"What would your feelings be if your cat or your dog began to talk to you... in human accents? You would be overwhelmed with horror. [Sin] is simply an attempt to penetrate into another and higher sphere in a forbidden manner."
- Arthur Machen, "The White People"

#FairyTaleTuesday #BookChatWeekly #OfDarkandMacabre #31DaysofHaunting #GothicSpring #Superstitiology #horror #weirdfiction #fantasy #ArthurMachen

In Merlin's first appearance, "History of the Kings of Britain," it is theorized his father was from a mysterious species of spirit who live in the air between the Moon and the Earth, and are half-human and half-angelic. Later stories instead make his father a demon.

#FolkloreSunday #BookChatWeekly #Superstitiology #GothicSpring #31DaysofHaunting #mythology #folklore #demon #KingArthur #Arthuriana #Merlin

"You asked me once," said O'Brien, "what was in Room 101.... The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world. [This] varies from individual to individual. It may be burial alive, or death by fire or by drowning...."
- George Orwell, "1984"

#BookWormSat #BookChatWeekly #GothicSpring #31DaysofHaunting #literature #dystopia #GeorgeOrwell

"What did you do? What happened to me?"

"You were bought and sold, Quimper. We buy and sell everyone."

- Grant Morrison, "The Invisibles: Bloody Hell in America"
🎨 Phil Jimenez

#BookWormSat #BookChatWeekly #31DaysofHaunting #GothicSpring #comics #graphicnovel #VertigoComics #GrantMorrison #PhilJimenez #Invisibles #fantasy #horror #dystopian

Whenever Gaia, the Earth of Greek myth, saw one of her sons become a tyrant and mistreat her other children, she would inspire a rebellion. Unfortunately, whoever became the new supreme ruler would mistreat some of Gaia's other children, forcing another rebellion.

#WyrdWednesday #BookChatWeekly #LegendaryWednesday #31DaysofHaunting #GothicSpring #folklore #mythology #GreekMythology #Greek #Gaia

In Welsh legend, the young warrior Iddawc was so eager to witness war and slaughter that when delivering messages between King Arthur and Mordred, he made them as insulting as possible. This destroyed any chance for peace, and Arthur and Mordred killed each other.
🎨 Gino D’Achille

#WyrdWednesday #BookChatWeekly #LegendaryWednesday #GothicSpring #31DaysofHaunting #folklore #mythology #CelticMythology #Celtic #Wales #KingArthur #Arthuriana

In British legend, Lyonesse was a strand of land said to have stretched from Cornwall's southern tip. While the land's heir, Sir Tristan, was at King Arthur's court, his people committed a crime so terrible that God sunk Lyonesse under the sea in a single night.

#MythologyMonday #Superstitiology #OfDarkandMacabre #31DaysofHaunting #GothicSpring #folklore #mythology #CelticMythology #Celtic #Wales #Britain #KingArthur #Arthuriana

In Welsh myth, King Arthur leads an army to Caer Sidi (Castle Revolving), an Otherworldly castle that's constantly rotating. Arthur battles Caer Sidi's fairy guards to steal a magic cauldron and save a prisoner; only he and seven of his warriors return alive.
🎨 Simone Bianchi

#MythologyMonday #OfDarkandMacabre #31DaysofHaunting #GothicSpring #BookChatWeekly #folklore #mythology #CelticMythology #Celtic #Wales #KingArthur #Arthuriana #comics #GrantMorrison #SimoneBianchi #DCComics

According to European legend, the mandrake plant screams when dug up, killing all who hear it. However, as mandrake root is a key ingredient in many potions and can be formed into a homunculus, sorcerers have tried various methods to safely acquire it.

#FolkloreSunday #Superstitiology #31DaysofHaunting #GothicSpring #folklore #mythology #occult

The vegetable lamb is a plant-animal of European folklore said to inhabit the Middle East. The plant produces sheep as its fruit, which remain connected to it by an umbilical cord and so can only eat foliage that grows nearby. Likely inspired by the cotton plant.
🎨 Henry Lee

#FolkloreSunday #31DaysofHaunting #GothicSpring #mythology #folklore #fabulousbeast

The Welsh witch Ceridwen was frustrated that her son Afagddu was stupid, lazy, and refused to get a job. She brewed a potion of poetic inspiration to make him a genius so that he'd get hired by King Arthur as a bard. But the boy Gwion drunk the potion instead.
🎨 John William Waterhouse

#FairyTaleTuesday #31DaysofHaunting #BookChatWeekly #GothicSpring #folklore #mythology #CelticMythology #Wales #KingArthur #Arthuriana

"A ghost -- a sensory impression which a strong personality in its last decay can imprint, most commonly after death, on the very structure of a building, and which is removed not by exorcism but by architectural alterations."
- C. S. Lewis, "That Hideous Strength"

#FairyTaleTuesday #GothicSpring #31DaysofHaunting #BookChatWeekly #CSLewis #literature #occult #ghost #fantasy

"The snow lay thin and apologetic over the world. That wide grey sweep was the lawn, with the straggling trees of the orchard still dark beyond.... All the broad sky was grey, full of more snow that refused to fall. There was no colour anywhere."
- Susan Cooper, "The Dark Is Rising"

#BookWormSat #BookChatWeekly #GothicSpring #31DaysofHaunting #literature #fantasy #SusanCooper #TheDarkIsRising

Myrddin Wyllt was a 6th-century prophet who inspired the Merlin legend. After being traumatized by war, Myrddin fled into a Scottish forest and became a hermit. He supposedly wrote down his intense visions, which are collectively known as "The Prophecies of Merlin."
🎨 Alan Lee

#FolkyFriday #GothicSpring #31DaysofHaunting #folklore #mythology #WelshMythology #Celtic #Wales #Merlin #KingArthur #Arthuriana #AlanLee

In the Middle Ages, many Christian Scandinavians believed that the Norse gods had actually been humans from Troy who had fled their burning city and immigrated to Scandinavia, where they had used magic to make the locals believe that they were gods.

#WyrdWednesday #GothicSpring #BookChatWeekly #LegendaryWednesday #31DaysofHaunting #folklore #mythology #NorseMythology #Norse #Vikings #Scandinavia

To drink from the Well of Wisdom, the Norse god Odin had to give one of his eyes to Mimir, the Well's guardian. In some versions, this is simply a general sacrifice, but in others it's a trade - the eye gives Mimir Odin's knowledge just as the drink gives Odin Mimir's.
🎨 Emil Doepler

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The huldufólk (hidden folk) of Iceland are human-sized fairies whose communities are hidden in the hills. Sometimes they are depicted with cow tails. It is said that if the huldufólk marry a human, their cow tails fall off, and they become human themselves.
🎨 Brett Manning

#WyrdWednesday #GothicSpring #Superstitiology #31DaysofHaunting #folklore #mythology #NorseMythology #Norse #Vikings #Iceland #Scandinavia #fairy #elf

In some Christian folklore, the demon Leonard is inspector general of sorcery and grand master of the black sabbaths. Though Leonard acts shy and melancholy most of the time, he becomes commanding and even manic when speaking to assemblies of demons or sorcerers.
🎨​Louis Le Breton
#FolkloreSunday #GothicSpring #folklore #mythology #witch #demon #occult

Even people who believe in magic often find shapeshifting implausible, so they develop theories to explain stories of magical transformation. Many clerics have claimed that witchcraft can create illusions of someone becoming a beast even if no true transformation happened.
🎨​15th-century woodcut
#FaustianFriday #GothicSpring #folklore #mythology #witch #occult

In some English folktales, male witches ride flying pitchforks instead of brooms. Since the average male medieval peasant was working in the fields instead of the home, it would have been a more appropriate tool to have on hand.
#faustianfriday #folklore #mythology #witch #gothicspring #superstitiology