According to Norwegian folklore, mare twigs ('marekvister') are structures that appear on a birch tree because a mare has been riding it. It was believed that hanging mare twigs in the bedroom would keep the nightmare inducing mares at bay. These structures are actually caused by the fungus Taphrina betulina.
Draugen is a sea monster in Norwegian nautical folklore, thought to be the ghostly remnants of a fisherman who died at sea. He usually appears during storms, covered in seaweed and sailing in half of a boat. He is very fond of beer, and is known to roam around coastal dwellings in search of it.
ALL YOU NEED IS DEATH is a folk horror movie of Atmosphere. If you expect everything presented/explained neatly, you may be frustrated- but there IS a logic here, of murder ballads & fairy tales. If you want a well crafted, creepy, unique film about the enigma & power of songs, you'll dig its vibe.
Just found out there is a version of the Iliad where, after the death of Achilles, his mother Thetis turns into a seal and takes revenge by hunting down Helen.
There is an ancient Greek horror story hidden in there somewhere, about Helen being hunted by a vengeful pinniped...
Harlequins, supernatural Victorian music boxes, a wolf's tale, occult rituals, invasions of Triffid-like hogweeds, hermaphrodites, Gog & Magog, aliens, the Pied Piper, King Canute, souls of unbaptised children, the devil and the apocalypse...
Musical #folkhorror in the very year the term was 1st coined. #NowPlaying#progrock
Wishing all our fellow Mastodonians a happy Winter Solstice and a very Merry Christmas. The latest blog post, 'New Towns, Mountains and Other Moons', is a whistle stop tour of our favourite words & music from 2023. You can read it, and listen to some musical highlights, here...
We have a dark electronica double whammy this week, with the arrival of Pye Corner Audio's 'The Endless Echo' from Ghost Box, and The Night Monitor's 'Horror of the Hexham Heads' from Library of the Occult.
Nightmares on wax...👀
Both parts of my Debut folk horror audio drama are now available to listen to! Enter a world immersed in Shropshire Folklore, ruled by Devil Himself. There's something very strange afoot up the stiperstones!
My queer Lovecraftian folk horror story “Incantation on a Summer Night” is now available in LONELY HOLLOWS: 15 TALES OF FOLK HORROR, along with stories by lots of other awesome authors! Check it out:
I had to walk some blues off, and found myself at the Valley of Rocks on a windy day. The rocks are Devonian, full of fossils from deep time; as Julian Cope would say, its magic is deep & severe. Wild goats were on top of the outcrops, giving the whole scene a perfect folk-horror vibe.
You can see the silhouette of the biggest goat on the cliff in pic 1. Very Dennis Wheatley/Rodney Matthews.
It's officially 1 year since 'The Best of Men' was released! I've been blown away by the love and support for this, my little folk horror. Thank you all! And if you've still not listened, you can find it here
For those in Oz with a penchant for folk-horror, I noticed last night that SBS On Demand currently has the classic 1973 original of 'The Wicker Man' available.
It expires a month from now, so be sure to take a trip to Summerisle before then, otherwise their apple crops may fail once more... 😉
Your sister is running into the forest. You rush out the door, calling her name, but by the time you reach the treeline, only her light footprints remain on the soft earth.
Been noodling with a choose-your-own-way #folkhorror text adventure. Weirdly, even though it's easier than ever to make images for every page, and therefore the thing could easily be more of a graphic adventure, I find that this somehow 'disarms' my imagination. Maybe I prefer to map out the locales in my head without the images.
Ich habe festgestellt, dass ich mir Vaesen jetzt wohl doch mal anschauen muss. Was empfehlt ihr, die deutsche oder die englische Version? #pnpde#ttrpg#Vaesen#folkhorror#horror
It has arrived! I have a chapter in here on “The Folk of Folk Horror” alongside work from a bunch of far more interesting other people. Like @AndyPaciorekArt Now to find out what everyone else has written… #FolkHorror#academic#academia#film