The Three Ravens Podcast

On this month's episode of Magic and Medicines, Eleanor is guiding us through the history of Alchemy, from turning base metals into gold to the truth behind the Philosopher's Stone to much more besides!

We start off talking about how several traditions we might recognise as 'Alchemy' grew up in isolation in the ancient world, including in Ancient China, Ancient Greece, and across the Middle East.

From the supposed works of Hermes Trismigestus via Zosimus of Panopolis (who may actually be a hippopotamus in disguise) and other influential forefathers of Alchemy, including Mary The Copt - whose inventions are still being used today - we dig into the core principles of Alchemy: using Materialist magic to reshape reality.

Through the Renaissance, via John Dee, Cornelius Agrippa, and absolutely not Nicolas Flamel, it is not until the Enlightenment that the entire tradition hits the skids.

But why?

And how did 'Chemistry' split off from 'Alchemy,' forcing its forebear into obscurity?

Then, what about those people who still advocated for Alchemy through the 20th century and into the modern day? Could they possibly be believing in scientific processes that are only now being proved possibly principally correct?

It's a fascinating topic, and one of the 'Big Ones' in the story of magic, so let's reorder some elemental nodes together, bring the humours into alliance, and see if we can't maybe all get filthy stinking rich with the knowledge theoretically gifted to us by our ancestors' angel husbands...

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

📱 Socials: Follow our adventures and help us grow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

RETHINK THE WAY YOU DRINK WITH OUR PARTNER THREE SPIRIT - USE OFFER CODE THREE RAVENS FOR A 15% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT

Our Linktree to all things Three Ravens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, on the first of the 'Final Five' episodes in our second lap around England's 39 historic counties, we're digging into the sacred ritual landscape of Wiltshire, and getting weird!

We start off discussing St Pancras Day, including Pancras' martyrdom in 4th century Rome when he was a mere teenager, before his bones went on tour with St Augustine, all before we wander to Wiltshire in England's South West.

On the history front, we discuss the astounding history of the ancient capital of Old Sarum, the moving of Salisbury Cathedral during the 13th century, two key Arthurian legends connected to the county, and more - all before Martin eschews some delicious-sounding Wiltshire delicacies before settling on a waistline-expanding option for this week's County Dish.

Next, like many an antiquarian of yesteryear, we start digging into the county's folklore, chatting through the bonkers history of The Odstock Curse, Wiltshire's staggering depth of UFO/UAP phenomenon, a rather grim ghost story pertaining to Longleat house and estate, and so much more - all enhanced by some excerpts from Saturday's upcoming Local Legends interview with Emma Heard, the amazing human being behind Weird Wiltshire.

Then it's on to the main event: Martin's telling of "The Old Creature" - a story which connects the 1906 excavation of Manton Round Barrow to missing fingers, sinister hauntings, and a wider array of unexplained, possibly cosmic paranormal phenomenon that continue to plague the county even now...

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

📱 Socials: Follow our adventures and help us grow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

RETHINK THE WAY YOU DRINK WITH OUR PARTNER THREE SPIRIT - USE OFFER CODE THREE RAVENS FOR A 15% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT

Our Linktree to all things Three Ravens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re on a break at the moment to get married and enjoy a bit of time either side of our wedding, but, to fill the gap, this is the second of two new compilation episodes containing a trio of stories from across our earlier series.

We have entitled this episode Three Tragedies, because these stories all involve the impacts of loss – be that the loss of an idea, the loss of a way of living, or the loss of a person whose absence has rippled across time ever since.

They include our second-lap Devon story, Kitty Jay’s Grave, our recent Essex story, The Rage of Boudica, and our rather sad ghost story from our Series 6 Leicestershire episode, Route 616 – so have a hanky ready if you’re inclined to get weepy.

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

📱 Socials: Follow our adventures and help us grow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

RETHINK THE WAY YOU DRINK WITH OUR PARTNER THREE SPIRIT - USE OFFER CODE THREE RAVENS FOR A 15% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT

Our Linktree to all things Three Ravens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the fourth episode of our "Fairy Book Project," Martin tells The Yellow Dwarf - a picaresque adventure about fire-breathing basilisks, how mermaids champion the course of true love, and the dangers of indulging children...

If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.

Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.

They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.

Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).

Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.

Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.

The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

📱 Socials: Follow our adventures and help us grow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

RETHINK THE WAY YOU DRINK WITH OUR PARTNER THREE SPIRIT - USE OFFER CODE THREE RAVENS FOR A 15% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT

Our Linktree to all things Three Ravens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the third episode of our "Fairy Book Project," Eleanor tells The Tale Of A Youth Who Set Out To Learn What Fear Was - a surprisingly macabre ghost story about stampeding beds, how older people can often be quite rotten to younger ones, and the benefits of bravery...

If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.

Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.

They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.

Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).

Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.

Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.

The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

📱 Socials: Follow our adventures and help us grow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

RETHINK THE WAY YOU DRINK WITH OUR PARTNER THREE SPIRIT - USE OFFER CODE THREE RAVENS FOR A 15% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT

Our Linktree to all things Three Ravens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re on a break at the moment to get married and enjoy a bit of time either side of our wedding, but, to fill the gap, this is the first of two new compilation episodes containing a trio of stories from across our earlier series.

We have entitled this episode Three Weird Tales because these are tales about such strange folkloric concepts, there’s no easy to just explain them away.

They include our second-lap Cambridgeshire story, The Tale of a Toad Man, and our recent Buckinghamshire and Rutland stories Cassian, The Milton Keynes Vampire, and The Oakham Poachers.

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

📱 Socials: Follow our adventures and help us grow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

RETHINK THE WAY YOU DRINK WITH OUR PARTNER THREE SPIRIT - USE OFFER CODE THREE RAVENS FOR A 15% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT

Our Linktree to all things Three Ravens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second episode of our "Fairy Book Project," Eleanor tells Prince Hyacinth And The Dear Little Princess - a story about the bliss of ignorance, dubious fairy wisdom, and about how truly enormous noses can obstruct the path of true love...

If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.

Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.

They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.

Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).

Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.

Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.

The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

📱 Socials: Follow our adventures and help us grow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

RETHINK THE WAY YOU DRINK WITH OUR PARTNER THREE SPIRIT - USE OFFER CODE THREE RAVENS FOR A 15% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT

Our Linktree to all things Three Ravens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this first episode in what we have been calling our "Fairy Book Project," Martin tells The Bronze Ring - a story about the nature of nobility, talking mice, evil sorcerers, and why you should always be nice to old ladies...

If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.

Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.

They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.

Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).

Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.

Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.

The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

📱 Socials: Follow our adventures and help us grow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

RETHINK THE WAY YOU DRINK WITH OUR PARTNER THREE SPIRIT - USE OFFER CODE THREE RAVENS FOR A 15% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT

Our Linktree to all things Three Ravens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode of Local Legends, Martin is joined by folk musician, editor of Facts & Fiction magazine, and author of books including Derbyshire Folk Tales, Pete Castle.

If you’re part of the storytelling world then you will likely know of Pete already. Likewise, if you are an English folk musician, as, after a career spanning almost 50 years, including the release of literally dozens of albums, Pete is a bit of a national treasure in both fields.

Like a true, traditional bard or raconteur, as part of his musical performances, Pete weaves stories and folky anecdotes into his sets. And as if this wasn't all enough to chat about already, there is also his writing!

Pete's books including Derbyshire Folk Tales, Nottinghamshire Folk Tales, Where Dragons Soar: Animal Folk Tales of the British Isles, and Folk Tales of Song and Dance - on top of which he is also the long-time editor of Facts & Fiction, the world's only storytelling magazine.

To learn more about Pete and his work, do visit his website at petecastle.co.uk, and otherwise gather in close around the Three Ravens campfire for a chat about the Derby Ram, the English folk music scene from the late 70s onwards, rival groups of lead miners going to war with one another, Little Red Hairy Men, and so much more!

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

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On this month's episode of Magus we are travelling all about Renaissance Europe and up through the layers of the heavens to undertake divine revelations into the life, times, and accomplishments of Giordano Bruno!

From Bruno's early life as a Dominican priest, forced to flee one of six popes he thoroughly annoyed, right up to his horrid execution in the Campo de' Fiori, we're running through a wild highlights reel of his accomplishments - both in the development of his pioneering mnemonic memory systems through to creation of his occult philosophy, rooted in 'Egyptian Magic.'

It's a wild journey, ranging from forbidden texts, hidden in the walls of a latrine, back through time to the birth of Renaissance Magic care of the likes of Pico and Ficino, into the heart of the French and English courts, to all the Universities where Bruno made himself so unpopular, wizardry aside this would still be a fascinating story.

Yet, Giordano Bruno also preached a unique gospel, informed by the mythology of Hermes Trismegistus, which involved using hieroglyphics to talk to angels, flirting with Queen Elisabeth I, writing pretty ripe poetry, and trying to debate the failings of Christianity with the Pope himself...

With examples of Bruno's wilder mystic beliefs as well as examples of how he shaped Renaissance science and culture, and even inspired aspects of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, if you know nothing about Bruno then this one is going to be a face-melter.

And if you do, we bet the wealth of a mid-rank Medici that there will be things in this episode that will still surprise you!

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

📱 Socials: Follow our adventures and help us grow on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

RETHINK THE WAY YOU DRINK WITH OUR PARTNER THREE SPIRIT - USE OFFER CODE THREE RAVENS FOR A 15% DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT

Our Linktree to all things Three Ravens

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.