Three Ravens

18/07/2024

A quick reminder that tomorrow evening at 7pm British Summer Time we'll be live on YouTube talking about this month's Three Ravens Book Club pick, "Circe" by Madeline Miller.

Join us to chat and share your thoughts here: https://youtube.com/live/2Thu0uz3LOo?feature=share

Our Book Club live stream for our June/July novel, "Circe" by Madeline Miller, taking place at 7pm BST on Friday 19 June!Bring questions, thoughts, reflectio...

15/07/2024

Our Series 4 finale is OUT NOW and all about the history and folklore of our home county of Sussex! 🖤

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

Recorded live at the Festival of Chichester in front of a lovely audience at Chichester Library, we start off with a full live performance of the song 'Three Ravens' care of Eleanor and our friend and neighbour Ben Harber, and then have a chat about the curious history of Chichester itself.

After that, it's time to talk Sussex - and there's so much to say!

In addition to chatting about how recent archaeological discoveries are reframing our understanding of the county, the differences between a "Wealdsman" and and "Downsman," and a spectacular list of castles from a region that "Wunt Be Druv," we talk County Dishes, and drown in the excesses of Sussex Pond Pudding!

After some folkloric chat about the ghosts of the Weald and Downland Museum, the wild doings and superb afterlife of Mad Jack Fuller, the Horsham Serpent, the fine tradition of Sussex baby eating, and much more besides, it's on to the main event: Martin's story "The Many Adventures of Arundel The Horse (and His Blundering Knight, Sir Bevis of Hampton)."

Thank you so much to everyone who came along, and to you for supporting and listening to Three Ravens, and we'll be back to round out the series on Saturday with our thirteenth Local Legends interview with Dr Paul Quinn, Director of the Chichester Centre for Fairy Tales, Fantasy and Speculative Fiction!

13/07/2024

Just a quick reminder that this month's Three Ravens Book Club pick is "Circe" by Madeleine Miller! 🖤

We'll be live on YouTube to discuss the book this coming Friday, 19th July, at 7pm UK time.

If you haven't read it, do - or at least start it - and we'll hope to see you there!

13/07/2024

For Monday's episode, we've got something *super* special for you - our Series 4 finale, all about the history and folklore of Sussex, recorded live in front of an awesome audience at the Festival of Chichester! 🖤

The episode is available to listen to right now, including Martin's epic and very silly story "The Many Adventures of Arundel The Horse (and His Blundering Knight, Sir Bevis of Hampton)" two days early, on our Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast

To support the podcast, access all of our episodes ad free, and unlock a tonne of exclusive goodies and bonus content, do please sign up for just $3 a month or $6 a month - the equivalent of £2.50 a month or £5 a month.

13/07/2024

Our penultimate Local Legends episode for Series 4 is OUT NOW!

This week Martin is gathering round the campfire to talk about the folklore of Shropshire with Amy Boucher! 🖤

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

Amy is a writer and a folklorist, an educator and a podcaster. She focuses on her native Shropshire, with her emphasis primarily being on the interplay between folklore, history and the paranormal.

Like many of us, Amy is fascinated by perceptions of the past as seen through the lens of folk beliefs. We first encountered her through Twitter, and tumbled headlong into her blog, Nearly Knowledgeable History, which is amazing. And from there we listened to her audiodrama podcast ‘Best of Men’ which, if you’re after a spooky adventure, comes highly recommended!

If you read Haunted Magazine then there’s every chance you’ll know Amy from its pages. She is an Ambassador for Haunted, her articles are great, and just this month Amy announced her new podcast, The Shropshire Witches.

As you will shortly hear, Amy is incredibly well-informed and passionate about Shropshire’s folklore. She could talk Shropshire for days, and be consistently interesting and funny, and we're so happy to be finally sharing our chat, which we recorded a few weeks ago.

To learn more about Amy and her work, visit nearlyknowledgeablehistory.blogspot.com.

11/07/2024

Our brand new Patreon Exclusive episode is also out today, and all about the lost city of Dunwich, England's Atlantis! 🖤

To support the podcast and access all of our Patreon Exclusive content, along with ad free listening and other goodies, sign up here:

https://www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast

To prepare for the episode, we went on an adventure to Suffolk, to the patch of coastline once home to England's fifth-largest city which is now submerged beneath the waves.

From the seeming Roman origins of Dunwich through the Anglo Saxon invasion, Viking raids, and the Norman conquest, we track the rise and fall of the fort city which bloomed into the Medieval era and then experienced a gradual decline, eaten away at by the hungry sea.

With Dunwich once being a major harbour, hub of shipbuilding, and home to thousands of people, including a Templar order and a dozen different churches, we detail what life was life there before the storms and plague which ravaged it, leaving it a "Rotten Borough" rife with political corruption.

With explorations of Dunwich's legends and ghost stories, its influence on writers like M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft, the archaeological finds and remaining ruins - including the last clifftop grave yet to fall into the sea - it's a different sort of episode from us, but one we hope you will enjoy listening to as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

11/07/2024

Our final bonus episode for Series 4 is OUT NOW and this week we're exploring the truly wild life and genuinely abominable crimes of H.H. Holmes, America's first serial killer! 😱

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

Part of the "Something Wicked" series, we start by chatting through how communication technology in the 19th century created a much more anonymous society, one in which a man born Herman Wester Mudgett in New Hampshire could grow up and skip across national borders, and between over a half dozen states, to assume new identities and commit both audacious acts of fraud and ghastly murder sprees for over 20 years without getting caught.

We then discuss the specifics of Mudgett's life, including his multiple marriages, early career selling cadavers, and the journey that brought him to his most infamous hunting ground: Chicago, at the time of the 1893 World's Fair.

From his many wild money-making schemes to the construction of his custom-built 'Murder Castle' into which he lured and dissected his victims - thought to number up to 200 people - we dig into the details. What is actually known about what he did, what is speculated upon, and how the "yellow journalism" of his time made Holmes a folk hero - all before the truth started to emerge about his grisly journey to incarceration and, ultimately, the hangman's noose.

Along the way we'll also be answering important questions, such as, how many wives is too many wives? And how exactly do you build a Murder Castle? But unlike some of our previous Something Wicked subjects, there's no ambiguity about this one: Herman Mudgett was an extraordinarily evil man, and to discover quite how evil then do be sure to gather round the campfire and listen in...

08/07/2024

On this week's episode we're headed back to Shropshire in North West England, and Eleanor is telling a Devil tale with a twist...🖤

Listen here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

We start off chatting about St Killian, about whom Martin is decidedly unimpressed, after which we sidle on into Shropshire!

In addition to talking about the Wrekin, A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad, and the morbid nature of some of Shropshire's folk magic, we get the pastry out once again for this week's County Dish, Fidget Pie!

After some folkloric chat about topics including Fulk Fitzwarin, Mitchell's Fold stone circle, and the witch Nanny Morgan, plus some excerpts from this week's devilishly good Local Legends interview with Shropshire native Haunted magazine's Amy Boucher, author of the outstanding Nearly Knowledgeable blog, it's on to the main event: Eleanor's story "A Game of Cards."

Speak to you again on Thursday for our last Something Wicked bonus episode for the series, all about H.H. Holmes and, if you're a Patreon supporter, our Patreon Exclusive for July about England's Atlantis, the lost city of Dunwich!

06/07/2024

On this week's episode we're headed back to Shropshire in North West England, and Eleanor is telling a Devil tale with a twist...

If you would like to listen to the episode right now, support the podcast, and unlock a tonne of exclusive content, do please sign up for our Patreon!

https://www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast

06/07/2024

Our new Local Legends interview episode is OUT NOW and this week Martin is talking to James and Alasdair from the Loremen Podcast! 🖤

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

Over seven years ago, when they were fairly early in their careers as stand-up comedians, James and Alasdair found themselves chatting about folklore on a road trip to the South West.

After amusing one another in the car, they wondered if the world might like to be in on the joke. So The Loremen was born.

Ever since, and across five series, they have been poking into the weird and wonderful world of half-true stories from days of yore, and sharing their explorations, much to the Internet's collective glee.

In this episode, Martin steers James and Alasdair's attentions toward the strangeness of the historic county where they met - which is better known today as London.

Encompassing buried temples beneath the financial district, mysterious automata, dragons, The London Monster, myths of gigantic kings, famous ghosts, and a surprising amount of chat about The Muppets, it's perhaps the giggliest episode of Local Legends we've released, but that's no bad thing!

Learn more about The Loremen here: https://www.loremenpodcast.com/

05/07/2024

We had a lovely evening last night at Chichester Library as part of the Festival of Chichester - and, thank goodness, the recording all came out okay!

We'll be releasing it as our Series 4 finale episode on Monday 15th July - but first we've got our Local Legends episode tomorrow with the Loremen Podcast and next week's releases, which will focus on Shropshire!

Thanks so much to everyone who came along! 🖤

04/07/2024

All set up and ready to go for Three Ravens Live with the gang at West Sussex Libraries!

04/07/2024

Our brand new bonus episode is OUT NOW and this week Eleanor is talking us through the history and folklore of brooms and besom-making - so flying ointment at the ready! 🖤

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

Part of the "Dying Arts" series, we start by discussing the difference between brooms and besoms, the neolithic strategies used to sweep, and how the Black Death ushered in new concepts of cleanliness and godliness.

After that, and a chat about the noble work of 'Broom Squires,' it's onto the dark side of brooms and besoms, including how non-conformist Christian sects became associated with flying on broomsticks, how this was conflated with witchcraft, and how the besom went from being a must-have item in every household to becoming something a little bit suspicious...

Folding in curious ideas like the "Sussex Pimp," the impacts of plastic and mass production on broom and besom making, flying bishops, North African sorghum varieties, and art involving witchy bottoms, it's a wild ride that goes places you might not expect - not least into some historic examples of broom magic you may or may not want to try at home!

01/07/2024

Ummm... So, Three Ravens is now in the Top 50 UK Fiction Podcasts!!!! Whaaaat?!?! 😳

Thank you all SO MUCH everyone! And also, big love to our listeners in Belgium and Germany! We 🖤 you!

01/07/2024

The sun is shining, birds are singing, and - because it's the first of the month - the new Three Ravens Newsletter is out now, and overflowing with seasonal delights! 🖤

In addition to July's folk customs, we have of course included some top cultural recommendations, new Celtic Tree information - Oak and Holly this time around - plus updates on Zodiac signs and astrological events, a Decision Making-themed tarot spread, and some recommendations for how to make Magic Circles!

To access all of our monthly newsletters, support the podcast, and unlock tonnes of exclusive content including ad free listening, join our wonderful Patreon community here:

https://www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast

01/07/2024

Our brand new episode is OUT NOW and is all about Middlesex, the historic county better known as London, and Martin is telling a whopper of a story, all about the horrors unearthed during the digging of the city's underground... 🖤

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

We start off chatting about St Serf and his wild and crazy life, dragon slaying and all, after which we move on to Middlesex!

In addition to talking about the Palace of Westminster, the London Stone, and the Temple of Mithras underneath the Bloomberg building, we consider the relative merits of a few options in this week's County Dish, including Chelsea Buns and Jellied Eels!

After some folkloric chat about topics including Old Mother Redcap, the head of the giant Bran, buried under the Tower of London, and the ghosts of Newgate Prison, plus some excerpts from this week's Local Legends interview with hosts of the The Loremen podcast James Shakeshaft and Alasdair Beckett-King, it's on to the main event: Martin's story "The Crossrail Horror."

Speak to you again on Thursday for our new Dying Arts bonus episode all about Besom and Broom Making!

29/06/2024

Our new Local Legends episode is OUT NOW, and this week Martin is chatting with the Lancashire-born host of the Tales of Britain and Ireland podcast, Graeme Cooke! 🖤

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

For the last six years Graeme has been releasing episodes, but, unlike us, he's taking things slow and steady: he recently published his 50th episode, and by focusing on quality, deep research and a diverse range of incredibly rich stories, he has created a back catalogue of fantastic tales brilliantly told.

Graeme's knowledge of Lancashire's lore is outstanding and, like his interest in history and folk culture, it's born of passion. If we had spoken about all the topics Graeme considered chatting about, this episode would have likely been 5 hours long - which suggests we need to speak again soon! Still, we zeroed in on some of the shiniest, most fascinating things related to the historic county, and hope you really enjoy our chat.

One which ranges from Lancashire's curious land divisions to the Pendle Witch Trials, famed local folklorists to boggarts, devil summonings, screaming skulls and more, and folds in fascinating details of some of the most important sites in Lancashire, as well as its curious evolution.

It's a spooky county where few things are quite what they seem, so gather close around the campfire and listen in...

Learn more about Tales of Britain and Ireland here: https://talesofbritainandireland.com/

27/06/2024

Grab your flower crown and leap into the fray, as for this month's Three Ravens Film Club episode we're chatting about a modern folk horror classic, Midsommar! 🖤

The episode came out this morning, exclusively on Patreon, so if you would like to listen to our chat about it, support the podcast, and access tonnes of other Patreon-only goodies, sign up here:

https://www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast

27/06/2024

Our new bonus episode is OUT NOW and all about Kelpies! 🖤

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

From nuggles to brags, the Ceffyl Dŵr to nixies, there's plenty of reasons to be nervous about horse-shaped monsters on the shoreline - but fear not, as Martin is here to demystify Kelpies and mythical water horses in general!

We start by discussing the links between seaweed and kelpies, the first appearances of mythical Kelpies in the poetry of William Collins, Robert Burns and Walter Scott, and how the history of horse riding is inextricably linked with tales of monstrous horses in folklore.

It's a galloping ride that takes us from the Highlands to Ancient Scythia and back again, and along the way we're venturing through early French ballads, talking broomsticks, Roman myths, and Dark Age stone monuments, while discussing the Pictish Beast, the Nuckelavee, shelleycoats, and much more!

Along the way, we'll have advice on how to spot a Kelpie in the wild, what to do to tame one, and how to kill these naughty beasts if such a thing proves necessary - although, as usual, there's some pretty weird stuff to uncover as we venture down to the water's edge, from Fairy Locks to backwards hooves, the Kelpie's links to Virgin Mary, and a possible battle between an early saint and the Loch Ness Monster...

25/06/2024

We've just got back from lovely East Anglia where we had a long weekend away, soaking up lots of history and lore! 🖤

We had a smashing time, including seeing Calf 2 Cow's hilarious show "Sherlock and Watson: A Murder In The Garden" at Thorington Theatre.

It's an amazing place - a full, open air, wooden theatre, out in the woods, built in a WW2 bomb crater. A great place to laugh and wonder under the summer sky - thanks to the team there, and to Calf 2 Cow, who were awesome!

24/06/2024

On this week's episode we're headed back to Lancashire, and Eleanor is telling a spooky story based on a haunted attraction at Blackpool's Pleas

Listen now: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

We start off by discussing St John the Baptist and his bonfires of bones, after which we head off to Lancashire!

In addition to talking about Liverpool and its mythical protector birds Bella and Bertie, the county's shifting borders and the whaling industry, we cook up a delicious pot full of Scouse!

After some folkloric chat about ghostly white hares, a gambler buried upright holding a winning hand of cards, and a giant who was friendly with William the Conqueror, plus some excerpts from this week's Local Legends interview with Lancashire resident and host of the Tales of Britain and Ireland podcast Graeme Cook, it's on to the main event: Eleanor's story "The Ghost Train."

22/06/2024

On Monday's episode we're chatting all about the history and folklore of Lancashire - and Eleanor is telling an unsettling story about a haunted attraction on Blackpool's pleasure beach... 😱

Better yet, the episode is available to listen to right now, two days early, for our lovely Patreon community!

To support the podcast, unlock ad free listening, monthly exclusive episodes, episodes of the Three Ravens Film Club, and much more, do please sign up here:

https://www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast

22/06/2024

Our new Local Legends interview is OUT NOW and this week Martin is gathering round the campfire with Kent resident and host of the Real Life Ghost Stories podcast, Emma Ozenbrook! 🖤

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

Born in Ireland, Emma has lived in Kent for a fair old chunk of time and knows it very well, which, combined with her love for a good story, makes her a cracking ambassador for 'The Garden of England.'

If you like a spooky podcast, odds are you’ll already know her from Real Life Ghost Stories – one of our absolute favourites, and a definite inspiration for Three Ravens.

Three times a week, Emma releases new episodes – two made up of Listener Stories, one which she writes on supernatural themes, events, or ideas from around the world.

Those Sunday episodes have ranged in topic from local ghost stories and infamous hauntings to UFO sightings to cryptid cases, and all manner of other sinister things.

And in this Local Legends chat, Emma offers a couple of uncanny examples of Kent strangeness, as only she can!

So, settle in and join us for a good ol' chinwag which ranges from theatre to Kent's rich history, through Romney Marsh and hidden seashell grottoes to the the curious case of The Hythe Mothman!

It's a good one - and if you want to listen to the composition Emma mentions at the end you can find that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hMy0T_tDPo&sttick=0

Likewise, check out the shell grotto here: https://www.mybestplace.com/en/article/shell-grotto-the-mysterious-cave-covered-with-shells

Otherwise, you can learn more about Real Life Ghost Stories here: https://www.reallifeghoststoriespodcast.com/

And Emma's theatre company here: https://www.parrot-theatre.co.uk/

20/06/2024

Feeling under the weather? We have something to help with that as, in this week's Bonus Episode, Eleanor is uncovering the mysterious history of folk healers in England - better known as Cunning Folk! 🖤

Listen and learn more here: https://linktr.ee/threeravenspodcast

Part of the "Magic and Medicines" series, we start by chatting through who 'Cunning Folk' were, including quite how wide-scale their business was, as well as the time periods in which they were in their prime.

This leads us through the years of Renaissance alchemy and characters like Simon Forman and Doctor John Dee, when folk healers operated during historic crackdowns on witchcraft, prompting them to move beyond 'hedge wisdom' to become anti-witchcraft experts!

We explore how, after the Witchcraft Act of 1735, cunning folk were forced to adapt, the kinds of services they offered, how and why records of their lives and works began to be recorded during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and some of the remedies they offered for common problems.

But has the craft of being a 'cunning man' or a 'cunning woman' ever really gone away? And were many of their methods actually very helpful?

Through exploring the lives of people who gave themselves titles like, "The White Witch of Helston," "The Devil's Master" and "The Master of Witches," as well as the ways in which cunning folk have been presented in literature, we reveal some genuine mysteries - and a few examples of wonderful fakery.

Which leads us to today, and where we go, in our post-industrial world, to find help with our ills.

What has happened to all the Cunning Folk?

The answer might just surprise you...

17/06/2024

On this week's episode we're headed back to Kent, and Martin is telling a spooky story based on the life of a sinister historic Archbishop of Canterbury... 🖤

We start off discussing St Nectan, his errant cows, and headless commute back home, after which we venture to Kent!

In addition to chatting about Dover Castle, the oldest boat in the world, and the eerie landscape of Romney Marsh, we chew over a tonne of delicious Kent foodstuffs before assembling a tasty-sounding "Dredgerman's Breakfast!"

After some folkloric chat about topics including the lost heir to the Plantagenet throne, a hidden alchemist's tower in the heart of Canterbury, and a pagan shrine buried deep in a Roman villa, plus some excerpts from this week's Local Legends interview with Kent resident and host of the Real Life Ghost Stories podcast Emma Ozenbrook, it's onto the main event: Martin's story "The Stain of Vice."

Speak to you again on Thursday for our new Magic and Medicines bonus episode all about Cunning Folk!

15/06/2024

On Monday's episode we'll be exploring the history and folklore of Kent, and Martin's telling a deeply creepy ghost story based on the life of a sinister historic Archbishop of Canterbury! 😱

The episode is available right now, two days early and ad free, for our lovely Patreon community here: https://www.patreon.com/threeravenspodcast

If you would like to support the podcast and access ad free listening, Monday episodes early, our stories as text versions, and tonnes of exclusive content, do please sign up!

15/06/2024

Here's the link for our Book Club Live Stream about Leigh Bardugo's "The Familiar." We'll be going live today at 7pm GMT and will hope to see you there! 🖤

https://youtube.com/live/fKjEAKD6iU8?feature=share