Chris Woodyard
@chriswoodyard.bsky.social
Author A is for Arsenic: An ABC of Victorian Death, The Victorian Book of the Dead, 10 books on ghosts in Ohio and elsewhere. Death, mourning, costume, ghosts, Forteana. Podcast: Boggart and Banshee https://thevictorianbookofthedead.wordpress.com: Blog
Pinned
It's been 50 glorious episodes of nattering and squabbling and dramatic readings about all forms of the supernatural. Chris and Simon answer readers' questions about how they met, their favorite episodes, personal supernatural encounters, and why Simon hates Gef.
www.buzzsprout.com/1859647/epis...
www.buzzsprout.com/1859647/epis...
#MementoMoriMonday mood
17th century carved boxwood Death holding a dart.
Fetzentödlein [small death in tatters]
Exhibited at TEFAF by Kunstkammer Georg Laue
17th century carved boxwood Death holding a dart.
Fetzentödlein [small death in tatters]
Exhibited at TEFAF by Kunstkammer Georg Laue
November 24, 2025 at 1:51 PM
#MementoMoriMonday mood
17th century carved boxwood Death holding a dart.
Fetzentödlein [small death in tatters]
Exhibited at TEFAF by Kunstkammer Georg Laue
17th century carved boxwood Death holding a dart.
Fetzentödlein [small death in tatters]
Exhibited at TEFAF by Kunstkammer Georg Laue
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Delighted to find this little piece about the haunted chest of drawers I heard about as a student. The shop that sold it to the anonymous owner quoted here was advertising for a PA, and I very nearly applied out of morbid curiosity. I wonder where it is now.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt9J...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt9J...
1983: PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS and a HAUNTED CHEST OF DRAWERS | Nationwide | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Delighted to find this little piece about the haunted chest of drawers I heard about as a student. The shop that sold it to the anonymous owner quoted here was advertising for a PA, and I very nearly applied out of morbid curiosity. I wonder where it is now.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt9J...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt9J...
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Snail’s pace - 15th century floor tile from St. Andrew’s Church at Wormingford in Essex. Now part of the collections at Colchester Castle. 📸 My own. #TilesOnTuesday #ColchesterMuseum
November 11, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Snail’s pace - 15th century floor tile from St. Andrew’s Church at Wormingford in Essex. Now part of the collections at Colchester Castle. 📸 My own. #TilesOnTuesday #ColchesterMuseum
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Goodnight from The Hellbox pub, where the Plastered Outcasts society of authors are discussing the cursing of an errant publisher. Goodnight from Annabelle Nelmes, paying respect to Wivenstone’s Tree of Sorrows with generous apple brandy libation. Goodnight from Hookland.
November 23, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Goodnight from The Hellbox pub, where the Plastered Outcasts society of authors are discussing the cursing of an errant publisher. Goodnight from Annabelle Nelmes, paying respect to Wivenstone’s Tree of Sorrows with generous apple brandy libation. Goodnight from Hookland.
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Abundance of fruit, plus monkeys, squirrel, & guinea pigs. All the animals are alive because it's Jan van Kessel II's pantry, and today is his day.
November 23, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Abundance of fruit, plus monkeys, squirrel, & guinea pigs. All the animals are alive because it's Jan van Kessel II's pantry, and today is his day.
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Sparkling like a festive bauble, Victor Stiebel’s early #1960s cocktail dress deploys a heap of embellishment not just in the form of beadwork at the bodice but a textured cloqué fabric as well. Sold via #AugustaAuction #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
November 23, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Sparkling like a festive bauble, Victor Stiebel’s early #1960s cocktail dress deploys a heap of embellishment not just in the form of beadwork at the bodice but a textured cloqué fabric as well. Sold via #AugustaAuction #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Some Staffordshire folklore from the Leek area, as recorded by a vicar who was exiled there in 1940 lichfieldlore.co.uk/2025/11/23/t...
The Valley of Phantoms
I’m reading the memoirs of a man named William Purcell Witcutt. Like me he had connections to both Birmingham and Staffordshire, and was fascinated by folklore. Unlike me, he was an protestan…
lichfieldlore.co.uk
November 23, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Some Staffordshire folklore from the Leek area, as recorded by a vicar who was exiled there in 1940 lichfieldlore.co.uk/2025/11/23/t...
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
We have allowed superstition to become a word loaded with negative judgements. Is someone who believes in the ghosts of felled trees, the persistence of Wood Sprites and their revenges against the axe superstitious? Yes, but this should not be assumed as a bad thing. – Dr. M. Benn #FolkloreSunday
November 23, 2025 at 3:29 PM
We have allowed superstition to become a word loaded with negative judgements. Is someone who believes in the ghosts of felled trees, the persistence of Wood Sprites and their revenges against the axe superstitious? Yes, but this should not be assumed as a bad thing. – Dr. M. Benn #FolkloreSunday
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Hope you enjoyed today's celebration of women printmakers! 🧡💛🤎
Have a great day xx
Have a great day xx
November 23, 2025 at 12:47 PM
Hope you enjoyed today's celebration of women printmakers! 🧡💛🤎
Have a great day xx
Have a great day xx
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Whitby jet faceted bead bracelet and a similar bracelet worn by the woman in the early 1880s photograph.
November 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Whitby jet faceted bead bracelet and a similar bracelet worn by the woman in the early 1880s photograph.
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Mounted man in armour. This fragment, probably from a military coffin lid, dates from the late C13. Surviving equestrian effigies are rare in medieval England. Found face-down, being used as a step, during the 1879 restoration of Hampstead Norrys church, Berks. No. 188 in Country Church Monuments.
November 23, 2025 at 11:15 AM
Mounted man in armour. This fragment, probably from a military coffin lid, dates from the late C13. Surviving equestrian effigies are rare in medieval England. Found face-down, being used as a step, during the 1879 restoration of Hampstead Norrys church, Berks. No. 188 in Country Church Monuments.
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Born OTD in 1654, in Antwerp, Jan van Kessel the Younger. Like his father, a painter of bugs, beasts, & other naturalia. Occasionally humans too. Here, butterflies, shells, etc in 1680.
November 23, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Born OTD in 1654, in Antwerp, Jan van Kessel the Younger. Like his father, a painter of bugs, beasts, & other naturalia. Occasionally humans too. Here, butterflies, shells, etc in 1680.
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead La Mode Jolie. Fashion plate showing a very fashionable widow accompanied by a friend in a sympathetic grey costume, as the widow, with a look of satisfaction, places a wreath on the grave railing. c. 1895-1895
libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/coll...
libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/coll...
November 23, 2025 at 12:39 PM
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead La Mode Jolie. Fashion plate showing a very fashionable widow accompanied by a friend in a sympathetic grey costume, as the widow, with a look of satisfaction, places a wreath on the grave railing. c. 1895-1895
libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/coll...
libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/coll...
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead U is for Undertaker is one of the entries brilliantly illustrated by @landisblair.bsky.social in A is for Arsenic: An ABC of Victorian Death, a book about the basics of Victorian death practices. Available worldwide.
November 23, 2025 at 12:32 PM
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead U is for Undertaker is one of the entries brilliantly illustrated by @landisblair.bsky.social in A is for Arsenic: An ABC of Victorian Death, a book about the basics of Victorian death practices. Available worldwide.
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead U is for Undertaker, from a child's ABC book published in Philadelphia, PA, c. 1857.
digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/coll...
digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/coll...
November 23, 2025 at 12:26 PM
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead U is for Undertaker, from a child's ABC book published in Philadelphia, PA, c. 1857.
digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/coll...
digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/coll...
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Cape of green wool with black & white braided decoration, Art Nouveau style. France, ca 1905. Via The V&A here: collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O351250...
April 21, 2024 at 11:36 AM
Cape of green wool with black & white braided decoration, Art Nouveau style. France, ca 1905. Via The V&A here: collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O351250...
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
$100 million prize goes to dynamic duo aiming to stop next pandemic before it starts
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
n.pr
November 22, 2025 at 8:03 PM
Two scientists who are fast friends, one Nigerian and one American, have won the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change competition for their network to catch the next disease with pandemic potential.
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Maria of Orange, making so many dreadful fashion errors in assembling her hunting gear, 1665. Hunting! The mind boggles. By Jan Mijtens, whose day is also today.
November 22, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Maria of Orange, making so many dreadful fashion errors in assembling her hunting gear, 1665. Hunting! The mind boggles. By Jan Mijtens, whose day is also today.
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Goodnight from Faith Milbury, noticing the Dark Glam night at The Shambala Rooms is more akin to Murky Garishness. Goodnight from Sadie Ringrose, wishing yet again that her second sight wasn’t interfering with her attempts to enjoy first dates. Goodnight from Hookland.
November 22, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Goodnight from Faith Milbury, noticing the Dark Glam night at The Shambala Rooms is more akin to Murky Garishness. Goodnight from Sadie Ringrose, wishing yet again that her second sight wasn’t interfering with her attempts to enjoy first dates. Goodnight from Hookland.
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
💀🪦📚 All Pocket Cemeteries are 20% off through the end of the month, along with everything else in my shop. #CemeterySaturday www.etsy.com/shop/LandisB...
November 22, 2025 at 7:35 PM
💀🪦📚 All Pocket Cemeteries are 20% off through the end of the month, along with everything else in my shop. #CemeterySaturday www.etsy.com/shop/LandisB...
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
I’m thrilled to be giving this year’s Kelmscott Lecture, the annual lecture hosted by the William Morris Society. I’m excited to be dipping my toe into the world of the Arts and Crafts movement. Join us in person or online! Tickets are here: williammorrissociety.org/events/the-k...
November 12, 2025 at 6:24 PM
I’m thrilled to be giving this year’s Kelmscott Lecture, the annual lecture hosted by the William Morris Society. I’m excited to be dipping my toe into the world of the Arts and Crafts movement. Join us in person or online! Tickets are here: williammorrissociety.org/events/the-k...
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
All this bright red silk chiffon cocktail dress needs is an egg nog and a high heel. Ceil Chapman liked to ruche her gowns and this mid #1950s gown gathers the fabric around the body then lets it flow with a matching shoulder stole #goldsteinmuseum #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
November 22, 2025 at 7:45 PM
All this bright red silk chiffon cocktail dress needs is an egg nog and a high heel. Ceil Chapman liked to ruche her gowns and this mid #1950s gown gathers the fabric around the body then lets it flow with a matching shoulder stole #goldsteinmuseum #FashionHistory 🗃️🪡
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead With the holiday season coming up, let me tout one of my books on Victorian mourning: "Long-lost tales of the morbid, mournful, and macabre from the Victorian era." Available worldwide. Please ask your local bookstore or library to order it.
November 22, 2025 at 7:11 PM
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead With the holiday season coming up, let me tout one of my books on Victorian mourning: "Long-lost tales of the morbid, mournful, and macabre from the Victorian era." Available worldwide. Please ask your local bookstore or library to order it.
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
Daughter'd be interested in these as Anything Agatha Christie and the Mr Men books are her Thing ....
November 22, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Daughter'd be interested in these as Anything Agatha Christie and the Mr Men books are her Thing ....
Reposted by Chris Woodyard
For a pre- #Thanksgiving #ForteanFriday The Gobblers’ll Git You, If You Don’t Watch Out!
Ghostly gobblers who tap at your windows and gobble in the garret…
hauntedohiobooks.com/news/animal-...
Ghostly gobblers who tap at your windows and gobble in the garret…
hauntedohiobooks.com/news/animal-...
November 21, 2025 at 3:57 PM
For a pre- #Thanksgiving #ForteanFriday The Gobblers’ll Git You, If You Don’t Watch Out!
Ghostly gobblers who tap at your windows and gobble in the garret…
hauntedohiobooks.com/news/animal-...
Ghostly gobblers who tap at your windows and gobble in the garret…
hauntedohiobooks.com/news/animal-...