Norfolk Folklore Society

In this episode Siofra and Stacia explore the tale of Melvena Spinks, and alleged witch from East Dereham.

Join the Norfolk Folklore Society as we introduce author, illustrator and folklorist Helen JR Bruce who will be diving into the rich folklore and mythology surrounding Black Dogs.
Cover illustration - Shuck Zine / Matt Willis

This month we have a chat about a very haunted house in Thorpe Marriott. Inspired by the new BBC documentary about the Amityville Horror house, we searched our archives and dug out one of our creepiest stories to discuss.

We were absolutely delighted to welcome Lucy Spirit and Rachel Duffield as our January speakers the Norfolk Heritage Centre at the Norwich Millennium Library.
Rachel, who is an artist and costume marker, a historical reenactor and an incredible painter who spent years working for Norfolk Museums Service will be presenting the talk written by Lucy, a researcher, writer, open-minded sceptic and spooky expert.
Those attending will discover a brief history of Raynham Hall and the life of its infamous ‘Brown Lady’ ghost and how she became a worldwide phenomenon, the history of spirit photography, its controversial reputation and the photographer and sceptic who battled in court over its authenticity and the legacy of spirit photography.
The talk will be the third in a series of Norfolk Folklore Society events for The British Library’s Living Knowledge Network’s Fantasy: Realms of Imagination exhibition which has been funded by Anguish’s Educational Foundation and Arts Council England.

Today’s podcast is about the Magical Sword of Winfarthing, the Excalibur of Norfolk which helped women rid themselves of terrible husbands (and find their lost horses) from the safety of their village church.
We have plenty of sword play with a range of topics which see us discuss witchcraft, famous magical swords and why we can’t pronounce most of them, why the sword is associated with supernatural and magical powers and why making swords was so revered.
(Something I forgot to mention in the podcast is what some of those secrets were, such as “the virtues of certain liquids for quenching the hot iron, varying from the water of certain rivers to the urine of a red-haired boy or the juice of radishes mixed with earthworms.” Bear this in mind the next time you make a sword).
Find out why folk magic in a church might not have been the no-no it later became, why women felt the need to ask a sword for help if their husband was a wrong ‘un, a real example of a sword in a stone and how to use a sword for toothache (useful in these days of no NHS dentists).
Siofra also offers an alternative title to the five-series-long Merlin TV series which would have made it a whole lot better and Stacia wonders what excuse you’d need to come up with in order to go and ask a sword to murder your husband once a week for a year.
Both members of the Norfolk Folklore Society would like to make it very clear that they love their husbands very much and have not been visiting (a) Winfarthing or (b) a sword.
We hope you enjoy!
Love from Siofra and Stacia

Our December 2023 talk was given by the wonderful Val Thomas. Val, a good friend of the Norfolk Folklore Society (she was the first ever speaker the NFS had at our monthly talks!), shared some recommendations for a magical Yule or Christmas dinner with our guests.
About Val:
Val Thomas is a witch, a craftsperson, herbalist and a teacher. For more than a quarter of a century she has lived in Norwich, working with the magic of the land – its plants and creatures, its gods and its spirits – and exploring the ways of Norfolk’s Nameless Tradition of witchcraft and magic. During this time, Val has played a prominent role in the magical and Pagan community in Norfolk, helping to run public events, workshops and rituals and guiding many seekers upon the winding paths of the Quest.
Val wrote her first book, A Witch’s Kitchen, in 2001. Since then, she has written articles for The Cauldron, has a regular column about Norfolk magic in Quest, and another about magical herbalism in Pagan Dawn.
Her most recent books are Of Chalk and Flint: A Way of Norfolk Magic and Bounded in a Nutshell: Lockdown, Magic and Infinite Space. Her newest book, Hallowtide: A Dark Devotional, is available on pre-order at www.troybooks.co.uk.
You can also support Val via her Patreon, which we can highly recommend - Val Thomas | creating a tapestry of magic: books, spells, charms and herbs. | Patreon

We were delighted to welcome the wonderful Laura Cannell to our November at The Louis Marchesi in the pub’s 15th century undercroft.
Laura spoke about her new project, MARSHLORE , which has so far seen the publication of two zines, each of which include a miscellany of stories, original artwork, folklore and more, inspired by the East Anglian marshes, ancient folklore and living traditions. She calls it: “A mix of thoroughly researched folklore and thoroughly made-up stories.”

This month’s podcast is all about ghosts – or rather, the ghosts we’d all draw if anyone
asked us to mock up a quick doodle. You know the one: looks like a floating bedsheet with eyes.
Round on top, wiggly on the bottom, with a couple of eyes holes – it’s the image that
always pops to mind when thinking of ghosts: but why?
This very specific image of ghosts as white sheets has been engrained in our culture for
centuries and, until fairly recently, was considered genuinely terrifying.
We look into the history of the bedsheet ghost, find our own example in Norfolk and recent examples further afield in 2020: the bedsheet ghost, it seems, is still alive and well (dead and well?) even today.

On October 24 Christian Hudson from Norfolk Ghost Hunters came to speak to us at the Norfolk Folklore Society’s monthly meeting.
Christian works within a team of five, each of whom specialise in different fields, and is a paranormal investigator and demonologist. He works in tandem with the Church of England and the Catholic church and he and his team have been involved with hundreds of paranormal investigations at venues across the UK, from big venues to private houses.
Christian will be shared some of his most interesting and intriguing cases.

Today’s podcast was recorded on Gressenhall Farm and workhouse’s Apple Day, which we were delighted to be part of, representing Norfolk Folklore Society in the farmhouse kitchen. From the kitchen table we offered people a host of apple folklore and it was lovely to welcome so many people and to hear their own folklore and ghost stories.