by Daisy Sanderson | Jun 5, 2026 | Relics
Folklore expert Amelia Roberts answers our readers’ questions about the British death customs that still haunt everyday life. British death folklore is not as distant as it seems. Some beliefs with medieval roots still survive quietly in the way people respond to...
by Poppy Rae Wilson | Jun 4, 2026 | Relics
Sin-eating originates from the 1600s, where someone would eat and drink over a body to cleanse their sins. Now a dormant ritual, what actually is sin-eating, why was it important, and why did it die out? In Shropshire, the grave of Richard Munslow stands in St...
by Luke Thompson | Jun 4, 2026 | Relics
Skeletons were once a medieval warning to fear incoming death. So how did they become cartoons, memes and party decorations? This feature explores how bones were stripped of their menace and what it says about today’s attitude to mortality, through conversations with...
by Hannah Hateley | Jun 2, 2026 | Relics
The Pendle Witch trials carry a dark history telling a common story of what humans are capable of doing to each other because of their differences. Today, the memory of the witches still lives on in different ways, becoming a kind of legend about witches. But does...
by Poppy Rae Wilson | Jun 1, 2026 | Dissect, Relics
Gothic literature romanticises the tragic, but nearly an entire family wiped out through illness and poor living conditions inherent to the time might be taking it too far. Add contaminated water into the mix, well… An expected niche I found myself in a few...
by James Cain | May 27, 2026 | Relics
Executions were a grisly spectacle, but people once flocked to see them up close and in person. That begs the question – what drew people in, and why were they stopped? Imagine a family day out in the 1600s: you and the rest of the village gather on a nearby hillside...
