Legends and Folklore

White Ladies, Wicked Lairds, and WT Stead at Hermitage Castle….

“Haunted Hermitage, Where long by spells mysterious bound, They pace their round with lifeless smile. And shake with restless foot the...

Frigg: Trophy wife or force majeure?

Frigg: the perfect wife? Image of Frig by InertiaK When I first began researching the Norse Gods and Goddesses for my series Granny...

The Beast of Gevaudan: the Napoleon Bonaparte of Wolves*

The Beast of Gévaudan Max Von Sydow in The Wolfman, 2010, Copyright Universal Pictures I first came across the legend of the Beast of...

Mother Shipton: Yorkshire’s Nostradamus

Old Mother Shipton I visited Knaresborough in Yorkshire on a family holiday when I was a teenager. One of the things I remember most...

Hikes, Hostels and the Old Hag…

Just want to get this straight here, I’m NOT the hag mentioned in the title (I’ve got a few more years before that happens yet!) ;0)...

Sawney Bean: Cannibal, Progaganda or Bogeyman?

By Levi L. Hill [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons, image adapted by Lenora “A man and his wife behind him on the same horse, coming...

Dick Turpin, Boudica, Hangman’s Hill and the Suicide Pool: Tales from Epping Forest

Image by John Leeming/Wickimedia Commons Epping Forest together with Hainault and Hatfield forests are all that is left of the ancient...

The Wicked Lady: folklore, fiction – fact?

The Gentleman’s Magazine, Monday, 24 November 1735: Margaret Lockwood as the Wicked Lady, 1945 Gainsborough Pictures. “A Butcher was...

The curse of the red shoes: dancing manias of the middle ages

Dance of Death Image by Pieter Breugel the elder Amidst our people here it comeThe madness of the dance.In every town there now are...

Michael Scott: The Wizard of the North

The Wondrous Michael Scott Tomb of Michael Scott at Melrose Abbey, no longer extant. Image adapted by Lenora. “In these far climes, it...