The man who taught us to believe in fairies
The 17 th -century folkloric studies of Robert Kirk clashed with the scepticism of his contemporaries – but his spirit of wonder has been embraced by writers from Walter Scott to Phillip Pullman. " data-adaptive-image-768-img=" " data-adaptive-image-max-img=" "> The Times reported in 2005 that a property developer in
"they that doubt of these [witches] do not only deny them, but Spirits; and are obliquely and upon consequence a sort, not of Infidels, but of Atheists"
Outrage as forest workers clear 'clouties' at fairy spirit site
Folklorists are up in arms after forestry workers cleared away years' worth of mementos at a beauty spot in Perthshire said to be home to supernatural spirits and fairies....
Scotsman 2019-07-08
The gory stories behind the names of Edinburgh's most popular pubs
There are some cracking pubs in Edinburgh and the oldest ones have fascinating, if peculiar backstories. From wailing banshees to broth made of sheep's heids, the names of...
Letter of the week: Story of a death mask
View the full image A selection of the best letters received from our readers this week. Email letters@newstatesman.co.uk to have your thoughts voiced in the New Statesman...
New Statesman 2019-07-10
Folk horror's revival reminds us the scariest monster of all is ourselves
On a remote island off the west coast of Scotland, the sun sets in a fiery blaze as embers crackle and an entire village sings "Sumer Is Icumen In," a Middle English folk...
Canada Dot Com 2019-07-03
Bosnian resurrection
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there stood emerald peaks woven with crystalline rivers, hillsides garlanded with stone villages, and canyons joined by lofty bridges arcing toward the heavens. This enchanting realm even had a suitably enchanting name: Bosnia and Herzegovina, as melodious as Narnia, Utopia or Shangri-La, worlds that exist in the imagination, not on...
Arkansas Online
Saw: Samuel L Jackson joins cast of Chris Rock's horror reboot
Samuel L Jackson has become the first and suitably unexpected cast member for the forthcoming reboot of horror franchise Saw, which has already inspired puzzlement in that it is being brought to the screen by comedian Chris Rock. Horror site Bloody Disgusting has confirmed the truth in a Reddit rumour that Jackson had been spotted on set, while adding that Rock himself is also...
Crawl: The alligator horror movie you didn\'t know you needed to see
The first reactions are in for the year's most nailbiting and fun-sounding horror film. Paramount Pictures has finally screened Crawl, a film that follows a young woman (played by Kaya Scodelario) who, while trying to save her father (Barry Pepper) during a Category Five hurricane in Florida, finds herself trapped in a flooding house with nothing for company but alligators....
Midsommar star Jack Reynor reveals why he wanted to go fully nude in one of ...
Midsommar star Jack Reynor has revealed that it was his idea to go fully nude in one of the most intense and bizarre scenes of the film. Reynor stars as Christian, the boyfriend of Florence Pugh's character Dani, in the second feature film by Hereditary director Ari Aster. The movie follows a group of friends who journey to a remote Swedish village for a seemingly innocent...
WATCH: Woman claims she married, then divorced, 300-year-old pirate\'s ghost
Amanda Large Teague was meditating the first time she says she met the ghost of a 300-year-old Haitian pirate. She thought he was rude to interrupt her solitude, so she told him to leave. Then he showed up again. The third time he visited, Teague, of Belfast, said she decided to talk with him. After she communicated with the ghost for several months, Teague said, she became...
Annabelle Comes Home review: A charming horror with a spin-the-wheel approach to scares
Dir: Gary Dauberman. Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Madison Iseman, Mckenna Grace, Katie Sarife, and Michael Cimino. 15, 105 mins Annabelle Comes Home is technically the seventh film in The Conjuring universe. That doesn't say a lot. While most franchises prefer to build up a series of interconnected films that rely on a single, overarching narrative (think Marvel or...