#english-folklore — Public Fediverse posts

My childhood brushes with ghost lore

Despite writing about supernatural folklore, I rarely think about my childhood brushes with ghostly stories. I thought I might rectify that here—by reflecting on two examples of ghost lore I was exposed to in my youth.

Before I begin, I should point out that children’s folklore is just as vital and dynamic a phenomenon as its adult equivalent. Children’s Folklore: A Source Book (1999) is one example of a text that documents the folkloric creativity of children (as opposed to their passive receptivity). The book shows that wherever children come together, they form what folklorists call “folk groups.” The only criteria for the existence of such a group is that “two or more people. . . share something in common—language, occupation, religion, residence”; that they “share ‘traditions'”; and that they have the opportunity to meet face to face.

The Grey Lady

I’ll start with my childhood experience of belonging to a large “folk group” at my prep school, Tockington Manor, in South Gloucestershire. Every child in the school belonged to this folk group, because everyone, at some point, learned about the Grey Lady who haunted the manor’s halls. The boarders at the school were terrified of this lady: they said she wandered the manor at night—the spirit of a nurse who’d fallen from a skylight when the building served as a hospital during the First World War. I don’t remember much about this nighttime revenant, but she’s clearly a variant of a folkloric figure found at boarding schools everywhere: the Grey, White, Black, or Brown Lady.

In my school, older students, already initiated into the ghostly mystery, passed on stories about the drab-colored lady to the younger children, who did the same for the incoming class. I can only assume that telling stories about the Grey Lady allowed us to share anxieties in a fixed, personified form, which helped us adapt to unfamiliar surroundings. It also mythologized the building’s space, especially for boarders—those who couldn’t leave. Separated from their family homes, they created bonds and associations through the emotions that ghost stories evoke.

The story of the Grey Lady may have been one of the most memorable aspects of our folk group. But one story doesn’t create a culture. We also played games like marbles and conkers and had a shared language (words like cave—Latin for “beware”—were used to signal that a teacher was coming). Sometimes we sneaked out of school to gather in an old stone quarry, a place now dense with ivy-covered trees. The aura of this place—which we called simply “Quarry”—will forever remind me of the childhood capacity to create mythological worlds in spaces dominated by adults.

The Yellow Lady

The second example of supernatural storytelling from my childhood occurred during a trip to a Catholic boys’ camp in the summer of 1991. There too the sharing of ghostly legends created belonging among the boys. Despite sharing a tent with my brother, a cousin, and members of my cousin’s family, I felt unsettled in my new surroundings, and I remember how powerfully the nighttime telling of ghost stories allowed us to bond through fear. 

The only story I remember clearly (because it terrified me) was inspired by a local landmark. Visible from the camp was a house that glowed an eerie yellow at night. The sight of this building alone would be enough to inspire a haunted house tale. But in our case, the color became detached from the building, and we gave it to a supernatural figure who roamed the grounds at night. Apparently, a mysterious revenant called the Yellow Lady haunted that house, and she visited the meadow where we slept. Pricking up her disturbingly large ears to listen for wakeful boys, the Yellow Lady prowled the rows of tents, determined to steal a child. 

Although I remember thinking at the time that the Yellow Lady must have been a ghost, she differs in one important way from the Grey Lady mentioned earlier. While the latter was merely a scary presence that never interacted with students, the Yellow Lady was relational, embodying the discipline of the adult world (“no talking after lights out”). Her eerie color and super-sensory abilities—a result of her inhumanly large ears—suggest that she was a kind of supernatural bogeywoman, perhaps even close to a fairy.

The extreme effectiveness of this Yellow Lady legend meant that all of us had trouble sleeping that night. The next day we rushed to mass, hoping to find protection in proximity to a sacred ritual. The impulse was in keeping with much ghost lore, where holy symbols ward off supernatural threats.

Interestingly, while researching “Yellow Lady” stories (to see how commonplace they are), I came across a blog post in which the writer talks about a Yellow Lady story he learned at a camp run by monks. He then turns the tale into a literary short story—an embellishment, perhaps, of a fragmentary tale like mine. It seems to me that the writer’s camp may even have been the one I attended. Either that or the Yellow Lady haunts a number of such camps.

Haunted houses and witch houses

Besides my encounters with the Grey and Yellow Ladies, the only other ghost lore I can remember from my childhood are stories about haunted houses. These were always abandoned homes in the neighborhood, their shattered windows revealing darkness inside, the absence of family life. Repeating things we’d heard or inventing stories on the spot, we called these houses “haunted” or the former resort of “witches”—words that described the rupture in our sense of what a home should look like. One of these houses sat at the corner of Charborough Road and Dunkeld Avenue in Filton, Bristol (I can still picture its dilapidated state). Another was on a road branching off from Charborough Road: they said that if you looked into its broken, upstairs window, you might see a witch looking back. (The latter is a vague memory that may even have been my own thought.)

Considering all this lore, it seems to me that ghosts fill the gaps where social meaning decays, whether through separation from home, abandonment of a home, or maladjustment in a place that’s not yet fully home. When I consider these crucial functions, I understand why empirical approaches to ghostly “phenomena” bore me: they arguably fail to understand ghosts at all.

Read about more ghost lore here.

#HappyGoodFriday !🐰🥚✝️
On Good Friday in old England: bake hot cross buns—they never mould & protect your home from fire & ills.

Skip with long ropes for luck & harvests. 🥐

No digging iron tools in the earth! ⛏️

Hang the bread for protection. 🥐✝️
#EnglishFolklore

Boggarts are mischievous and malevolent creatures from British and Northern European folklore, often linked to domestic disruptions. #boggarts #englishfolklore https://connectparanormal.net/2026/03/01/boggarts-in-folklore-facts-and-fearsome-legends/

Often portrayed as a giant or monster who haunts lonely roads and shadowy paths, Jack-in-Irons is a figure of English folklore. #Giants #englishfolklore https://connectparanormal.link/post/776008644844273664/jack-in-irons

At the behest of the devil, his imps were once sent to England to cause trouble. While one of these imps was wreaking havoc inside Lincoln Cathedral, an angel put an end to his mischief by turning him to stone. The petrified imp can still be seen in the cathedral. #WyrdWednesday

#Folklore #Folktale #LincolnImp #LincolnCathedral #Imp #Devil #England #EnglishFolklore

After purchasing all the meat from a butcher who was passing through Sherwood Forest, Robin Hood went to Nottingham in the butcher's place where, disguised as another butcher, he proceeded to sell the meat the poor of the city at a deep discount. #FolkyFriday

🎨: Howard Pyle

#Folklore #Folktale #RobinHood #England #EnglishFolklore #HowardPyle

According to the Northumbrian fairy tale of 'The Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh,' England's Bamburgh Castle was once home to a princess who was transformed into a dragon by her jealous wicked stepmother. #FairyTaleTuesday

🎨: John Varley

#Folklore #FairyTale #BamburghCastle #TheLaidlyWormOfSpindlestonHeugh #Princess #Dragon #Castle #Northumbria #England #EnglishFolklore

In the English ballad of 'The Noble Fisherman,' a bored Robin Hood leaves the forest behind to become a fisherman in Scarborough. Although he proves to be a poor sailor, his skill with a bow ends up coming in handy when his ship is attacked by French pirates. #FolkloreThursday

📷: Jacek Ulinski

#Folklore #Folktale #RobinHood #Scarborough #Fisherman #England #EnglishFolklore

When a frustrated Hampshire farmer decided to forgo sleep to catch whoever had been making a mess in his barn every night in the act, he saw thousands of tiny elves coming and going through the keyhole in order to carry away all his straw one piece at a time. #LegendaryWednesday

📷: Mats Hagwall

#Folklore #Folktale #Elves #Fairies #Barn #Hampshire #England #EnglishFolklore

Like Robin Hood, Jack O'Legs is an English folk hero that was known for robbing from the rich to give to the poor. One notable difference: Jack was a giant. According to legend, he stood at least 14 feet tall and lived in a cave in the woods outside Baldock. #FairyTaleTuesday

🎨: Louis Le Breton

#Folklore #Folktale #FairyTale #JackOLegs #Giant #England #EnglishFolklore

According to English folklore, you should always wear at least one new article of clothing on Easter Sunday. One superstition even claims that not only is a lack of new clothes unlucky but that birds will purposely soil your disrespectful outfit. #LegendaryWednesday

📷: Pavan Kumar Nagendla

#Folklore #Easter #Birds #Superstition #EasterFolklore #EnglishFolklore

Although the various supernatural black dogs of English folklore were generally seen as being either dangerous or bad omens, the benevolent Gurt Dog of Somerset was said to protect the children of the area and safely guide lost travelers back home. #FolkloreSunday

📷: Florian Roost

#Folklore #BlackDog #GurtDog #Somerset #England #EnglishFolklore

According to legend, a Knucker dragon once terrorized the West Sussex village of Lyminster. In order to stop this beast, a young man named Jim Pulk came up with a unique solution: he baked an enormous pie, which he poisoned and then fed to the dragon. #WyrdWednesday

#Folklore #Folktale #Dragon #Knucker #Pie #Sussex #WestSussex #England #EnglishFolklore

Due to a misunderstanding, a wealthy man banished his youngest daughter from his home, so the resourceful girl assembled a hooded cloak out of rushes to hide her fine clothes and took a job cleaning pots for another great house, where she became known as Cap o' Rushes. #FairyTaleTuesday

🎨 : John D. Batten

#FairyTale #FairyTales #CapORushes #Folklore #EnglishFolklore #England

According to English folklore, asrai are timid mermaid-like creatures that only emerge from their watery home once a century to bathe in moonlight. However, they must return to the underwater realm before dawn because exposure to sunlight is fatal to them. #WyrdWednesday

📷 : Janosch Lino

#Folklore #FairyTale #Asrai #Mermaid #EnglishFolklore

The initial site planned for Jersey's St. Brelade's Church turned out to be a favorite of the local fairies, who began moving all the construction tools to a beach miles away each night in protest. Eventually, the workmen gave up and built the church at that location instead. #WyrdWednesday

🎨 : P.J. Ouless

#Folklore #Folktale #Fairies #Church #Jersey #England #EnglishFolklore

Off-season coastal towns rule. In Sidmouth, Devon, someone’s turned these old phoneboxes into Cabinets of Curiosity. These two are stuffed with exhibits of local folk charms & witchcraft, & include a mummified cat found in the wall of one cottage, & spells sealed up in others. 💀 #folklore #witchcraft #devon #mummification #spells #witches #witch #halloween #folkhorror #folkhorrorrevival #magick #spells #britishfolklore #englishfolklore #magic #spells #mythology #sidmouth #publicart #PhoneBox

Cormoran was a giant that lived in St Michael's Mount and would roam the countryside devouring people and livestock. He is the first giant to be slain by Jack the Giant Killer in Joseph Jacobs' version of the tale. #FairyTaleTuesday

🎨: Arthur Rackham

#FairyTale #Folklroe #Giant #JackTheGiantKiller #Cormoran #EnglishFolklore

In the English fairy tale of “The Imp Tree,” Queen Heurodis falls asleep beneath a tree and dreams about the Faërie King, who makes her promise to return to the same tree the next day under penalty of death. When she does as he asked, the fairies kidnap her, despite the fact she was being guarded by her husband, King Orfeo, and 1,000 of his knights.

#FairyTaleTuesday #FairyTale #Folklore #EnglishFolklore #Fairy #Fairies #TheImpTree #England

📷: Jeremy Bishop

🍺⛏️ If you walk near the Henbury gorge today you will see the Giant’s Footprint where Goram stamped his foot in rage when he woke up from his snooze. And if you look out to the Severn Sea from Weston you will see two islands - Steep Holm and Flat Holm - which are the head and shoulders of the poor drowned giant.

#folklore #riversevern #somerset #britishfolklore #englishfolklore #westcountry #storytelling @folklore @bristol #giants #goram #riveravon #bristol

🍺⛏️ Goram turned up just in time to see Avona gleefully meandering through Ghyston’s gorge. Well, he was beside himself, and in the heat of the moment he threw himself into the Severn Sea where he quickly drowned. Unfortunately stories involving giants often end in sadness.

#folklore #riversevern #somerset #britishfolklore #englishfolklore #westcountry #storytelling @folklore @bristol #giants #goram #riveravon #bristol

🍺⛏️ So Goram begins his gorge at a place now known as Henbury. And Ghyston starts digging at what is now Clifton. To be fair, it was a really hot day, but Goram drank quite a lot of cider whilst he was working, and eventually he fell asleep in the sun. When he woke up, he discovered that Ghyston had already finished his gorge.

#folklore #riversevern #somerset #britishfolklore #englishfolklore #westcountry #storytelling @folklore @bristol #giants #goram #riveravon #bristol

🍺⛏️ Well, I’ve never met a giant but I understand they are argumentative things. Goram and Ghyston couldn’t agree on the best route to dig their channel, so they decided to each dig a separate one. They said that whoever finished first would impress Avona most and win her love. Not that Avona agreed to this.

#folklore #riversevern #somerset #britishfolklore #englishfolklore #westcountry #storytelling @folklore @bristol #giants #goram #riveravon #bristol

🍺⛏️ People who know these things say that Avona was never interested in Goram or Ghyston, but that didn’t stop them thinking they could win her love. One day they came up with an idea to dig a channel through the hills so that the lady of the lake would be free to flow out to the sea if she wanted. That might impress her.

#folklore #riversevern #somerset #britishfolklore #englishfolklore #westcountry #storytelling @folklore @bristol #giants #goram #riveravon #bristol

🍺⛏️ In that lake lived Avona, who was a kind of goddess or spirit of the water. You might call her the lady of the lake. Anyway, there were these two giants who lived on the lake’s shores - Goram and Ghyston - and they really fancied Avona. They were constantly trying to impress her and they argued often as a result.

#folklore #riversevern #somerset #britishfolklore #englishfolklore #westcountry #storytelling @folklore @bristol #giants #goram #riveravon #bristol

🍺⛏️ Before the first humans came to these islands, Britain was inhabited by giants. In those days there was no gorge for the Avon to flow through. And so where Bristol and Bath are today was a huge lake which was stopped from flowing out to sea by a ridge of high ground.

#folklore #riversevern #somerset #britishfolklore #englishfolklore #westcountry #storytelling @folklore @bristol #giants #goram #riveravon #bristol