Whenever I was at my Granddad's house, he always used to say 'everything here is yours, take whatever you want.' He was a good Yorkshire man with a solid heart and a decent word for everyone. He loved his countryside, his flat cap, and his bargains. One bargain of his was a copy of Folklore,… Continue reading Reading In The Dark : Folklore, Myths And Legends Of Britain
I don't like summer. I find myself wishing for it to be over even before it's properly begun. So, today I'm drowning out the sound of kids happily playing in the balmy heat with the song Miri it is while sumer ilast - performed by the brilliant Ensemble Belladona - knowing that it'll be over… Continue reading Sound Of The Day : Ensemble Belladonna
Back in the beautiful 90s (yes, I do miss them very much) deep within a tangled wood in a Yorkshire moorland valley, sat Baba Yaga's hut. I was seven when I first learned about it, and I was told, extremely convincingly, that it stood on chicken legs and would wander around at will. I was… Continue reading Art Of Baba Yaga
These photos of me doused in pig's blood were taken a few years ago, but after spending much of today being engrossed in the art of Gryla, I thought to myself 'hang the fuck on, I represented her quite bloody well at one point, if I may say so myself...' So here they are. Photos:… Continue reading My Interpretation Of Gryla
It's been WAY too long since I've listened to Norwegian blackened/doom band Slegest (though this is the third time they have been my Sound Of The Day) and I've been missing out BIG TIME. Tonight I'm going to give their new album Introvert a listen, but before I do, I want to relish Ho Som… Continue reading Sound Of The Day : Slegest
My first encounter with the Icelandic, child eating troll Gryla was in 2010 when I wrote a poem about her. The second encounter was a year later, on a street in Akureyri, a city in northern Iceland. She was there with her husband Leppaludi. While most people think she's quite the hideous monster, I found… Continue reading Art Of Gryla
Have you heard about Kin Fables? No? Please allow yourself to be introduced through this interview I did back in 2013 with the creators. CLANN brings together all the music from the beautiful and expansive world magicked up by the McKinnon brothers. There's also a more up to date interview here from Beautiful Bizarre. The… Continue reading Sound Of The Day : CLANN
Since I was small, I've been fascinated with the idea of a demonic black hound, the size of a yearling calf with eyes the colour of hell fire, haunting the dark, lonely moors and lanes of England. Also, the fact it's a legend most commonly associated with my home county of Yorkshire is something that… Continue reading Art Of The Barghest
THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS POST. All day I've been seeing posts complaining about The Bells AKA episode 5 of series 8 of Game Of Thrones, be it because folk think the Dragon Queen has gone mad or because they think the episodes are getting shittier as we draw ever closer to the end. I've… Continue reading Sound Of The Day : Game Of Thrones – The Bells
The other day when I was talking on Facebook about my obsession with the Wendigo, a friend from Baffin Island mentioned to me the Inuit myth of Qalupalik. (Since I learned how to pronounce Qalupalik I haven't been able to stop saying it to myself! It's such a wonderful word to say aloud.) The Qalupalik… Continue reading Art Of The Qalupalik
Celebrating the strange and the shadowy, the damned and unseen 