Welcome to...
Three Ravens Bestiary
In this Bonus Series, Martin discusses the history behind and evidence for mythical creatures and curious cryptids...
Episode 1: Unicorns
Martin and Eleanor talk about the surprising history and folklore of Unicorns.
They discuss the historical evidence of unicorns from Ancient Babylon, Persepolis and the Indus Valley before digging into the ways unicorns have been differently depicted over time.
Not least in Ancient Greek writings, the Bible, Medieval tapestries, Scottish nationalism, and the modern-day LGBTQIA+ movement...
Episode 2: Banshees
Martin and Eleanor discuss the uncanny history and folklore of Banshees.
They start off leafing through historical sources, including the 12th century Triumph of Turlough and The Book of the Dun Cow, before chatting about the links between banshees and Irish national folk traditions, including keening, the banshee's links to the Morrigan, accounts of her tortured wail, and offer advice to avoid getting a cursed comb chucked through your window...
Episode 3: The Phoenix
Martin and Eleanor discuss the immortal fire-bird of legend, the phoenix!
They start by unpacking the earliest known references to the phoenix via Hesiod, Herodotus and Pliny The Elder, then draw connections between those early works and the Phoenicians, Christian writing, Victorian fantasy fiction, and similar creatures from other cultures including the Ancient Egyptian god Bennu, the Chinese Fenghuang, and the Konrul of Mongol myth.
Episode 4: Demons
Martin and Eleanor explore the arcane history of demons.
They move through Ancient Greek and Roman concepts of the demonic, discussing primal forces such as Nemesis, Eros and Phobos, then reach back further, to Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and demons such as Ammit, The Devourer of Corpses, Memy, a flint-knife wielding giraffe, and Pazazu, King of the South Wind.
Then they leap ahead into the wild world of post-Abrahamic demons, from Lucifer and Satan to Asmodeus, the Dybbuk, the Mazzikin, Se'irim, and more...
Episode 5: Krampus
Martin and Eleanor discuss Krampus, the demonic man-goat of Alpine legend.
They start by offering an overview of the Krampus' place in central European Yuletide traditions, then dig into ideas including the influence of Christianity on folk customs, some other surviving Alpine traditions and festivals, and connections between Norse myth and the Krampus.
And chat through the many curious features of this shadowy, yet mostly helpful, festive figure...
Episode 6: Selkies
Martin and Eleanor dive into the murky history of Selkies, starting with the modern view of these mystical half-human, half-seal sea creatures - one of kidnap, stolen seal skins, and forced marriage.
Then they wheel back to the origins of selkies, as found in Norse sagas, the Celtic 'Lore of Places' and elsewhere, too.
After a brief chat about the history of seal hunting, seal-skin products like Sporrans, and the Inuit goddess Sedna, they then explore the hidden depths behind selkie symbolism, from webbed feet and the number 7 to ideas of liminality, and the surprising connections between selkies and swans in folklore...
Episode 7: Bigfoot
Martin and Eleanor follow the trail in search of Bigfoot, uncovering a whole world of mythical wild men!
They begin by chatting about the origins of Bigfoot, including some notable 20th century hoaxes, arriving at root of these legends: the Native American Sasquatch.
Through this, they hop across to Europe, discussing cave art, the history of the Woodwose, and its even older cousins like the Silvestre, the Schrat, and the Shretelekh.
Next they look east and discuss the Yeti and Australian Yowie, all before trying to draw together what we can learn about so-called "wild men" from around the world and, through them, what we can learn about ourselves...
Episode 8: Dragons
Martin and Eleanor go on a rip-roaring quest through the twisted history of dragons!
They start by chatting through modern ideas of dragons (and Wyverns, Wyrms, and Basilisks) before leaping back in time to discuss the first dragons ever written about, Mušá¸«uššu and Apep, along with the tales and customs associated with them as found in the earliest cradles of human civilization.
From there, the scope of the adventure broadens, including trips to China, Japan, India, Ancient Greece and Rome, along the Silk Road, and into Norse mythology.
​
Try not to look the foul beasts in the eye, and ready your shield, for the time has come to tame the most infamous mythical creature of all...
Episode 9: Goblins
From gnomes to kobolds, dvergr to hobs, it's time to gather up our mining lamps and shed some light on the very shadowy history of goblins...
​
We start by chatting through ways in which, across the last two centuries, we have come to think of goblins as distinct fae creatures, separate from elves, pucks, and boggarts.
​
After discussing beliefs surrounding the Ancient Egyptian dwarf god Bes and the Greco-Roman origin story for all fae creatures, which involves a deformed fire god, an infamous Classical witch cult, and an important drunken donkey ride, we move forward in time to explore how Brythonic, Norman, Anglo Saxon and Norse cultures wrote about goblins, and how different words for the same thing led to 18th and 19th century definitions that might leave us scratching our heads.
​
It's a messy topic that roves from the Icelandic Eddas to Shakespeare, The Mabinogion to witch trials, but don't be afraid of the darkness.
Episode 10: Kelpies
From nuggles to brags, the Ceffyl Dŵr to nixies, there's plenty of reasons to be nervous about horse-shaped monsters on the shoreline - but fear not, as Martin is here to demystify Kelpies and mythical water horses in general!
​
We start by discussing the links between seaweed and kelpies, the first appearances of mythical Kelpies in the poetry of William Collins, Robert Burns and Walter Scott, and how the history of horse riding is inextricably linked with tales of monstrous horses in folklore.
​
It's a galloping ride that takes us from the Highlands to Ancient Scythia and back again, and along the way we're venturing through early French ballads, talking broomsticks, Roman myths, and Dark Age stone monuments, while discussing the Pictish Beast, the Nuckelavee, shelleycoats, and much more!
​
Episode 11: Angels
Dust off your halo and flap your wings as we rejoice in the absolutely bonkers history of Angels.
​
We start by discussing how words for things like "angels" and "God" in ancient texts have created a mess of confusions across the ages. Then we leap straight down from heaven (or out of a hidden dimension, at the very least) to discuss how ancient ideas like Animism and Polytheism laid the foundations that enabled the introduction of Angels into early Abrahamic religious texts.
​
Through discussions of Zoroastrianism, Yahwism, and ancient apocryphal mystic writings, we dig into some fascinating stuff, including 'Guardian Angels' in general, specific Angels, like Michael, Gabriel, Samael, and Metatron, and chat about how a proliferation of esoteric writings throughout the Dark Ages and Medieval Era spun 'Angelologies' out in some pretty weird directions.
​
Episode 12: Vampires
Sharpen your stakes and have your garlic handy, as we open up some deliciously rich veins of history to explore the history and folklore of Vampires!
​
We start by discussing how the creation of the vampire as a figure in popular culture has its roots in the 19th century, all before digging back into the past to unearth the origins of vampire legend. This includes the story of how European anatomists and natural philosophers came to learn of the vampire bat, how they tried to fit it into their models of the 'scientific' universe, and how Gothic writers, not least Bram Stoker, exploited these ideas for dramatic effect.
​
From the Ancient Mesopotamian Ekimmu to Lilith, Adam's Biblical first wife, Classical beliefs in the cannibalistic owl-witch hybrids "The Strix" to India's demonic vetala, we track through how forms of cultural imperialism - whether it be towards the ancient Scythians or Renaissance Catholics, or the entirety of Asia according to some sources - saw ideas of blood drinking and the vampiric exploited to dehumanise perceived enemies.
​
Episode 13: Nymphs
The Ancient Greeks believed they existed before the dawn of time, yet they're a mystery to most - welcome to the long and complex history of Nymphs!
​
We start off by discussing the roles Nymphs played in the Greco-Roman pantheon, including how they were classified and eventually used, in Imperial projects, to present local and regional gods of pagan cultures, such as the Celts and Britons, as less powerful than the Olympians.
This then sees us look at examples of some ancient genius loci from across England, including those found in shrines at Hadrian's Wall, where some local deities defied the odds and survived well into Christianization, later becoming recognised as Saints.
​
From there we head in two directions - firstly, forward, via Chaucer, Marvell and Shakespeare, into a place where Nymphs and Faeries got a little bit muddled up in the British mindset. After that, we journey back to the start, exploring how writers like Hesiod, Homer, and many others, developed and contributed to the collective idea of 'Nymph Lore' - the roles Nymphs played in city foundation, how they were worshiped, and what 'Nympholepsy' - Nymph Madness - was, and why some people sought it out!
​
Via discussions of the 18th century invention of the idea of 'Nymphomania' - in contrast with other misogynistic (and anti-British) ideas such as Tacitus' characterisation of the Roman Witch Empress Messalina, the vengeful Iceni Queen Boudica, and figures like Britannicus, we wash up in the present day - a time when being called a "nymph" seems to have nothing to do with nature spirits, and much more to do with systems of power and control...
Episode 14: Elves
We're peering through the veil and into the history and folklore of Elves, from their earliest recorded mentions through to today!
We start off chatting about the modern perception of Elves, which, in most of the Western world, sees them linked to Santa Claus and Tolkien's Middle Earth mythos. Yet, as we quickly uncover, despite the 'White Ones' being all magical and shimmery and shiny, they actually have a very shady history that is inextricably linked to tales of abduction, sexual violence, and, from the 18th century on, they have a significant role in ethno-nationalism, too.
​
Despite becoming a byword for 'fairy' or even 'demon' by Shakespeare's day, as we dive back to the beginning we find that Elves really were distinct creatures, mentioned in some of the earliest North European literature that has survived across the millennia, as well as in Anglo Saxon medical texts, some of the very first Scottish witch trials, and, of course, the Icelandic Eddas, Beowulf, and tonnes of fascinating Medieval writing.
​
From ancient border ballads to myths of early kings, legends of Wayland and Erik The Red to saucy old Chaucer, we're really running the gamut with this one!
Yet, how did the rather terrifying, often God-like Elf become synonymous with household pixies? And what did the Christian church to do transform perceptions of Elves into something to be pitied rather than feared?
​
Plus, how could using the lavatory with extreme prejudice serve as a useful defense against Elf-kind - in addition to silver crosses and pentagrams?
​
As ever, we have at least some of the answers - though, fair warning, there's still plenty to fear when thinking about Elves, so leave some butter outside your door, and be sure to steer clear of wild places at sunrise and sunset...
Episode 15: Trolls
We wander wild places to explore the history and folklore of Trolls, which, though they sound pretty ancient, are a surprisingly modern folkloric creation!
​
We start off chatting about the modern perception of Trolls, including the quite sinister online iteration we all know as the "Internet Troll" and the mass-produced toys, invented in the 1950s, now an animated film franchise more associated with pop music than pagan fiendishness.
​
Then though, we wind back the clock, discussing how Trolls first appear on record, in scant scraps of Old Norse, and start to discover a problem: that Trolls were not 'one thing' but actually a whole class of kinds of things, the word used interchangeable with several others, with associations ranging from incest to kidnapping to the moving of mountains.
​
Thankfully, as we track across time, we explain how and why Trolls came into clearer focus, particularly as a counterpoint to Christian Scandinavians.
​
From the formation of nations such as Denmark, Norway and Sweden through to the Enlightenment era, during which Trolls almost become a kind of ghost, through to the 19th and 20th centuries, it emerges that Trolls have become a symbols capable of representing very different ideas over time.
​