Creepy Classics

Aristomenes is delighted to find his missing friend Socrates alive and well at a bathhouse in Thessaly, but all is not as it seems and both men may be in danger… This story has been re-told from Apuleius, Metamorphoses, Book 1, and is followed by a chat about the history behind it, including ancient beauty standards, Roman bathhouses, and ancient Roman fast food.

Content warning: gore

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Creepy Classics music written and performed by Ed Harrisson (C)

Sources

Apuleius, The Golden Ass, trans. Robert Graves (Penguin)

Apuleius’ Metamorphoses: An Intermediate Latin Reader by Paul Murgatroyd

Laurie Maguire, Helen of Troy: From Homer to Hollywood

Roman Justice and Apuleius’ Metamorphoses Author(s): Richard G. Summers Source: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association , 1970, Vol. 101 (1970), pp. 511-531 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2936069

https://www.unrv.com/articles/inns-and-taverns-in-ancient-rome.php#:~:text=What%20did%20Romans%20eat%20in,in%20keeping%20with%20Roman%20custom

Max Miller’s Tasting History channel on YouTube

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2024/08/roman-fast-food/153232

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/pompeii-archaeologists-reveal-rare-frescoes-of-trojan-war-characters-180984153/

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com

A feud between two lords of the manor, a Norman count and an English Abbot, has devastating consequences for the peasants who live and work in the village, which comes under the power of a dark spirit… This short story is inspired by a 12th century saint’s life, the Life of St Modwenna, and is followed by a chat about its historical context, the medieval cult of saints, and the living and working conditions of medieval serfs.

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/JulietteHarrisson

Buy my books! https://books2read.com/ap/nzeerp/Juliette-Harrisson

Buy merch! https://www.julietteharrisson.co.uk/store

Creepy Classics music written and performed by Ed Harrisson (C)

Sources

The Penguin Book of the Undead: Fifteen Hundred Years of Supernatural Encounters, edited by Scott G. Bruce.

™an Mortimer, The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England

https://www.leidenmedievalistsblog.nl/articles/how-to-be-a-saint-a-medieval-guide-to-sanctity

http://www.burton-on-trent.org.uk/category/early-history/1000-modwen

Carl Lindahl, John McNamara and John Lindow (eds), Medieval Folklore: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs

Thomas Head (ed) Medieval Hagiography: An Anthology

Illustration of a reeve and serfs: Anonymous (Queen Mary Psalter), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com

Thorstein just needs to do his business late at night, but it’s hard to focus when there’s a demon in the toilet… Inspired by ‘Þáttur Þorsteins skelks,’ Flateyjarbók, this short story is followed by a chat about the origins of Gandalf, and Viking toilets!

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/JulietteHarrisson

Buy my books! https://books2read.com/ap/nzeerp/Juliette-Harrisson

Buy merch! https://www.julietteharrisson.co.uk/store

Creepy Classics music written and performed by Ed Harrisson (C)

Sources

Translation by Anthony Maxwell: https://www.richardfordburley.com/sin-and-evil/files/Thorstein.pdf

https://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/Villages.htm

The Welsh Viking on Vikings and medieval toilets, on YouTube

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/viking-toilet-oldest-bathroom-denmark

https://www.vikinganswerlady.com/fire.shtml

Rowe, Elizabeth (March 28, 1998). “Cultural Paternity in the Flateyjarbók Óláfs saga Tryggvasonar” (PDF). Alvíssmál. Retrieved December 17, 2015

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com

Young Herdis is disturbed by a terrifying dream of an angry witch, but it is not the first time her grandmother Gudrun has encountered something supernatural in her long and colourful life… Inspired by Laxdaela Saga, especially Chapter 76, this short story is followed by a chat about its historical context, including Roman Catholic Easter services, ancient Norse witches and wizards (and their staffs with a knob on the end) and the mysterious Norse draugr.

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/JulietteHarrisson

Buy my books! https://books2read.com/ap/nzeerp/Juliette-Harrisson

Buy merch! https://www.julietteharrisson.co.uk/store

Creepy Classics music written and performed by Ed Harrisson (C)

Books and sources:

The Saga of the People of Laxardal and Bolli Bollason’s Tale, ed. with Introduction y Bergljót S. Krisjánsdóttir, trans. Keneva Kunz

Alternative translation available at: https://sagadb.org/laxdaela_saga.en

Stephen A. Mitchell, Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages

http://viking.archeurope.com/settlement/iceland/the-early-medieval-church-at-seydisfjordur/

G. K. Lund, Scandinavian Myths and Legends Vol. 3: Ghosts

Michael F. Reed, ‘Norwegian Stave Churches and their Pagan Antecedents’, RACAR: revue d’art canadienne / Canadian Art Review , 1997, Vol. 24, No. 2, (1997), pp. 3-13 https://www.jstor.org/stable/42631152

Illustration of Gudrun meeting a ghost: Andreas Bloch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com

King Mongán thinks he has got lucky when the poet Forgoll wanders into his ringfort, but when he dares to question one of Forgoll’s stories, he finds he has made a bitter enemy and only an old friend can save him… Based on Lebor na hUidre, 133, this short story is followed by a chat about Irish myth and legend, Irish archaeology, and the role of poets in medieval Irish society.

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/JulietteHarrisson

Buy my books! https://books2read.com/ap/nzeerp/Juliette-Harrisson

Buy merch! https://www.julietteharrisson.co.uk/store

Creepy Classics music written and performed by Ed Harrisson (C)

Books and sources:

Text from The Celtic Heroic Age: Literary Sources for Ancient Celtic Europe and Early Ireland and Wales, by John T. Koch with John Carney

A History of Ireland in 250 Episodes, by Jonathan Bardon

Stations of the Sun, by Ronald Hutton

J.Borsje, Understanding Celtic Religion

A lot of Wikipedia! And Favourite Irish Legends, by Yvonne Carroll, Fiona Waters, and Felicity Trotman.

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ab084821eb1441f891685f47b48fb93d

https://dil.ie/42314 (on the tuigen)

Cosmic Viking on YouTube on Irish archaeology:

On spearheads: https://thethegns.blogspot.com/2012/02/spearheads.html

https://irishfolklore.wordpress.com/2018/09/02/the-brehon-laws/

ASSAULT AND ATTEMPTED MURDER IN BREHON LAW Author(s): NEIL McLEOD Source: Irish Jurist, 1998, New Series, Vol. 33 (1998), pp. 351-391 Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44027309

The Royal Residence of Rathmore of Moy-Linne. With Notes on Other Early Earthworks in Ulster (Continued) Author(s): R. G. Berry Source: Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Second Series, Vol. 5, No. 1 (Oct., 1898), pp. 9-19 Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20563826

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com

A greedy and corrupt Pardoner tells an inn full of pilgrims a very moral tale about the different forms Death might take as he stalks the land… Based on The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale from Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, this story is followed by a chat about Canterbury pilgrimages, the medieval legend of the Wandering Jew, and the impact of the Black Death on folklore around Death as a figure.

Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/JulietteHarrisson

Buy Creepy Classics: Haunting Tales for Winter: https://books2read.com/u/bPrZkz

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Rome: https://books2read.com/u/b6XGkM

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Greece: https://books2read.com/u/mK5oaL

Buy Creepy Classics merch: https://www.julietteharrisson.co.uk/store

Creepy Classics music written and composed by Ed Harrisson ©

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com

When William Sutor starts seeing a strange dog lurking near his farm around Christmastime, he has no idea what family secrets are about to be revealed… Adapted from a story reported in the Gentleman’s Magazine in 1731, this is followed by a chat about the Scottish Lowlands, witchcraft and cunning-folk, and the time Scotland banned Christmas!

Buy Creepy Classics: Haunting Tales for Winter! https://books2read.com/u/bPrZkz

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Rome: https://books2read.com/u/b6XGkM

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Greece: https://books2read.com/u/mK5oaL

Buy Creepy Classics merch: https://www.julietteharrisson.co.uk/store

Creepy Classics music written and composed by Ed Harrisson ©

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com

In the wake of the Black Death and the Peasants’ Revolt, a vicious murder and an act of vengeance leave a soul in need of absolution… Inspired by the third of twelve local ghost stories recorded by a monk at Byland Abbey around the year 1400, this story is followed by a chat about its history, the system of serfdom and its end in medieval England, and the medieval practice of conjuring a ghost.

Buy Creepy Classics: Haunting Tales for Winter! https://books2read.com/u/bPrZkz

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Rome: https://books2read.com/u/b6XGkM

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Greece: https://books2read.com/u/mK5oaL

Buy Creepy Classics merch: https://www.julietteharrisson.co.uk/store

Creepy Classics music written and composed by Ed Harrisson ©

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com

As a young student, Thelyphron took on what sounded like an easy job to make some money, but it turned out to be a lot more dangerous than he thought… Adapted from the comedic story of Thelyphron in Apuleius’ novel Metamorphoses (also known as The Golden Ass), this re-telling gives the story a slightly darker tone, leaning into the horror just a little more. It’s followed by a chat about ancient mourning rituals, gender and Roman witchcraft, and Apuleius’ own defence on charges of magic.

Website: www.julietteharrisson.co.uk

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Rome:

https://books2read.com/u/b6XGkM

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Greece: https://books2read.com/u/mK5oaL

Creepy Classics music written and composed by Ed Harrisson ©

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com

A middle-aged Robin Hood is convinced a blood-letting will be the perfect cure for a chronic illness, but a mysterious old woman he meets in the woods suggests he may be about to lose too much blood… This story is based on the ballad Robin Hood’s Death and other Robin Hood ballads, and is followed by a discussion of medieval monks and blood-letting, the debate over the date of Robin Hood’s adventures, and the mysterious figure of the bean-nighe…

Website: www.julietteharrisson.co.uk

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Rome: https://books2read.com/u/b6XGkM

Buy Creepy Classics: Ghost Stories from Ancient Greece: https://books2read.com/u/mK5oaL

Creepy Classics music written and composed by Ed Harrisson ©

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit julietteharrisson.substack.com