Tag: Mysterious Times

The Vampire of Berwick – Britain’s Medieval Walking Dead

Long before Dracula gave Britain its elegant, aristocratic vampire, our dead were considerably less sophisticated. They got out of the grave, lumbered around frightening the neighbours, spread disease and occasionally required somebody to hit them with a spade.

Star Jelly

For centuries, strange translucent jelly found on fields and hillsides was said to be the remains of fallen stars. In Wales it acquired the magnificent name pwdre sêr – “the rot of the stars”. But what if star jelly isn’t one mysterious substance at all, but several very earthly things sharing one extraordinary piece of folklore?

When the Sky Turns Red – Blood Rain

For centuries, red rain was recorded as a warning of war, plague and divine displeasure. But sometimes the explanation was travelling towards Europe from thousands of miles away. From ancient omens and medieval chronicles to Saharan dust carried across continents, what happens when the sky appears to bleed?

When It Rains Frogs and Fish

Fish falling over Wales. Frogs appearing after downpours. For centuries, people have reported animals apparently raining from the sky. Waterspouts and powerful winds offer a surprisingly plausible explanation – but explaining how it could happen isn’t quite the same as proving how a particular shower occurred.

The Kentucky Meat Shower

A clear Kentucky sky. A woman quietly making soap. And then pieces of flesh began falling from above. The Kentucky Meat Shower of 1876 sounds like folklore, but contemporary reports, preserved samples and microscopic examinations make the truth considerably stranger – and possibly much more disgusting.

Lilian Bland

In 1910, when aviation was still in its infancy, Lilian Bland decided she could build an aeroplane herself. Armed with determination, ingenuity, a Jameson’s whisky bottle and her aunt’s ear trumpet, she built the Mayfly – and then climbed aboard and flew it.

The Seventh Chair – Kirst D’Raven

Six women. Seven chairs. One invitation that makes no sense. Around a dinner table where time has apparently stopped, Florence Nightingale, Beatrix Potter, Maria Dickin, Lilian Bland, Elsie Inglis and Eglantyne Jebb discover they have rather more in common than history remembers. But one place remains empty. And perhaps it was never meant for them.

The Boy Who Gave His Father Shakespeare

A forged signature was enough to delight his Shakespeare-obsessed father. So William Henry Ireland produced another document. Then another. Before long, he had created letters, poetry, relics – and an entirely “lost” Shakespeare play. What began as a son’s attempt to win his father’s approval became one of Britain’s most audacious literary hoaxes.

The Night London Rioted Over a Man in a Bottle

In January 1749, Londoners packed the Haymarket to witness an apparently impossible feat: a man climbing into an ordinary wine bottle. The performer never appeared. The audience did, however – and when they realised the trick had already been played on them, things got spectacularly out of hand.

The Last Honest Man – Kirst D’Raven

This week’s Short Story Sunday
The photograph was fake. Perry could prove it. He had the original files, the editing layers and a confession from the man who made it. But hidden inside the hoax was something nobody had added – A face watching from an upstairs window of an abandoned children’s home…

When Britain Loved Being Fooled

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.

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.

A Penny For Luck

A penny in a new purse, silver for a baby, a coin for a gifted knife or hammered into a wishing tree. We still use money for luck in ways that have very little to do with buying anything.

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?

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.

The Screaming Skull of Bettiscombe – Who Was She?

A human skull has guarded Bettiscombe Manor for generations, but science revealed the famous legend had the wrong victim. So who was the mysterious woman behind Britain’s screaming skull? 💀

The Woman Who Came Back – Simon Axford

  • SiAx
  • August 23, 2026
  • 0

Ellie returns home to find a stranger in her kitchen and a perfectly good cup chipped. Unfortunately for him, Ellie has survived considerably worse things than an unexpected houseguest…

When the Dead Don’t Stay Dead

There are few things that humanity has been quite so consistently afraid of as a dead person who refuses to behave like one.

The Truths We Hide – A.D. Small

A prisoner must be delivered before 03:00. The mission is clear, the orders absolute. But deep beneath the earth, something knows the truths Seth has spent a lifetime hiding.

Alley Cats Review – May Contain Bollocks

Ricky Gervais’s Alley Cats is filthy, ridiculous, unexpectedly touching and absolutely hilarious. But if feral cats making knob jokes offend you, what exactly did you expect? 😂

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.

Mysterious Times News Round-Up – Week Ending 8 July 2026

“From phantom big cats to haunted castles and distant quasars, another fascinating week reminds us that the world’s greatest mysteries rarely announce themselves with certainty. They simply leave us asking questions…”

The Dragon of South Yorkshire – Hero, Hoax or Hidden History?

Iron scales, fiery eyes and a vulnerable spot beneath its tail. The Wantley Wyrm is one of Yorkshire’s greatest dragon legends, but was it ever meant to be taken seriously?

Farewell to the Major Oak – The Passing of England’s Greatest Folkloric Witness

The Major Oak of Sherwood Forest has stood for perhaps a thousand years, becoming one of Britain’s most beloved folkloric landmarks. With news that the ancient giant has finally died, we reflect on the life, legacy and enduring mythology of England’s greatest folkloric witness. 🌳💚

MT News Round -Up: W/E 19-06-26

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