Bone and Sickle

Category: ballads

The Lover’s Head

Arthurian, ballads, Black Death, books, children's literature, crime, death, Decameron, decapitation, EPISODE, execution, fairies, fairy tales, folk music, folk tales, folklore, ghost stories, ghosts, gore, history, horror, legends, literature, madness, Middle Ages, murder, murder ballads, punishments, renaissance, Romanticism, seduction, skulls

The motif of lovers retaining the head of a decapitated partner is surprisingly widespread. In this — our romantic Valentine’s[…]

Read more

Gallows Lore

ballads, black magic, Charles Dickens, crime, criminals, cunning folk, death, England, EPISODE, execution, folk customs, folk medicine, folk music, folk tales, folklore, gallows, hand of glory, hangmen, history, Ireland, Jack Ketch, legends, literature, magic, puppets, science fiction, Scotland, superstition, William Calcraft

We examine the lore of the gallows, focusing on the British Isles, encountering hangmen as figures straddling history and myth,[…]

Read more