The Coblynau: The Welsh Mine Spirits Who Knocked to Guide and Warned to Save
In 1880, an American diplomat named Wirt Sikes published British Goblins: Welsh Folk-lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions, a collection […]
Changelings: The Folklore That Had Real Consequences for Real People
In March 1895, in Ballyvadlea in County Tipperary, a woman named Bridget Cleary was burned to death by her husband
The Leprechaun: The Irish Cobbler Who Was Never Cheerful and Was Never Green
The Leprechaun on the cereal box is wearing green, grinning, and waving a shamrock. The Leprechaun in the Irish tradition
The Nuckelavee: Orkney’s Skinless Monster and the Most Terrifying Creature Description in British Folklore
Walter Traill Dennison was an Orcadian folklorist who spent the latter half of the 19th century collecting the oral traditions
The Bean Nighe: Scotland’s Washer at the Ford and the Ghost Who Can Be Bargained With
Most supernatural figures in the Scottish Highland tradition do not negotiate. The Kelpie takes you into the water. The Each-Uisge
The Banshee: Ireland’s Death Herald and the Tradition Nobody Talks About Properly
The Banshee is one of the most recognisable figures in Irish folklore and one of the most misrepresented. The popular
The Afanc: Wales’s Lake Monster and the Creature That Cannot Decide What It Is
Most folklore creatures have a consistent form. The Kelpie is a water horse. The Banshee is a wailing woman. The
Herne the Hunter: The Antlered Ghost of Windsor Forest and the Question Shakespeare Left Open
In Act Four of The Merry Wives of Windsor, Mistress Page proposes a scheme. She knows the legend of a
The Empusa: The Shape-Shifting Demon of Ancient Greece and Her Connection to Hecate
In Aristophanes’s comedy The Frogs, written in 405 BC, the god Dionysus is travelling to the underworld with his servant
The Queen of Elphame: The Fairy Ruler Who Appeared in Scotland’s Witch Trials
In 1576, a woman named Bessie Dunlop was brought before the authorities in Ayrshire and charged with witchcraft. The accusation