Thor took a short voyage with Tyr's father Hymir, meant to be a fishing expedition, but the Thunderer knew better. He eschewed gentle seas to fish to the harsh churning waves and used an ox head for bait: he caught Jormungandr the World Serpent, who got away. #WyrdWednesday

Sir Gawain must journey through the 'wyldrenesse of Wyrale' to fulfil his quest - the beheading contest with the Green Knight: "Sometimes he warred with dragons & with wolves/sometimes with the crag haunting woodwose/with bears, bulls & boars, or pursued by giants across the fells" #WyrdWednesday

One of the most well-known tales in #JapaneseFolklore is of Urashima Taro and his journey on the back of a magical turtle to the palace of the dragon king under the sea. Unfortunately when he returned home, 300 years had passed and everyone he knew was gone. 🎨Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1882 #WyrdWednesday

1/3 According to a Flemish folktale, bokkenrijders or buckriders, who were said to be thieves, ghosts, or sometimes even witches, and rode through the sky on the backs of goats in Flanders and the Netherlands, had stolen the Queen's laundry. #WyrdWednesday

Long ago, the goddess Pele traveled across the ocean in her canoe to search for a suitable home where her fire and lava would be safe from the waters of her sister and rival Nāmaka the sea goddess, ultimately settling inside Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano. #WyrdWednesday

This takes me back to when I was a school library monitor in Sixth Form and allowed to log on to the librarian’s computer, which was one of the few with a reliable internet connection. Of course, we used it for important things…

Charles Perrault's version of Cinderella is one of the most popular, and it is this version that installed the pumpkin-as-carriage that Disney animated: this New World crop had become so ingrained in European society by the 17th century it bled into fairy tales. #FairytaleTuesday

Tonight's A-Yokai-A-Day is story number 100 of Shokoku hyakumonogatari! It took four years of A-Yokai-A-Days to finish this collection, and I am happy to complete it. I hope you enjoyed this book as much as I did. Check it out for free on my Patreon below: www.patreon.com/posts/yokai-...

👻🎃 UNCANNY HALLOWEEN COUNTDOWN: DAY 6 🎃👻 Are you enjoying counting down the days until #Halloween? Today’s bijou bite of the bizarre is Case 6: The Blanket Seal 🛌 What happened in that university hall of residence room? Send your questions and theories on the case to [email protected]!

‘The realm of fairy-story is wide & deep & high & filled with many things: all manner of beasts & birds are found there; shoreless seas & stars uncounted; beauty that is an enchantment, & an ever-present peril; both joy & sorrow as sharp as swords.’ —JRR Tolkien

If you died, what would make you come back as a #ghost? I think I would definitely come back to play D&D, though I'm not sure my players would want an undead DM. But an afterlife of board games seems like a fun one! Check out today's A-Yokai-A-Day post below: www.patreon.com/posts/yokai-...

I'm just about to step inside this "fairy ring", so if you don't hear from me for a few hundred years...

🖼️ Inga Moore for The Wind in the Willows.

A lovely view of EPCOT's World Showcase Lagoon as seen through the Japan Pavilion's torii gate, which is inspired by the iconic floating torii at Itsukushima shrine.

Goblin Ha' is under Yester Castle. Its owner, the Wizard of Yester had the castle built over an entrance to Hell, and the builders were an army of goblins from: "Boggarts, Brownies, Hobs and their Goblin Kin" bardofcumberland.com/folklore/ #31DaysOfHalloween #booksky art: Alan Lee

'Harvest Fox Spirit' (messenger of Inari, kami of the crops) - Shoson Ohara, ca. 1910. #JapaneseArt #ukiyoe

According to a Flemish folktale, a farm was haunted by a man with two dogs who had 'hellish' eyes. One night, he arrived at the farm in a phantom carriage drawn by four horses. Ten people got out and started partying. A priest eventually banished the ghost to a wasteland. #PhantomsFriday

Ushirogami is a one-eyed ghost that sneaks up behind you and pulls your hair or makes your umbrella blow away or breathes on the back of your neck...then disappears when you turn around. #FolkloreThursday

Another Japanese ghost story for everyone's #Halloween enjoyment, free on my Patreon! A-Yokai-A-Day for Oct 2: How Attachment to Money Became a Strange Light in Tsu, Ise Province #yokai www.patreon.com/posts/yokai-...

Beware of traipsing over the burial sites of the Nordic haugbùi, or “barrow-dwellers,” for the spirits are known for showing no mercy dispensing their specific form of punishment: Reciting poetry to trespassers. #FolkloreThursday 🖼️ The Merry Cemetery by Amrita Sher-Gil

Every seven years in Alfriston, the ghost of a white dog was said to appear on White Way, thought to be Thomas Chowne's pet. Chowne was killed by robbers and when his bones were found and moved to St Andrews churchyard, sightings of the ghostly dog ceased. #FolkloreThursday

Everything can come to monstrous life in Japan, even vegetables! In one legend, a pumpkin monster called Sunamura no onryō appeared in the neighborhood of Sunamura night after night, terrorizing people by chasing them around yokai.com/sunamuranoon... #FolkloreThursday

When theaters close for the night a ghostlight is kept on the stage so the spirits can perform; otherwise they'll haunt the actors & sabotage the current show. #FolkloreThursday 📸 credit www.reddit.com/media?url=ht...

Among the many ghosts that have been witnessed haunting the Tower of London is an apparition said to resemble a bear standing on its hind legs. In 1816, the encounter a guard had with this ghostly bear was so intense that he died of fright. #FolkloreThursday

A ghost haunts the wonderfully named Great Dismal Swamp of Virginia, wandering those glades and waterways calling out for his lost love, whom colonists called the Lady of the Lake. The tale inspired Poe's "The Lake" and a ballad by Thomas Moore. #LegendaryWednesday

Grrrr. Other people. Sometimes. Very aggravating. 🖼️ Woman Startled by the Ghost of a Girl by a Mirror, William Bell Scott, C19th.

Happy 54th Anniversary to Walt Disney World!

Book Cover of the Day:

Muppet Labs has once again taken over The Odyssey pavilion at EPCOT for the park's annual Food and Wine Festival. In case you get a brain freeze while sipping on that location's signature pickle milkshakes, be sure to find this helpful message left on the wall. #MuppetMonday

If I could wish you a type of day today, it would be a #kappa chilling on a cucumber in a lazy river kinda day.

Book Cover of the Day:

Happy 1st Birthday to Bakso, the baby tiger at Disney's Animal Kingdom! He's definitely gotten a lot bigger over the past year, but he was still as playful as a kitten when I visited the park last month.

Trekking through the forest near a very old shrine, I came across this gorgeous tree. The signs on the doors read: Keep Out. Let me tell you, it was a battle not to sneak into one of those tree portals and just move on to a magical, beautiful, peaceful place✨. I'll always wonder...

Today is the last day to visit Star Wars Launch Bay at Walt Disney World, which will allow The Magic of Disney Animation to finally return to its rightful home, though I must admit that it will be sad to see the iconic Disney's Hollywood Studios arch come down as part of that renovation.

Of course a Swedish troll just had to have an entire herd of reindeer in its subterranean lair. Such are the wondrous worlds of John Bauer. #wyrdwednesday

With today being the last day to visit Star Wars Launch Bay at Disney's Hollywood Studios, my latest blog post is looking back at when that building was home to an animation studio as well as looking ahead to the return of The Magic of Disney Animation.

To me, there is something spiritual about Fraggle Rock, and this episode is a large factor in that view.

“Do you think this tunnel is magic, Gobo?” “I’m beginning to think everything’s magic if you see it that way,” In ‘Change of Address,’ the final episode of Jim Henson’s ‘Fraggle Rock,’ Gobo Fraggle and his friends learn that “you cannot leave the magic.” #WyrdWednesday

Before this area of the soon-to-close Star Wars Launch Bay at Disney’s Hollywood Studios hosted character meet and greets, it was where park guests could watch real animators create future Disney classics before their very eyes. Read more here in my latest blog post: tinyurl.com/3twcdus5

Publicity photo for the Studio Backlot Tour at Disney-MGM Studios What I love about this photo is that the Backlot Tour teams were not up and running yet so they brought in some parking lot trams from either the Magic Kingdom or Epcot for the photo.

So obvious

While Carlo Collodi's 'The Adventures of Pinocchio' features a moralizing cricket that the story's title character ends up killing, Disney's 1940 animated version re-imagined him into Jiminy Cricket, a loyal sidekick who becomes Pinocchio's official conscience. #WyrdWednesday

"What are you looking at, ya hockey puck?" #ToyStory30

Reflections of nature

Today was the final day to ride the Stanley Falls Flume at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay. When this classic flume ride opened in 1973, it became the first of many thrill rides that have been added to the theme park over the years.

Happy 95th Birthday, Pluto! Mickey Mouse's canine pal made his first appearance as an unnamed bloodhound in the Disney animated short "The Chain Gang," which was released #OTD in 1930.

A last look at the Olden Gate Bridge taken during my visit to Disney's Animal Kingdom last month. This bridge, which served as the main entrance to Dinoland USA, is now behind construction walls along with the recently-closed Boneyard playground. The rest of Dinoland will close in February 2026.

As announced yesterday at #DestinationD23, Walt Disney World's Cinderella Castle will soon get a new paint job inspired by its original color scheme, seen in this photo I took in 2018. While I don't mind its current look, it'll be nice to see the version of the castle that I grew up with return.

This weekend will be the first #DestinationD23 held at Walt Disney World's Coronado Springs Resort, and while I won't be there to experience all the fun in person, I can at least share this #throwback to the last time I visited Coronado Springs back in 2019. Have a great weekend, everyone! #FBF

I'm sure Belle is spending this #WorldPrincessWeek reading about far off places, daring sword fights, magic spells, and princes in disguise, which honestly sounds like a perfect way to celebrate it to me.