The Three Ravens Podcast

In this final episode of our 13-part exploration of folk music history we are concluding with Death and Afterlife Songs!
We welcome our musical collaborators for the series Ben and Katie to join us for this bumper-length episode, which includes a conversation at the end in which we reflect on the journey we have been on together over the last 15 months.
As for the songs, we begin with Death and the Lady, a song that feels like it ought to have Medieval roots and which seems inspired by the Black Death, yet which is only recorded for the first time in the 18th century.
Next, we sing and discuss one of the finest English songs of all, The Lyke Wake Dirge, with Martin deploying his shruti box and his snare drum to get the skeleton parade marching along...
Lastly, we go out on a very Ben choice with Fiddler's Green, a song which is the 40th we've recorded together.
We really hope you enjoy the songs, the conversations about death, the afterlife, reincarnation, and more, and remember, every new person who listens to this episode, or who joins our Patreon, enables us to be more ambitious with our projects and push Three Ravens into new and exciting places.
So, thank you very much for listening, we hope to release mastered versions of some of the songs as an album (funds and time willing) and thank you for spreading the word about what we're doing so that this can be how we make our living.
We really hope you enjoy the episode, and we will speak to you again on Thursday for our final stories from the Lang Red Fairy Book, featuring The Marvellous Musician and The Story of Sigurd!

The Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.
Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...
Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.
With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?
REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode of Local Legends Eleanor is chatting with the Fairy Whisperer, Karen Kay.
Fairies are notoriously tricksy beings, but if there’s anybody out there with exactly the right advice for inviting fairy energies in and adding a dash of magic to your day, it’s Karen Kay.
Karen’s work is all about sharing and building a kind, positive community, which reflects in her many projects - from starting Fae Magazine as a handmade zine back in 2007, to dreaming up and creating magical fairy events, from the Three Wishes Fairy Festival to the Glastonbury Faery Ball.
So, gather in close around the Three Ravens cosmic campfire for a fascinating chat, in which we discuss experiences with the fae, the importance of listening to your heart - and of course, address the currently very popular theme on Instagram and TikTok - romantasy and ‘fairy smut’ with a true Local Legend, Karen Kay.
Find out more about Karen at www.karenkay.co.uk.
Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.
Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...
Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.
With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?

REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For our penultimate episode of the Red Fairy Book, we have a triple bill of rather different stories.
First, we have one of the best known fairy tales out there - Snowdrop, otherwise known as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It's got some excellent moments, though things get a little out of hand closer to the end!
We follow that up with another Grimm tale, The Golden Goose, an example of the 'All Stick Together' tale type from the ATU Index. Follow an unlikely hero called Dullhead, his magical little grey friend, and a very sticky goose...
The last in the trio is a Norwegian tale, The Seven Foals (but don't worry, they don't meet the same fate as those in Dapplegrim!) With a sadistic king, an enticing hairdressing hag and a surprisingly Christian message, it's a bit of an odd one!
As ever, we discuss, compare and rate the stories afterwards! We hope that you enjoy the episode, and we will speak to you again on Saturday, when Eleanor is interviewing the Fairy Whisperer herself, Karen Kay!
If you are unfamiliar with the Lang Fairy Tales, these seminal collections were assembled between 1889 and 1913 by a married couple, folklorists and translators Nora and Andrew Lang, with most of the work done to compile them completed by Nora, also known as Leonora Blanche Alleyne.
Assembled and published in 12 colour-coded "Fairy Books," the corpus the Langs put together included 798 fairy tales from across cultures, many of which had never before been translated into English.
They were amongst the most influential books of their time, changing the course of children's literature - although they're hardly just for children, and often deal with quite challenging concepts.
Today, purchasing a complete set of the Lang Fairy Books in good condition costs over £4,000 ($5,000+).
Thankfully, the collections are all out of copyright, meaning that we can now tell these stories, in podcast form, many for the first time, and share them with a global audience, for free.
Our plan is to release the stories between main series of Three Ravens, performing them straight (though with plenty of silly voices) letting the tales speak for themselves in all their madcap, sharp-edged, often quite bizarre glory.
The only edits we have made are to amend some culturally-insensitive epithets, which typically pertain to ethnicity, with any such edits made by Eleanor Conlon.
Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.
Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...
Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.
With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?
REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For the final episode in our 26 part A-Z of mythical creatures we're slipping into some liminal spaces to talk about Fairies!
Starting with the question of what even is "a fairy" and how did that word come to be?
Should we think of them as handsome and seductive, like in the Romantasy genre, or as nature spirits that need feeding with human blood, via your sourdough starter?
Do we still identify with the pagan idea of fairies shaping human destiny as they fancy, or the post-Reformation concept of the fairy as a form of beautiful ghost seeking to lead us to damnation?
For most people today they're icons of cuteness and childish whimsy, but why did the Victorians shrink them down and give them wings?
Also, why does nobody explain the rules of Fairyland in any Fairy Tales, and what makes marriage so important in so many tales about these poor, fallen, yet somehow powerful creatures?
With examples from Ancient Rome to Medieval chronicles, Witch Trial transcripts to the case of the Cottingley Fairies, join us to explore how 'The Fairy' ultimately reflects the shape of human consciousness era-to-era.
So feed your green child her broad beans, don't get off your horse until your fairy dog does, and toss your wishes into the river, as it's a topic befitting the end of this series - massive, but also tiny, and constantly transforming to mirror the strange shape of life in the real world...

We also hope you increasingly pleased by our new Bestiary episode art, as drawn by our good friend Tom Peteuil of Creature Castle - check out brand new Fairy merch here and visit the Creature Castle shop for prints and other wonderful things here.

Speak to you again on Thursday for this week's Lang Fairy Tale triple bill all before Saturday's Local Legends interview with author and Fairy Whisperer Karen Kay!

Three Ravens is an English Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.
Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on one of England's 39 historic counties, exploring the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, we take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...
Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.
With a range of exclusive content on Patreon, too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?
REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode of Local Legends Martin is chatting with recovering Medievalist, occult bookshop owner, and esoteric researcher Christina Oakley Harrington!
Growing up for a large part overseas, then crash-landing into the north American education system, Christina was perhaps always destined to be an outsider. Yet through her dedication to academic rigour, her life in Wicca, and her passion for bringing well-read, curious people together, she has built a remarkable community at her bookshop, Treadwell's.
If you want to know more about Wicca in particular, you are in the right place - but as this conversation shows, Christina's life experiences have been diverse and inspiring, and speak to both the challenges and the privileges of living life as an outsider.
So. gather in close around the Three Ravens campfire and listen in to a chat which explores topics as wide-ranging as ecstatic trance states, how the early Irish church gave women statuses not enjoyed elsewhere, the distinctions between English and North American Wicca, and so much more, with a true Local Legend, Christina Oakley Harrington!

Visit the Treadwell's website here.

Three Ravens is a Myth and Folklore podcast hosted by award-winning writers Martin Vaux and Eleanor Conlon.
Released on Mondays, each weekly episode focuses on a historic county, exploring the heritage, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Then, and most importantly, the pair take turns to tell a new version of an ancient story from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it might have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past...
Bonus Episodes are released on Thursdays plus Local Legends episodes on Saturdays - interviews with acclaimed authors, folklorists, podcasters and historians with unique perspectives on that week's county.
With a range of exclusive content on Patreon too, including audio ghost tours, the Three Ravens Newsletter, and monthly Three Ravens Film Club episodes about folk horror films from across the decades, why not join us around the campfire and listen in?
REGISTER FOR THE TALES OF SOUTHERN ENGLAND TOUR

Visit our website

Join our Patreon

Social media channels and sponsors
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.