dark folklore
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Spearhafoc was an eleventh-century monk, artist, and goldsmith, appointed Bishop of London under Edward the Confessor. Before the crown intended for Edward could be completed, Spearhafoc vanished with the king’s gold and jewels.
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William Cox tends the gardens at Othery Grange. He also tends the truth. Five Regency courtships, five birds, and one gardener who learns that an invented omen, once spoken, never stays his alone.
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Ralph Travers, a curate in Exeter, struggles with his conscience after inadvertently making the Devil, Bucky, known to children through a rhyme. As children start disappearing, he faces the consequences of his actions.
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In a series of intertwined tales, women at fairs confront the consequences of seeking love through an ancient ash charm. Each one learns that desires shape their fates, often leading to regret.
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At St Mildred’s, every blessing has a shadow. Cecily Scratcher waits beneath the lychgate to tell seven old warnings of beauty, grace, sorrow, roads, love, labour, and goodness, and of the children made to carry what adults should not.
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About a 22-minute read or a 34-minute listen. Three days after the battle at Arfderydd, Brother Robert searches for the missing bard, Merlin, amidst the devastation. As he and two others navigate the battlefield, they grapple with the dead king Gwenddolau’s unburied body, Merlin’s potential madness, and the need for a proper farewell.
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About an 11-minute read or a 14-minute listen. This folklore tale warns against taking unbaptised children near the Smothing. When a family breaks the rule, they face dire consequences as their child changes, seemingly possessed. An old woman helps reclaim the child, but the experience leaves lasting scars. Villagers remember the tale as a cautionary…
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About a 30-minute read or a 41 minute listen. Jess Harwood returns to her late mother’s home after seven years, uncovering memories and remnants of her mother’s life and secrets. As she begins to help the village with herbal remedies, she discovers a powerful stone, the Eye of the Dracan, which deepens her connection to…
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About a 20-minute read or a 30-minute listen. In Duskdale, the arrival of winter deepens despair as a blight affects children, including young Pip. Emmie, seeking to save him, takes an apple from a forbidden orchard, causing a troubling shift in the village where memories of the dead fade. Ultimately, Emmie must sacrifice her memories…
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About a 13-minute read or a 20-minute listen. During the reign of King Stephen, two children of strange green hue were discovered near Woolpit in Suffolk, speaking in an unknown tongue and refusing all common food save raw beans. What follows is not a retelling of that story, but an imagined prelude to it