Illustration by Meg Pelliccio.
The Folklore Archive is an ongoing collection of forgotten folklore, curious newspaper discoveries, and original pen-and-ink illustrations inspired by Britain’s folklore.
I’ll add a new article every fortnight. Previous issues remain available to read in the archive, while subscribers receive every new edition by email as soon as it’s published.
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How Walter Scott’s Bill Jones Became a Victorian Ghost Story
In 1830, Walter Scott recorded the story of a murdered sailor who refused to leave his killer. Following Bill Jones’s ghost through later newspaper retellings reveals how the tale lost its origins, its slave-ship setting, and even Scott’s own scepticism.
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The Folklore Archive: The Corpse Candles That Predicted Five Women’s Deaths
Corpse candles were said to foretell death, and one seventeenth-century account claimed five appeared before five maidservants died in Llangathen.
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The Folklore Archive: The Boggart Of Blackley
In 1852, a Blackley clogger dug beneath his home’s floor in search of a boggart and uncovered a jug filled with human bones.
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The Folklore Archive: The Blacksmith Who Made Witch Bottles For A Wizard
You might know about witch bottles already, but have you heard of the blacksmith who made iron versions for a well-known wizard?