Research Funding for PhD students starting in October 2026 OGOM's first vampire conference 2010 Calling all prospective PhD students; the University of Hertfordshire has a new funding call open for applicants!! These studentships come to us via the AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award scheme, a major new…

A message of thanks from the Buffyverse I just wanted to share this video as its not everyday that you receive a personal message from James Marsters or Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer!! Huge thanks to Daisy Butcher for arranging this. Between joy and surprise, I was speechless! What a…

One of the earliest references to St Bridget’s Cross speaks of its power to protect the house and its occupants from fire, as recalled in the burlesque poem Hesperi-Neso-Graphia (1735 ed., p. 8) #imbolc #stbrigidsday #brigid #folclore #fire

St Brigid’s Day (1 Feb) echoes Imbolc and the Irish Christian calendar of the arrival of spring. St Brigid known for her work with poor and also respected as a feminist and environmentalist.But her story is entwined with much older figure. Brigid #Folklore www.tourismireland.com/trade/news/a...

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Fab gift for Sam! So excited and to have received this special message of thanks via the Buffyverse, engineered by my PhD student Daisy who will graduate in February. A moving tribute but also something all vampire fans and students of the #gothic can enjoy! #Buffy www.cameo.com/recipient/69...

STAGING FAIRYLAND British popular theatre from mid C19th onwards was inspired by fairyland. #Fairies became fixtures of pantomime, burlesque, musical extravaganza & Romantic ballet. Favourite stage fairies down the years: Vivien Leigh & Anna Pavlova🖤

SATURDAY is the best day of the week for staking #VAMPIRES in European lore. #Saturday is the time that vampires must sleep in their graves or tombs and thus they can be found and dispatched; persons born on a Saturday are said to possess powers against the undead.

CULT OF PAN Household objects can be wonderfully folkloric; Wonderful Victorian bronze cigar lighter and wrought iron door knocker in celebration of goat god Pan!

VICTORIAN VAMPIRE BATS Dracula (1897) as bat scaling the walls of his castle (Constable Book Covers, 1901, 1916); a large #Vampire Bat in flight from Hooker’s Illustrated Natural History 1864; 1866 Vampire Bat, British Library, showing these gothic connections #Baturday

THE DEAD Snow was falling upon every part of the lonely churchyard where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns.

WINTER Mistletoe is said to provide #fairies with shelter from frosts but the fae don't seem to feel the cold much when compared to woodland animals. This is seen in Winter Frolic by Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) & Fairies in the Snow by John Anster Fitzgerald (1819-1906) #FolkloreSunday

FAIRY TRANSPORT A crowned fairy king is seated on a hedgehog carriage which is drawn by a young girl holding a giant daisy, accompanied by dancing fairies. This remarkable painting is by Charles Altamont Doyle 1832-1893, father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle #FolkloreSunday

Christmas greetings from OGOM 2025 Sam and I and all the OGOM team wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice and holidays, and a fabulous, magical New Year!! Watch out for OGOM events, news of our reseach and publications, and the CFP for our Sea Changes mermaids and selkies publications in the…

What to Read to Understand Vampires Friend of OGOM, Sir Chris Frayling, has put together three books that he believes will help readers to understand vampires, drawing on his earlier idea of vampire archetypes.… https://www.opengravesopenminds.com/ogom-news/what-to-read-to-understand-vampires/

New Frankenstein poem by Souhardya Roy Mary Shelley's annotations to the 1818 edition of Frankenstein owned by the Morgan Library and Museum I am teaching my undergraduate module Romantic Origins and Gothic Afterlives this semester and Frankenstein week is coming up next. One of the things we are…

Events & CFPs: Mermaids, vampires, folkore, fairy tales, Gothic, Romanticism, Victorian, science * Some deadlines, e.g. for CFPs, are very close! Sea Changes conference videos The Sea Changes conference at the British Library, September 2026 The videos of the online day of our September 2025…

OGOM PhD Success Congratulations to OGOM Doctoral Student Shabnam Ahsan @thebrownbronte who has passed her PhD Viva. I was Shabnam's primary supervisor. Her thesis 'Strange Creatures: National Identity and the Representation of the Other in British Fairy-tale Collections, 1878-Present’ is an…

We are a mere 8 members away from our target of 50 by Monday (when I pay the deposit). PictCon2: A Scottish sf & fantasy convention about sf and fantasy in Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 17th October 2026, Perth, with Guest of honour, editor & writer, Neil Williamson. Tickets at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pictcon2-t...

Neil Williamson always has something interesting and perceptive to say, this alone would be reason enough to go to PictCon2.

Announcing #PictCon2 17th October 2026, Perth, Scotland. Guest of Honour, Neil Williamson neilwilliamson.blog/about/ Ticketing is open at Eventbrite. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1794793438...

BLOG: Will Monkeys Become Britain's New Big Cats? A rational look at the looming risk of loose primates in post-licensing Britain as 2026 brings changes to the law... #Cryptozoology #BritishLaw #Cryptids www.theghostgeek.com/p/will-monke...

Sam George, Older than Dracula: in search of the English vampire theconversation.com/older-than-d...

#HALLOWEEN As the veil grows thinner between our world & the spirit world & the witching hour approaches I'd like share my photos of the most uncanny landscape I know. This spookiness is entirely real. Cross Stone Graveyard in Yorkshire is unsettling & sublime #31daysofHalloween

SPOOKY READING Don't forget to browse the MUP Spooky reading List for #31daysofHalloween and access the intros to all three of our @OGOMProject books for FREE

OGOM HALLOWEEN NEWSLETTER www.opengravesopenminds.com/newsletter/o...

Events and CFPs: Fairytale ballads, water horses, ghosts, Romanticism, Victorian, Gothic others, science, Ann Radcliffe NB: The BARS… https://www.opengravesopenminds.com/cfp-conferences/events-and-cfps-fairytale-ballads-water-horses-romanticism-victorian-gothic-others-science-ann-radcliffe/

Events and CFPs: Fairytale ballads, water horses, Romanticism, Victorian, Gothic others, science, Ann Radcliffe NB: The BARS deadline is approaching--29 September!! The Singing Bones: Ballads for the Witching Season The Carterhaugh School, four weeks from 4 November, 2025; on line. A fascinating…

I'm in #KingsLynn tonight ahead of the SOLD OUT #fearinthefens festival. Looking forward to sharing my research on UK werewolf myths with film goers on Sat 25th at 3.00. Come and say hello if you have a ticket! there! #31DaysofHalloween @hertsresearch.bsky.social

SPOOKY NETSUKE (根付) White bats resemble ghosts in exquisite miniature sculptures popular during the Edo period in Japan. Reflecting important aspects of Japanese #folklore bats are often associated with good fortune #31DaysofHalloween

HALLOWEEN FAIRIES - by yours truly Fairies weren’t always cute – they used to drink human blood and kidnap children theconversation.com/fairies-were...

WOO HOO a chance to read the introductions to all 3 @ogomproject.bsky.social books for free for #31DaysofHalloween via manchesterup.bsky.social @hertsresearch.bsky.social @billbloodyhughes.bsky.social and I really enjoyed working on these!!

WOO HOO a chance to read the introductions to all 3 @ogomproject.bsky.social books for free for #31DaysofHalloween via manchesterup.bsky.social @hertsresearch.bsky.social @billbloodyhughes.bsky.social and I really enjoyed working on these!!

Open Graves, Open Minds: Halloween Newsletter 2025 Welcome to the Open Graves Open Minds Newsletter for October. We’re delighted to bring you our news and activities for the 2025 spooky season. We are trying out a new way of publishing the newsletter, directly from the website (other options are…

OGOM HALLOWEEN EVENTS You are cordially invited to our Halloween activities and events. Full listings over on the OGOM blog #31DaysofHalloween www.opengravesopenminds.com/events/ogom-...

If you look closely you will see my article on the vampire's lost reflection. Thank you to @helleborezine.bsky.social for the wonderful Mirror issue. Readers of these articles on fetches, changelings, doppelgangers and vampires will never look in the mirror in the same way again! #31daysofhalloween

FEAR IN THE FENS FESTIVAL Woo hoo I will speaking on ‘Becoming Wolf: The English Eerie and History of the UK Werewolf’ Sat 25th October, 3.00 at fearinthefens.com in Kings Lynn. There will be a showing of An American Werewolf in London #31DaysOfHalloween

JACK-O-LANTERNS Before the grinning pumpkins of #Halloween the folkloric versions or Jack-o-Lanterns, named after the Irish myth, were terrifying; carved from turnips or beets they had the appearance of shrunken heads, warding off uninvited guests

#AUTUMN BEAUTY I was struck by the unsettlingly dark beauty of the #Bronte family home & churchyard when I visited Haworth. Shrouded in mist among the #autumn leaves it was clear no coward soul could live here. Glorious in its gothic gloom.

AN ANCIENTE MAPPE of FAIRYLAND newly discovered and set forth. London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1918. I have a copy of this map of fairyland by Bernard Sleigh in my study to ponder other worlds. It's filled with awe and wonder.

THE SPOOKY SEASON IS HERE at last! I will be taking part in #31daysofhalloween again from 1st October. Some vintage #Halloween #cats to celebrate! Black cats are lucky not unlucky of course! Can't wait to see all the #Halloween posts!

GOTHTOBER I encountered the perfect gothic scene on my way to teach Romantic Origins and Gothic Afterlives. Walking through the churchyard on the way to the station it was completely shrouded in mist! #31DaysofHalloween

The folkloric belief that reflections, portraits and shadows contain part of a person’s soul influenced two of the greatest Gothic novels of the 19th century. Read more in @coffinboffin.bsky.social ‘s piece for The Mirror Issue. Pre-order on helleborezine.com

THE HOLLY KING regains power at the #AutumnEquinox. His strength peaks during Midwinter, at which point the Oak King is reborn. His reign tells us #Autumn is finally upon us.

Excited to reveal I have a piece on the vampire's lost reflection in this issue on The Mirror. The artwork looks fantastic, and I can't wait to read the other contributions.

GHOST APPLES The uncanny name for when freezing rain settles on the fruit & ices over creating a frozen coating. The apple defrosts before the ice does & the rotting apple falls out of the bottom leaving its gothic icy 'ghost' behind! #FolkyFriday

Wo hoo the IGA is in Yorkshire this year and there's rumoured to be a trip to Whitby. Count us in!

📚 Now available! 📚 THE TIGER SKIN AND OTHER TALES OF THE UNEASY, published by @blpublishing.bsky.social I’ve wanted to bring Violet Hunt’s supernatural fiction back for a while now, so am happy to see these stories reach a wide audience again. Please share!

Thank you. Lovely to see you!

Thanks to all the wonderful delegates who attended our OGOM Project #SeaChanges event at the British Library. I particularly enjoyed seeing all the mermaid images on the screens for 'today at the library'. It gave me a real buzz to see our event get underway! Loved it!