As the number of books about Folk Horror and Hauntology is considerably increasing, focus falls now upon a quest for a unique selling point – the tone, the angle, which cultural examples will be concentrated upon. With Ghost of an Idea the aspect of Nostalgia is a point of interest. There is only so much that can be said about the ‘Unholy Trinity’ of folk horror films or Jacques Derrida’s origin…

Wyrd Harvest Press are thrilled to present 21st Century Ghost Stories: Volume III the latest in our spooky anthology series. Featuring a host of new stories by a wealth of talented writers, edited by Paul Guernsey, illustrated by Andy Paciorek and created with great thanks to Richard Hing and Grey Malkin; sales profits from this book will be charitably donated to The Wildlife Trusts ‘ nature…

September 15, 2024

The Watkins Book of Urban Legends by Gail De Vos: Book Review

Before I get to the book, indulge me in a little waffle about the subject matter … I first became aware of Urban Legends … Friend of a Friend Tales … Whale Tumour Stories … Contemporary Legends … call them what you will at a very young age. I was a monster kid into horror films and scary stories (think Mark from…

Sunken Lands, the new book by Gareth E. Rees may be one of those that forms a quandary for bookshop staff – just what shelf should it be placed on? For within its pages it covers a wealth of terrain (mostly of the moist or entirely saturated variety). Is it a folklore and legend book? A travel and history book? Psychogeographical philosophy? Natural History/Conservation? Occulture and Mystery?…

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The following article is not a review as such to avoid accusation of bias as I (Andy Paciorek) have essays in the books (those being ‘Yesterday’s Memories of Tomorrow: Nostalgia, Hauntology and Folk Horror’ in The Routledge Companion to Folk Horror, and ‘Albion Unearthed: social, political and cultural influences on British Folk Horror, Urban Wyrd and Backwoods Cinema’ in Folk Horror on Film’ –…

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Having written and/or illustrating several myself it is fair to say that I have a soft spot for encyclopedias / guides to folkloric entities and beasts, especially the darker beings. Folklore is such a vast and diverse field and unless you are multilingual so much of it still remains hidden from many readers. Therefore it is a welcome treasure for me when English language tomes covering creatures…

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Watkins publishing have added to the world of Fortean travel-guides with 2 titles aimed to whet the wanderlust of wyrd voyagers. From the pen of Andy Sharp – musician, wordsmith and designator of the English Heretic black plaques (awarded to the strange denizens and dwellings that English Heritage overlooked) comes The Astral Geographic. On my first encounter with reference books, I often flip…

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Perhaps of all the literary, cinematic and stylistic manifestations of the ‘dark arts’, only Film/Roman Noir may rival folk horror in the quantity of deliberation, discussion, debate and disagreement. Indeed in converse of the latter subject on social media oft asked is the question “But is it Folk Horror?” in regards to a particular movie, book or image.  Sometimes this elicits the response of…

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I am of that age (Generation X aka The Haunted Generation) whereby a significant part of my childhood was enveloped in the Cold War fears of an impending nuclear apocalypse. A terror adequately catered for by the less than a handful of terrestrial channels emitting their cathode rays into British living rooms. Dystopian dramas such as Threads, When the Wind Blows, the eventual broadcast of the…

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