David Castleton (Author)

Illustration from 1904 showing a multi-coloured salmon in the well sticking its head out of the water to catch hazelnuts falling from trees.

In Irish myth, the Salmon of Knowledge absorbed all the knowledge in the world by eating hazelnuts that had fallen into the Well of Wisdom. Fionn, when cooking the fish, burnt his thumb & sucked it - thereafter, he could access any knowledge by biting his thumb #FairytaleTuesday #folklore #mythology

Painting showing Hansel and Gretel by the side of the gingerbread house, with the witch leaning out of the door accompanied by two black cats. Otto Kubel (1930)

I found the witch's gingerbread house in Hansel & Gretel incredibly disturbing. It was made of delicious treats that were difficult to resist, but the more you ate, the more you'd get fattened up, until the witch decided to enjoy a treat of her own. #MythologyMonday #folklore #gothic #mythology

A hedgehog photographed in a natural environment.

In folklore, hedgehogs are believed to carry fruits on their spines back to their dens and to steal cows' milk by sucking at their udders. In reality, hedgehogs do not hoard food and they are lactose intolerant. #folklore #mythology #FolkloreSunday

A black cat perched on a wire fence, looking directly into the camera. In the background is the roof of a house, some trees and a blue sky.

A nice photo of a black cat here for #Caturday. In British folklore, black cats are ambiguous creatures, which can bring both good and bad luck. #folklore #gothic #mythology

Pyramidion of the royal scribe Ramose (Deir el-Medina, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses II (1275-1240 BCE)) Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy

Pyramidion of the royal scribe Ramose (Deir el-Medina, New Kingdom, 19th Dynasty, reign of Ramesses II (1275-1240 BCE))

Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy

I don't know - I guess they noticed the moon resembled a man's face and thought he must have been put there for some reason.

The name F. Rint written in bones mortared into the wall of Sedlec Ossuary, along with the date 1870.

Sedlec Ossuary is an underground chapel in the Czech Republic filled with artistically arranged bones, including a chandelier said to include every bone in the human body. The signature of its creator, Frantisek Rink, can be seen a wall - executed in bones. #wyrdwednesday #gothic #weird

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Print from Georges Méliès's 1902 film Le voyage dans la lune. The moon is depicted with a human face and a spacecraft having landed in his eye.

#Folklore depicts the Man in the Moon as having been imprisoned there for various crimes. Roman legend claims he was a sheep thief; Christian tradition states he is Cain or a woodcutter punished for working on the Sabbath. #FairyTaleTuesday

Aerial view of the ruined keep and walls of Richmond Castle. Some of the town's stone houses can be seen as well as a verdant landscape of fields and trees.

#Folklore claims soldiers discovered a mysterious tunnel in Richmond Castle, Yorkshire. They sent a drummer boy to explore it while they followed from above, but after half-a-mile his beats stopped. He was never seen again but his drumming can still be heard on dark quiet nights. #BookologyThursday

Two ravens perching on a rail in front of the Tower of London. The birds appear to be conversing with each other.

Though ravens are strongly linked to the Tower of London, the association may not go back further than Victorian times, when some beefeaters started keeping the birds as pets. Ravens became popular pets thanks to Edgar Allan Poe's famous poem. #FairytaleTuesday #folklore #gothic #poetry #mythology

Human skull photographed against a black background

England boasts several 'screaming skull' legends. One girl tormented Burton Agnes Hall, Yorkshire, with groans & poltergeist activity until her skull was exhumed from the churchyard & returned to the mansion. The skull remains in the Hall today. #mythologymonday #folklore #gothic #skull

A Chinese tradition states eggs can be balanced on their ends during Lunar New Year. Eggs symbolise good fortune & new beginnings. It's also claimed eggs can be balanced on the heads of nails on the equator due to gravitational forces. #FolkloreSunday #Folklore #mythology #weird #eggs

Skylit main reading room of the Lit and Phil, with a red metal balcony and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves

Newcastle's historic Lit & Phil library has 16 ghosts, including phantom librarians, a Roman soldier, and a little girl. One of its most notorious spooks is a 17th-century witch hunter, who seems drawn to a Victorian book on witchcraft. #phantomsfriday #gothic #folklore #ghosts #weird

Very nice, thanks. :)

A wooden church bench, whose end is carved with a worn image of a mermaid. She had long flowing hair and is clutching a round mirror and a comb.

In Zennor, #Cornwall, a mermaid sometimes attended church services & is said to have one day lured a handsome chorister to her home beneath the waves. This bench end was carved with her image, to warn other men about these dangerous creatures. #FolkloreThursday #folklore #mythology

Station of the London Necropolis Railway, near Waterloo - a four-storey Victorian building blending Baroque and Neo-classical styles.

Established in 1854, the London Necropolis Railway relieved pressure on city churchyards by whisking the dead out to Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey. Its station, near Waterloo, featured a steam-powered coffin lift & a glass roof so no shadow would be cast on the hearse carriage. #WyrdWednesday #history

Wandered out along The Ridgeway to see this fine old nag today!

1919 illustration to 'The Masque of the Red Death', showing a death-like figure holding a mask, with a dagger dropped on a carpet in front of a grandfather clock.

In Edgar Allan Poe's 'The Masque of the Red Death', wealthy nobles hide from a plague in a 7-room mansion, enjoying masquerades & balls. One day, a figure 'disguised' as Red Death appears. The guests sicken & die & the costume is found to have nothing inside it. #FairytaleTuesday #folklore #gothic

Mardi Gras exists on a threshold between seasons. Winter fades, spring approaches, and celebration marks the turning. #FairyTaleTuesday

Art: Heather Calderon

A short metal key with a heart-shaped head propped up on the edge of a wooden board.

In Italy, St Valentine's keys are exchanged between lovers to symbolise unlocking the heart. In Padua, they are also given to children to ward off epilepsy, known as 'St Valentine's malady'. #folklore #ValentinesDay #Valentines #history #mythology #weird

Zwei Personen in dunkler Gothic-Kleidung posieren vor einer weißen Wand.

On Wednesdays We Wear Black 🖤

ST VALENTINE is the holy guardian of lovers but not many people know that after death his skull became a decorated floral relic, one of the most gothic items to be found in a Roman reliquary. Shown here in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin #ValentinesDay

A book cover showing a photo of a door knocker on Durham Cathedral in the form of a demon's face. This was a 'sanctuary knocker' that fugitives could use in the Middle Ages to get sanctuary in the cathedral.

My book 'Church Curiosities: Strange Objects & Bizarre Legends' (Shire/Bloomsbury). Full of pyramid tombs, reindeer-horned dancers, vampire graves, holy wells, weird #folklore, standing stones, execution bells, legendary skulls. #history #gothic #churches #mythology www.amazon.co.uk/Church-Curio...

Ancient Greek currency featured the goddess Athena and her patron animal, the owl. These coins, made up of 99 percent pure silver, financed the Greek navy that won against the invading Persians in 480 BCE. If an owl flew over soldiers in battle, it meant Athena watched over them. #MythologyMonday

Fog in Manchester turns day into night, 1.30pm in Oxford Street, November 17, 1953. (Mirrorpix/@manchestereveningnews.co.uk)

Though Mary does mention "the working of some powerful engine"

Semi-ruined castle with an imposing, intact tower.

Frankenstein Castle, Hesse, Germany, was the birthplace of an alchemist who allegedly invented an elixir of life & conducted experiments on dead bodies. Some claim he tried to animate the bodies with lightning & that he may have inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. #WyrdWednesday #folklore #gothic

Mount Vesuvius viewed across the bay from Naples. A church tower with bells is in the foreground.

Mount Vesuvius, near Naples, was - according to Roman myth - once inhabited by a race of giant bandits. These 'sons of the earth' were subdued by Heracles, who seems to have been worshipped in the surrounding area. #FairytaleTuesday #folklore #mythology #history

'You know what' began in 1963,
Between the end of the Chatterley ban,
And the Beatles' first LP