After a lovely and much-needed rest, The Witch, The Weird and the Wonderful returns with the first Wednesday Weirdness post of 2016! It is a pleasure to welcome Brian Langston, with a tale of a mysterious teleportation that leaves more questions than answers… ********* On a dusty shelf in a quiet corner of Oxford’s Bodleian …
With the festive season truly upon us, this week brings with it the last Wednesday Weirdness slot of 2015. It is with great pleasure that I welcome Suzie Lennox to The Witch, The Weird, and The Wonderful to share her knowledge on the fascination and often gruesome topic of bodysnatching. ********* The fear of dissection …
As Wednesday Weirdness rolls round again, I am very pleased to welcome Dr. Simon Young to The Witch, The Weird, and The Wonderful with Irish fairies, food, and the sensational trial of Mary Doheny. ********* In 1864 one Mary Doheny – ‘the wife of a blind man… with a reputation for preternatural powers’ (Anon 1067) …
Irish Fairies and Irish Food: The Mary Doheny Trial Read More »
This fortnight I am delighted to welcome Melanie Warren to The Witch, The Weird, and The Wonderful. In advance of the publication of her book Lancashire Folk in November, Melanie shares with us some tales of what the Devil has been up to in Lancashire. ********* Somewhere near Greens Moor Quarry, close to the Lancashire town …
Ghostly hounds always go down well here at The Witch, The Weird, and The Wonderful, and today I welcome Mark Norman to talk about possible folklore roots for one of Sherlock Holmes’ most well-known cases. ********* The phenomena of the Black Dog – apparitions of spectral hounds – are most prevalent in the UK, although …
Wednesday Weirdness: Folklore Roots for The Hound of the Baskervilles. Read More »
It is a delight to welcome HJ Blenkinsop to The Witch, The Weird and The Wonderful this fortnight with a subject close to my own heart: witches and their close companions, black cats…. ********* Halloween is right around the corner and we will soon be awash with caricatures of black cats in pointy hats sitting …
Wednesday Weirdness: The Black Cat as Witch’s Familiar Read More »
It is with great pleasure that I welcome Chris Woodyard to The Witch, The Weird, and The Wonderful for this week’s Wednesday Weirdness with a curious tale of burning beds in Cleveland, Ohio. Was it witchcraft, poltergeists or was something else to blame for the terror that struck the Busch family? ********* In studying that …
Another Wednesday brings another welcome guest to The Witch, The Weird, and The Wonderful. This fortnight Alan Montgomery shares with us the magic of Yester Castle: be warned, after reading, you may well find yourself with the urge to visit the place yourself! ********* Over the years I have visited many weird and wonderful places in …
For this week’s Wednesday Weirdness I am delighted to welcome Ailish to The Witch, The Weird, and The Wonderful with a tale of a Vanishing Laird! The last owner of Pitsligo Castle in Aberdeenshire was Alexander Forbes, the 4th Lord of Pitsligo. Born in 1678, he was a well-educated man and a bit of an …
For this fortnight’s Wednesday Weirdness slot I am very pleased to welcome M J Steel Collins to The Witch, The Weird, and The Wonderful, with the intriguing and decidedly spooky legend of Green Ladies… ********* Green Ladies are to be found the length and breadth of Scotland, but are fairly scarce elsewhere. They are a …
