Tales of Myth and Magic began not as a website but as a YouTube channel, producing documentary-style explorations of the creatures, legends, and folk traditions of Britain and Ireland. The channel now has 59 videos and covers everything from the water horses of the Scottish Highlands to the vampire panics of 20th century Glasgow, the fairy courts of Irish mythology to the phantom black dogs of East Anglia.
If you have arrived here from a search for folklore documentaries, mythology content, or video explorations of British and Irish legend, this is the right place. The videos are free to watch on YouTube. The articles on this site go deeper into the same material, written to accompany and expand on what the videos cover.
What the Channel Covers
The documentary series treats British and Irish folklore as what it actually is: a serious body of knowledge produced by real communities over centuries, not a collection of quaint rural stories for children. Each video investigates a specific creature, legend, or tradition in depth, examining the primary sources where they exist, the landscape and historical context that produced the belief, and what the tradition actually says rather than what popular culture has decided it means.
The channel covers Scotland extensively, because Scotland has one of the richest and most varied folklore traditions in the world and one of the least documented in accessible video content. The Kelpie, the Each-Uisge, the Baobhan Sith, the Caoineag, the Glaistig, the Nuckelavee, the Bodach: all of these have been covered in depth. The Glasgow folklore series examines the urban legends of Scotland’s largest city, including the Gorbals Vampire panic of 1954 and the figure of Maggie Murphy, whose story connects Irish immigration, Victorian Glasgow, and a very specific kind of child-stealing folk terror that has no obvious equivalent elsewhere.
Ireland is covered with equal depth. The Banshee, the Dullahan, the Puca, the Changeling, the Leprechaun as the original tradition understood it rather than the tourist version: all examined in their full context. The channel has also covered figures from Irish mythology proper, including the Morrigan, Fionn Mac Cumhaill, and Cu Chulainn, treating the mythological material with the same seriousness as the folklore.
England and Wales are covered more lightly at present, though the content is growing. Black Shuck, Spring Heeled Jack, the Highgate Vampire, Herne the Hunter, the Wild Hunt, the Owlman of Cornwall, the Gwiber and the Afanc of Welsh tradition: the channel and the site are building toward comprehensive coverage of folklore across all four nations.
Why This Content Exists
Most video content about British and Irish folklore falls into one of two categories. The first is purely entertainment-focused: atmospheric horror content that uses folklore as a backdrop without engaging seriously with what the tradition actually says. The second is purely academic: lecture-style content that treats the material with appropriate rigour but that most people find difficult to stay with.
Tales of Myth and Magic sits between those two positions. The videos are documentary in style, with location footage, atmospheric presentation, and a focus on making the material genuinely engaging. But they do not sacrifice accuracy or depth for entertainment. Where the historical record is contested, that is acknowledged. Where the tradition is more complex than the popular version suggests, the complexity is examined rather than flattened.
The channel is one person’s work: a Glasgow-based creator with a genuine obsession with the dark edges of the British and Irish tradition, no film school background, and a commitment to treating this material as seriously as it deserves. The About Me page has more on the background if you are curious.
The Articles
Every video on the channel has a corresponding article on this site that expands on the same material in written form. Many articles go considerably further than the videos, incorporating additional research, primary source material, and analysis that the video format does not have space for. If you have watched a video and want to go deeper, the article is the place to start.
The site also contains a growing body of articles on creatures and traditions that have not yet been covered in video form, including the full Odyssey series examining the creatures and characters of Homer’s poem, the European werewolf trials, the Wild Hunt, and material from traditions beyond Britain and Ireland including the Wendigo, the Kraken, and Greek mythology.
How to Find the Content
The YouTube channel is at youtube.com/@TalesofMythandMagic. Subscribing there ensures you are notified when new videos are published.
On this site, the content is organised by region and type. The Scotland category is the largest and most developed. The Ireland category covers both folklore and mythology. England and Wales are growing. The Legendary Creatures section covers vampires, werewolves, and creatures from beyond the British Isles. Ancient Mythology covers Greek, Norse, and other classical traditions.
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