Thomas Watersさんのイラストまとめ

I thought I told you not to undertake demon summoning with a scented candle!

Early C18th British satire.

British Museum: 1868,0808.13206

Laying a Ghost!

A parson, and cowering behind him two country men, exorcising a ghost in a field.

Richard Newton, 1792.

British Museum: 2001,0520.37.

Witches!

4 scenes of English country characters being frightened by witches.

Detail from a 1796 satirical print, hand coloured, by Richard Newson.

British Museum object: 1948,0214.1006.

Two visions of the ghostly lights known as Will o' the Wisp or Ignis Fatuus.

Left: Richard Newton, A Will o’ th’ Wisp; or Jack o’ Lantern (1795).

Right: Josiah Wood Whymper, The Ignis-Fatuus, or Will-o'-The-Wisp (c. 1830s).

From @britishmuseum

Any readers seen such lights?

Below: Richard Newton, 'Tumbling Over a Ghost' (1795).

Lovely satirical hand-coloured etching. Featuring a witchy woman & a smock-wearing rustic, tripping over a bald ghost in a graveyard.

Be careful after dark, in other words...

From @britishmuseum (Number: 2001,0520.13)

In honour of the autumn equinox, here are some autumnal images from a favourite Victorian newspaper - the Illustrated London News.

An Autumn Ramble (1872)
An Autumn Frock (1896)
Autumn Leaves are Falling (1882)
An English Lane (1881)

In C19th Ireland, youngsters deemed fairies or 'changelings' could be beaten, burnt, poisoned with foxgloves or drowned.

Bridget Cleary is the famous case. But there were other, less widely reported fairy assaults & deaths. A dark side of magical belief...

#FolkloreThursday

1/8. Fairy doctors were Irish cunning-folk. White wizards of sorts, to their admirers. Fraudsters, to their detractors.

They were so named because, if you had fairy problems, they claimed to help. Some also said they got their powers from 'the good people'.

#scaryfairies

Researching Irish fairies: a jolly pastime?

I find it nerve-shredding. 'Changeling' children, abused in violent exorcisms. Bereaved folks crying at the crossroads, calling for their dead to return from fairyland. And the public hanging of 'John the Fairyman' at Kilkenny in 1852.

Folks, you probably won't be surprised to hear that all my upcoming talks have been cancelled.

This includes York on Saturday (21st) & Oxford on Tuesday 31st of March.

Was looking forward to speaking with lots of interesting people. Another time, I hope.

Stay & get well 🧙‍♀️🤞