Tag: Halloween
How did the Victorians’ opulent, affluent homes become an international shorthand for haunted house? As art historian Sarah Burns points out, in the 1870s, Victorian houses weren’t horror homes. …
During the Middle Ages, bats (called “witches’ birds”) were associated with witches, devils, and other evil-doers. In 1332, Lady Jacaume of Bayonne in France was publicly burned because “crowds …
Before it was a pumpkin, Jack-o’-Lantern was a mythical Irishman who played tricks on the Devil. The original Jack-o’-Lantern was a blacksmith named Jack who was too evil to …
Long before the film “The Exorcist” terrified a nation, real exorcists fought to save a child from a mysterious force. In the weeks after the film came out in …
Have clowns always had a dark side? Clown-like characters have been around for thousands of years. Pygmy clowns entertained Egyptian pharaohs in 2500 BCE. In ancient imperial China, a …
We are familiar with the Mad Scientist archetype. He lives in a castle cum laboratory, browbeats his odd sidekick, has an eccentric appearance, enjoys unusual hobbies, makes outlandish pronouncements …
The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. Dating from around 2100 BC, it may be the earliest surviving great work of literature. More importantly, with …