Award winning author, historian and occultist Liz Williams discusses her book 'Miracles of our own Making: A History of Paganism', published by Reaktion Books. The interview takes in the history of paganism and Liz's work in Druidry as well as her writing. Read the review of the book on the Folklore Podcast website at https://www.thefolklorepodcast.com/miracles-of-our-own-making.html Support the Folklore Podcast on Patreon to access extra content (free and paid tiers are available) at www.patreo...
May 11, 2025•38 min
Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman delves into the topic of folk music and performance with special guests Lunatraktors. The duo, formed in 2017 and made up of Carli Jefferson and Dr Clair Le Couteur aim to strip folk back to the bare essentials of rhythm and voice, and use in-depth research methods to investigate Anglo-Celtic music, to which they then apply a modern twist. Carli and Clair also discuss their latest release Wassail, which you can also hear in the episode. To support th...
Apr 26, 2025•1 hr 4 min
In this 'Meet the Author' bonus episode of The Folklore Podcast, creator and host Mark Norman introduces a conversation between literary correspondent Hilary Wilson and university lecturer and poet Kailey Tedesco. Kailey discusses her poetry collection 'Motherdevil' which takes the story of the Jersey Devil and the Pine Barrens as its inspiration for an exploration of folklore and motherhood. Kailey Tedesco is a university lecturer delivering courses in horror writing and gothic literature. This...
Apr 16, 2025•54 min
Folklore Podcast creator and host, Mark Norman, explores the rumours that the author of 'Dracula', Bram Stoker, found inspiration for his famous count in the rural backwaters of the county of Devon, in the South-West of the United Kingdom. Could there by any truth to the ideas that Count Dracula emerged as much from the Devon countryside as he did from the Carpathian mountains? This episode of The Folklore Podcast is written and presented by Mark Norman. To support the podcast, and help to facil...
Apr 06, 2025•31 min
Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman meets with Ronnie Turner. author of the gothic and folk horror novel 'Small Fires' in this episode of the podcast, recorded on location during Ronnie's recent book signing tour. To support The Folklore Podcast on Patreon, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast
Mar 25, 2025•33 min
We chat with Bram Stoker and International Latino Award Winning horror author Cynthia Pelayo as her latest book, 'Vanishing Children' is released. Cynthia's writing intersects with the world of fairy tales, with Charles Perrault's story of Sleeping Beauty providing inspiration for 'Vanishing Children'. Please note that this interview deals with themes of parental loss, and touches on suicide. To support The Folklore Podcast on Patreon and help us to keep making the show, and to get extra content...
Mar 15, 2025•1 hr 13 min
Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman chats with Kat the Lore Mistress about using folklore and folk horror themes in tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). In particular, we look at a new Zine based folk horror game called GAST for which Kat is part of the development team. To find out more about GAST and the creators Hatched Games, visit their website at https://www.hatchedgames.co.uk/ Visit Kat's website at https://www.theloremistress.co.uk/ Support the Folklore Podcast on Patreon and g...
Mar 11, 2025•37 min
We welcome back onto The Folklore Podcast musician and composer Einar Selvik, founder of the band Wardruna and expert in Old Norse music and culture. Einar discusses his beliefs and connections with nature, the way he goes about composing his music through the use of old Norse runes, and his latest work Birna, named for the old Norse she-bear. To support The Folklore Podcast, please consider making a small donation via our website, or visit https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast where you ca...
Mar 02, 2025•1 hr 9 min
We meet British fantasy author Alexandra Beaumont, who specializes in utilizing folklore and the gothic in her writing. She discusses themes of Cornish folklore and her novel 'Dissonance of Bird Song' which was voted the Independent Press Award Distinguished Favourite for 2025. Visit Alexandra online at https://www.alexandrabeaumontauthor.com/ Support The Folklore Podcast at https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast...
Feb 24, 2025•52 min
RETURN TO 10th KINGDOM: We chat with actor Scott Cohen, who played Wolf in the mini-series 'The 10th Kingdom' about possible plans for a sequel, his thoughts on the show and its characters and genre fiction more broadly, as well as discussing his career as an actor and theatre producer. Visit our Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcas t where you can join as a free member and listen to our storytelling show 'Stories from the Hearth', or support the podcast on one of our paid t...
Feb 15, 2025•54 min
In this bonus episode of The Folklore Podcast we shine a light on another fantastic folklore audio project as we meet Charlie Dobres, the writer and creator of audio drama The Maiden and the Dragon. This 6-part production takes a well-known folk tale that we have covered on this show before, The Lambton Worm, and retreats it with a female protagonist in the lead role. You can access more content from The Folklore Podcast, as well as supporting the show and helping it to continue, by visiting the...
Feb 09, 2025•32 min
We return to the subject of vampires on The Folklore Podcast, a subject which we last covered in detail way back in Season 2 with a two-part investigation into the folkloric vampire. This time, we focus on the vampire as it is found in the Slavic regions, with our guest Sam Grant. Sam, who travelled to the area to research the subject, is also the author of a currently unpublished novel, 'Bunika' which fuses actual Slavic vampire lore with fictional elements. In discussion with Mark Norman, the ...
Feb 01, 2025•53 min
In this new strand of The Folklore Podcast, we delve into the archives and pull out old interviews from previous seasons that never made it to air. Today, pagan author Chris Allaun discusses his writing and in particular two of his books, 'The Black Book of Johnathan Knotbristle' and 'Whispers from the Coven', both of which are an interesting mix of a fiction novel with useable spells incorporated into the text. Support The Folklore Podcast on Patreon and access extra bonus content at www.patreo...
Jan 26, 2025•47 min
It all starts when two friends are invited to the home of a mysterious spiritualist medium to experience a seance in their search for evidence of the paranormal. But the medium’s home used to belong to a girl who died there. And that’s never a good combination. So starts the story of 'The Seance', a piece of live theatre written and directed by the guest on this episode of The Folklore Podcast, Chris Stagg. Chris talks with Mark Norman, creator and host of The Folklore Podcast, about his writing...
Jan 19, 2025•39 min
In this special edition release of The Folklore Podcast, we chat with the New York Times Bestselling horror author Grady Hendrix about his fiction and non-fiction writing, and about his new book 'Witchcraft for Wayward Girls' which is released on the same day as this episode - January 14th, 2025. Support The Folklore Podcast on Patreon and get extra exclusive content at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast...
Jan 14, 2025•1 hr 4 min
Folklore in the Field is the bonus episode strand of The Folklore Podcast where we chat with people out on location about their work and interests. No frills. No heavy production. Just conversation. In this episode, Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman chats with children's author Claire Barker about her interests in folklore and her writing, including 'Knitbone Pepper, Ghost Dog', 'Picklewitch and Jack' and her forthcoming book 'Hettie Nettle's Handbook for Hedgewitches'. Visit Claire ...
Jan 11, 2025•27 min
In this episode, the first show of the 10th anniversary season of The Folklore Podcast, we look at the classic TV mini-series 'The 10th Kingdom' which is celebrating its 25th birthday. Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman gives an overview of some of the content that you can expect during the season. This is followed by an interview with special guest Simon Moore, who wrote the screenplay for 'The 10th Kingdom'. Simon gives some insights into his writing and the show and discusses the s...
Jan 04, 2025•1 hr 9 min
The old Irish tradition of using enormous stones in the landscape, sometimes known as testing stones, as a feat of strength has been all but lost for generations. Such stones were lifted to honour the dead at funerals, as a rite of passage to adulthood, as a test of suitability for particular jobs or roles, and for many other purposes. There are many such stones still lying in the Irish landscape, the purpose forgotten, until recently. Thanks to the diligent research and investigation of the gue...
Dec 22, 2024•53 min
In this bonus interview from The Folklore Podcast, recorded live at the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research 40th anniversary conference at Sheffield Hallam University, Dr Megan Kenny sits down to chat with Folklore Podcast host Mark Norman and Perry Carpenter from the Digital Folklore Podcast. Megan is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology and Sheffield Hallam and talks about power and psychology in folklore. You can listen to Megan's own podcast Monstrous Flesh, which looks at wome...
Dec 07, 2024•20 min
As listeners in the US celebrate Thanksgiving, this bonus minisode takes a look at what we actually know about the history of this celebration versus the popular myth. Support the Folklore Podcast via our Patreon page at www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcas t for additional content.
Nov 28, 2024•7 min
In this episode of The Folklore Podcast we enter the secretive world of the circus and the carnival sideshow - a community with much tradition and folklore but at the same time many secrets. Our guest Nathan Wakefield, himself a variety performer, uncovers the world of the Sideshow Geek - controversial and eccentric acts which shocked many an audience member in the sideshows of the past. But how much of the act was genuine, and how much was just that - an act? Nathan's book, 'The Rise and Fall o...
Nov 23, 2024•44 min
We meet musician and composer Freya Waley-Cohen to talk about her work and the ways in which folklore and the occult have inspired her music. In particular, we look at 'Spell Book', a dramatic song cycle which sets spell-poems from Rebecca Tamas' book WITCH to original music. You can visit Freya on the web and learn more about her work at https://www.freyawaleycohen.com/ To support the work of the Folklore Podcast on Patreon and access extra content, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodca...
Nov 10, 2024•47 min
There can be few people who don't have at least a passing awareness of the legend of the lost continent of Atlantis. But probably a significantly smaller number don't know much about Lemuria, another alleged land mass which sunk to the depths and which has since been seized upon by occultists to posit theories about our ancestral past. In this episode of the Folklore Podcast we sort the aquatic wheat from the chaff with special guest Justin McHenry whose latest book provides an in-depth look at ...
Oct 20, 2024•59 min
In this episode of the podcast, we explore the use of folklore as an inspiration for the creation of music, with award-winning musician, composer and songwriter Kate Young. At the time of release, Kate has just released her much-anticipated debut album, Umbelliferæ (pronounced ‘um-bell-ifer-aye’), a captivating record inspired by plantlore and the ancient medicinal uses of wildflowers from the British Isles. Drawing from world traditions, chamber music, and indie/pop influences with a stunning s...
Sep 30, 2024
Folk tales have been important to us for centuries, but in the grand span of their existence we only started writing them down relatively recently. In this episode of the Folklore Podcast, we are joined by Scottish storyteller Allison Galbraith, who is one of those who not only tells in person, but also commits stories to print. Amongst these is the tale Zombie Cow, which she performs as part of this episode and which we couldn't resist using as an episode title. This episode is a rich investiga...
Sep 04, 2024•1 hr 10 min
In one of our occasional Folklore in the Field episodes, recorded live at events, Folklore Podcast creator and host Mark Norman is joined by Bronte Schiltz for a discussion of representations of the ghost on television. This interview was recorded at the UK Ghost Story Festival 2024 at the Museum of Making in Derby, UK. To support the Folklore Podcast on Patreon, please visit www.patreon.com/thefolklorepodcast
Aug 12, 2024•33 min
A quick interruption to your lives with some news about the podcast!
Jul 29, 2024•4 min
In another of our occasional series looking at the work of American storytellers, we meet the award winning Laura Packer. Based in Minnesota, Laura has over 25 years of storytelling experience and was recently inducted into the United States National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence - a select group of storytellers determined by their peers to be standard bearers of the art, and masters at the craft. You can find Laura online at https://laurapacker.com/ Please visit www.patreon.com/th...
Jul 24, 2024•49 min
To coincide with his new book 'Zoinks - The Spooky Folklore Behind Scooby-Doo' going to pre-order, Folklore Podcast creator Mark Norman presents a special episode looking at the way that folklore and the paranormal are represented in Scooby-Doo through the lens of Shaggy and Scooby's favourite thing - food. To pre-order a copy of Zoinks and receive an exclusive set of collector's cards with your order, please visit https://auk.direct/product/zoinks/ To support the Folklore Podcast on Patreon and...
Jul 01, 2024•31 min
In terms of folklore, ghostly encounters are not about the proof of existence of the supernatural so much as they are about the meaning of the experience to the individual. Folklore is about examining the story, the meaning that it has for the witness, and the way in which that narrative is both transmitted and recorded. We discuss the recording process of ghostly encounters, the 'writing of ghosts' with our guest Amelia Cotter, who has dome precisely this across different genres, including non ...
Jun 06, 2024•58 min
