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...

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...

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...

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...

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....

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...

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,...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...