The Werewolf Trials of Europe: When Belief Became a Death Sentence
Between the 15th and 17th centuries, across France, Germany, and the Baltic states, people were tried, tortured, convicted, and executed […]
The Kraken: What the Norse Tradition Actually Says About the Monster Beneath the Sea
In 1752, Erik Pontoppidan, the Bishop of Bergen, published what he modestly called the first attempt at a natural history
The Wendigo: The Real Algonquian Tradition Behind the Horror Movie Monster
The creature most people picture when they hear the word Wendigo has antlers. It is tall, skeletal, vaguely deer-like, and
The Morrigan: Ireland’s Phantom Queen and the Goddess Who Arranged a Hero’s Death
At the end of the Battle of Mag Tuired, after the Tuatha De Danann had defeated the Fomorians and Ireland
Dearg Due: Ireland’s Female Vampire and the Story That May Be Older Than It Looks
Somewhere in Waterford, at a location known as Strongbow’s Tree, there is a grave. The tradition says a stone should
Fear Gorta: The Man of Hunger Who Walks Ireland’s Roads
He appears at twilight, on a quiet road between settlements, in the kind of place where you might convince yourself
Abhartach: The Irish Vampire That May Have Inspired Dracula
County Derry, Northern Ireland, sometime in the fifth or sixth century. A chieftain is dead. His subjects, who hated him
The Lady in Black of Grahamston: The Ghost the Children Never Forgot
Before the iron bones of Glasgow Central Station took shape, before the platforms roared and the tunnels filled with the
Grahamston: The Lost Village Buried Beneath Glasgow Central Station
One of the most exciting urban legends about Glasgow (to me at least) is that there is a preserved village
The Underground Argyll Arcade: Glasgow’s Most Persistent Urban Legend
Every city has its underground legend. Rome has its catacombs. Edinburgh has Mary King’s Close. Glasgow has several, because Glasgow