In May of 2025, I was honoured to be asked by the British Academy to chair the final panel in their 'Folklore Reimagined' series, 'Lore of the Land'. This panel was titled 'Stories of wetlands, woods and weather'.

How have landscapes been represented and perceived throughout time? What do the stories we tell about our environments reveal about ourselves? And how can our historical relationship with the land help us reconsider our connection to the natural world today? 

The panelists for this discussion were Professor Melanie Giles FBA, British archaeologist specialising in Iron Age Britain; Fiona Stafford FBA, Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford; and Marilina Cesario, Professor in the School of Arts, English and Languages at Queen’s University Belfast.

You can watch the original filmed panel on the British Academy's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej60YO1_qrI

The Folklore Podcast has been committed to producing high quality free folklore content for almost a decade, bringing you access to the world's experts in the subject. To help us to keep doing what we do, please consider supporting us with a small monthly subscription on our Patreon page, where you can find more subscriber-only content. Please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast and help to fund the podcast for the future.

In this episode of the podcast, host Mark Norman takes an in-depth look at the White Witch of Exeter. Most times, when we speak of 'white witches' we are talking about a particular person, but in the case of the Devon city of Exeter, the White Witch was something a little different.

Mark discusses the history of this character from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, and looks and some of their practices and cures.

The content of this episode is drawn from the book DEVON'S FORGOTTEN WITCHES, 1860-1910 written by Tracey and Mark Norman and published by The History Press. Order a copy from the Folklore Podcast website or wherever books are sold.

To support the Folklore Podcast please join the Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast for free or on a paid support tier and get extra content.

The Seven County Witch Hunt Project podcast mini-series collaboration comes to a close. In this final episode, Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore once again join folklorist and author Mark Norman to discuss some of their favourite stories from the three years of research they have undertaken, before reflecting on the podcast as a whole and where it will go next.

The Seven County Witch Hunt blog will continue to be updated with new articles even though the primary research stage is complete. Make sure to follow it at https://medium.com/@Witches7Hunt

If you have enjoyed this series and want to help to support the work of The Folklore Podcast in creating more content, please visit the Patreon page and join up at https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

Mark Norman is in conversation with medical herbalist Jenny Carden, who practices as The Dartmoor Herbalist.

In an interview recorded live in Jenny's workshop in the courtyard of the Museum of Dartmoor Life in Okehampton, Devon, Jenny discusses her work and the differences between a medical herbalist legally dispensing herbal blends and other forms of herbalism, both current and historic.

Find out all about Jenny and her work on her website at https://thedartmoorherbalist.wordpress.com/

Support the Folklore Podcast and its work providing ongoing free folklore content for everyone at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast from just £1 a month

Our six part mini-series examining the seventeenth-century witch hunts across the eastern counties of England continues with a discussion looking at a topic not generally explored in this context: the environment.

Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore of the Leverhulme Foundation funded Seven County Witch Hunt Project join folklorist and host Mark Norman once again. Topics include the influence of the weather, farming and crops and the coastal fishing trade and how all of these have a bearing on the witch trials.

To support the work of The Folklore Podcast in creating more specialist mini-series and other folklore content, please visit our Patreon page at patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

In this episode, Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore turn their attention to the families involved in the witch hunts. Were all family members tarred with the same brush? How did dynamics work when families were accusing each other of witchcraft?

Moving on from this, we also look at the role of familiars - not necessarily the animal familiars which are more well recognized, but ghostly assistance provided from within the family and beyond, and the role of spectral evidence that emerges from this time period.

Once again, podcast host Mark Norman leads the questioning.

To support the Folklore Podcast is producing more mini-series' and content such as this, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast and sign up for a membership tier for extra rewards. Or make a one-off donation at www.thefolklorepodcast.com

Read the Seven County Witch Hunt Project blog at https://medium.com/@Witches7Hunt

In this mini-episode of The Folklore Podcast, recorded live at the UK Ghost Story Festival 2025 in Derby, UK, I chat with Professor Bob Edgar about the theme of Folk Horror.

With specialisms in scriptwriting, adaptation, music memoir and genre fiction, Bob has notably published widely on folk horror and hauntology. He is one of the editors of the Bloomsbury Academic series 'Spectres, Hauntings and Horrors'.

To support the work of The Folklore Podcast and access extra content, please visit our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast

The third episode of our mini-series looking at the witch hunts headed up by Matthew Hopkins and John Stearne looks at the most stereotypical of subjects - that of gender. Just how many of the accused were women and how did gender figure in the hunts and the ways in which they were carried out?

The Seven County Witch Hunt Project podcast series is produced by The Folklore Podcast, and host Mark Norman is in conversation with Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore.

The Seven County Witch Hunt Project was based at the University of Exeter, and funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

In the second episode of the Seven County Witch Hunt Project podcast mini-series, we look at the accusations that were being levelled against people accused of witchcraft in the English witch hunts of the 17th century. Were these people in league with the Devil, or did the accusations reflect other tensions within the community? We also dispel some myths about the witch hunters themselves, particularly Matthew Hopkins.

The Seven County Witch Hunt Project podcast series is produced by The Folklore Podcast, and host Mark Norman is in conversation with Professor Marion Gibson and Dr Tabitha Stanmore.

The Seven County Witch Hunt Project was based at the University of Exeter, and funded by the Leverhulme Trust.

Scotland has a broad mix of folklore. Some is found elsewhere, or has variations in other areas, and some is unique to the country. Some is well-known and some is much more obscure.

In this episode of The Folklore Podcast, host Mark Norman is in conversation with Scottish writer Lyndsey Croal about the subject. Lyndsey often works with elements of Scottish lore, most recently that connected with the sea which she uses to good effect in a collection of short stories recently published under the title Dark Crescent. Do you know your Frittening from your Mither? There's only one way to find out!

Find Lyndsey online at https://lyndseycroal.co.uk/

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