Fabulous Folklore with Icy

In this episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I'm joined by writer Charlie Creed, to chat about his new book, The Faery Rules: Forgotten Folklore for Living in Harmony with the Fae. We talk about why people persist in thinking fairies are all lovely and light when folklore says otherwise, ways you can protect yourself from fairies, and some of the more unusual beliefs that abound when it comes to talking about all things fairy-like! Charlie Creed is a writer from Bristol. He studied English Literature at Cambridge University before working as a musician, newspaper subeditor, and freelance writer. He is the author of The Cat's Tales: Feline Fairy Tales and Folklore and The Faery Rules: Forgotten Folklore for Living in Harmony with the Fae. He lives in Bristol with his wife and two daughters. Buy The Faery Rules: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781446317433 Find Charlie Creed on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/charliecreedwriter/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

Much online discussion of the moon focuses on the new and full moons, especially when it comes to setting intentions and releasing things. I prefer to work on a more seasonal basis than monthly, but I'm also terrible at intention setting because I invariably forget what I intended. (No, I intend to remember my intentions doesn’t work). Yet examining the plethora of superstitions and beliefs about the moon in folklore reveals that things weren’t quite so clear-cut in previous centuries. Practices vary across time and space, but the new moon wasn’t always a positive thing, as it’s viewed now. The full moon could be both lucky and dangerous. I’m predominantly drawing from British and Irish belief as that’s where I’m from, but feel free to leave any other moon superstitions or beliefs from your culture or background in the comments!  Let’s explore the moon in folklore in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and sources used on the associated blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/moon-folklore/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

As we’re focusing on the Folklore of the Skies this month, it seemed only right to start with a celestial phenomenon that becomes a lot easier to see as the nights draw in. Yes, we’re looking at the northern lights, or aurora borealis. Annoyingly, I am yet to see the northern lights. The one time they were visible with the naked eye across the whole of the UK, I was in bed with a migraine. I know, I know, strange lights in the sky, with one individual unable to see them, is how Day of the Triffids starts. We will focus on folklore from Britain and Scandinavia. There are Indigenous legends, but they’re not mine to tell. But if you’re reading this and you’re Indigenous, please feel free to share anything you feel called to share in the comments! Let’s explore the aurora borealis and its folklore in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Donate to the Nepal Disaster Relief Fund: https://pmdrf.nchl.com.np/ Find the images and sources used on the associated blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/northern-lights-in-folklore/ Watch my chat with Ùna Maria Blyth: https://youtu.be/euu7P8Be4VE Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

Poison Hemlock (Conium maculatum) is a member of the Apiaceae family—otherwise known as the Carrot family. It's also known as Beaver Poison, Devil's Porridge, Herb Bennet, Poison Parsley, Water Parsley, and Spotted Hemlock. The plants can grow to 2.5m, and they're commonly found in the British countryside. The whole plant is toxic. According to Mrs Burke's Language of Flowers dictionary, hemlock meant 'You will be my death'. The plant appears in history, but how does it appear in folklore, if at all? Let’s find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and sources used on the associated blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/folklore-of-poison-hemlock/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladonna) is part of the Solanaceae family, which also contains peppers, aubergines, tomatoes and potatoes! This most famous of poisonous plants is also known as belladonna, banewort, deadly dwale, Devil’s cherries, or death’s herb. The deadly nature of belladonna was noted as far back as 1550 BC. It's not a particularly common plant in the wild, although it does prefer woodland. Yet it’s not necessarily a plant you might rush out to grow. You might also be hard-pressed to use it for meaningful communication. According to Mrs Burke's Language of Flowers dictionary, nightshade meant 'truth'. In the same book, belladonna is listed with the meaning 'silence'. So how does this plant appear in folklore, besides its links to the Devil and witchcraft? Let’s find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and sources used on the associated blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/deadly-nightshade-folklore/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

<em>Aconitum</em>, referred to as ‘aconite’, is part of the Ranunculaceae family, or the buttercup family.  The Aconitum genus contains around 100 species, each of which is poisonous. Records of its use date back 3000 years.  The Anglo-Saxons apparently called it ‘thung’, which meant 'poison plant'. The plant also gained the nicknames 'helmet flower', 'friarscap', 'old wife's hood' and 'granny's nightcap'. Given how horrifically poisonous the plant is, it has few medicinal or even magical uses. Yet it still appears in folklore and legend, so let’s explore some of the tales of aconite in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and sources used on the associated blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/aconite-folklore/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

Foxgloves are one of the most enchanting wildflowers you might encounter in a shady woodland. With their deep pink flowers on spikes that can grow as tall as a person, they certainly arrest the attention. Even their name is evocative, with a smattering of legends to explain where ‘foxglove’ came from. Yet as pretty as the foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is, the plant is also poisonous. It’s great for bees, but less so for us. At least, not if we don’t need the toxins it provides the pharmaceutical industry for heart medicine! But given their host of folk names, association with witches, and appearance in legend, let’s dig into the folklore of foxgloves in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and sources used on the associated blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/folklore-of-foxgloves/ Non-traditional haunted houses writing workshop: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/summer-scares-6-week-horror-writing-school-tickets-1980775625216 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

When we talk about poisonous plants, your mind might leap to the celebrities, like foxglove, aconite, or belladonna. You may not immediately think of cuckoo pint (Arum maculatum). It’s native to the UK and surprisingly common. I’ve equally found it in botanic gardens and city centre flowerbeds. Poisoning caused by this plant is thankfully rare, and they do serve a purpose in the ecosystem. Their berries feed birds and they’ll grow in conditions other plants don’t enjoy. Arum maculatum is in the araceae family. But how did people use arum for both mundane and magical purposes? Let’s find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the images and sources used on the associated blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/cuckoo-pint/ Buy Bring Me Love: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781786789747 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

We're finishing up Witches Month by switching gears a little to examine the genesis of a foundational text of modern Wicca - Arada: Or The Gospel of the Witches. To do so, I'm joined by Dr A. D. Manns to explore the life, work, and possible influence of Roma Lister, a longtime collaborator of Charles Godfrey Leland. We chat about Florence as a hotbed of occult activity in the late 19th century, Roma's work collecting folklore from Italian witches, and how she may have had a hand in the creation of Aradia. Dr A. D. Manns is a historian and writer who has long maintained a deep interest in folklore, comparative religion, dissident politics, and mystical literature. He graduated from the Warburg Institute in 2019 with a study on the religio-political storytelling of the 17th-century English propagandist and parliamentarian William Prynne. In 2025, Hexen Press published his first monograph, Aradia's Hidden Hand: The Untold Life of Roma Lister. Visit Drew's website: https://thethinkersgarden.com/ Buy Aradia's Hidden Hand: https://www.hexen.fr/books-prints/aradia-s-hidden-hand-ad-manns Find Drew on Instagram: https://instagram.com/druidauvergne Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

In this episode of Fabulous Folklore, I'm chatting to Marion Gibson about Helena Scheuberin and her witchcraft trial in 1485 in Innsbruck, how her clash with Inquisitor Heinrich Kramer led to the Malleus Maleficarum, and how that hateful book led to such widespread disaster across the centuries. Marion Gibson writes accurate, engaging books about witches and magic in history. She’s been interested in witches for over thirty years, since she read the words of women accused of witchcraft in Elizabethan England. Why were they accused of crimes they didn’t commit? And why did they confess? Marion’s books tell the stories of these women and the men accused alongside them, and she explores the wider history of witch trials, folklore, magical and pagan beliefs and things that go bump in the night. Buy Witchland: A Tale of Witch Hunting and War in Seventeenth Century Britain: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781398545144 Find Marion online: https://mariongibson.co.uk/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

In this episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I chat to Dr Andrea Wright about the fairy tale film as a concept, Jim Henson's career in film and television, the influence of the Muppets on fairy tales on screen, and what Jareth would have made of Miss Piggy! Andrea Wright is a Senior Lecturer in Teaching and Learning Development at Edge Hill University. She leads the Professional Standards Framework CPD Scheme, teaches on the PGCert Teaching in Higher Education and is involved in staff development across the University. Her discipline expertise is in screen studies and fantasy/fairy tales, New Zealand cinema, and British television costume dramas are central to her research interests. She has written on production design, landscape, gender representation, and national identity. Recent publications include chapters on the New Zealand short films Possum and Nature’s Way for the collection Haunted Soundtracks, and The Frankenstein Chronicles and The Alienist for the collection Diagnosing History: Medicine in Television Costume Dramas. Andrea is also the author of the monograph The Fairy Tales of Jim Henson: Keeping the Best Place by the Fire. Buy a copy of The Fairy Tales of Jim Henson: Keeping the best place by the fire here, using the code EVENT30 to get a discount: https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526166111/ Contact Andrea at [email protected] Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

In this episode, we're chatting about witchcraft in Shropshire, a specific 19th century witch named Ann Morgan, and what Ann's life - and death - can tell us about Shropshire, her century, and ourselves. Amy Boucher is a writer and folklorist, who focuses on her native Shropshire. Her emphasis is primarily on the interplay between folklore, history and the paranormal, and perceptions of the past through the lens of folk customs and belief.  Find Amy online at: https://nearlyknowledgeable.co.uk/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: http://icysedgwick.com/start-here

In this first episode of Fabulous Folklore's Witches theme for July, I'm chatting to Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack from the End Witch Hunts project about the Salem Witch Trials. We'll be discussing the context of the trials, possible causes that don't involve mouldy bread, the aftermath of the trials for those accused, and the ongoing witch hunts that result in very real harm around the world. Josh Hutchinson is a descendant of people accused of witchcraft and of people who accused others of witchcraft. Sarah Jack is a documented descendant of victims of witch trials held in Salem, Boston, and Hartford, including Rebecca Nurse, Mary Easty, Mary Hale, and Winifred Benham. They co-host three history podcasts: The Thing About Witch Hunts, The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials, and Salem Witch Trials Daily. They are also co-founders of the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project and End Witch Hunts, America’s only nonprofit organisation dedicated to raising awareness of the continuation of violence related to witchcraft accusations. Let’s explore the Salem Witch Trials in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find Sarah and Josh online: https://endwitchhunts.org Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: http://icysedgwick.com/start-here

I’ve covered three British herbalists so far on this podcast, and each has made a notable contribution to the development of botany and apothecary practice in Britain. This week, we’re going to meet Maud Grieve, whose contribution took a different form. Yes, she wrote a lot about plants. She wrote A Modern Herbal, in fact. Yet she also contributed to the wartime efforts of the First World War in the realm of medicinal plants. She’s perhaps not as well-known as the other three herbal writers I’ve featured: Elizabeth Blackwell, William Turner, and Nicholas Culpeper. She didn’t illustrate her herbal, like Blackwell. Nor did she translate Latin texts into English, like Turner or Culpeper. But she did get people growing–and using–their own herbs. Let’s go to meet her in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/maud-grieve/ Become a member of Herbaria here: https://school.rowanandsage.com/courses/herbaria?affcode=437598_3qokpyep Magical Legends of the North East Talk: https://ko-fi.com/s/7f42dec282 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: http://icysedgwick.com/start-here

Last week, we met William Turner, who revolutionised English herbals in the 16th century by publishing the first one in English. This gave more people access to the herbal knowledge he felt people should have - although it's likely he intended for physicians and apothecaries to use it. This week, we're going to meet Nicholas Culpeper, who took on the medical establishment in the 17th century, and did so using a herbal. Let’s go to meet him in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/nicholas-culpeper/ Buy Seasonal Herbcraft here: https://school.rowanandsage.com/courses/seasonal-herbcraft1?affcode=437598_3qokpyep Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: http://icysedgwick.com/start-here

In this episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I'm talking to archaeologist Wayne Perkins, who worked as a field archaeologist before moving into Historic Building Surveys. He supervises urban excavations in the City of London, as well as overseeing rural excavations in surrounding Sussex, Surrey, and Kent. He has a new book coming out this month, A Consensus of Symbols: Patterns, and Ritual Building Protection, so I thought I'd get him on to talk about apotropaic measures, deposited objects like boots or shoes, mummified cats, and yes, you guessed it, witch marks! Buy A Consensus of Symbols: Patterns in Ritual Building Protection - https://amzn.to/4uFd3Z4 Find Wayne online: https://ritualprotectionmarks.com/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://www.icysedgwick.com/start-here

Herbalism has seen a boom of interest in recent years as people seek to find closer relationships with nature and create ways to supplement their wellbeing. The practice has a long history all over the world, with many cultures offering their own uses for the plants and trees that grew in their region. Having such a plethora of plant material available called for the introduction of the herbal; a book collecting plants and their uses into one place. Yet books require one simple thing - the ability to read. India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China all kept records about the use of plants. In Europe, many early herbals were written in Latin, putting them beyond the reach of ordinary people. Until William Turner came along and changed the game by writing one in English. Let’s go to meet him in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/william-turner/ Buy Vitalist Herbcraft here: https://school.rowanandsage.com/courses/vitalistherbcraft?affcode=437598_3qokpyep Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: http://icysedgwick.com/start-here

If you’re interested in herbalism or plant lore, chances are that you’ve perused a herbal or two in your time. Culpeper's Complete Herbal: A Compendium of Herbs and Their Uses, Annotated for Modern Herbalists, Healers, and Witches is a particularly well-known title, even if the contents have been surpassed with scientific advancements. Yet did you know that one of the most well-regarded herbals of the 18th century was created, and marketed, by a woman? And that she even got endorsements from the Royal College of Physicians for the book, used by apothecaries for decades? Let’s go and meet Elizabeth Blackwell in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/elizabeth-blackwell/ Join Herbaria here: https://school.rowanandsage.com/courses/herbaria?affcode=437598_3qokpyep From St Cuthbert to the Wizard of the North: The Magical Legends of the North East talk: https://www.newcastlecastle.co.uk/events-activities Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: http://icysedgwick.com/start-here

Storytelling is something we all do on a daily basis, whether we’re aware of it or not. Maybe we’re telling a funny anecdote about something that happened on the way to work. Perhaps we’re recounting how we first met the bride during a wedding speech. Or how about retelling our favourite folk tale to help soothe a child to sleep? Storytelling and folklore are not synonyms. Folklore is a body of knowledge created primarily by the people for transmission between themselves. Folk tales are the stories told by these same people, though the definition of a folk tale varies. Yet storytelling can be the bridge between the two, enabling the ongoing transmission of folklore from a teller to a group of avid listeners. The English and Welsh storytelling revival began in the early 1980s, and we can thank its success for the plethora of storytelling events, books, and podcasts now available. So let’s look at how storytelling links with folklore in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! See the episode contributors here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/episode-contributors/ Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/folklore-and-storytelling/ Check out Dawn Nelson's Little History of Storytelling: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781803996745 Amanda's talk at the Folklore Centre: https://www.folkloremythmagic.com/product-page/amanda-edmiston-traveller-tales-and-healing-herbs-talk Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: http://icysedgwick.com/start-here

Dr Steph Lay is a folk horror writer, psychologist and researcher, gathering and sharing local stories of the unexplained for a project investigating whether the new city of Milton Keynes might be more haunted than anyone realises. Behind the scenes, she works with Peter Laws on the popular YouTube channel Into the Fog, curating the true experiences sent in by viewers and creating atmospheric artwork to bring the stories to life. Overall, her work brings together stories, psychology and the paranormal, exploring not only why strange experiences unsettle us, but why they matter. In this chat, we talk about Steph's Revenants on the Redway project, the beauty of collecting supernatural experiences, why places don't need to be old to be haunted, and the attraction of parapsychology. Find Steph's blog: https://cityofsecrets.blog/ Check out Dr Ciarán O'Keeffe's parapsychology school: https://theschoolofparapsychology.company.site/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: http://icysedgwick.com/start-here

Visionary film director and stage magician Georges Méliès is perhaps the earliest filmmaker who saw the visual potential of folklore. Among others, mermaids, sirens, ghosts, devils, and sorcerers are plentiful in his films. True, many of these figures become important for their centrality to the ‘tricks’ his films became famous for. Meanwhile, his films became important for the fantasy genres that would include later depictions of such folkloric beings! So how did Méliès include elements from folklore in his trick films? Let’s find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/georges-melies/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Musical instruments appear scattered throughout various folktales. A drum lies at the centre of the Tedworth Drummer story. Pipers and drummers try to follow underground tunnels, only to mysteriously vanish. But what of the instruments themselves? What folklore or stories swirl around the physical items?  A listener requested the folklore of musical instruments some time ago. Now we’re looking at Folklore and the Arts, it seemed like the ideal time to go looking! Let's explore some folk tales and legends featuring a handful of stringed musical instruments in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Listen to Jon O'Sullivan talk about the harp of An Dagda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-J4OuYyjw4 Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/stringed-musical-instruments/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Going to the theatre can often feel like a magical experience. You sit in the dark, watching a story unfold in front of you, with your imagination filling in the gaps between the sets. It’s unsurprising that theatre superstitions would be so plentiful. Intended to bring good luck or ward off bad luck, some of these superstitions have made their way into life outside the theatre. Look at how many people know it’s bad luck to name Macbeth. I’ve grouped these theatre superstitions according to which part of the theatre or performance they refer to. I'm thrilled to also have a special guest for this theatre-based episode, so a big welcome to actor, musician and folklore writer, and contender for one of the loveliest people I know, Mateo Oxley! Let's explore the strange world of theatre superstitions in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find Mateo Oxley on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mateooxley/ Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/theatre-superstitions/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Folklore and the arts are almost natural bedfellows. As we saw with the work of Newcastle-based painter Ralph Hedley, artists can capture local traditions for posterity. The Pre-Raphaelites created some of the most enduring depictions of myth and legend. Even creating art becomes a part of folk life, with various arts and crafts part of enduring traditions. As we saw with the humble proggy mat, making items can be a way to engage with history and heritage in a very tangible way. So it seemed only natural that when I had three art-related episode requests, I would dedicate a month to Folklore and the Arts. The requests were for: superstitions connected to artworks; haunted portraits; and stories about the creation of certain artworks. Unfortunately, in the case of the last request, there was no indication of which artworks they wanted to know about, but hopefully, I've included them here anyway! In this article, we’ll explore a supposedly cursed painting, an apparently haunted portrait, and a painting at the heart of a weird urban legend in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/cursed-artworks/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Studying the shapes of things is a popular means of divination, relying on human pattern recognition abilities. Look at reading tea leaves and coffee grounds, or tasseography, which rely on spotting symbols in the cup. The symbols often hold near-universal meanings (like a ring for marriage), but they can also be deeply personal to the diviner. And let’s be honest, we live in an often chaotic and unpredictable universe. Divination using pattern recognition methods offers a way to make sense of seemingly senseless things. Perhaps you believe the brain loves connecting patterns between unrelated information to find a meaning. Known as pareidolia, it explains why people see faces of dead celebrities in the burned parts of their toast.  Or perhaps you think we see shapes in smoke because a spirit or a god is manipulating form to pass on a message. Either way, there is a whole range of methods involving pattern recognition. There’s an entire chapter about them in the book, so let’s focus on finding symbols in the air, in fire, and in dreams in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/dreams-divination/ Buy Fate or Fortune: The Art and Folklore of Divination: https://amzn.to/41SkWOF Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Divination is a beautifully varied practice, with a plethora of tools and practices designed to give insight into situations. Practices like reading tea leaves or tarot cards already appear on this podcast. But what about those forms of divination that rely on ‘randomness’ in order to work? You might cast lots, throw dice, or interpret the connections between items that fall where they may. To what extent you believe the result is 'random' depends on your belief system. For some, the message comes from deities or spirits, and the tool is their communication method of choice. For others, the results come from the universe itself. Other diviners don’t accept ‘random’ as a concept, and their meanings come from the statistical results of divination. For others, the result might be truly random, but the diviner creates meaning by seeing associations between apparently disparate items. But how it works is not our issue here. Instead, we’re going to explore the folklore of casting lots, casting stones, and throwing dice in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/random-chance-divination/ Buy Fate or Fortune: The Art and Folklore of Divination: https://amzn.to/41SkWOF Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Last week, we looked at the use of dowsing to find treasure or criminals. Like water dowsing, this method requires the use of a rod that twitches in the hands when the target is close. But the other method of dowsing involves a pendulum. That is, an item suspended from a chain, cord, or hair, that swings in one direction or another to give you an answer. For example, people suspended keys over the Bible as a form of bibliomancy. They asked a question, let the key swing, and checked the verse the key indicated. This form of pendulum dowsing appears in a range of folklore, from the famous ‘sieve and shears’ practised by cunning folk, to wedding ring-based love divination! Let’s explore them further in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/pendulum-dowsing/ Buy Fate or Fortune: The Art and Folklore of Divination: https://www.crossedcrowbooks.com/shop-crossed-crow-books/p/fate-or-fortune-the-art-and-folklore-of-divination Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Morgan Daimler is a witch who has been a polytheist since the early 1990s. Following a path inspired by the Irish Fairy Faith blended with neopagan witchcraft. Morgan teaches classes on Irish myth and magical practices, fairies, and related subjects in the United States and internationally. Morgan has been published in multiple anthologies as well as in Witches and Pagans magazine, and Pagan Dawn magazine, and is one of the world's foremost experts on all things Fairy. In this chat, we talk about the fairy courts from Scottish folklore, how Seelie and Unseelie as terms entered the international chat through fiction, what a fairy might actually want with you if you ever met one, and why it's not a great idea to sanitise supernatural beings who once taught our ancestors valuable lessons... Buy The Fairy Courts: From Folklore to Fiction: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781803418384 Find Morgan's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/morgandaimler Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Dowsing is often used to find water, minerals, or even lost items. Where divination usually seeks to provide information, here the information is of a directly practical or tangible sort. Rather than telling a fortune, or providing a prophetic dream that must be interpreted, dowsing relates information about the presence of something the dowser is looking for. We’ve already looked at dowsing for water, also known as water witching. In this post, we’ll look at dowsing for treasure and criminals in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/treasure-dowsing/ Check out Fate or Fortune: The Art and Folklore of Divination: https://www.crossedcrowbooks.com/shop-crossed-crow-books/p/fate-or-fortune-the-art-and-folklore-of-divination Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

When it comes to the walnut tree, we're probably more familiar with their produce than the actual tree. Walnuts are easily recognisable, and present in everything from nut selections to coffee cake.  We might even know that classic Jaguar cars often feature walnut veneers on their dashboards. Many guitars also feature walnut in their construction. Yet we're probably less familiar with their superstitions, legends, and even remedies. The fact that they appear in folklore shows they were important to our forebears, even if we've forgotten their uses now. Let's put that right and get to know the walnut tree in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/walnut-trees/ Buy Bring Me Love: Finding and Keeping Love Using Divination and Folk Magic: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781786789747 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Poplar trees are perhaps one of the lesser-known trees that I've featured on this blog. Many people can recognise an oak tree on sight, but how many could recognise the poplar?  Indeed, how many would realise John Constable added a black poplar to the background of his famous painting, 'The Hay Wain'? We find these trees in the willow family, and for a tree that's less common now, they have a surprising amount of folklore. The trees even gave their name to the London borough, Poplar, due to the number of black poplars in the area.  There are also different types of poplar, though this article will focus on the black and white varieties. So how did people use the tree in their remedies, and what superstitions surround the poplar? Let's find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/poplar-trees/ Check out the Woodland Trust: https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/ Donate to Secure The Rothbury Estate: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/appeals/rothbury-estate-nature-and-nation Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Joanna Tarnawska is an animist, folkloric witch, and psychologist residing in the mountains of Lower Silesia, Poland. Her practice intertwines animism, bioregional traditions, and lore, drawing inspiration from the early modern period of Polish witch trials and Slavic folklore. With a strong foundation in anthropology and ethnography, Joanna's work explores the deep connections between pre- and post-Christian folklore and witchcraft traditions. She contributes articles to Femme Occulte magazine and runs "Polish Folk Witch," a platform where she shares her knowledge through courses and group studies on Polish folk magic, animism, and traditional witchcraft. In this chat, we talk about folk magic compared to witchcraft, the presence of Christian elements within Polish folk magic, spring rituals within Polish practice, and just how accessible and practical folk magic can be. Buy Polish Folk Magic: Ancestral Lore & Traditions of the West Slavs: https://amzn.to/4bmoxdJ Find Joanna online: https://polishfolkwitch.pl/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Back in November 2020, I explored the folklore of the yew tree; specifically, the common yew, or English yew (Taxus baccata). Yes, it's a poisonous tree. Yes, it's linked with death. And yes, people like to say they pre-date the churchyards in which we find them. But in the intervening six years, my library of sources has grown, so I wanted to see if there was anything more I could learn about them. They're my favourite tree, and I always love spotting them in parks and cemeteries. There's something deeply restful and reassuring about a yew tree. My fascination with trees within ecosystems has also grown, so I wanted to explore the yew outside of folklore. How and why are these trees so cool and so different from other trees? So let's explore their dendrology, their uses to humans, and yes, their links with death, before we meet some more famous yews in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/yew-trees/ Listen to the earlier yew episode: https://www.icysedgwick.com/yew/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Periodically, I choose a plant, tree or fungus to explore, only to find there is very little folklore about them. Invariably, there are two reasons for this. First, the plant, tree or fungus has little use to humans, so no one bothered much with it in the past. This sometimes applies to toxic specimens, too. You don't need to preserve knowledge about something you know to avoid, so there's no lore to pass on. Second, the plant, tree or fungus only arrived in the UK (or Europe) within the last couple of centuries. Again, this often results in sparse lore about them, much as we see with the horse chestnut or sycamore. I ran into this exact problem with the London Plane tree. I'd seen one featured in a 3-part documentary about trees, narrated by Michael Palin, on Cheapside in London. Having gone to meet it myself on a trip to the capital, I announced I'd be starting this month's Tree theme with the London Plane. And then I discovered how little folklore there actually is about them. Still, how they came about proves to be an interesting story on its own. The tale of the Cheapside Plane is worth exploring too. So while we've got less folklore than usual, there are still stories to tell.  Let's go to meet the London Plane in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/london-plane/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

In January, I asked people if they wanted to share any children’s folklore as part of my February theme. As a branch of study, this largely refers to folklore created, shared, and maintained by children. Adults are not involved in its generation. So, contributors could share folklore they remembered from their childhood. Or they could share what they’d heard from children in their lives now. Most responses came from those sharing memories of childhood folklore, and broadly fell into three categories. We’ve already covered urban legends and children’s beliefs.  This time, we're going to focus on games. So what did my listeners play as children, both in the schoolyard and at home? Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/childhood-games/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Najah Lightfoot is the multi award-winning author and regular contributor to the Llewellyn annuals. Najah’s magickal staff is on display and part of the permanent collection of the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft. She is an in-demand speaker and presenter for conferences, events, and workshops. Najah lives in Denver, Colorado, where the blue skies and the power of the Rocky Mountains uplift and fill her soul. In this episode, we talk about her new book, The Spiritual Magic of Dolls, haunted dolls, how to know if you're a 'doll person', and how to start collecting dolls! Buy The Spiritual Magic of Dolls: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781578638857 Find Najah online: https://www.craftandconjure.com/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

In January, I asked people if they wanted to share any children’s folklore as part of my February theme. As a branch of study, this largely refers to folklore created, shared, and maintained by children. Adults are not involved in its generation. So, contributors could share folklore they remembered from their childhood. Or they could share what they’d heard from children in their lives now. Most responses came from those sharing memories of childhood folklore, and broadly fell into three categories. As a result, this episode and the two that follow will use those categories. Urban Legends refers to the stories or urban legends that people shared. Games and Practices refers to things that people did. Monsters and Beliefs refer to (surprise, surprise) things people believed! In this episode, we’ll explore some of the beliefs people heard and spread in their childhood, including supernatural beings like witches, love divination, and superstitions! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/childrens-beliefs/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

In January, I asked people if they wanted to share any children’s folklore as part of my February theme. As a branch of study, this largely refers to folklore created, shared, and maintained by children. Adults are not involved in its generation. So, contributors could share folklore they remembered from their childhood. Or they could share what they’d heard from children in their lives now. Most responses came from those sharing memories of childhood folklore, and broadly fell into three categories. As a result, this episode and the two that follow will use those categories. Urban Legends refers to the stories or urban legends that people shared. Games and Practices refers to things that people did. Monsters and Beliefs refer to (surprise, surprise) things people believed! In this episode, we’ll explore some of the urban legends people heard and spread in their childhood. We'll also examine how they dovetail with wider patterns of such legends, where applicable! Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/childrens-urban-legends/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Some toy trends make sense, like the fascination with Lego or even Barbie-mania, which naturally enjoyed the boost from the 2023 film. The fad for trolls, however, doesn't immediately make sense. These strange plastic figures with staring eyes and wild hair don't really do much…but that has never stopped people wanting them. This month is going to be all about children's folklore, and that led me onto thinking about toys. While the folklore of toys might have seemed more obvious, troll dolls give us the chance to explore toys related to folklore. So let's explore where troll dolls came from, and how trolls themselves appear in Scandinavian myth and folklore in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore. Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/trolls-in-folklore/ Check out my new book about love magic in folklore, Bring Me Love: https://www.icysedgwick.com/book/bring-me-love/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

The arts remain one of the best ways to preserve culture in a way that people can interact with. Literature, folk music, and art, among others, allow us to experience culture, even secondhand, using tangible sources. Even better, we can create our own responses to this culture using our chosen cultural medium. Painter Ralph Hedley captured ordinary, working-class life around Tyneside and Northumberland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We’ll explore how he captured scenes of ritual, tradition, and custom in his beautiful paintings, and investigate what they can tell us about the way folklore shows up, primarily in cities.  But we're also focusing on his work as an example of how much community rituals mattered in the past as a way of bringing people together. We need that now, more than ever. Let’s go and explore the work of Ralph Hedley in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore. Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/ralph-hedley/ Donate to Stand with Minnesota: https://www.standwithminnesota.com/ Share your Children's Folklore here: https://forms.gle/D8mLW7q2um5ZYiTD9 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

The Newcastle Castle occupies a strange position in the city centre. So strange that some people can’t believe we have a castle in town at all! Various buildings have stood on the site for centuries, dating back to the Romans and their Pons Aelius fort. Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, originally founded Newcastle Castle in 1080. This early castle was made from wood, and builders rebuilt the castle in stone between 1168 and 1178. It has been a castle, a prison, a beer cellar and Civil War stronghold. Now, it’s a visitor attraction, and one that I highly recommend seeing if you can. But as with any English castle, stories both sad and strange abound within Newcastle Castle. Let’s examine three of its legends as part of our exploration of folklore found within cities in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore. Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/newcastle-castle/ Buy my illustrated talk about the Castle Garth: https://www.patreon.com/posts/bonus-episode-of-118882103 Share your Children's Folklore here: https://forms.gle/D8mLW7q2um5ZYiTD9 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Walk along Stowell Street in Newcastle upon Tyne and turn into St Andrew’s Street, and you might notice a plaque on the wall. It marks the site of the house where Tyneside bard Joe Wilson was born - though it’s unclear how many people know who Joe Wilson is. There was a resurgence of interest in the 19th-century songwriter a few years ago, particularly thanks to the musical play, The Great Joe Wilson, that toured the north east in 2018. It was a rousing, whistle-stop tour of the bard’s short life and songs. But who was he, and why is he important if we’re looking at a city through a folklore lens? Let’s find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore. Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/joe-wilson Hear 'Keep Yor Feet Still, Geordie Hinny': https://youtu.be/W4BBDu8pd7s?si=MYyov6vkqNjYpvRV Share your Children's Folklore here: https://forms.gle/D8mLW7q2um5ZYiTD9 Find the links to the writing workshops here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/start-here/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Inhabitants of the Tyneside region are undoubtedly familiar with the 19th-century song, 'The Blaydon Races'. It describes a journey from Newcastle's city centre to Blaydon to see the races, and even became immortalised in art. The song is traditionally sung in the local Geordie dialect, although over time, some of the language has softened to make it more easily understood by outsiders. Now sung at football and rugby events in the area, the song preserves a slice of history, and the characters that populated the area at the time. Given this month's focus on exploring a city's folk life through its history, looking at a folk song that came to represent the city seems the ideal subject for an episode!  But what are the Blaydon Races, and why did they end up being the subject of a music-hall song? Let's find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore. Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/blaydon-races Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Newcastle upon Tyne is famous for many things: its bridges, nightlife, and being the birthplace of Greggs are just some of them. We've seen plenty of world firsts here, been on the frontline of science and technology, witnessed ethical consumption in the 18th century, and turned a Roman settlement into a city. But our disasters are perhaps less well-known. Newcastle has suffered from plague, fire, flood, and cholera - among other things. Why don't we hear about these as often, if at all? Let's explore the Great Plague of 1636, the Great Flood of 1771, and the Great Fire of 1854 to see what they can tell us about the city we can encounter here in the 2020s in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore. Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/newcastle-disasters Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Get weekly articles and bonus content at Substack: https://fabulousfolklore.substack.com/ Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

We're onto the final instalment in this series of Festive Folklore episodes, that are coming to you with the help of some of my Fabulous Folklore friends! This time we're turning our attention to New Year and I'm joined by my podcasting pals, Bethan Briggs-Miller and Ailsa Clarke, and together they are Eerie Essex!  We chat about nut-related stock market predictions, ways to bring good luck into your new year, the Mari Lwyd, and our own New Year traditions and practices. Find Eerie Essex online: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1827712 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

Dr Kate Cherrell is a writer and broadcaster specialising in the long 19th century and paranormal history. Her academic interests include 19th-century Spiritualism, mourning traditions, the gothic, the monstrous feminine, and death history. She is the author of Begotten (2025), Memorials to the Dead (2026), and writes commercially on paranormal history for various magazines and publishers. She is co-founder of Not of this Wold festival, director of The Bats’ Ball annual cemetery gathering and sits on the director’s board of Lincoln Book Festival. As a historian, she has co-hosted Haunted Homecoming, Unexplained: Caught on Camera and has provided historical expertise on The Yorkshire Exorcist, Paranormal, and Weird Britain. In this chat, we talk about the fashion for Christmas ghost stories, where it came from, why television plays such a big role in our fascination with MR James at Christmas, and where the genre might go next! Find Kate online: https://burialsandbeyond.com/ Order Begotten: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781803418049 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

For this third episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm adding my own tale to the noble tradition of the Christmas ghost story! And it arrives right ahead of the winter solstice... With plenty of folklore Easter eggs for you to spot, I'm also ably supported with storytelling content by my podcast pals, Owen Staton from The Time Between Times podcast, Wayne Gilbert from the Eerie Edinburgh podcast, and Dave Silk, the storyteller coming to you from the heart of Old Newcastle. So pull up a chair, get comfy, and enjoy... Find The Time Between Times podcast at: https://www.youtube.com/@TimebetweenTimes Find the Eerie Edinburgh podcast at: https://eerieedinburgh.com/ Find Dave Silk at: http://instagram.com/davetaleteller/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

For this second episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm joined by my podcast pals, The Faerie Folk podcast and Sian Powell from Celtic Myths & Legends. We discuss some plant-based traditions from Herefordshire, the Mari Lwyd, and Cornwall's Montol Festival. We also talk about Christmas films, our own Christmas traditions, and what we'll be enjoying for Christmas dinner... Find The Faerie Folk at: https://thefaeriefolk.libsyn.com/ Find Celtic Myths & Legends at: https://celticmythspodcast.libsyn.com/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

In this episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I chat to writer Suki Ferguson about some of the myths associated with the celestial bodies, how you approach myths when you don't just want to focus on the Greek and Roman ones, and what we can learn from looking at the night sky! Suki is the author of Young Oracle Tarot: An initiation into tarot's mystic wisdom (Quarto, 2022) and Astrologica: An encyclopedia of myths and legends from the planets, stars and skies (Quarto, 2025). She lives in London, where she can be found reading tarot, wild swimming, and appreciating local flora and fauna. Buy your copy of Astrologica: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9780711293595 Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/

For this first episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm joined by my podcast pals, James Shakeshaft and Alasdair Beckett-King, better known as the Loremen. We discuss some obscure Christmas superstitions and omens, and a truly bizarre apocryphal Christmas carol. We also talk about Christmas films, our own Christmas traditions, and the age-old practice of circling hoped-for items in the Argos catalogue. Possibly one for the Millennials, then... If you've come across the Loremen before, you'll know things are about to get very silly in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore… Find the Loremen online: https://www.loremenpodcast.com/ Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/ Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595 Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7 Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick Find Icy on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/icysedgwick.bsky.social 'Like' Fabulous Folklore on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fabulousfolklore/