In a Flemish folktale, there used to be a nobleman who had sold his soul to the devil. One dreadful night, the castle sank into the ground, as did the man who was sitting in his carriage. He still haunts the area, and it's said the bells of the castle can be heard on Christmas Eve. #WyrdWednesday

The Illustrated London News publishes a tale on the 9th of Feb 1856, claiming men working on a railway tunnel in France broke open a boulder of Jurassic limestone only to see a living Pterosaur stumble out, croak, and collapse dead at their feet! (Spoiler alert it didn't happen 🦕) #WyrdWednesday

In 'The Mudcoil Indian' by Phil Robinson (Pall Mall 1895), explorers in the mountains of a remote part of the US (not clear where) find odd, beehive-shaped structures they think must be primitive huts. But in fact they are mudcoils created by giant subterranean worms! #WyrdWednesday #crytptozoology

In 1911 'Wide World' published a 'true' story about mineral prospectors exploring caves near Jerome, #Arizona, and encountering Morlock-like troglodytes living in their depths. Naturally, they were extremely unfriendly! A Mr McDonald described the event, which he said occurred in 1905 #WyrdWednesday

For #WordlessWednesday

Well-known yarn but worth reposting just for the spooky drawing, one of Charles Harper's best. #ghost #ghosts #haunted #folklore #legend #Wiltshire

The Hate or The Blade, a short, exactly one hundred word drabble, a version of which appeared in the digital literature magazine Rat Bag Lit. cwreeve.com/2025/10/21/t...

The Thing (1982, John Carpenter)

In Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho (1991) there are 30 references to Trump, almost all of them idolising. #novel #fiction #American #literature #satire #dystopian #capitalism #greed #history #narcissism

A pair of mermaids by Gustav Klimt. #FairyTaleTuesday #fairy #myth #legend #Klimt

I've got a friend coming to stay for a few days, so this is me currently: (Sidney Sime, 1908) #illustration #artsky #sidneysime #spider

Two more photos of the 10th Century Maen Achwyfan (Achwyfan's Stone), as per my pervious post. No one seems to know who Achwyfan was. I've only just learnt its design suggests #Viking influence. If so they must have struck inland into #Flintshire and perhaps settled there. #StandingStoneSunday

Maen Achwyfan, the impressive 10ft high 10th century wheel cross near Whitford in Flintshire, North #Wales. I decided to check it out again on my way back from visiting other sites but got there a bit late - although I did manage to grab this moody photo of it. #StandingStoneSunday #medieval

This charming lancet window is in St Lawrence's, Church Stretton, #Shropshire. When I snapped it, I assumed it was modern but apparently it dates from the 18th century. #StainedGlassSunday

“Nothing, if I rightly call to mind, was left of my respected predecessor, save an imperfect skeleton, and some fragments of apparel, and a wig of majestic frizzle ; which, unlike the head that it once adorned, was in very satisfactory preservation” (Nathaniel Hawthorne) #bookwormsat

"I would gather up the flag and surrender it to the Afghans, and then they would let us alone. I heard the shriek of a Ghazi almost in my ear. I was clutching at the flag, mumbling, 'Here, take the bloody thing; I don't want it.'" - 'Flashman', George Macdonald Fraser #BookWormSat 1/2

"These chronicles. My memorials. What are they? Farts of the mind." - Robert Nye, 'Falstaff' (If you're not familiar with him, Nye wrote a series of pretend memories/journals of various fictional or historical figures, such as 'Merlin', an apprentice to 'Faust', and 'Mrs Shakespeare') #BookWormSat

Thanks again to all contributors to another phantasmagorical #PhantomsFriday! Particular congratulations to @chriswoodyard.bsky.social who absolutely stormed it with a single post (with a fascinating image I'd never seen before either). Picture is 'The Incantation' by Anton Machek, 1931.

#funny #humor #humorsky #ghosts #paranormal #supernatural #hauntedhouse

The Lost Villages Museum in Long Sault, Ontario, Canada is known for its #hauntings, due to the many communities submerged for the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1958. Reported activities include swinging chandeliers (!) footsteps, phantom voices, rocking chairs moving & unexplained bangs #PhantomsFriday

The Inn At The Falls in Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada, reputedly is #haunted by many spirits including a pregnant woman who died after tragically falling down a flight of stairs in the 1930s, "Bob" who throws pots & pans in the kitchen, and the elderly female owner from 1975. #PhantomsFriday

👻💀😱 #Pareidolia #Pareidolie #Iseefaces #FacesInThings #FacesInPlaces #Ghost #Scary #Tree

'Ghost Trap' ko-fi.com/owllog #darkart #spookyart #horrorart #art #artist #creature #ghost #paranormal #deathanxiety #horror #scary #buymyart #artshare

Illustration by J. H. Brown, from Spectropia: or, Surprising Spectral Illusions, Showing Ghosts Everywhere, and of any Colour (1863). Source: @yale.edu / Internet Archive https://pdimagearchive.org/images/3ad93c6c-c3a2-4c40-b388-b1c8b40640f8 #illusion #halloween #spirituality #clouds #ghosts

Let's start #ArtAdventCalendar with a little ghost I made for Fear Mall back in October. He's based on a sketchbook piece, a Fly Ghost. Will you have lunch with him? #PolymerClay #Ghosts #Miniatures

In 1821 John Newton was wrongfully accused of highway robbery by two men who had a grudge against him. After he was convicted, Newton said no grass would grow on his grave, and this would show his innocence. His grave in Montgomery churchyard did remain bare of grass for 100 years. #PhantomsFriday

From the Washington Times Herald, 1920. #PhantomsFriday I hope she found one!😆

#PhantomsFriday In 1908 The Metropolitan Psychical Society offered $5,000 to any medium who could get ghosts to count the oranges spilled behind him. In response, a Dutch author sent this photo, said to be of a ghost, and asked how he (and ghost) could be tested. hauntedohiobooks.com/news/ghosts-...

#PhantomsFriday Cover art by Virgil Finlay for Weird Tales, September 1952.

‘I wear the chain I forged in life,’ replied the Ghost. ‘I made it link by link, and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it. Is its pattern strange to you?’ ~Jacob Marley Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol #PhantomsFriday

“I saw the Stone Rider turn in his saddle and look back as we raced after him; and a flash of flame seemed to shoot out from between the helmet-bars. ” (Louis Creswicke "A Gruesome Wooer”, The Ludgate Magazine, London 1897) 🎨 John H. Bacon #PhantomsFriday

'Jenkins' by Paul Glanville (Pearson's Magazine, 1907), is a humorous out-of-body experience tale in which the titular character temporarily turns into a ghost. The illustration is by the then-well-known comic artist H M Bateman. #PhantomsFriday #ghost #ghosts #Fortean #ForteanFriday #BookChatWeekly

The sjoufert is a fiery ghost in Flemish folklore who often appears near swamps. In one tale, people who lived near a swamp whistled at him. They fled into their house as the very angry ghost flew behind them. He left four paw prints on their door that never disappeared. #PhantomsFriday

A spirit photo taken by William H. Mumler, showing his wife, Hannah, a clairvoyant. Behind her stands her spirit guide, the Declaration of Independence signee Dr Benjamin Rush. #PhantomsFriday

""Freeman's Phantoms." The Phantom Of His Youth Upbraiding The Sordid Phantom Of His Mature Age." - Drawn By A. Hunt." The Illustrated London News 19.12.1863. #PhantomsFriday #1860s

Despite a huge newspaper trawl, I was unaware of this story until Alison Weir (a former Kings Lynn resident) told me of it. After much struggle I unearthed it, from 1974. The house is less than a mile from where I live. #phantomsfriday #ghost #haunting #norfolk #kingslynn

Ye Olde Salutation Inn, Nottingham I don't doubt that there are reports of inexplicable phenomena here but the number of claimed ghosts (89) is ridiculous. On a positive side the pub has an excellent range of ales and does good food too. #phantomsfriday #ghosts #hauntings

"Well, did you see it?" "I see everything father," I said, "except when the noise came." "Did you see what it was knocked the Dean over, that what came out of the monument? You didn't? Well, that's a mercy. A thing like a man, all over hair, and two great eyes to it?" - M R James #PhantomsFriday

An especially spooky picture: 'The Plague On The Stairs' by Theodore Kittelson, 1896. #PhantomsFriday #gothic #Victorian #weird #weirdart #artsky

👻Spread the Word👻 Happy Launch Day to our fabulous writers! As the days are darkening, settle down with this collection of stories, and transport yourself to places and times where the only limit is your imagination. www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1... #PhantomsFriday #NewRelease #GhostStories #Ghost

As it is the anniversary of Walt Disney's birth today, I give you 'Blackbeard's Ghost' (1968). The film starred Peter Ustinov, Dean Jones, and Suzanne Pleshette. Here we have the Japanese brochure published to advertise the initial release of the movie. #PhantomsFriday #FlicksOfMyYears #60s

I'm very fond of bizarre ghosts. Two of the weirdest haunted villages in #Cheshire. Near Lostock Gralam an apparition in the form of a pig stuck all over with lighted candles used to be seen. Weirder still was the headless duck which used to potter up and down a lane at Stoak. #PhantomsFriday

In his memoirs, Francis Greville (1853-1924) Earl of Warwick, mentioned that a ghostly lady riding a white horse had been seen in the State Rooms of Warwick Castle at midnight. Who the lady might be and why she was riding a horse in the Castle, Lord Brooke gave no clue. #PhantomsFriday

A festive contribution for #PhantomsFriday ‘at first there was nothing but the general silence of the night; then came the clanking of iron and the dragging of chains…Then…it stood rattling its chains over his head’ Not Marley’s Ghost but Pliny Book 7 Letter 27 and possible inspiration for Dickens

In 1706 a pamphlet was published which described how a Mrs Veal visited a friend in Canterbury - despite having died the day before. There's evidence the booklet was written by Daniel Defoe. This famous image shows the (very relaxed) spirit of Mrs Veal floating through the ether. #BookologyThursday

What, #PhantomsFriday round again so soon? Honestly, it feels like it happens every week. Looking forward to some more posts that will grab everyone's attention. Follow the feed @phantomsfriday.bsky.social - and fee free to join in. I bet you've got something spooky to add.. #BookChatWeekly #artsky

Hidden somewhere in the glorious #medieval manor house of Stokesay, #Shropshire, there is a treasure chest. It was owned by two giants, each of whom lived on neighbouring hills. They would lob the key to each other as needed - but one day it fell in the moat and they lost it. #folklore #legend

Crucifix dagger, Spain (circa 1650s)

Cold, cold is the blast when December is howling, Cold are the damps on a dying man's brow,— Stern are the seas when the wild waves are rolling, And sad is the grave where a loved one lies low; – P.B. Shelley 1810 #poetry #gothic #romanticism #booksky #December