David Castleton (Author) / is on Nostr

Freelance journalist specialising in the gothic, weird history, the literary, dark & strange. Amazon #1 best-seller of non-fic (Shire/Bloomsbury). Novelist, winner of the Go Gothic Short Fiction Prize. Likes Victorian oddness, folklore, graveyards, mythology, psychogeography, mad Romantic poets, etc. Website & blog: https://www.davidcastleton.net/serpents_pen_blog/

Last Notes

2024-11-22 19:44:52

Nicholas Owen was a skilled carpenter who constructed many hidey-holes and secret rooms to conceal Catholic priests in the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. Harvington Hall, Worcestershire, contains false chimneys, a false step on the staircase and a secret shaft in the lavatory. There was even a hidey-hole over the bread ovens, which proved to be less popular when the fires were lit. Another priest hole could be found behind a fake beam in the library. The Hall's gatehouse contained a ten-foot-deep hide for the poorer class of fugitive. Such was Owen's skill, there are probably many hidey-holes around England that remain undiscovered. #history #architecture #folklore #weird
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/113/528/311/966/102/469/original/d4e0d7464da3c4c0.jpg

2024-11-22 19:44:52

2024-11-18 20:45:06

A neo-Egyptian bench on London's Embankment, with sphinxes carved into its metalwork. Such objects are evidence of Egyptomania - a craze for all things Ancient Egypt that gripped Europe in the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s. #art #mythology #folklore #history #London #AncientEgypt #architecture #Victorian #gothic #weird
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/113/505/894/612/328/433/original/ed65903cafd7b5f6.jpg

2024-11-16 18:30:17

The torch-bearing arm of the Statue of Liberty was displayed in New York's Madison Square Park between 1876 and 1882. Completed before the rest of the statue, the arm - it was hoped - would encourage contributions to raise the funds to finish the figure and its pedestal, a task that would prove difficult. Those who paid 50 cents could climb to the torch balcony. #NewYork #weird #architecture #urban #history #psychogeography
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/113/494/041/243/512/012/original/d5236c074043acc7.jpg

2024-11-13 18:36:10

Tinkinswood is a Neolithic burial chamber in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It was probably built around 6,000 years ago, making it older than Stonehenge. The huge capstone atop the dolman weighs about 40 tons - it is thought to be the largest in Europe and would have needed 200 people to lift it into place. Legend claims that if you spend certain nights at the site - the evenings before May Day, Midwinter Day or St John's Eve - you will either go mad, die or gain the gift of poetry. #folklore #history #mythology #weird #psychogeography #Wales #archaeology
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/113/477/082/146/881/894/original/29548213b5fd85e9.jpg

2024-11-12 18:54:35

From the 1700 to early 1900s, Europe experienced a phenomenon known as Egyptomania - an obsession with all things Ancient Egypt. One of the most curious manifestations of this craze was the appearance of pyramid tombs in British graveyards. Many of these mausoleums have generated their own folklore. This pyramid in Brightling Churchyard, Sussex, contains the remains of 'Mad' Jack Fuller. Jack is said to be seated at a table set with a roast chicken and bottle of port - so he will not suffer hunger or thirst come Judgement Day. It's claimed the floor is scattered with broken glass. This is so the Devil - fearful of pricking his hooves - will not come to take Jack's soul. My article: https://www.davidcastleton.net/english-pyramid-tombs-mad-jack-fuller/ #graveyard #folklore #mythology #history #weird #Sussex #AncientEgypt #death #churches #pyramids
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/113/471/483/958/622/846/original/6e61d87acfccc342.jpg

2024-11-02 19:16:42

In various parts of Britain, 'souling' was practised around Halloween and All Souls Day. People - mainly children and the poor - would go from house to house, singing in a lamenting tone and saying prayers for the inhabitants and - especially - for their dead relatives. In exchange, they received 'soul cakes' - small cakes baked with dried fruits and sweet spices, such as nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon. The custom is rooted in the Catholic doctrine of needing to pray for souls suffering in purgatory, but it continued after the Reformation, up until the 1930s in some places. In parts of South Yorkshire, it is still practised today. Shakespeare wrote of "pulling like a beggar at Hallowmas". #folklore #history #AllSoulsDay #Halloween #food
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/113/414/947/740/112/314/original/b7ead488a16a5c72.jpg

2024-10-26 17:52:17

The Count of St Germain was a scholar, alchemist, writer and musician who wandered the courts of Europe in the 1700s. The facts that his origins were obscure and that he went by a number of different names and titles led to outlandish rumours that he had discovered the alchemical secret of immortality. His own boasts - claiming that he was 300 or 500 years old - added to his myth. He knew Casanova, Mozart and Voltaire, with Voltaire dubbing him "the Wonderman ... who does not die and who knows everything." #history #weird #folklore #occult #magic #gothic #mythology
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/113/374/986/030/911/375/original/a6aba441ad9e8412.jpg

2024-10-17 17:34:44

In Yorkshire and other parts of northern England, hobs are kindly, if occasionally mischievous, spirits. One - said to live in a cave near Runswick Bay called Hob's Hole - is known for taking away whooping cough. Mothers would take their children to the cave and shout:
"Hob Hole Hob!
My bairn's gotten kink cough,
Tak't off, tak't off!"
When I had whooping cough, my mother did this with me. It was probably just the curative sea air, but the cough disappeared. #folklore #weird #ghosts #paranormal #Yorkshire #Psychogeography
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/113/323/958/100/438/282/original/655b388fc7cb8a69.jpg

2024-10-15 18:26:58

Newcastle's Lit and Phil Library is the UK's largest independent library outside London. It is built across the path of Hadrian's Wall, with some of its stonework visible in the basement. Founded in 1793, the library is said to have 16 ghosts, including a librarian who haunts the basement, a witchfinder general, and a little girl. There have been reports of books falling mysteriously from shelves, disembodied voices telling people to 'ssshh' and strange lights at night. #Newcastle #gothic #ghosts #paranormal #Psychogeography #weird #folklore #history
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/113/312/835/557/442/166/original/09c799ff4fefd2ce.jpg

2024-08-29 15:00:22

- reply

@npub1lgy…aefg Don't remember seeing fish, but the water in both the sea and the lake was clear - and very cold!

2024-08-29 14:43:36

- reply

@npub1lgy…aefg Swam in a mountain lake too, which was a bit less freezing.

2024-08-29 14:38:16

- reply

@npub1lgy…aefg Wales is great - I went there a good few years ago and swam in the sea in May. It was 'exhilarating'.

2023-04-13 18:00:15

In Britain, there are a number of alleged 'vampire tombs'. This grave on the Isle of Man is covered with a heavy slab & has chains around it - all supposedly to stop the 'vampire' getting out. It's occupant apparently sat up during his wake & coughed - leading the assembled villagers to stake him through the heart. Britain's vampire tomb legends draw from a number of social & cultural trends including body snatching, the fear of being buried alive, memento mori symbolism, the #[0] of witches & old legends of revenants. My article: https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2023/04/Britain-s-Vampire-Graves-Bat-winged-Skulls-Staked-Hearts-and-Poles-Driven-through-Bodies/ #[1] #[2] #[3] #[4] #[5] #[6] #[7]
https://media.universeodon.com/media_attachments/files/110/192/799/584/555/395/original/1e95ac71dd2c02b1.jpg