Episoder
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We hope you're ready for some chaotic energy! Ross and Laura are back from their unscheduled sabbatical with an absolute corker of an episode. We've gone back to our roots in this return to William Crossing's Legends of Dartmoor, featuring all of our favourites - petty malevolent witches, disappearing bullocks, inexplicable tangents and, as always, plenty of cackling and swears.
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Weâre back! After a brief period of convalescence, Ross and Laura are back with their first two parter! Join us as we delve in to Act I of The Forest Song, a delightfully weird and atmospheric play by Ukrainian poet and playwright Lesya Ukrainka. Expect malevolent water goblins, horny forest nymphs, achingly beautiful landscapes and (as always) plenty of cackling and swears from your illustrious hosts.
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Mangler du episoder?
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Itâs time to get sPoOoOky! Take a trip to Suffolk as Ross reads us "Rats", a delightfully creepy tale by M. R. James. Learn why you shouldnât go creeping around deserted inns in the middle of nowhere, and definitely shouldnât be breaking and entering into a locked room uninvited. Expect lots of swears and even more laughter. This is a slightly scary one, but Laura is a massive wimp and even she wasnât too spooked.
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Don't mess with the Fae! In this episode, Laura and Ross are taking a trip to the Enchanted Caves of Kesh in County Sligo, Ireland for a visit to Fionn MacUail and friends in this classic Irish fairytale that takes a dark turn. Expect moustached witches, dogs with more sense than their humans, raucous laughter and lots of swears.
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You better believe it! There are dragons in the Bible, and Ross can prove it. This week we're looking at two texts: the description of the Leviathan from Job 41, and the deuterocanonical (i.e. didnât quite make it in the canon) story of Bel & The Dragon from Daniel 14. There are a number of parentheticals we explore, including growing up in religious communities, Tiamat, and Jaws 4: The Revenge.
During this podcast we unpack a little religious trauma, so if thatâs too close to the bone, we advise you skip this one. (Or you might find it cathartic, who knows?)
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We're leaving the British Isles to zoom around the globe and across time to Meiji-era Japan. Ever since studying the Kobayashi film Kwaidan at University, Ross has been slightly obsessed with its source material, Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things by the Greek-Irish folklorist Lafcadio Hearn. He's picked three of his favourite tales to give Laura a good spook.
This week, you'll learn why you should never open the box your wife has explicitly told you not to open; why you should never trust a badger selling noodles; and why, if hiding from a samurai ghost, you should never forget to paint your ears.
Featuring the tales Urashimako, Mujina, and The Story of Mimi-nashi HĆichi.
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In this special Christmas episode (by which we mean, recorded on Christmas morning and about a story vaguely related to Christmas) Ross and Laura are going on a trip to Arthur's Court at Camelot, and heading out on a journey with one of his most famed knights of the Round Table. When a mysterious stranger crashes King Arthur's Christmas Party, Sir Gawain steps up to win his spurs and take the intruder down a peg. Unfortunately, in doing so he bound himself to a rematch one year hence. Expect laughter, folklore, dick jokes and a few swears.
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Today Ross and Laura read a tale from The Mabinogion called Culhwch & Olwen (or, by Lady Charlotte Guest's less sexually progressive rendering, "How Kilhwch won Olwen"). This story is notable for being one of the oldest surviving tales of Arthurâthough not as you've ever seen him before. There are no swords in stones or lakes and no holy grails. Instead, you'll find something completely bananas. Expect lots of butchered Welsh names, Sir Cai getting pissy over a poem, salmon with arms, and lots of Medieval sarcasm.
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Today Ross reads Laura an excerpt from a compilation of folk stories by William Crossing called Folklore & Legends of Dartmoor, compiled by Brian Le Messurier. The chapter is titled Giants and Strong Men, and we really get down into it. Expect to hear about Geoffrey of Monmouth, "excrescence", the Slipper Stones, and other quirks and oddities related to giants in Dartmoor.
Corrections & Clarifications:
William Crossing was born in the 19th Century, however he wrote this chapter in the early 20th Century. Branscombe is the name of a village on the South coast of Devon. Excrescence means "a distinct outgrowth on a body or plant, resulting from disease or abnormality". A Megatherium is actually a giant sloth, not a giant tapir. Eugenist does indeed mean what it sounds like. Ephraim was the second son of Joseph in the Bible.qETJfuPfekT4kKDu9ETG
