Mamdani has only been Mayor for a day & criminals are already fleeing New York

This #findsfriday, we are sharing with you one of three leather shoes that were found in Avebury in 2025, concealed in a wall of a house. Wiltshire Council's Conservation & Museums Advisory Service then worked to conserve the shoes for our collection, creating bespoke mounts to stabilise the shoes.

My Christmas reading was the wonderful 'Upon A White Horse' by @peteralanross.bsky.social, a lovely account of the author's travels across Britain in search of enigmatic ancient sites. Highly recommended and it has inspired me to get out and about a visit a few of the places he describes in 2026!

Modern industrial folklore. Been really enjoying researching the most recent addition to the UK's ancient, spiritual heritage - the Big Pipe of Skelmersdale. Including the legendary Asda trolley fish. ... "MUCH BETTER THAN STONEHENGE"

NEW EPISODE: What spirits (holy or not) haunt churches? Simon and Chris bicker about consecrated ground, stone tape theory, and wimples. Chris tells of infernal US churches, while Simon pontificates on the prophetic dead parading church porches. Plus: Jimmy Garlick www.buzzsprout.com/1859647/epis...

2025 has been a rotten year for most early career postdoctoral researchers, especially in Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. For a better 2026, check out (or repost) this short thread on a free resource for UK-based SHAPE PhDs within 10 years (excluding career breaks) of the doctorate. 1/3

Loving the new flyer for next year's (50th anniversary) Magic Lantern Society convention

28.1% of people living in England today host or attend a Christmas party. Are you one of them?

"I would LOVE some more Christmas #folklore and yet another plug for your new book Household Lore!" said absolutely no-one. So I listened and here is a blog with 10 folklore-y things for you to do this Christmas! And a plug! For my new book! #HouseholdLore liza-frank.com/10-top-chris... #Booksky 🎄🎁📚

Every time I'm in a restaurant I remember Kevin McAleer's reply to a waiter who told him the Soup Of The Day. "Where there any other contenders?" "Um, no?" "A hollow victory, then".

Update. Still doing my research fine without AI.

Don't steal pies this Christmas.

Georgian polyphonic song Mravalzhamieri performed on Rustaveli Ave on day 385 of nonstop protests in Georgia—celebrating the birthday of Mariam Pirashvili, a constant presence at the daily rallies, known for walking around with plastic bags and collecting garbage from protesters. 🎥 Ani Kavtaradze

Sound up. Moving polyphonic singing by defiant Georgian protestors

A great event towards the end of Jan - m'learned colleague Daniel Gordon, who recently took voluntary redundancy from academia, is going to reflect on how that feels and what it's like. Since many academics are going to be in that position, important. 👇 www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-univers...

England is a nation of gift-givers at Christmas! It’s mammoth but it’s worth making your way through our new website post about what the Survey has revealed about Christmas traditions - there are some surprises… www.nationalfolkloresurvey.co.uk/news/its-chr...

Today's #Christmas #folklore is all about forward planning. Before everything kicks off proper, start preparing what your Twelvetide divinations are to be & how you will record them...🎄https://watkinspublishinglinks.com/householdlore #HouseholdLore #WatkinsWisdom #Booksky #Witchsky #BookChatWeekly

Jane Austen used 'however' at the beginning of a sentence, and so can you.

I'm on the New Books Network podcast discussing Contested Commons with Miranda Melcher. @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social newbooksnetwork.com/contested-co...

Should folklore legends have their own blue plaques in the landscape? Foster pride in local folklore. This is the only one I can find. There are are a few non-blue plaques from decades ago, of course. Morningside Hanging Stones, for e.g.

My book with Andy Bartlett - an STS analysis of Bigfooting - is now out and available to order at www.routledge.com/Bigfooters-a... If this is of interest, I would really appreciate it being shared. Thank you.

Ongoing decimation of British universities part 252: Apx. 1000 academic staff at University of Essex just received formal ‘risk of redundancy’ letters via email. Please share @ucuessex.bsky.social @ucu.org.uk

Pleased to have a new co-authored research article ALGORITHMIC ALCHEMY: THE POWER OF THE WITCH ON YOUTUBE(with Zhang, Belinskaya + @monrodriguez.bsky.social) published in FOLKLORE, bridging research in folklore studies and algorithmic networks! #folklore doi.org/10.1080/0015...

Towncreep. Been researching a supposedly lost town in deepest Sussex that 19th century locals called "Towncreep". They said it was destroyed by "the red-haired men". Now that's a folk horror scenario for you. I'll explain in forthcoming book...

Adding translation into the mix #speirgorm

Owen Davies Place-naming heritage. Interesting new research from the RSPB. Modern developers are enthusiastically adopting certain birds for their street names for a bit of "eco calming," but they are all species in terrible decline. Skylarks, Starlings, Swifts ... www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...

Northern Earth 182, Winter 2025, is out now! In this issue: Fairport Convention and liminal topo of the Winchester Downs, New Troy and the Sandridge Geoglyph, Peter Ross @peteralanross.bsky.social (Upon a White Horse) interview, Bleasdale–Round Loaf alignment, lots more. Sub:

Check out the new Living Heritage website created by the UK government. Part of finally signing up to the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage. They want public engagement. What would you submit? livingheritage.unesco.org.uk

Zero chance he's not going to strangle you in your sleep

I want to build him an entire house to loll about in.

New post on A is for Abortion Substack! Today we go to drugstores, not blacksmiths, but we are not so very different from medieval and early-modern people, testing urine to ascertain pregnancy. Local experts included blacksmiths, female healers, and doctors.

New post on A is for Abortion. Story of a young wife, living in a Civil War hospital with her husband, who quietly ended a pregnancy. Imagine starting your married life in such a hospital!

✨ The York Magic and Witchcraft Conference is back for 2026! ✨ Join us in historic York from 24–26 June as we explore the mysteries of Nature and the Supernatural. 🪄🌿 Submit your abstracts by 14 March 2026 to [email protected] ☺️

Witchcraft. One day soonish I'll write a critical analysis of recent historical witchcraft studies and the contrast with public/media understanding. But not just yet...

In today's Folklore Studies MA class we had the wonderful Sarah Bellisario talking us through her doctoral practitioner work on objects, ritual & emotion, did some creating ourselves along with some eating of Christmas themed snacks

The Society currently invites applications for its 'Workshop Grants' programme 2026: bit.ly/3MlbX46 Grants provide funding for groups of historians to come together for a day event to work collaboratively on a shared project. Closing date for applications: Friday 23 January 2026 #Skystorians

Up here in Elgin we have a real witch on a new estate.

The enchantment of modern housing estates through street names. That's what I'm into at the moment. Here's some Arthurian examples from 3 different towns.

📣 And my lot is now live! Win the auction for my new book Household Lore & you'll get to dictate what I write as the dedication! Perfect for a Christmas present or just to keep on your bookshelf! #WritingCommunity #Charity #Folklore #MariLwyd #Booksky #Refuge 🎄🎁 📚 www.ebay.co.uk/itm/15748994...

I found a flowchart which helps you navigate the IT landscape

As a small press we don’t do #BlackFriday, but we have a selection of bundles. New now: The Yuletide Bundle, perfect for anyone who yearns to sit in front of the fire reading spooky stories. 👉🏼 helleborezine.com

Read @rosscmrn.bsky.social's fabulous blog post! And please repost 😊

British legend postcards. In my occasional quiz series of - where is this? (I know...as I have the postcard in my collection).

Thrilled to share the Point Reyes Myriorama: a storytelling art deck inspired by the National Seashore and my love of Philip Pullman. I teamed up with artist Carrie Alyson of Aspenhearted. Preorder now for early 2026 delivery: www.pointreyesmyriorama.com

Very excited to see a double page spread on our Survey results in the latest issue of Fortean Times, too. Perfect Christmas present for the weird and wonderful folks in your life!

*small embarrassed voice* A little plug for my article on Devon book sales c. 1700, which has gone online open access. tl;dr book auctions weren't just a London/Oxbridge thing: a flourishing second-hand book market centred on Exeter included auctions from the 1680s. doi.org/10.1093/libr...

The re-issue of my 1999 book "Witchcraft, Magic, and Culture" is now out, £19.99. Glad to see it with an attractive new cover!

New Video: An Irreverent take on the history of Fortean Times magazine with Ian Simmons, their News Editor. @iansimmons1960.bsky.social This is an extract, watch the full 50 minute live video here: youtu.be/hQ8dhObF21E

"CNN discovers exorcism inquiries are on the rise in the US" [video] www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysD0...