Top: In the grass at Knowlton Henge There can be a dark side to living and loving with passion – the loss of the one you adore. It’s Byronically ironic that the poet known for breaking hearts never shied from expressing the pain he found in his own. Love seldom comes in easy to open […]
Old Wardour Castle … a splendidly haunted ruin in the British countryside
Top: Old Wardour Castle, Tisbury, Wiltshire “On the south western border of Wiltshire about half between Salisbury and Shaftesbury and in the parish Tisbury stand the ivy crowned remains of the old castle Wardour.” The Antiquary, Volumes 3-4 Front Cover.W. Allen, 1873 Old Wardour Castle was built as an impressive fortified home for Lord Lovell in the late […]
A megalithic darkness descending on Stanton Drew stone circles and cove
“There among the stones they committed unspeakable acts. On the stones, against the stones. Their cloaks barriers to the storm of nature that raged around them, they were thrown aside and as two beasts they met in the circle in rut, in heat, in pure primal desire. It was a ritual of sorts, a wedding […]
Ghost stories and supernatural occurrences from Avebury circle and henge
Entrance to the Avebury henge Hair stands high on the cat’s back like a ridge of threatening hills. Sheepdogs howl, make tracks and growl — their tails hanging low. And young children falter in their games at the altar of life’s hide-and-seek between tall pillars, where Sunday-night killers in grey raincoats peek. Down to the […]
Dunbeg Fort on Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula: Saved for centuries by local folklore, slowly being reclaimed by the Atlantic Ocean
View from the interior of Dunbeg Fort, with Mount Eagle in the background On the edge of Europe, along the coast of Dingle Peninsula, Dunbeg Fort is a promontory fort, not far from Dingle town towards Slea Head. Known in Gaelic as An Dún Beag, it was protected by sheer cliffs on three sides, falling into […]
An Irish folk tale, Maid of Mullaghmore and memories of Muckross Head, county Donegal
I once spent about a week hanging out with Caoimhin Mac Aoidh, noted Donegal fiddler and historian, particularly on all things Donegal fiddle. He wrote about the tune Maighdean Mhara Mhullach Mhoir, or The Maid or more precise, The Mermaid of Mullaghmore. I was driving up the coast of Donegal, on the way to the village of Teelin, […]
Why do lovers leap? Native American myths and a lookout from Rock City, high above Chattanooga, Tennessee
Mark Twain wrote in the nineteenth century that there were fifty locations along the Mississippi River that claimed the title of lover’s leap. In fact, they are spread out not only across this country, but others as well. Nobody knows where, or even if there was a place where this legend springs from, a single […]
Traveling back in time to explore the hauntings in Parsonage Woods, and the ghosts of Castle Combe
If you’re looking for the picture book English village, it’s hard to find better, at least in Wiltshire. Lacock is a bit more refined, with about twice the traffic from what I’ve seen. Then again, I’ve never been to Castle Combe in the summer. It was a winter stop. Technically we were there for a […]
True witch legends from southern Illinois … giving Carmi’s Cato the witch the last laugh on her neighbors, and an insight into folklore and history
Top: Wooden structure in the woods where the legend points to that Cato might have lived. Dating from much later than Cato’s time, this building was likely used for livestock, but it does sit on a mound which could have once been the site of a house. + + + There’s a difference between folklore […]
Old Sarum ley line with Salisbury Cathedral and Clearbury Ring, from Old Sarum’s ramparts
The Old Sarum Ley was identified by Sir Norman Lockyear, and runs from north of Stonehenge to the western bank of Frankenbury Camp, near Fordinbridge, Hampshire. This photo was taken from Old Sarum, an Iron Age hill-fort, which became a Roman town, then Saxon and eventually a fortified castle and cathedral, once the residence of […]
