history Archives - Bone and Sickle

Born with a Veil

August 15, 2026 boneandsickle anomalies, Benandanti, birthing, cauls, curiosities, EPISODE, folk customs, folk magic, folklore, Friuli, history, legends, medicine, superstition, witch trials, witchcraft, witches

To be “born with a veil” (or caul) was once regarded as far more than an unusual circumstance of birth.[…]

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Robert the Devil: Medieval Legend, Gothic Opera

June 6, 2026 boneandsickle chapbooks, demons, Devil, diabolism, EPISODE, folklore, France, ghosts, Gothic, gothic literature, history, horror, legends, literature, medieval, Middle Ages, nuns, opera, Paris Opera, Robert le diable, Robert the Devil, Romanticism, The Monk, theater, Victorian

Robert the Devil is a supernatural medieval legend that inspired a 19th-century French opera, which incorporates key elements from a[…]

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Rhymes for Those Who Can Neither Read Nor Run

January 31, 2026 boneandsickle ballads, books, Britain, children's literature, England, EPISODE, folk music, folklore, frogs, ghost stories, gothic literature, history, literature

Gammer Gurton’s Garland, published in 1784, is one of the earliest collections of English nursery rhymes, and contains verses both[…]

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