Britain has a long and glorious history of being fooled. From forged antiquities and impossible performances to mysterious princesses and women supposedly giving birth to rabbits, the greatest hoaxes succeed not because our ancestors were stupid, but because someone gave them exactly what they wanted to believe.
Category: History
Don’t Turn the Bread Upside-Down
Bread, butter, salt, fire and even empty egg shells were once surrounded by rules designed to protect the household. Step into the kitchen, where everyday cooking still carries traces of some very Old Magic…
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Put It Back
Shoes in walls, witch bottles beneath floors, horse skulls under houses and dried cats hidden in ceilings. Our ancestors built protection into their homes – and when we find it centuries later, sometimes we still put it back.
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The Dead They Feared – The Strange Burials of Wharram Percy
At Wharram Percy, ten people were cut, broken and burned after death. Forensic anthropology reveals what happened to their bodies – but can it tell us what their community feared?
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The Blood-Filled Corpse: England’s Twelfth-Century Vampire?
A wicked man dies unshriven, rises from his grave and brings pestilence with him. When villagers exhume his swollen, blood-filled corpse, medieval England gets disturbingly close to a vampire.
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The Croglin Vampire – Anatomy of a Legend
Britain’s most famous Vampire has a name, a date and a terrifying history. But dig into the original sources and the Croglin Vampire becomes stranger than the legend suggests…
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The King Who Was Killed By… Lampreys??
The Curious Death of Henry I
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The Killer Moustache
How one man’s facial hair turned against him.
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The Lawyer Who Shot Himself
How Clement Vallandigham became history’s unluckiest defence lawyer
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Dressed to Kill
Beauty, style, a little fire… What can possibly go wrong?
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History’s Most Bizarre Ends
Sometimes the facts are stranger than fiction…
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The Travis Walton Hoax?
Fifty years after one of the world’s most famous alleged alien abductions, original witness Steve Pierce has returned to the Arizona forest – and says the story the world was told was a hoax. One of the foundations beneath the Travis Walton abduction case may have just shifted.
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Crying The Neck
Harvest rituals like ‘Crying the Neck’ in Devon and Cornwall celebrate gratitude as farming communities mark the end of the harvest. It’s a mix of old customs and modern appreciation for agricultural roots.
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The Man Who Had To Die.
John Barleycorn has been cut down, drowned and burned for centuries. But behind this brutal old folk song lies a much older story of harvest, sacrifice and rebirth…
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Woven From the Last Harvest
Corn dollies are intricate straw creations from harvest traditions, symbolizing good fortune and community. They represent the blend of craftsmanship, belief, and the important relationship between people and the land.
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Lammas – The Bread That Bound a Community
Lammas, or Lughnasadh, marks the first harvest, symbolizing survival and community. Celebrated with bread offerings and gatherings, it intertwines gratitude for nature’s bounty with ancient customs, transitioning towards autumn.
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The Legend of Screaming Beach.
Screaming Beach, or Trevaunance Cove, is a stunning yet eerie coastal region in Cornwall, England, known for its haunting legends and tragic maritime history. Its tales include the “Screaming Sailor,” ghostly apparitions, and mysterious occurrences related to shipwrecks. Visitors are drawn by both its natural beauty and supernatural intrigue, evoking a blend of fascination and skepticism.
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Cruel Coppinger: Cornwall’s Smuggling Terror
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The Stone Graves Above the Sea
Pull up a chair…
The tide is coming in and every coastline has a story to tell…
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Birnam Wood – When a Forest Walked to War
The real woodland behind Shakespeare’s greatest prophecy..
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The Woman in the Wych Elm
Todays throwback article is actually less throwback and more rewrite. It’s a story that you can find on pretty much any true mystery or cold […]
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Mysterious Times News Special – Britain’s Biggest Treasure Hunt Begins
Celebrating the Festival of Archaeology 2026
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The Chained Oak – The Curse That Refused to Die
“For every branch that falls from this old oak, a member of your family shall die.”
