My new book 'Atlas Gothica' (Hachette) is out now! A guide to 50 Gothic destinations around the world, including vampire-plagued graveyards, mummy-stuffed catacombs, haunted English libraries, Dracula's Whitby & more. amazon.co.uk/Atlas-Gothica-A… #folklore #gothic #history #mythology

The old terminus of the London Necropolis Railway, which shipped mourners & coffins (tickets had to be purchased for both) out to Surrey's Brookwood Cemetery. Trains & waiting rooms were segregated by class & a steam-powered lift took coffins up to the platforms. #gothic #history

The town of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, was once haunted by a Mothman - a flying, red-eyed humanoid. Seen as a harbinger of doom, Mothman was blamed for a bridge collapse. Read more in my book Atlas Gothica: mybook.to/atlasgothica #folklore #history #gothic #Halloween #weird

Trick or treating may have evolved from 'souling', a custom in which poor people would go around the neighbouring houses on holy days asking for food & drink. Many soulers were masked - a way to, literally, save face when asking for charity. #MythologyMonday #folklore #Halloween

Ornate Saxon cross shaft, in All Saints' Churchyard, Bakewell, Derbyshire. I doubt the smiley face at the top was intended to look that way. #folklore #history #churches #architecture #gothic #medieval #Derbyshire

Peak Cavern, Derbyshire - also called the Devil's Arse - leads to a cave network with infernally named features like Pluto's Dining Room & the Inner Styx. Its more vulgar name probably comes from its gaping entrance & the flatulent noises of draining floodwater. #folklore #gothic

Mother Shipton was a #Yorkshire witch & prophetess said to have predicted the Reformation, Anne Boleyn's beheading & iron ships & railways. Her cave had a spring that turned objects to stone. Read more in my book Atlas Gothica: mybook.to/atlasgothica #folklore #gothic #Halloween

An infamous London witch was Mother Damnable, whose cottage allegedly stood on the site of Camden Town Tube. She's said to have poisoned one lover & baked another in an oven. On the day of her death, locals witnessed the Devil strolling into her house. #WyrdWednesday #folklore

The Cumbrian village of Dent had its own #vampire. After dying at the age of 94, a man was spotted returning to his house & feasting on sheep's blood. A metal stake was driven through him, part of which is still embedded in his tombstone. #FairytaleTuesday #folklore #gothic

The poet & artist William Blake claimed to have witnessed a fairy funeral in his garden: "I saw a procession of creatures ... bearing a body laid out on a roseleaf, which they buried with sings & then disappeared" #MythologyMonday #folklore #gothic #poets #weird #Romanticism #art

Yorkshire's Stocksbridge Bypass is allegedly haunted by a monk-like figure who appears suddenly in front of cars & even grabs drivers' legs. In 1987, 2 security guards encountered the apparition - police investigating 2 days later had a similar experience. #spookysunday #folklore

White Lady statute at Glasgow's Southern Necropolis. #Folklore says her gaze turns people to stone, but you can protect yourself by running round the figure chanting 'White Lady'. One of the many tales in my book Atlas Gothica: mybook.to/atlasgothica #gothic #history #Halloween

The Devil's Arrows are 3 standing stones in North Yorkshire. Legend says the grooves on the stones came from the Devil trying to hang his grandmother from them. Another tale says they are arrows shot by Satan at the town of Aldborough for annoying him. #folklore #history #gothic

The Beheading of St John by Caravaggio, 1608. Beheadings often featured in Caravaggio's art. He spent time on the run after being sentenced to death by beheading for murder. His signature on the St John painting is in the same colour as the saint's blood. #art #gothic #history

"I am thy father's spirit, doomed for a certain time to walk the night." William Shakespeare, Hamlet. (Art by William Blake) #WyrdWednesday #folklore #Shakespeare #literature #art #gothic #theatre

Looking for a spooky #Halloween read? My book Atlas Gothica explores 50 #gothic destinations around the world, including vampiric graveyards, magical museums, mummy-stuffed catacombs & eerie libraries. Get it here: mybook.to/atlasgothica #folklore #history #weird #wyrdwednesday

Statue of the journalist Victor Noir on his tomb in Pere Lachaise Cemetery, Paris. #Folklore asserts that if a woman kisses Victor's lips, rubs his crotch and leaves flowers in his hat, she'll conceive a child. #FairytaleTuesday #gothic #31DaysofHalloween #Halloween #graveyard

A phantom black dog is said to haunt Tring, Hertfordshire. Some claim it's the spirit of a man hung then gibbetted for drowning a woman he accused of being a witch. The dog appears in a flash of flame, accompanied by the sounds of chains dragging. #folklore #spookysunday #gothic

The Ostrich Inn in Colnbrook, Berkshire. One landlord encouraged wealthy guests to sleep in a room in which the bed was bolted to a trapdoor. The landlord would release it, murdering the guest by plunging them into a vat of boiling ale below. #gothic #folklore #history #pubs

A superstition states that if you count all the seeds within a pumpkin, you will see a ghost on Halloween night. #FairytaleTuesday #folklore #weird #mythology