The Folklore of Warwickshire

For years I’ve felt that the folklore of Warwickshire has been rather overlooked compared to that of regions. This account aims to go some way to rectifying this. #folklore

Couldn’t avoid getting the reflection of the building opposite in this shot of the Halloween window at Lily Rose bridal wear in Kenilworth but I think it adds an otherworldly look. #31DaysOfHalloween

Join us this Thursday (29th) for our spooky-themed #FolkloreThursday! Share your favourite terrifying folklore to the hashtag between the following times GMT: 9am-1pm 3.30-4.30pm 6.30-7.30pm 🎃👻🧙‍♀️🧹

Listening to 6Music’s The Freak Zone last night, I heard @stuartmaconie.bsky.social play the haunting ‘A Thousand Witches’ by Current 93. Possibly one of the few songs which references both Long Compton and Lower Quinton. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xuwy...

Late one night, William Roberts is on his way home - he hears no footsteps … “but she brushed by me, and I felt her dress against my leg. I was just going to speak to her, when she vanished clean away” The Copper Hole Ghost Sept, 1881 #SpookySunday

If you encounter any hares this month, check out how shaggy their coat is - you might need to stock up on coal/wood/put an extra sweater on. (saying on display at the Museum of Country Bygones, Marton. 📷 by me )

In more folklore cures involving food from my book, here is this one for whooping cough. Not one for those with allergies or arachnophobia. #FolkloreThursday

Did Si and I manage to prove the folklore wrong and count the exact number of stones in the Kingsmen stone circle? Si counted 78 stones, I counted 75 or 76. In Aubrey Burl's 'Stone Circles of Britain, Ireland and Brittany' he gives the figure as "some 80" so we weren't far off. #Rollrights

Despite the rain, Folklore of Warks intern Si, and I decided to see if the folklore about no one being able to count the exact number of stones in the Kingsmen stone circle at the Rollrights is true. Arrived at the site only to find fog had joined the rain.🙄 Anyway here's Si on his count 👇

It is said that a black cat wearing a “locket”, a small white patch on its chest, was lucky, having been “touched by God” or “kissed by an angel”. Yet in Scottish lore, the Cat Sìth, a black fairy cat with a white patch, was feared by some as a witch in disguise. #FolkloreSunday

#Inktober Day 18 – theme: FLIGHTLESS Have opted for a pixie with woebegone wings. Caveat: I have no idea if pixies have wings or not but as they are imaginary creatures (probably), in my imagination they have wings 🙂

Not always sure where conspiracy theory ends and folklore begins but here's a diorama of the Apollo moon landing being faked that I saw at last weekend's dolls house and miniatures show at Stoneleigh NAC. I think the scale is 1:48 so pretty teeny.

An infamous London witch was Mother Damnable, whose cottage allegedly stood on the site of Camden Town Tube Station. She's said to have poisoned one lover & baked another in an oven. On the day of her death, locals witnessed the Devil strolling into her house. #WyrdWednesday #folklore #Halloween

The medieval Munich Manual of Demonic Magic, a 15th-century manuscript, contains instructions for conjuring spirits, creating illusions and obtaining supernatural knowledge. It offers a rare glimpse into the ritual magic that church authorities condemned. #WyrdWednesday

In 1880, St. Simons lighthouse keeper Frederick Osborne was gunned down by his assistant over an argument. Ever since, keepers reported heavy bootsteps climbing the 129 cast-iron steps at night - sometimes checking on the lens machinery. #SpookySunday #GhostStories #Georgia #Folklore

Beautiful but deadly, wolfsbane (Aconitum napellus), or monkshood, is steeped in werewolf lore. Said to repel werewolves or break the curse of lycanthropy, it also appeared in recipes for witches’ ointments believed to grant powers of flight and transformation. #FolkloreSunday

An afternoon mooch to the flower festival at St Mary's, Haseley. This year's theme is pastimes. Open again tomorrow 1-4 pm should anyone wish to peruse.

The Serbian vampire Petar Blagojević became the subject of an official 1725 report after villagers claimed he returned from death and attacked them. When his body was exhumed, observers interpreted its condition as proof of vampirism and burned it. #WyrdWednesday

On the roof at Warwick Castle for this evening's 'Warwick Castle: Behind Closed Doors' event - part of the Warwick Words History Festival

The last of October’s birth flowers is the marigold. Its sun-like flowers have the power to strengthen and comfort the heart, and cure melancholy. A spoonful of marigold jam taken at breakfast each morning will protect you from witches & enable you to see fairies. #FolkloreSunday

""The Monster of 'Partridge Creek.'" ...the story of an encounter which the author and several friends had with no less a creature than the dinosaurs of the Arctic Circle, which, as recently as January of this year, was reported to be still at large..." Bexhill Observer 4.7.1908. #WyrdWednesday