Murder. Magic. A ghost or two.

Three spooky adult tales inspired by folklore:

Once deep in a forest there lived a strange and magical woman. She had no mother or father, and no-one knew how she came to live alone in the crude hut she called home. But in their dreams, the local men were haunted by her beautiful presence for she had long hair that reached to her waist, the colour of spun gold. They called her Gilda.

The Woman with Hair of Gold, retold from a Russian folktale

It was when I was suddenly awake that I realised I’d been dead to the world. What had woken me? A noise? The darkness was complete, and as I lay there straining my ears I had the strongest sense that something was in the room with me. Surely I could hear breathing, or was it just my own ragged breath? Then a weight landed on my legs and I almost cried out.

Peig’s Place, a modern ghost story reimagined from an Irish folktale.

He pierced her body till the blood it did flow,
Then into the grave her body did throw.
He covered her body, then home he did run,
Leaving none but birds her death to mourn

Polly’s Folly. Sleuthing out the clues to the possibly true crime behind a traditional English murder ballad.

Discover the chilling power of folklore with Leaving Birds.