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The Ghost Monk

@theghostmonk.bsky.social

1.2K followers 410 following 1.8K posts

Enthusiast of British (mainly) ghostlore, folklore and vintage ghost and weird fiction. Collector of old magazines. Also keen on prehistoric monuments, old churches and suchlike. Am decidedly Q. All scans/photos my own (unless stated). Runs #PhantomsFriday

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Reposted by The Ghost Monk

Nifty Buckles Folklore @niftybuckles.bsky.social · 10d

#MythologyMonday ⚔️🐦‍⬛ #War
The Morrígan, Irish triple goddess of War, Fate, and Sovereignty, wields fierce power in the Táin Bó Cúailnge. As a hooded Crow, she sways battles, foretelling doom or victory for Ulster’s warriors. A land’s guardian,of Ireland's fate.
#IrishFolklore #Morrigan 🐦‍⬛ #Crows

Statue of 'The Morrigan,' by Forest Rogers

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 3h

A #Victorian engraving of a Brocken Witch, one of a whole coven which #legend stated held their revels on the peak of the same name in the Hartz Mountains of #Germany.
#31DaysOfHalloween #folklore #legends #witch #witches #witchcraft #bats

A cheerful witch rides past the moon on a broomstick. She has batlike wings and is carrying a cauldron, out of which peeps an impish figure. Bats are joining her in her flight.

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 5h

I'm not keen on posting anything remotely political, (although I and I guess 90% of my followers are going "Aaaaaaargh!" right now). But this old Russian poster urging people to get vaccinated for cholera is now horribly apposite. But I probably copied it originally just because it was so #gothic.

A bold graphic of the Grim Reaper hurrying away as a doctor and a nurse are vaccinating a man with his shirt off. The Reaper's scythe is breaking. The word 'cholera' in Cyrillic is written in red across the Reaper's black cloak.

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 7h

#PhantomsFriday tomorrow, so here's Haruko Maeda's portrait of Queen Elizabeth I to grab the attention. Please use that hashtag to join the feed for all things ghostly. #Folklore, fiction, art, poetry, spooky locations - all are grist to the haunted mill.
#FolkloreThursday #BookChatWeekly #artsky

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 9h

Told to Elias Owen by the son of the woman who'd employed the witness, this is the most striking (but not only) close encounter with fairies that resemble those with #aliens. Lights in the sky, strange beings, missing time... it's all there. Are/were modern abductees being taken to fairyland?
#UFOs

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 9h

More little people appeared and they all danced in a ring to delightful music. The man watched this charming scene for a few minutes (he thought, but later found three hours had gone by). Then the meteor reappeared, as did fiery the hoop; taking away its two little occupants. Then all went dark [2/3

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 9h

One evening in the 19th C a farmhand was returning to Penrhyn Isaf, near Penrhyndeudraeth, when he saw 'a brilliant meteor' in the sky, followed by 'a hoop of fire' which landed and two little people got out of it. Then they made a circle on the ground. [1/2
#FolkloreThursday #fairies #faery

My photo of Penrhyn Isaf, near where an unusual encounter with fairies took place. It is a modest, grey stone building with a slate roof and a slender tree (possibly birch) growing in front of it.

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

I live about half an hour's drive away from the 'wyldrenesse of Wyrale'. There's a really good nature reserve on it.

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

"Poltergeist II" by H R Giger. Not much else to be said really. Except 'Eek!'
#31DaysOfHalloween #HRGiger #Giger

The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

Cobblers. (Chortle!)

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

Well, I didn't know Harlan Ellison wrote for Marvel. I believe he once said of 'Star Wars' that compared to 'Dr Who' it was 'a load of bat guano', which I appreciated.

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

I really enjoyed the first two years of their mission, and some of the third year. I wonder what happened on the fourth and fifth years?

The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

14!? Surely, judging by the picture, they mean 41!

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

On Jupiter the encounter big but friendly people and on Saturn more monsters.

7 or 8ft tall men dressed in simple robes with sashes greet the Earl and Lilla (who are dressed in #Victorian costume).

Lilla and the Earl are startled by the appearance (on the other side of the window) of two dinosaur-like monsters with sharp teeth and saucer eyes.

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

They also find the debased descendants of the builders of the Moon civilization. (The illustrations are by Stanley Wood).

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

In 'Stories Of Other Worlds' by George Griffith (Pearson's Magazine Jan-June 1900), the Earl of Redgrave takes his new bride Lilla on an inaugural flight round the solar system in his gyroscopic spaceship. On the Moon they find the remnants of an ancient civilization.
#WyrdWednesday #scifi #sci-fi

A man and a woman in outfits like those of deep sea divers examine ape-like skeletons at the foot of a pyramid.

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

Adventurers descend where no-one has descended before, into 'The Maracot Deep', where they encounter monstrous crustaceans, bizarre fish and millions of plastic microbeads (alright, I made that bit up). From the serialisation in The Strand, 1927, of Arthur Conan Doyle's novel.
#WyrdWednesday

A monster lobster attacks a diving bell while a weird-looking fish swims away.

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 1d

I toyed with posting this one but to be honest I had even less idea what was supposed to be happening here than in the other one. Perhaps... ahem!... perhaps I should actually buy a copy of the book.

The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 2d

A frankly terrifying illustration by Jan Parker of a triple-headed god/goddess from 'Witchcraft And Black Magic' by Peter Haining (1982).
#31DaysOfHalloween #witchcraft #blackmagic #sorcery #BookChatWeekly

A gigantic moonlit figure sits cross-legged by a lake and what appears to be a burning tree in front of it. It has three grim faces and huge horns forming a crescent on its head. In the foreground there is a woman, tiny in comparison, holding high her hands in worship. A tiger is creeping in from the left and tropical birds are in the sky.

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 2d

Early 20th century advert for crystal balls. The manufacturers claim that staring into them 'probably provokes to activity some latent clairvoyant function of the mind which may have been extensively used by primeval man'. Or probably not.
#clairvoyance #supernatural #advertising #oldads

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Reposted by The Ghost Monk

Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 2d

The remains of Cairn Holy II - one of two Neolithic chambered cairns which overlook Wigtown Bay in Dumfries & Galloway. The Clyde-type chambered cairn was traditionally thought to be the tomb of Caldus, the mythical Scottish King. 📸 My own. #TombTuesday #Prehistory #CairnHoly

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The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 2d

"So I tapped her on the cleavage with a pastry fork..."

The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 2d

Never seen Top Gun. Or Frozen. Or the Greatest Showman. Never seen Grease; indeed I hate Grease even without having seen it, because of the ghastly songs we had to endure week after week at the top of the charts when all we wanted to see on Top Of The Pops were New Wave bands.

The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 2d

I agree! I visited the well-know Boscaen-un circle in Cornwall in 1990. It was found down a little track and covered in bracken. It seemed properly cut off from the world and was full of atmosphere. I saw a recent photo of it, however, and it's been completely sanitised since.

The Ghost Monk @theghostmonk.bsky.social · 2d

An enormous scary tree in an illustration by Nikolai Vorobiev for a 1970s book on Russian folk tales. I'm embarrassed that I know nothing about the story because it looks cool. However, the picture seemed ideal for #ThickTrunkTuesday.
#folklore #legends #folktales #illustration #Russian

A gigantic tree with eyes waves claw-like branches menacingly as a knight on horseback, dwarfed by its size, prepares to fire an arrow. Crows are flying around.

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