Icy Sedgwick's Blog, page 2

Flash Fiction – Life Song

A young man sits opposite Poppy on the train, a large folder open on his lap. Poppy tries hard not to stare at him, but his old-fashioned grey three-piece suit keeps catching her eye. A poppy rests in his buttonhole, even though it is far from Remembrance Day, and a grey bowler hat sits on […]

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Hedgehogs in Folklore: Witches, Familiars, and Milk Thieves

Hedgehogs are one of the stranger mammals you might encounter. They’re nocturnal, they hibernate, they’re prone to rolling into a ball when frightened, and they’re extremely vulnerable to habitat loss. While some of you will undoubtedly have first thought of Sonic, others might have thought of Mrs Tiggywinkle from the Beatrix Potter books. Either way, […]

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Flash Fiction – I Thought I Knew Him

I’m sure I know the guy opposite me on the train. Only problem is, I can’t remember how or why. I pretend to read my book, but I sneak a look over the top of the pages. He has straight hair the colour of wet sand – straight except for the random kink just behind his right ear. He […]

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Moles in Folklore: Folk Remedies and Weather Omens

Moles are fascinating creatures. They’re phenomenal diggers and while they weigh around 120g, they can shift 540 times their body weight of earth (BMCR 2025). Given they live entirely underground, they’re a rarely seen mammal, and we only know they’re there when we see their molehills. Surprisingly, there is more folklore about them than more […]

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Otters in Folklore: Brave Helpers or Fearsome Monsters

Otters are some of the most charming mammals you might encounter. Sometimes nicknamed the “water sausage” by the internet, otters are playful, intelligent, and capable of using tools. They also appear in popular culture, most notably in Tarka the Otter and The Wind in the Willows. Yet in reality, they’re incredibly elusive. They might live […]

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Creepy Listener Tales of Space and Place

When we think about folklore, we often think about the characters involved: King Arthur, Queen Mab, Lady Godiva, and more. Yet folklore has an intrinsic link with place, too. Even the most throwaway comment about a place can reveal stories linked with them. Such stories can reveal how we feel about places, especially when human […]

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The Screaming Skulls: Guardian Spirits or Poltergeists-in-Waiting?

English folklore is full of peculiarities. The legends of the so-called screaming skulls are definitely among them. These are skulls kept in mansions and farmhouses, sometimes considered to be guardians of the property. Legends abound of the violent deeds done to the owners of the skulls. But many of these stories come with hauntings attached […]

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How does ‘Poltergeist’ draw on actual poltergeist accounts?

Poltergeist marked Hollywood’s big-budget engagement with the ghost film in 1982. Produced by Stephen Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper, it took the haunted house film and mashed it together with the family adventure film. Throw in some special effects courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic, and you end up with the film that relocated […]

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The Wesley Poltergeist and the Bishopwearmouth Poltergeist Go Head-to-Head

Last week, we looked at some poltergeist definitions and whether such definitions are even helpful. Can something as truly bizarre as a ‘knocking spirit’ be boiled down to a series of checkboxes on a form? Yet they’re also not the invention of the 20th century. Nor are they the preserve of ghost hunters or psychics. […]

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Poltergeists: Noisy Ghosts or Household Spirits?

This instalment of Fabulous Folklore begins with a reading of the Poltergeist entry from my new book, Ghostlore. Then we explore the problem with poltergeists—how do you define one?! From deciding what phenomena to include to picking a name, the poltergeist proves to be a flexible yet elusive figure in historical accounts. Is that spontaneous […]

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