There’ll be scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long, long ago… (Lyrics from It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams) A sad tale’s best for winter. I have one of sprites and goblins. (From The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare) My apologies for the radio silence- it’s… Continue reading ‘Tis the Season
What do the following three songs have in common? Murder! Although contemporary, the above songs are all a part of a rich, folkloric tradition. The musical folkway in question? Why, murder ballads, of course. Long before the public’s imagination held tight with podcasts like Serial and entire TV channels dedicated to unsolved crimes,… Continue reading Shiver The Whole Night Through
“God help us- because art is long and life is so short.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust: First Part The Faust legend is older than Goethe’s classic German novel. Here’s the mini-SparkNotes version: Dr. Faustus makes a deal with the devil to gain love… and then there are consequences. This legend has fingerprints all over… Continue reading Faust Sings The Blues
I attended and hosted a ton of slumber parties as a kid. Maybe it’s because I was born in the late 80s and came of age in the 90s. This was the Golden Age of Slumber Parties. Junk food and a vast array of so-terrible-they’re-great movies were in heavy rotation. After listening to N*Sync and… Continue reading Bloody Mary & Friends!
One of the oldest functions of folklore is to scare…I mean, teach lessons to children. As a former schoolteacher and current mom of a toddler, I can attest to the dare-devilish traits that many children seem to possess. Before the days of stranger danger, society needed a way to keep kids away from the hazards… Continue reading Lessons from La Llorona
We love feeling afraid.We love the sound of our hearts beating too fast and feeling a cold rush of adrenaline pass through our bodies, whether necessary or not. Okay. Maybe we don’t love it. But we definitely get a kick out of it. As a society, we love horror movies, Halloween, and the supernatural in… Continue reading On Being Scared
Archived Folk 