Newcastle upon Tyne is famous for many things: its bridges, nightlife, and being the birthplace of Greggs are just some of them. We've seen plenty of world firsts here, been on the frontline of science and technology, witnessed ethical consumption in the 18th century, and turned a Roman settlement into a city.

But our disasters are perhaps less well-known. Newcastle has suffered from plague, fire, flood, and cholera - among other things. Why don't we hear about these as often, if at all?

Let's explore the Great Plague of 1636, the Great Flood of 1771, and the Great Fire of 1854 to see what they can tell us about the city we can encounter here in the 2020s in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/newcastle-disasters

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We're onto the final instalment in this series of Festive Folklore episodes, that are coming to you with the help of some of my Fabulous Folklore friends! This time we're turning our attention to New Year and I'm joined by my podcasting pals, Bethan Briggs-Miller and Ailsa Clarke, and together they are Eerie Essex! 

We chat about nut-related stock market predictions, ways to bring good luck into your new year, the Mari Lwyd, and our own New Year traditions and practices.

Find Eerie Essex online: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1827712

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Dr Kate Cherrell is a writer and broadcaster specialising in the long 19th century and paranormal history. Her academic interests include 19th-century Spiritualism, mourning traditions, the gothic, the monstrous feminine, and death history. She is the author of Begotten (2025), Memorials to the Dead (2026), and writes commercially on paranormal history for various magazines and publishers. She is co-founder of Not of this Wold festival, director of The Bats’ Ball annual cemetery gathering and sits on the director’s board of Lincoln Book Festival. As a historian, she has co-hosted Haunted Homecoming, Unexplained: Caught on Camera and has provided historical expertise on The Yorkshire Exorcist, Paranormal, and Weird Britain.

In this chat, we talk about the fashion for Christmas ghost stories, where it came from, why television plays such a big role in our fascination with MR James at Christmas, and where the genre might go next!

Find Kate online: https://burialsandbeyond.com/

Order Begotten: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781803418049

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

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For this third episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm adding my own tale to the noble tradition of the Christmas ghost story! And it arrives right ahead of the winter solstice...

With plenty of folklore Easter eggs for you to spot, I'm also ably supported with storytelling content by my podcast pals, Owen Staton from The Time Between Times podcast, Wayne Gilbert from the Eerie Edinburgh podcast, and Dave Silk, the storyteller coming to you from the heart of Old Newcastle.

So pull up a chair, get comfy, and enjoy...

Find The Time Between Times podcast at: https://www.youtube.com/@TimebetweenTimes

Find the Eerie Edinburgh podcast at: https://eerieedinburgh.com/

Find Dave Silk at: http://instagram.com/davetaleteller/

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

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

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Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

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For this second episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm joined by my podcast pals, The Faerie Folk podcast and Sian Powell from Celtic Myths & Legends.

We discuss some plant-based traditions from Herefordshire, the Mari Lwyd, and Cornwall's Montol Festival. We also talk about Christmas films, our own Christmas traditions, and what we'll be enjoying for Christmas dinner...

Find The Faerie Folk at: https://thefaeriefolk.libsyn.com/

Find Celtic Myths & Legends at: https://celticmythspodcast.libsyn.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

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

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In this episode of Fabulous Folklore Presents, I chat to writer Suki Ferguson about some of the myths associated with the celestial bodies, how you approach myths when you don't just want to focus on the Greek and Roman ones, and what we can learn from looking at the night sky!

Suki is the author of Young Oracle Tarot: An initiation into tarot's mystic wisdom (Quarto, 2022) and Astrologica: An encyclopedia of myths and legends from the planets, stars and skies (Quarto, 2025). She lives in London, where she can be found reading tarot, wild swimming, and appreciating local flora and fauna.

Buy your copy of Astrologica: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9780711293595

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

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

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For this first episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm joined by my podcast pals, James Shakeshaft and Alasdair Beckett-King, better known as the Loremen.

We discuss some obscure Christmas superstitions and omens, and a truly bizarre apocryphal Christmas carol. We also talk about Christmas films, our own Christmas traditions, and the age-old practice of circling hoped-for items in the Argos catalogue. Possibly one for the Millennials, then...

If you've come across the Loremen before, you'll know things are about to get very silly in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore…

Find the Loremen online: https://www.loremenpodcast.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

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

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Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

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New York City conjures up images of a neon-drenched Times Square, skyscrapers gleaming in the sun, and the labyrinthine subway system. 

Yet the city also boasts three main rivers; the Hudson to the west, the East River to the east (unsurprisingly), and the Harlem to the north. Where we find rivers, we can find islands.

Where we find islands, we find folklore. 

New York is no exception. That said, the stories we’ll explore this time are far from the druids of Ynys Môn or the megaliths of Menorca. These are stories of people, those arriving, those forced to stay, and those who want to bury treasure.

Let’s go and meet them in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore…

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/new-york-islands-legends/

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

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Menorca is one of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea. Well-known for a huge collection of megaliths, Menorca has seen human activity since the prehistoric era. This period was the Talayotic period, which lasted until 123 BCE.

The island fell under Roman occupation, Vandal conquest, the Byzantine Empire, and, centuries later, British occupation. It is now part of Spain, and its official languages are Catalan and Spanish.

But an island that has seen so much human activity for so long is bound to have a legend or two. Menorca's tales involve religious icons, enchanted cities, giants, and even the Cyclops. Let's explore them in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore…

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/menorca-legends/

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

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Perhaps most famous as the home of the druids, Ynys Môn, also known as Anglesey, occupies 275 square miles just off the north Wales coast.

It is an ancient place. Archaeologists found Neolithic settlements at Llanfaethlu, making these some of the oldest villages in Wales. The Neolithic Castell Bryn Gwyn site remained in use until the Roman period.

Bryn Celli Ddu is one of the most famous Bronze Age burial mounds. This passage tomb is around 5000 years old, and aligns with the sunrise on the summer solstice. Its name means 'the Mound in the Dark Grove', and it was first excavated in 1865.

With so much history everywhere you turn, finding folklore and legend is to be expected. Let's explore legends of witches, saints, ghosts, and druids in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore…

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/anglesey-folklore/

Book tickets for The Haunted Landscape: Ghosts, Magic and Lore: https://www.conwayhall.org.uk/whats-on/event/the-haunted-landscape-ghosts-magic-and-lore/

Buy Ronald Hutton's Blood & Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9780300267754

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

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

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Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

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