Emphasizing the Magonia legend is folklore, not fakelore, Dr. Beachcombing begins with a clever little ditty about Agobard’s aliens before jumping headfirst into the works of Charles Leland. He’s got tales of tempting tempestarii, cloud vessels, and other bits supporting ancient accounts of Magonia. Beach doesn’t stop there, relating a tale of a cattle-killing poisonous […]

Everybody knows the name “Magonia” but what does it mean? Is it a bowlderized bastardization of a real place? Noted etymologist and historian, Dr. Beachcombing, mulls over the unusual suspects and if one gives a clue to Magonia’s historicity. Further up the timeline, one Jason McClellan of the clan McClellan, shares an account of an […]

If you missed it, here’s your chance to catch up. For the past month, Dr. Beachcombing has been one-upping Jacques Vallee with weirder concepts than mere medieval aliens. Beach decides to take the folklore literally presenting a curious cosmology for our planet, giving a twist to the flat earth theory. By all means, catch up […]

Beach digs up a brownie story–brownies are solitary fairies–from Wales in 1909 in which little men with big eyes and long ears had been seen playing among the tombstones. He is struck by the parallels with a famous Leprechaun case from Liverpool, 1964. And speaking of “little people,” Mark OC provides links to some tiny […]

Leave it to Beach to find a 19th century summary of a 17th century incident from a town that eludes ancient atlases. Here is the solemn account of one Mary Godsall, caught in a cloudburst, who ended up looking like an extra from Macbeth. Speaking of spooks, a French Family Claims Injuries Caused By Haunting. […]

So nu, they’re the original men in black. What can’t I tell you that Dr. Beachcombing can, darling? Well he’s got this verkakte story from the 19th century about night visitors making with sleep paralysis and schlepping a flashy tchotchke for teaching a shicksa some nice Hebrew. More, you want? That goyisha KMH kibitzes with […]

Beach has some Easter Sunday comics, but it’s best not to share them with the kids. This is the strange tale of a self-proclaimed Lord of the Forests whose fate has been twisted by history, or unsourced research, leaving Beach wondering if this was an example of paganism or mental illness. Dig the crazy comic […]

At first blush, the story of Joan is one smacking of just desserts. Having turned in many other witches to the inquisition, this was her time to face the music. Upon further scrutiny, Beach looks closer at the previous research of Keith Thomas suggesting her powers were far from infernal and guided by the hands […]