In this episode we visit the 2025 UK Ghost Story Festival, which was held at the Museum of Making in Derby. Host Mark Norman meets some of the presenters from the festival and chats to them about ghost stories and their work.

Children's author ALEX FOULKES discusses her middle-grade books, and talks about writing vampires for children.

Author and editor TEIKA MARIJA SMITS talks about the darker side of fairy stories and her own short ghost fiction

Academic DR SAM HIRST tell us all about her project Romancing the Gothic and the wide range of areas in which that particular genre can take you.

Learn more about the guests on their websites:

Alex: https://foulkeswrites.wordpress.com/

Teika: https://teikamarijasmits.com/

Sam: https://romancingthegothic.com/

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Folklore Podcast host Mark Norman chats with special guest, broadcaster and author Jeff Belanger, about some of the ghosts, folklore and other legends found in New England, in the north-eastern corner of the United States.

Jeff is the host of 'New England Legends' on Amazon Prime Video, co-host of a podcast of the same name, and has written for and appeared on 'Ghost Adventures'. His book, 'Wicked Strange' provides a coffee-table collection of the stories covered on this episode and much more.

This episode is rounded off with a folk music recording from the archives of American folklorist and singer Ellen Stekert. This previously lost recording of 'Golden Apples of the Sun', performed by Dave Van Ronk, was recorded in 1966 and has been recently remastered as part of the Ellen Stekert Project.

Find out more about Jeff on his website at https://jeffbelanger.com/

Learn more about Ellen and the project to digitise her archives at https://ellenstekert.com/

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Mark Norman is joined by broadcaster, author and medievalist Dr Eleanor Janega to look at the role of the ghost in the medieval period.

What elements of the behaviour of the ghost might we still recognise today? What was the view and the role of the church when it came to ghosts? Did people use ghosts for entertainment as we do now?

You can find out more about Eleanor, her broadcasting and her writing on her website at https://eleanorjanega.com/

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