Thersa Matsuura, an American author living in Japan, explores lesser-known aspects of Japanese culture, folklore, superstitions, and myths. Fluent in Japanese, she uses her research to write stories and for her podcast Uncanny Japan. She's also the author of The Book of Japanese Folklore, which explores a range of spirits, monsters, and yokai for Japanese lore. 

In this chat, we talk about some specific yokai, discuss where people might have encountered these figures in popular media, and talk about what to do if you think you've encountered a yokai!

Thersa website: https://thersamatsuura.com/

The Book of Japanese Folklore: An Encyclopedia of the Spirits, Monsters, and Yokai of Japanese Myth: https://amzn.to/46Fx3k4

Thersa on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncannyjapan/

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

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

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Few watery scenes are quite complete without birds in the picture. Ducks drifting across a country pond. Gulls wheeling in the sky above the beach, before they divebomb an unsuspecting tourist for their chips. Kingfishers flashing along a river, a bright dazzle of colour against the water.

They're so much a part of the scenery that aquatic birds have had a long relationship with humans. In some cases, that link has been much more literal. For example, some believed drowned seamen became gulls, so capturing a gull and keeping it on a ship brought bad luck.

But with a long relationship comes folklore. These birds predict the weather, foretell death, ward off intruders, or enjoy holy protection! 

Let's find out more about the cormorant, curlew, duck, goose, kingfisher, and puffin in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

RSVP for my Folklore of Magical Trees talk: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-folklore-of-magical-trees-tickets-912709648127?aff=erelexpmlt

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

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

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Sunderland began life as three separate settlements on the River Wear. A fishing village called 'Soender-land', or land that is cut asunder' existed by 1100. By the 18th century, Sunderland had replaced Wearmouth, and that's why we still call it Sunderland now.

In the past, Sunderland has exported coal, lime, alum, ropes, glass, and pottery. Sunderland was the home of Pyrex and it was a major shipbuilding centre. What kind of folklore does this industrial centre have?

Let's find out more in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/sunderland-ghost-stories/

RSVP for my Folklore of Magical Trees talk: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-folklore-of-magical-trees-tickets-912709648127?aff=erelexpmlt

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

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

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Marion Gibson writes accurate, engaging books about witches and magic in history. She’s been interested in witches for over thirty years, since she read the words of women accused of witchcraft in Elizabethan England. Why were they accused of crimes they didn’t commit? And why did they confess? Marion’s books tell the stories of these women and the men accused alongside them, and she explores the wider history of witch trials, folklore, magical and pagan beliefs and things that go bump in the night.

We talk about her book, Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials, some surprising moments from specific trials, how we often end up reading the witch trials through the lens of our own experience, and how we're perhaps not as far away from the paranoia of the witch trials as we might think we are.

Buy Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials: https://amzn.to/4fbc3oV

Find Marion on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/witchesetcinsta

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

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

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Carlisle began life as Luguvalium, a Roman settlement that grew out of the fort on the site. It was the capital of an ancient British kingdom. Both Vikings and Saxons captured the city.

Over time, it took on strategic importance for its location near the Scottish border. But with so many clashes between the Scots and the English, not to mention the tensions caused by the Border Reivers, it's safe to say Carlisle has a tumultuous history.

And where you have history, you have legends! Let's find out more in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

RSVP for my Folklore of Magical Trees talk: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-folklore-of-magical-trees-tickets-912709648127?aff=erelexpmlt

The Curse against the Reivers: https://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/features/2003/07/restoration/the_curse.shtml

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

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

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While York is often considered one of England's most haunted cities, other strange and unusual tales lurk in its narrow snickleways.

There are stories of premature burial, printer's devils, cats that are either lucky or cursed, depending on your perspective, highwaymen, and an inevitable tale of witchcraft.

Let's find out more in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

RSVP for my Folklore of Magical Trees talk: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-folklore-of-magical-trees-tickets-912709648127?aff=erelexpmlt

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

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

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There is much of the strange and haunting in Sheffield's folklore. Does that make it a haunted place?

There are stories of water gods in the River Don, demanding annual sacrifices, boggards in boggard lane, spectral visions of highwaymen, ghosts, and even Spring-Heeled Jack!

Let's find out more in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

Spring-Heeled Jack blog post and episode: https://www.icysedgwick.com/spring-heeled-jack/

RSVP for my Folklore of Magical Trees talk: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-folklore-of-magical-trees-tickets-912709648127?aff=erelexpmlt

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

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

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Rue was cultivated in England for its medicinal use, having been introduced by the Romans! It appears in folk remedies to ward off evil spirits, poison, and plague, It also works in prophecy and hexes.

Let's find out more in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

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

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

Enjoyed this episode and want to show your appreciation? Buy Icy a coffee to say 'thanks' at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

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St John's Wort often flowers around Midsummer's Day, or the Feast of St John, hence its strong links with St John. It's one of the most important plants in European folk magic! It's used for protection, warding off nightmare, and even love divination.

Let's find out more in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore!

Find the images and references on the blog post: https://www.icysedgwick.com/st-johns-wort-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

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

Enjoyed this episode and want to show your appreciation? Buy Icy a coffee to say 'thanks' at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

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Daniela Simina is native of Romania, granddaughter of a Fairy Seer and medicine woman. She became acquainted with fairies through the local lore and folklore and through direct personal experience. Daniela teaches courses, classes, and workshops on various modalities of energetic rebalancing and of course, fairies. She is the author of Where Fairies Meet: Parallels between Irish and Romanian Fairy Traditions, A Fairy Path: The Memoir of a Young Fairy Seer in Training and Fairy Herbs for Fairy Magic- A Practical Guide to Fairy Herbalism. Daniela’s quest is to empower others through awakening to the enchantment of natural energies and connecting with the magic of Fairy.

In this chat, we talk about the similarities and differences between Romanian and Irish fairies, which Romanian fairy beings you might encounter, what to do if you meet one, and why we're less familiar with fairy lore from mainland Europe.

Buy Where Fairies Meet: Parallels between Irish and Romanian Fairy Traditions: https://amzn.to/4ehJ1na

Find Daniela on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanielaSiminaAuthorPage

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielasimina1/

Or at her blog: https://whispersinthetwilight.blogspot.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

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

Enjoyed this episode and want to show your appreciation? Buy Icy a coffee to say 'thanks' at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

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