“You are not to think that the only reason for doing Art is to make life beautiful. The reality it teaches is true as well as beautiful.” Evelyn De Morgan was born #otd 1855 🎨 "Hope in a Prison of Despair" (1887)

Another eclipse outing in the early hours of this morning to the base of Glastonbury Tor. It was a fabulous experience to watch but less fabulous to try and get the settings correct and capture the scene in one frame 😂

#WyrdWednesday The Black Dog of Newgate haunted the walls and environs of Newgate prison for years. Prisoners there were so poorly treated they resorted to cannibalism. One victim was a sorcerer who then returned as a spectral dog and hunted down his murderers one by one. Img: John Atkinson Grimshaw

#SpookySunday In a Charles Dickens story an artist meets a woman on a train. She asks him to paint her portait but only from this one meeting; she died some time ago. Later Dickens was accused of plagiarism by an artist unknown to him who claimed the tale was true & had happened to him. Img: Millais

#SpookySunday Bramshill House is one of many claiming the legend of the Misletoe Bough. A bride joins in a game of hide & seek on her wedding night. Shutting herself in an oak chest she is trapped. Years later she is found in her wedding dress, holding the misletoe. Her ghost still haunts the house

I don’t know the name other oaks gave it because they have gone, so I called this 400 year old tree Grace, because it’s beautiful Grace is dying, so I regularly walk the 10 mile trip to spend time with her Not a word is spoken, but much is said

#WyrdWednesday Spring Heeled Jack terrorised Victorian London. Reports of a strange, horned, caped creature with flashing eyes and claws filled the Penny Dreadful magazines. Witnesses claimed that Jack could breathe fire and leap over buildings with supernatural ease.

Today is #WorldBookDay2025 so we've all come to work dressed as library staff while knowing that in 2023/2024 there were 14.5 million physical visits to Scottish libraries - nearly 4 times the number of people who attended Scottish Premiership football matches. #LoveLibraries ❤️

Morning Wyrdlings! @cwreeve.bsky.social here, ready to get this week's #WyrdWednesday started! This week's topic - “Rising from the Ashes and other Comebacks!” 👻

a woman is laying in a coffin with a blanket on her head .

ALT: a woman is laying in a coffin with a blanket on her head .

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#WyrdWednesday Jurate is a Lithuanian goddess who falls in love with a fisherman. They live in her amber palace under the waves until her father sends a thunderbolt to kill the fisherman. Baltic amber may be pieces of the broken palace, or the tears of the grief stricken Jurate Art: JW Waterhouse

Happy Birthday Charles Dickens, born #OTD in 1812. You can see this beautiful little-known portrait of him - and many other treasures - at the Charles #Dickens Museum’s brand new exhibition. Go & visit the birthday boy at 48 Doughty Street, London.

'If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips, should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.' -Charles Dickens @signemaene.com welcomes you to #BookWormSat 's grumpy Christmas edition. 🎨PJ Lynch

It’s the time of year for mentioning one of my favourite ‘untranslatables’. ‘Poronkusema’, in Finnish, once denoted a distance of around 7.5km, which is roughly how long a reindeer can last before needing to urinate. ‘Poronkusema’ means ‘reindeer pee’.

#BookWormSat "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us" JRR Tolkien Image: John Everett Millais #BookologyThursday #LOTR

#OTD the 1918 general election took place, the first to see women vote, following the passage of the Representation of the People Act. To find out more about the significance of the Act, for women, men and Britain's electoral system, check out this 2019 #HistParl article:

The Representation of the People Act, 1918: A radical reform measure bill - The History of Parliament

This is the second in our blog series, women and parliament in this, the centenary year of the Representation of the People Act 1918. Here at the History of

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I’m doing my Ghost Story for Christmas talk plus Q&A online. £5. No Diggin' - The Story of the BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas. 7:00pm - 8:30pm, 23 December.

No Diggin’ - The Story of the BBC Ghost Stories for Christmas

Join Jon Dear as he explores the origins and history of these these unique and perennial television films.

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#FolkyFriday The guttering of a candle was once seen as an indication of spirits nearby, and a candle going out suddenly as an omen. When gaslights replaced candles, the hallucinogenic gases given off might have contributed to the increase in the Victorian interest in spiritualism.

Winter wizards and icy snow queens, another #FolkyFriday is upon us! Our theme today is "Candle, Falcon and Boar Lore." To take part, post related lore, art, songs or customs tagged #FolkyFriday for shares from 10am-10pm GMT. 🎵 The boar's head in hand bear I, Bedeck'd with bays and rosema-rye! 🎵

a cartoon drawing of a boar 's head with a yellow eye

ALT: a cartoon drawing of a boar 's head with a yellow eye

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Today on #BookologyThursday we are sharing 'Gifts and Gestures in Literature and Lore, and Books You Love to Give as Presents!' @samanthaslk.bsky.social with you for the next few hours excited to receive your literary gifts!

@bookologythursday.bsky.social · 2y ago

Tis the season of giving! This week on #BookologyThursday we want you to share... 🎁Gifts and Gestures in literature and lore, as well as the books you love to give as presents!🎁 Kerria and Samantha can't wait for you to shower us with your literary treats! Art by James Archer

#WyrdWednesday "I give you the light of Eärendil our most beloved star. May it be a light to you in dark places when all other lights go out." #Tolkien #LordOfTheRings #BookologyThursday Img: Evelyn De Morgan: Lux in Tenebris

Wyrdlings! Are you sick of the dark? Want something to illuminate the gloomy winter? Well, you're in luck! This week's #WyrdWednesday theme is: 'Shine a light in the long Winter night!' In the name of St Lucy, let's spread some luminescence!🕯️🕯️ Use the hashtag to appear in the feed 👻

We've created a Starter Pack of #History societies and groups working to support promote our disciple and historians, in higher education and related professions go.bsky.app/68FsvjY Mainly UK but also international, with selected societies from related humanities subjects. Please share #Skystorians

‘A candle is a small thing, but it helps to chase the dark away.’ ~ Emily Dickinson and @racheldeering.bsky.social here for the rest of a candlelit #BookWormSat 🕯️ 🖼️ Albert Lebourg, c.1870.

Our #Bookologythursday theme is: 🌨️❄️Wintery Wonderlands and Treasured Holiday Stories❄️🌨️ Send us your favorites in literature, lore and art! Kerria and Samantha look forward to your posts!

#LegendaryWednesday The Snow Queen of Hans Christian Anderson's story is cold, heartless, reigns over an eternal winter and freezes Kai's heart with a kiss. Some suggest that she was inspired by Anderson's unrequited love for "The Swedish Nightingale" Jenny Lind #BookologyThursday

#WyrdWednesday In mid 19C Devon, after a heavy snowfall, "devil's footprints" appeared in the snowy landscape over a wide area. Possible explanations discussed included an escaped kangaroo! Strangely these cloven hoofprints appeared again in Devon 150 yrs later. Art by John Everett Millais

🌿🌩️🌿Holly growing beside a house was believed to ward off lightning strikes - if there was no nearby tree, a sprig of Holly from the Christmas greenery would be saved and kept inside the home to protect it throughout the coming year. #WyrdWednesday #FolkloreThursday

In winter on the Shetland Isles, where daylight dwindles, a monster lurks in dark waters. Its head is riddled with eyes, and its mouth bursts with teeth. The Marool waits, hungry for capsized ships and their meaty sailors—a feast to stave off the winter’s wrath. #WyrdWednesday

Wyrdlings! For the first week of Yuletide, we give you: "Things that thrive in the darkest depths of winter!” as #WyrdWednesday topic. Bring us your firs, hollies, and other wyrd seasonal lifeforms! Use the hashtag to appear in the feed 👻