“I had heard versions of merpeople stories—primarily those about mermaids—in many highland villages while doing research in the Andes…I didn’t yet understand how these stories tied into the larger sociopolitical context of Spanish rule.” -from “The Revolutionary Power of Andean Folk Tales” by Dr Di Hu Mermaids and sirens have long played a prominent role…
“Pentecostals everywhere train themselves to hear, to see, or to feel God’s presence in their daily lives. That kind of intimate relationship…is one of the defining aspects of evangelical religiosity.” – Dr Naomi Richman Jesus famously predicted that the apocalypse would be preceded by “wars and rumours of wars”, pestilence, earthquakes, mass persecutions, and the…
“My aim is to move beyond the perception that Lithuanian paganism is a matter of interest only to Lithuanians, and to show that this extraordinary pagan faith matters to the religious history of Europe as a whole.” – Dr Francis Young Every age has had its relic-hunters, those who, propelled forward into untracked territory by…
“David Lazzaretti…his doctrines were a strange medley of Christianity and Socialism. He proclaimed the advent of the Divine Republic, the death of tyrants, and the triumph of eternal justice.” -From “Death of a Fanatic”, in The Cincinnati Evening Star, 26 November 1878 It’s been said that a prophet never achieves fame in his own homeland,…
“Praetorius’s world and his work were constructed of wonderment at the magical universe and of the speculations of the new science.” -from Ways of Knowing in Early Modern Germany: Johannes Praetorius as a Witness to His Time (2006) by Gerhild Scholz Williams Among Germany’s many legendary sites, the Brocken (formerly known as the Blocksberg) is…
“The inhabitants of the upper Italian valleys to the south of Monte Rosa have a widespread tradition of an enchanted valley, beautiful and rich, which once existed in the heart of the mountain, and has now disappeared…” -from The Scenery of Switzerland and the Causes to which it is Due (1896) by Sir John Lubbock There…
“The idea that drives the subgenre is the survival of ancient cults, usually in remote rural areas, a mere step away from our ‘civilised’ surroundings…in folk horror the past always returns to haunt us.” -from “Archaeology and Folk Horror in Hellebore” (2020) by Maria J. Pérez Cuervo In 2019, Maria J. Pérez Cuervo launched Hellebore,…
“You have witnessed something of which everyone talks without knowledge; you have been initiated into secrets no less terrible than the grotto of Trophonius; you have been present at the Sabbath.” -from Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual (1896) by Eliphas Levi The witches’ sabbath has long been a source of fascination and debate. Sphinx-like,…
“Happy were the hours I spent in the society of Baron Kirkup…the manifestations he has witnessed are absolutely astounding.” -from Around the World Around the World: Or, Travels in Polynesia, China, India, Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and Other Heathen Countries (1875) by James Martin Peebles Long before the the rise of Theosophy, which took the world…
“For the Spiritualists [in Florence] are many, and we have a few but very good mediums, principal amongst them the psychograph, Signor Fanciullacci…” – from “A Letter from Florence: The Protestant Bishop of Mexico and Spiritualism” by Giovanni Damiani (1886) Much like Quattrocento and Cinquecento Florence, the Florence of the Victorian age was all aglow…