A strait-laced reverend meets a surprisingly seductive ghost with the face of a pig. Who will win? The pig-faced phantom of Chelsea, of course!

Christmas Pig has come early. The Loremen dig into the origins of the porcine spectre, and uncover what might be one of Britain’s earliest urban legends. If you believe the tabloid press, cities were once awash with swinish visages and hoggish fizzogs. There’s Tannakin Skinker, the wonderful Mrs Atkinson and the pig-faced woman of Manchester Square.

It’s all good seasonal fun. And a reminder that the past could be horrible if you looked a bit different. Or were a woman. Not like the present, eh? EH??? 

Seasons Scratchings!

This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor.

LoreBoys nether say die!

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Nick "Maso" Mason of The Weekly Planet and Mr Sunday Movies drops in from Melbourne for a chilling tale of ghosts, ghouls and... town planning.

From "God's own country" (Australia) to "God's own county" (Yorkshire), we visit the haunted building site that was to become the infamous Stocksbridge bypass. Since the 1980s, this stretch of road has been associated with a ghostly hooded monk. Has he got a head? Has he got a face? Has he got a sk8er boi wallet on a chain? It's really not clear. And, as if that weren't spooky enough, we've got ghost children dancing around a maypole.

If you've got 'em, put 'em on. We're talking about gilets, because your spine is going to be tingled!

This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor.

LoreBoys nether say die!

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Alasdair tells James the tale of a ghostly pedlar with no head... and no body!

The Loremen journey to the lowlands of Scotland and encounter some Nithsdale ne'er-do-wells. Join us! Meet the pranksters of Sanquhar and Kryten the android's Scottish ancestor. Walk the lonely road to Littlemark Farm. (Oh, hi little Mark!) Marvel at the girthy trees and... beware the murderous Mary Graham.

(No Marks were harmed in the recording of this episode.)

The Loreboys went head-to-head on Who Knew It with Matt Stewart. Loremano a mano. Listen now for some very odd fish and even stranger Mitford sisters.

This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor.

LoreBoys nether say die!

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Bring a sandwich, grab an iron horseshoe and don't be a Greedy Jack because we are going fairy finding!

James returns to Oxfordshire's Rollright Stones for some genuine fairy stories. Learn real-world strategies that YOU can use to avoid falling foul of the fae folk. Don't follow the corpse lights, abstain from shooting at your neighbour's trees and steer clear of making assumption about bakers. Please.

Plus, James dives into the world of 1970s publishing, and comes away an expert in sausages and kissing.

Here is James's field report from Adwell Cop.

This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor.

LoreBoys nether say die!

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James tells Alasdair the spooky story of a poltergeist in Dorset*. All your polterguy classics are in play here: scratching sounds, flying objects and a young girl with a talent for throwing things while no one is looking. Prepare yourself for strange happenings in a Durweston semi, witnessed by a gamekeeper whose perception of time and space is all slantwise.

Let's be honest, this episode gets a little bit silly. Especially towards the end when A-List celebrity Keanu Reeves makes a guest appearance.

*Of course he would, etc.

This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor.

LoreBoys nether say die!

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The Loremen travel to the North Country and meet the Trash Hounds of Lancashire. No, not the live lorefolk audience. We're talking tales of headless dogs, skeletal huntsmen and be-buttocked pipers.

This is another episode from our "Sold Out" "National" "Tour". James brings stories of boggarts and barghests and Alasdair presents three northern eccentrics. And we briefly hop across the border to the Yorkshire village of Thickley Punchardon. For obvious reasons.

Enjoy!

This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor.

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This episode was recorded live (or at least undead) in West Norwood Cemetery, in front of a sold-out crowd. The brave lorefolk were chilled, literally and figuratively, by tales of subterranean mystery and otherworldly encounters.

James told the story of an eccentric English aristocrat who took to burrowing like a badger, while Alasdair hopped aboard London's defunct Necropolis Railway. And the crematorium proved to be a spooky setting for the local legend of a West Norwood polterguy ... who liked his milk.

Special thanks to Ben Van der Velde and all the organisers of the ChooSE27 festival.

LoreBoys nether say die!

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The Loremen were LIVE at the QED festival in Manchester and we were joined by Deputy Loreperson Hayley Stevens. Sceptical listeners might be familiar with the Hayley is a Ghost blog, all about ghosts that (spoiler warning) probably don't exist. In this episode, we meet roadside ghosts and road-adjacent spectres from across the UK (and beyond). Have you ever picked up a hitchhiker? No, neither have we. And these modern legends might make you feel a bit better about it...

This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor.

LoreBoys nether say die!

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A country walk always brings to mind certain maxims. "Stop and smell the roses," for one. "If a tree falls..." is another. But now there's a new one - "Beware the Crooker!"

The boys are taken to a spooky Derbyshire riverside by historian and author Willow Winsham. You might feel a gnarly wooden finger tingling your spine in this episode. But James and Alasdair find time to ask the big questions. Where is the River Darren? How do you hypnotise a chicken? And what do you call those ski lift things where the cars are on... like... cables?

Find Willow's range of books here

Come see the LoreBoys LIVE in Balham on Sunday 17th November on "Who Knew It? with Matt Stewart"

https://www.designmynight.com/london/pubs/balham/the-bedford/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart-live?t=tickets

This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor.

LoreBoys nether say die!

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Deputy Loreperson Icy Sedgwick (Fabulous Folklore with Icy) joins James and Alasdair, and she brings with her the stories of a Geordie graverobber and a Mackem resurrection man. It's Newcastle vs Sunderland, and the bones of the dead do not rest easy in this Tyne-Wear derby.

Plus the Loreboys come up with several new business ideas. Anyone for glow-in-the-dark coffins?

Come see the Loreboys LIVE in Manchester at GRUB on Sunday 20th October (2024) at 2pm:

https://www.seetickets.com/event/loremen-live/grub/3168584

OR in Balham on Sunday 17th November on Who Knew It? with Matt Stewart:

https://www.designmynight.com/london/pubs/balham/the-bedford/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart-live?t=tickets

This episode was edited by Joseph Burrows - Audio Editor.

LoreBoys nether say die!

Support the Loremen here (and get stuff):

patreon.com/loremenpod

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Check the sweet, sweet merch here...

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