The Folklore Podcast

We explore the figure of the Slavic forest witch Baba Yaga in this episode of The Folklore Podcast, through the lens of a new women in horror anthology called 'Into the Forest'. Amongst the 23 stories and poems in the book are ones written by a New York Times bestselling author, a number of Bram Stoker Award nominees, and our guest Catherine McCarthy - a Welsh author of dark fiction.Catherine chats with film studies lecturer Jenny Barrett about her background and inspirations, and her take on Baba Yaga.Into the Forest is published by Blackspot Books. You can find Catherine on Twitter here.To help us to keep producing this podcast, as well as supporting our non profit work through the Folklore Library and Archive, please consider joining our Patreon page for extra content.

We welcome Dr Amy Jeffs back to The Folklore Podcast. After the much-lauded success of her first book, 'Storyland' we chat about Amy's new book 'Wild', published by Quercus, which examines tales from Early Medieval Britain. In the book, Amy provides new tellings of some of the stories of the period, once again giving her expert analysis on the material.Visit Amy's website at https://www.amyjeffshistoria.com/ or follow her on Twitter @amy_historiaClosing music in this episode is 'Callanish - Sacred Moon', performed by Car Dia. Find them on the web at www.pagansongs.comIf you find The Folklore Podcast of value to you, please consider supporting us with a small donation via our website at www.thefolklorepodcast.com or join our Patreon page for extra content and support our work there.

In another interview recorded live at the 2023 UK Ghost Story Festival at the Museum of Making in Derby, Folklore Podcast host Mark Norman chats with Norwegian author Camilla Bruce about the folklore of her country, ghosts, witches and the inspiration for her writing.Visit Camilla's website at www.camillabruce.comTo support the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive in its work preserving folklore materials for the future, and to access bonus material, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

In the next in our occasional series of episodes looking at American storytellers, theatre and film correspondent Tracy Nicholas meets teller Rachel Ann Harding.To support the Folklore Podcast on Patreon, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcastRachel Ann's website links:http://rachelannharding.com/https://storystorypodcast.com/https://www.storieswithspirit.co/https://www.facebook.com/storieswithspirit/

A Folklore Podcast Bonus Feature.Recorded live at the UK Ghost Story Festival 2023 at the Museum of Making in Derby, host Mark Norman chats with screenwriter and novelist Stephen Volk.To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive is preserving folklore for the future, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

The idea of the trickster is a strong archetype in mythology and folklore in different cultures around the world. Whether a deity, a human or something more anthropomorphic, the trickster uses their intellect to create confusion, subvert rules or simply, to play tricks.Of course, the trickster is not just confined to mythology. Where folklore crosses into popular culture, we can still find the trickster looming large from older texts such as Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with Puck at the centre, to Looney Tunes’s Bugs Bunny.On this episode of the podcast, special guest Dr. Shepherd Siegel, author of two books on the theme of the trickster, discusses the subject with literary correspondent Hilary Wilson.To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

We shine a spotlight on an often overlooked and misunderstood part of the English folk dance tradition as we welcome special guest Lucy Wright to discuss Girls' Carnival Morris tradition. One of the most spectacular forms of English folk dance, Carnival Morris emerged and remains primarily in the North West of England and is one of the few competitive folk dance forms.In what is a truly important episode covering history, tradition, inclusion, gendering and diversity, Lucy provides an in-depth look into an area in which she is one of the world's very few researchers.To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive is preserving material such as this for the future, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast or go to our website at www.thefolklorepodcast.com and make a small one-off donation.

Guest interviewer, writer Beth O'Brien (the founder of Disabled Tales) meets with author Catherine Bloor to discuss her novel 'Soul of a Raven', a genre-defying mix of magic, folklore and mystery set across generations and steeped in real-world history and lore.This is a Folklore Podcast Book Club episode.To support the work of The Folklore Podcast and access extra exclusive content, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

We meet writer/director Peter Dunne and actress Margaret McAuliffe from the celebrated Irish horror podcast 'Petrified' to discuss dark folklore from Ireland, how the horror genre and folklore utilise in-built human fear reactions and how folklore and belief can be used to write in the horror format.Support the work of The Folklore Podcast and The Folklore Library and Archive in collecting and preserving folklore for everyone on our Patreon page where you can also find more exclusive folklore content.

In the first of a short series of episodes profiling American storytellers, we meet Cooper Braun who reminds us that folk and fairy tales are not just for children. An accomplished and prize-winning slam teller, Cooper's first love is traditional tales and he discusses this in great detail.The episode ends with his telling of "The True Confessions of Prince Charming".Join our Discord server and access extra content at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast and help our work this year. Visit Cooper's website at https://www.cooperbraun.com/

Season 8 of The Folklore Podcast kicks off with an exploration of the subject of the English folk tale, with guest Neil Philip. Neil, who originally published the Penguin Book of English Folktales years ago now has a new revised edition out with Watkins publishers, full of analysis and insight into some famous and lesser known folk tales. Neil's work has been highly praised by the likes of Neil Gaiman (who supplied the foreword for this book), Alan Garner (who is discussed in this episode too) and Philip Pullman.Neil is in conversation with Dr Jenny Barrett, film lecturer from Edge Hill University, and the episode is presented by creator of the Folklore Podcast, Mark Norman.To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive in collecting and preserving folklore for the future, access extra material and join our Discord server, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

In the final show of Season 7, we welcome back film director George Popov to discuss the second in his 'Sideworld' series of documentaries. This time, George explores folklore and legend connected with stories of the sea, in conversation with theatre and film correspondent Tracy Nicholas.You can visit the website for Rubicon Films on this link.To support the work of the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive in collecting and preserving folklore materials for the future, please visit our Patreon page.

The stories in our culture are vital to our identity. But, what happens when our history and the stories associated with it are rewritten? How has folklore been used in the past to convey hidden meaning, or weaponised in a power struggle?Discussing these important cultural points in this episode of the Folklore Podcast is journalist and broadcaster Jane Thynne, author (under the pen-name C.J. Carey) of the novels Widowland and Queen High. You can visit Jane's website at https://janethynne.com/To support the work of The Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive in preserving folklore and making it freely available for the future, please visit our Patreon page or learn more about our fundraising.

In 1943, a group of boys wandering the woodlands near Hagley Hall, in Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England, discovered the remains of an unknown woman stuffed inside a hollowed Wych Elm tree. To this day her identity remains unknown. In 1944, however, mysterious graffiti began to adorn the walls of the West Midlands reading WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM? This graffiti reignited interest and the theories about her were plentiful. In 2017, filmmaker Tom Lee Rutter released the award-winning docu-drama 'Bella in the Wych Elm' and explored many of these theories.In this episode of The Folklore Podcast, our film and theatre correspondent Tracy Nicholas chats with Tom about the case, his film and other work. You can visit the Carnie Films website to learn more here.To support The Folklore Podcast in its aims to make preserve folklore materials and make them available for the future, please consider joining our Patreon page where you can access exclusive member-only bonus content.

The Folklore Podcast's literary correspondent Hilary Wilson speaks with Veronica Varlow on the subject of Bohemian Magick, also the title of the author's most recent book.Veronica is the last daughter in a line of Bohemian witchcraft practitioners who learnt her techniques from her close relationship with her Czech-Romani grandmother. In the episode we hear about her life growing up and her magical work as well as some of the contents of her book.Neil Gaiman says of Veronica: "The remarkable Veronica Varlow seizes life with both hands and bends it to her will. Learn from her."To support The work of the Folklore Podcast and The Folklore Library and Archive in keeping folklore materials accessible for the future, please visit our Patreon page or Support page. Thank you.

A bonus episode of The Folklore Podcast exploring the different types of divination found in cultures around the world, and looking at how these can be used through storytelling mechanisms for playing games.Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman talks to David Whitworth of The Drunken Storyteller podcast about a new book on this subject which he is developing for UK-based game company Hive Mind Games. To support the Folklore Podcast and the Folklore Library and Archive in their goal to collect and preserve folklore materials, and make them freely available for the future, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast where you can also access extra content.Hive Mind Games are on the web at www.hivemindgames.co.ukYou can visit the Kickstarter for the book, Eye to the Void, at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coreycreates/eye-to-the-void-using-divination-in-ttrpgs

We look into the crossover between the fields of linguistics, social history and folklore with an examination of the secret language Polari. Coming from 16th century roots, Polari is generally known in modern times as an underground gay language popular in the 1960s and 1970s, in no small part thanks to the Radio 4 comedy show Round the Horne and its characters Julian and Sandy. But, before this, other forms of the language existed between fairground workers, the theatrical community, dock workers and more.After a brief history of the development of Polari and a look at the film 'Putting on the Dish' which may have helped with the modern interest in Polari, we are joined by Prof. Paul Baker from Lancaster University, author of the book 'Fabulosa!'. He speaks with Dr Paul Cowdell of the Folklore Society on the topic.To watch the film 'Putting on the Dish', visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8yEH8TZUskFor more on Polari from Paul Baker's web pages, visit https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/staff/bakerjp/polari/home

Storytelling is not just about entertainment. Now, and especially in the past, the purpose of story has also been to educate, to inform, and to place us within our own culture, time, place and landscape.In a new collaboration, TV presenter and anthropologist Mary-Ann Ochota teams up with professional storyteller Jason Buck to provide historical interpretation of real-world artefacts and archaeological sites through story, blending the facts with creative retellings of possible events which might lie behind them.In the episode of The Folklore Podcast, folklorist Mark Norman discusses the use of folk tale and story in this way with Mary-Ann and Jason. The episode also features four of their stories by way of example.The Folklore Podcast is an official podcast of the Folklore Library and Archive, a volunteer-led organisation dedicated to preserving our folklore for the future. Please help us to continue in this work, please visit www.thefolklorepodcast.com/support to learn about ways that you can assist us.

The legend of the Selkie, a woman or man who comes ashore as a seal before shedding their skin to turn human, is common in the Scottish Islands, but has parallels in other cultures. In this episode of the podcast, host Mark Norman summarises a little of the Selkie folklore, before introducing an in-depth look at the new independent film 'Mara: The Seal Wife' which has the story of the Selkie Wife at its heart. Podcast film reviewer Tracy Nicholas discusses the film with its writer and director, Uisdean Murray.Also featured in this episode is a telling of a Selkie Wife story by storyteller Sarah Lloyd Winder, recorded exclusively for The Folklore Podcast.Featured music is 'Tranquility' by Kevin MacLeod, used under a Creative Commons 3.0 attribution licence. To support the work of The Folklore Podcast please visit our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

The investigation of alleged physical medium Kathleen Goligher by the engineer William Jackson Crawford is both fascinating and strangely tragic, but remained until recently a 'lost case' of Edwardian Spiritualism.In the episode of The Folklore Podcast, host Mark Norman is joined by the author A.J. West whose research into the story has led to the highly praised gothic novel 'The Spirit Engineer', supported by the family descendants of both the Crawfords and the Golighers. You can read much of the research into this case and view some rare photographs on the web at www.ajwestauthor.comTo support the work of The Folklore Podcast in collecting and preserving important folklore for the future, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast or make a small donation on the web at www.thefolklorepodcast.com