Lancashire Folk: Ghostly Legends and Folklore from Ancient to Modern - Hardcover

Warren, Melanie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 076434983X ISBN 13: 9780764349836

Publisher: Schiffer, 2016

Synopsis

Journey through Lancashire, England, to visit 155 places where strange history meets creepy modern times. Arranged alphabetically by town and place, the stories tell of ghosts, witches, fairies, dragons, and altercations with the Devil (who is not as clever as he thinks!). Legends connected to ancient monuments, holy wells, and the locations of Green Man carvings are also included. Sometimes these tales echo history and sometimes they come from a deeper folklore. Sometimes ghost stories are discredited...sometimes they are not. A useful guidebook for tourists and travelers, this book is also an invaluable compendium for serious researchers. Stories are indexed by type and a separate index lists postcodes and Ordnance Survey map references for those who wish to visit the locations for themselves.

About this title

About the Author:

For many years, Melanie Warren was a paranormal investigator—but never saw a ghost. The co-author of two previous books of ghost stories, she is now turning her extensive folklore collection into a series, one county at a time.

Review:

As Mel herself says, I think I can safely say that Lancashire Folk is the most comprehensive collection of Lancashire weirdness ever to be in print. Melanie certainly has gone through her extensive collection and pulled together a comprehensive and engaging book on the area. The book hits the right notes from the start, Mel's contents are alphabetical by town, covering 155 locations and gives the reader a good format to follow and dip in and out of. The introduction is well written [and] it's interesting to see how Mel has pulled the information together from a wide variety of sources and written them up in a nice style that's factual and easy to read. Touching on the Pendle area Melanie covers the well know accounts of the witches but I was also interested to read about Apronful Hill where the devil is supposed to have stood throwing rocks at Clitheroe Castle and also the tale of Fox's Well, a spring found by George Fox, who climbed Pendle Hill while under instruction from God. Readers of my previous book reviews will know that I'm a believer in stating sources as much as possible and giving clear references. Melanie's book doesn't disappoint, at the back she gives her bibliography and a topical index for all the accounts again, before listing OS Map references and postcodes (with a note to watch for private land and not to trespass!). I thought I would miss not having images throughout the book but actually having them at the back in a small gallery makes them less intrusive and I like that format. Ian Topham, MysteriousBritain.co.uk April 2016 Lancashire Folk enjoyed a full page feature in Lancaster Guardian's 'Nostalgia' section, 19th May 2016! Lancashire Folk enjoyed a double-page spread in the Lancashire Evening Post newspaper on Wednesday 18th May! Melanie Warren was interviewed on influential US station Darkness Radio on March 18 2016.

About this edition

• Publisher: Schiffer
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 076434983X
• ISBN 13: 9780764349836
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 240