"A ghost from the world today, with the soot of the factories on its face & the pounding of machinery in its soul. The kind that would haunt coal yards & slip around at night through deserted office buildings... A real ghost. Not something out of books." 'Smoke Ghost' by Fritz Leiber #BookwormSat

Tonight! Spencer Banks Remembers #PendasFen from 10pm on BBC4, followed by the play itself. Throughout, you can find me here chipping in with tibits from the archives - many of them expanded upon in my Scene By Scene book (link in bio) - and even some new research.

"Child be strange, dark, true, impure, and dissonant. Cherish our flame. Our dawn shall come."

Scarred For Life Books@scarredforlife.bsky.social · 7d ago

PENDA'S FEN is on proper telly tonight for the first time in years! If you've been to one of our Folk Horror shows, you've seen me and Bob Fischer banging on about how much we adore David Rudkin's astonishing play. It's on BBC Four at 10.15pm. If you've never seen it, you're in for a treat!

"DId you hear? It's Labour Day today." "Woah... and a Manul Monday, too." "We should work together to better our circumstances." "So true."

"Get in the ocean, bitch" by Danish artist Thorvald Niss (1842-1905)

Folk Horror Revival 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️@folkhorrorrevival.bsky.social · last wk.

#SpookySunday 'The drowned man's ghost tries to claim a new victim for the sea' by Danish artist Thorvald Niss (1842-1905)

#SpookySunday

Folk Horror Revival 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️@folkhorrorrevival.bsky.social · last yr.

Heaven help the ship near which the dismal sailor steers,— The doom of those is sealed to whom that Phantom Ship appears: They'll never reach their destined port,—they'll see their homes no more,— They who see the Flying Dutchman—never, never reach the shore! John Boyle O'Reilly, 1873 #BookwormSat

I'd forgotten that I'd ever made this.

In a 1720 woodcut from the Wellcome Collection, Robert Hunt appears with two other men, a devil above all three. The catalogue lists Hunt as active 1667 - this print arrived fifty-three years later. Subjects: witchcraft, demonology, witch trials. wellcomecollection.org

Datinge app for megalith enthuasistes Henge

“It came with the wind through the silence of the night, a long, deep mutter, then a rising howl, and then the sad moan in which it died away. Again and again it sounded, the whole air throbbing with it, strident, wild and menacing.” ✍️Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles #BookWormSat

BOOK LAUNCH - WYRD TV: FOLKLORE, FOLK HORROR & BRITISH TELEVISION Sun 6th Dec 2-5pm, Sidney & Matilda, Sheffield. Author/folk-horror scholar Dr Diane A. Rodgers in conversation with gothic television scholar Prof @helenwheatley.bsky.social. Limited tickets available NOW! tickts.co.uk/events/book-...

Book launch - Wyrd TV: Folklore, Folk Horror and British Television

Book launch event for WYRD TV: FOLKLORE, FOLK HORROR AND BRITISH TELEVISION featuring author and folk-horror scholar Dr Diane A. Rodgers in conversation with gothic television scholar Professor Helen....

tickts.co.uk

#SpookySunday It is said that circling the huge oak tree growing inside the ruined church at East Somerton, Norfolk [three times widdershins] will summon the ghost of a witch reputedly buried inside the church. The oak tree is said to have sprouted from the witch's wooden leg!

2026 Charity Auction Update The lovely @shannonknight.bsky.social has generously donated 2 of her books Domestication and Grave Cold to the auction - these will come with signed stickers from the author ! Please go see them and the other donations at: skullsandsheetsauction.wordpress.com

The medieval village of Kersey, Suffolk, was the location of a reported time slip. In 1957 on an autumn Sunday morning, three trainee soldiers arrived in the village. The church bells suddenly fell silent, the wind stopped, and all modern infrastructure vanished. Unnerved, they left… #SpookySunday

#SpookySunday A bit of an eco-eerie theme in this illustration from 'Life' magazine (1908) the phantoms of lovers who carved their initials on the old tree in silent but emotive protest of it being felled. 👻

#SpookySunday

The Kimono Gallery@roger1952.bsky.social · 2w ago

"Ghost with a Sword" (also widely known as "The Snow Woman" or "Spirit of a Female Samurai"). It is a famous color woodblock print created circa 1922–1923 by the pioneering Japanese artist Uemura Shōen (1875–1949).

My contributor copy just arrived! Very happy to be in this mighty volume that brings together classic and new tales. Out now in all good bookshops.

As spooky season approaches, I’ll be giving a very fitting online talk on ‘Séances, Spectres & Ghost Stories’ for the equally fitting College of Psychic Studies on Tuesday 20th October 2026: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm (UK) Tickets here: www.collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk/talks/esoter... #occult #psychic #lit👻

The College of Psychic Studies : Talks : Esoteric : Seances spectres ghost stories

Join Dr Emily Vincent for an online livestream talk exploring Victorian Spiritualism, séances and the ghost stories they inspired. Spaces limited – book now.

collegeofpsychicstudies.co.uk

An incredible image, and overall winner of this year's Australian Geographic Nature Photography award. Using a DJI Mavic 3 Pro (drone), Matt Deakin captured an extremely rare moment - seeing a critically endangered Sawfish in the wild and passing by a Turtle, off the Pilbara coast in WA.

Scarlet Elf Cup-the red cups were believed to be tiny bathtubs or drinking vessels for elves.Ancient,medieval herbalists used red fungi for wound healing,believing they could help stop bleeding.Some Celtic stories mention these marked hidden entry points to fairy world #Folklore

My next talk is for the Society of Folk Life Studies at the National Museum of Ireland in Castlebar on Saturday 12th Sept. For other talks in England and in Edinburgh next year please follow this link: www.apotropaios.co.uk/lectures.html

The Mug House, in Claines, Worcestershire, is a most unusual pub as it is situated in a graveyard. The pub - said to be haunted and one of only two in the country on consecrated ground - was originally a church ale house, which provided funds for church repairs. #pubs #history #folklore #gothic

And somehow it’s time for the first page of ‘What to Look for in Autumn’. Artist: CF Tunnicliffe

The Dyott crest & chapel at St Mary’s where generations of the famous Lichfield family lie. The death of a Dyott was marked by a torchlit procession accompanied by servants from their Freeford estate. No family members were present for fear of being the next to follow to the grave. #spookysunday

#SpookySunday Phantom Femmes by Belgium artist, Gaston Bogaert, (1918-2008) whose work had an unsettling appeal.

The Gloso (glowing sow) has red eyes and full of fire, sparks fly from her as she rampages. For a good harvest and for protection, she must be given gruel and fish. After the harvest, 3 sheaves are left in the field for Gloso #SpookySunday 1/2

The mid-12th century door at Stillingfleet, Yorkshire East Riding. The door's ironwork features two people and what seems to be a Viking longship. Nail hole evidence indicates there was also a tree and a mast on the ship.

Here at the edge of the salt marsh, all magic is brined. Clouds race the sky for the delight of being augury. Boats are warded against the songs of blue-skinned Blood Sisters, the summoning of ill winds. The mud holds its stolen treasures and even we witches walk with caution. – #EmilyCBanting, 1982

Boosting this, if you enjoy my artwork please consider supporting me!

Skulls and Sheets@skullsandsheets.bsky.social · 2w ago

Hey everyone! If you enjoy ny artwork, you can support me on patreon: $5 gets you the monthly digital digest of undead horse ladies $10 gets you not only hot undead horse lady action BUT a bonus exclusive print! www.patreon.com/c/skullsands...

Absolutely essential viewing, if you've not already experienced Penda's Fen then you'll soon have the chance to.

Ian Greaves@greavesian.bsky.social · last wk.

Join me for a skeetalong-a- #PendasFen this Wednesday night when BBC4 reruns it from 10.15pm. Behind the scenes stories, pics and things to spot. If you've seen the play before, then follow live. If it's new to you, give it proper attention and then join the # on catch up. Link in bio to the book.