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Recent Episodes
Robert the Devil: Medieval Legend, Gothic Opera
Robert the Devil is a supernatural medieval legend that inspired a 19th-century French opera, which incorporates key elements from a seminal Gothic novel. The opera and legend are substantially…
Trolls in Medieval Literature
Trolls, as presented in medieval literature, are vastly different from the creatures we encountered in our last episode’s collection of 19th-century Norwegian folktales. These Viking Age trolls are…
Trolls (Pt. 1)
Trolls in Scandinavian folklore can be a little different from what’s imagined in the rest of the world. We begin our show with a montage of clips from recent movies, Trollhunter (2010), Troll…
Rhymes for Those Who Can Neither Read Nor Run
Gammer Gurton’s Garland, published in 1784, is one of the earliest collections of English nursery rhymes, and contains verses both familiar and alarmingly unsettling. Intended to be read to toddlers…
A Christmas Ghost Story, VIII
The Christmas Eve ghost story is a fine old tradition associated with Victorian and Edwardian England, one that’s been making a comeback on both sides of the Atlantic. Since 2018, Bone and Sickle has…
Christmas is Carnival: Carols and Calendars
Historically, the celebration of Christmas and Carnival could overlap, and there is some reason to believe that customs associated with the former were inherited by the latter. A clue to this…
A Werewolf in Court
In our second short episode for November, we take a close look at a the 1692 trial of Thiess of Kaltenbrunn, a purported werewolf in the town of Jürgensburg, in Livonia, (a Baltic region now divided…
Horror, Fact, Fiction, and a Revelation
This is a special short episode looking at fictional evidence used to bolster horror narratives in literature, film, and broadcast media. We compare the found-footage phenomenon with earlier…
Halloween Fortune-Telling Party
This year, in the tradition of Halloween fortune-telling, we have an interactive divination game you can play at home. It comes from aa 19th-century book on cartomancy called, The oracle of human…
Mr. Ridenour’s Haunted Basement
If you’ve been curious regarding Mr. Ridenour’s and Mrs. Karswell’s troubles with anomalous events in the house, this short episode should answer some of your questions as Dr. Bartusch and crew…
Update: GO LOOK AT THE GRAVE!
(SPOILER ALERTt: Do not listen to this until you have heard Episode 146 “Urban Legend”.) This is a short postscript to our “Urban Legend” episode based on feedback from a listener. It has to do with…
Urban Legend
A 1968 Halloween “Spook Show” in the Midwest left an unsettling heritage of urban legends possibly rooted in even more unsettling facts. What little is definitively known regarding this event comes…
Pumpkins, Turnips, and Spooklights
The Halloween Jack-o’-lantern, made from pumpkins in the US and originally turnips in the UK, began its existence as a wisp of glowing marsh gas or “spooklight.” We begin our episode with a montage…
St. George, the Dragon, and More
There’s so much more to the figure of St. George than his battle with a dragon. Legends also tell of his grisly martyrdom, capture of a demon, and postmortem abilities to cure madness through contact…
International Folk-Horror Film Round-Up
As a summer replacement for our regular episode: a round-up of non-English-language Folk-Horror films (here as audio but also available as video) The presentation was created by Mr. Ridenour’s for…
The Fates
The Fates of Classical Antiquity not only survived in the form of related fairy-tale figures but also as the object of superstitions and rituals associated with newborns. In South Slavic and Balkan…
Rolling Hells and Land-Ships
During the 15th-century, citizens of Nuremberg, Germany, experienced spectacular Carnival parades highlighted by the appearance of floats known as “hells.” Featuring immense figures, including…
Happy May Day!
Your favorite podcast is now seven years old! As a birthday gift to our listeners, we decided to try a super short, experimental video podcast. For your pleasure, Mr. Ridenour yesterday edited…
The Unknown Carnival
Mr. Ridenour introduces his new book “A Season of Madness: Fools, Monsters, and Marvels of the Old-World Carnival,” explaining how the project grew out of his research for “The Krampus and the Old,…
The Sin-Eater
The Sin-Eater was a figure associated with funerals of the 17th – 19th century, mostly in Wales, and the English counties along the Welsh border. According to tradition, he was invited by grieving…
Frequently Asked Questions
Bone and Sickle has published 163 episodes since April 2018, covering topics in Arts, History.
Bone and Sickle is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 39m.
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