of the Gorgeous Goth Girls–again!!

Posted on 4th November 2018 by William the Bloody

This poem was meant as a light-hearted celebration of all things Gothic, and of scholars and students in the field. I crammed in as many tropes, archetypes, characters, and clichés as I could, torturously straining the rhymes on the rack. … Continue reading →

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Hallowe’en Greetings From OGOM

Posted on 31st October 2018 by Sam George

Hello OGOMERS, Wishing you a spooktacular Hallowe’en evening!!! We are just back from our Supernatural St Albans Halloween Tour which went down a real treat. Around 40 people engaged in our wonderfully weird history of witches, tortured martyrs, vampire graves, dragons, … Continue reading →

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OGOM: Spectral St Albans Hallowe’en Tour – booking now

Posted on 7th October 2018 by Sam George

OGOM is proud to announce a special Supernatural St Albans Hallowe’en Tour. We will be exploring the magical and spectral history of Hertfordshire’s finest gothic city. The event is informed by the research we carried out for our ‘Urban Weird‘ … Continue reading →

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Why Are Witches So Popular?

Posted on 17th September 2018 by Sam George

The Guardian Newspaper has just featured an article entitled Coven Ready: from Instagram to TV:Why are Witches so Popular? It appears that there is a spate of new occult dramas about witches. A Discovery of Witches, an adaptation of Deborah Harkness’s novel about a … Continue reading →

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