February favourites: Do snowdrops appear in folklore?

The Aran Islands lie in Galway Bay off the west coast of Ireland. They're made up of Inis Mór, Inis Mearn, and Inis Oírr. People have likely lived on the islands since c. 3000 BCE. Late Bronze Age and...

28 Sep 202419min

Hello, friends! Our October theme for the podcast is (unsurprisingly) the supernatural. So I wanted to dedicate at least one episode to people's supernatural encounters, rather than focusing on what'...

25 Sep 20242min

Ynys Enlli in north Wales is also known as Bardsey Island, and it's been a pilgrimage destination since the 6th century. The island lies at the north end of Cardigan Bay, just off the tip of the Llŷn...

21 Sep 202415min

Kris Spisak earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the College of William and Mary, her master of liberal arts from the University of Richmond, and did further graduate work in fiction through t...

17 Sep 202447min

Islay is an island to the west of Scotland, at the entrance to the Firth of Lorn. It's 25 miles north of Northern Ireland. Archaeological evidence shows people lived here from 8000 BCE, with evidence ...

14 Sep 202417min

Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, lies some 11.5 miles to the south east of Berwick-upon-Tweed, just off the coast of Northumberland. Only accessible at low tide, the island still possesses a mystical air,...

7 Sep 202415min

It's easy for mythical birds to capture the imagination, whether it's the phoenix rising from the ashes, or Aethon eternally pecking Prometheus' liver. And let's not forget Odin with his ravens, Hugin...

31 Aug 202417min

Humans have found a whole range of uses for birds over the centuries. Hunting with them, keeping them for their song, using them for food or divination - and because some of them are uncommonly pretty...

30 Aug 202419min