Fabulous Folklore with Icy

It is the month of Halloween so welcome to the Fabulous Folklore Fireside, for we shall have some more ghostly tales this week!

Unlike my usual episodes, which feature some kind of dissection of the stories, this episode will entertain you with three stories from north east England. 

These stories are from More Ghosts and Legends of Northumbria. I’ve given them a bit of a polish, but also be aware that these are ghost stories, so they do include murder, if that’s something you don’t want to listen to with young ones around. But the last one also features a benevolent ghost!

Enjoy...

Find the images and sources used on the associated blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/three-female-ghosts-from-north-east-england/

Buy my book, Ghostlore: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9780241726204

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, details of talks, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

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

For this special Spooky Season episode of Fabulous Folklore, I'm joined by my very good friends Rob Kirkup from the How Haunted? podcast, and Wayne Gilbert from the Eerie Edinburgh podcast.

Both have been on the podcast before, but here we are, chatting about the scariest places we've been, our dream ghosthunting locations, and the inevitable Halloween conversation topic, Ghostwatch...

Find Rob at How Haunted: https://www.how-haunted.com/

Find Wayne at Eerie Edinburgh: https://eerieedinburgh.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://icysedgwick.com/start-here

It is the month of Halloween so welcome to the Fabulous Folklore Fireside, for we shall have some ghostly tales this week!

Unlike my usual episodes, which feature some kind of dissection of the stories, this episode will entertain you with three stories from north east England, involving shades seeking recognition from beyond the grave. 

Our first story comes from Rambles in Northumberland and on the Scottish Border by William Andrew Chatto, while the second and third stories are from Ghosts and Legends of Northumbria. I’ve given them a bit of a polish, but also be aware that these are ghost stories, so they do include murder, if that’s something you don’t want to listen to with young ones around.

Enjoy...

Find the images and sources used on the associated blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/three-ghostly-tales-from-north-east-england-for-halloween/

Buy my book, Ghostlore: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9780241726204

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Find the Fabulous Folklore Bookshop, details of talks, Icy's social media links, and other useful bits at: https://icysedgwick.com/start-here

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

Welcome to Spooky Season! I'm talking to Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux from the Three Ravens podcast about ghost stories! We talk about the fascination we have for ghost stories, what ghost stories need to be creepy, what kinds of ghosts really need to make a comeback in ghostly fiction, and whether it even matters if a place is haunted, or we just think it is!

Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux are the brains behind the Three Ravens podcast, and they are a real life couple, based in Sussex. Eleanor has a background in theatre, while Martin has a background in writing, teaching, and English literature.

Buy their book, The Three Ravens Ghost Tales: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781837052929

Visit the Three Ravens Podcast website: https://www.threeravenspodcast.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://icysedgwick.com/start-here

Thunder and lightning offer one of nature's more cinematic spectacles, so it's unsurprising they would accrue a degree of folklore. The danger that lightning particularly poses sees a range of practices to ward off storms, while other traditions offer a way to predict events using storms.

Thunder and lightning also work together, as the Met Office explains: "When the electrical current from a lightning strike passes through the air, it heats the surrounding air rapidly—up to 30,000°C. This sudden heating causes the air to expand explosively, creating a shockwave that we hear as thunder. [...] A sharp crack indicates a nearby strike, while a low rumble suggests the lightning occurred farther away".

Many cultures also have storm deities, such as Thor, Perun, Ọya, Jupiter, Set, Susanoo-no-Mikoto, and Taranis, among others. Yet as fascinating and complex as they are, we're going to focus on the folklore around the storms, rather than those who control them. 

So what does folklore tell us about storms, thunder, and lightning?

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/thunder-and-lightning/

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

The autumn equinox falls on 23 September in the UK in 2026. This marks the definite slide towards the winter solstice!

In terms of folklore, there are many articles about the autumn equinox from a neopagan perspective. Yet the festival only gained the name 'Mabon' in the 1970s, named by American Aidan Kelly. He chose 'Mabon' from Mabon ap Modron, who appears in Welsh mythology, though there is little in Mabon's story to link him with the autumn equinox.

There's little evidence that anyone celebrated the equinox in the same way they might celebrate the winter solstice. Instead, this period of the year is traditionally a time of harvest festivals. 

But as we’re looking at the Folklore of the Skies this month, I wanted to know: is there anything folklore about the autumn equinox in an astronomical sense?

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/autumn-equinox/

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'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