Mr. Ridenour introduces his new book "A Season of Madness: Fools, Monsters, and Marvels of the Old-World Carnival," explaining how the project grew out of his research for "The Krampus and the Old, Da

The Sin-Eater was a figure associated with funerals of the 17th - 19th century, mostly in Wales, and the English counties along the Welsh border. According to tradition, he was invited by grieving fa

Mlusine is a female fairy of medieval legend. who suffers under a curse transforming her once weekly into a monstrous form. In various tales she becomes either a serpent or fish from the waist down,

Unfortunately, release of the episode scheduled for this month has been delayed thanks to the Eaton Wildfire in California. - Your hosts are safe and sound, but complications from the fire temporarily

The Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas has been celebrated by Bone and Sickle since 2018. This year is no exception as we share two stories in this episode, one comic, and one

A short extra episode on Befana, the gift-bringing Italian witch associated with Twelfth Night, the end of the Christmas season. Included in the show is material from the book, "The Krampus and the O

A figure of mythic proportions during his lifetime, Vlad the Impaler's notoriety receded over the centuries only to be resurrected in the 1970s, when a pair of Boston University scholars went public w

The devilish reputation Ouija boards enjoy in horror films is a relatively new phenomenon. In the Victorian era, they were regarded by "psychical researchers" as something to be embraced in a spirit

Apparently, I clipped off the beginning of the show during the initial upload. It's been fixed, so this would only effect those downloading yesterday, but for those who missed it, here it is..

Ouija boards, or more generally, "spirit boards" have antecedents going back to the very first days of the Spiritualist movement. We begin our show with a seasonally spooky visit to the cottage of th