A special short announcement regarding the October 20 deadline for Trick-or-Treat-by-Mail for listeners joining our Patreon. Find out how you can receive a hand-packed candy bag from the home of Bon

Were getting into the spirit of the season with a classic tale of witchcraft set in 17th-century Salem Village, Nathaniel Hawthornes short story, Young Goodman Brown. Written in 1835 for New Engla

Agartha, Shambhala, and Hyperborea are all names for a a mythic spiritually and scientifically advanced kingdom, always in some hidden location, sometimes within the earth, a legend which became an o

Borrowed from fairy lore, thenotion of a hollow earth peopled by superior beings became a theme of literary fantasies as early as the 17th century and went on to influence fringe theories of the eart

While the dummies may be inherently creepy, they were not the source of ventriloquisms dark reputation in earlier times. This originates with the understanding that the voice heard, when no mouth se

Our understanding of hypnotism, once known as mesmerism, has radically evolved over the centuries. This episode looks at where it all began, examining thefascinating (and rather weird) story of t

Banshees are spirits of Irish folklore, who warn of impending deaths. Originally considered fairies, theirIrish name,bean sdhe,means woman of the mounds, those mounds (sdhe) being theancient

The story of Snow White, as told by the Brothers Grimm, is only one of many narratives involving girls who have fallen into a deathlike state and are displayed in a glass coffins. In this episode, we

A few listeners commented that Mrs. Karswells dialogue was muffled at points in Sorcery Schools of Spain. That episode is now updated with a corrected version. Thanks for letting us know.

For centuries, Spain was said to be the home of secret, underground sorcery schools, Toledo being the first city with this reputation and later Salamanca. The notoriety of the latter was more endurin