The Golden Arm
The Golden Arm is a folktale, a story appearing in multiple cultures through oral tradition and folklore, most famously told by Mark Twain and also used by him to instruct…
How to Stay Married to Baba Yaga
"A yolk is not just a yolk: at the bottom of all that gold is a secret only the witches see. You aren’t a witch. Choke down the battered yolks…
Sirens, succubi & sex symbols: a history of female monsters
From the dangers of childbirth to female sexuality, myths and legends about female monsters like mermaids and sirens can tell us a lot about different societies’ attitudes towards women over…
A Girl Defines Herself
No one knows for sure where we came from; no one can say where we’re going. We are, in the linguistic sense, mysteries. Secrets. In some ways, threats.
A Brief Catalog of Humans, as Observed by the Cryptids of Encante
The Myopic Cryptozoologist - Everyone’s least favorite human, this persistent creature is a narrow-minded cousin of perhaps our favorite type of human—the cryptozoologist—and differs from that specimen in several key…
Satanic Panics and the Death of Mythos
All the stories in humanity’s history that have had a lasting impact on us, from the Bible to Greek myths to the X-Men franchise, have been rich in meaning beyond…
Our fiction addiction: Why humans need stories
From fireside folk tales to Netflix dramas, narratives are essential to every society – and evolutionary theorists are now trying to figure out why, writes David Robson. {read}
Trick or Treat 2017 – Set 1
The first Trick or Treat Halloween special of 2017 features two tales. The first, A Bridge Too Far, walks us through a winter train ride that went horribly wrong over…
How Did A Bunch Of Mythical Monsters Become Queer Icons?
Queer people are used to being vilified, attacked, and misunderstood — so some of us embrace villains like the Babadook and the Mothman because we recognize ourselves in them. {read}
The Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth: Crash Course World Mythology #25
Let’s get Heroic with Mike Rugnetta. This week on Crash Course World Mythology, we’re talking about the Hero’s Journey and the Monomyth, as described by Joseph Campbell. Campbell’s theories about…