“The red weed grew with astonishing vigour and luxuriance” - ‘The War of the Worlds’, H. G. Wells (1897) A visit to Blenheim Palace for perhaps the prettiest alien landscape 👽🏛🍁

‘The nuthatch’ #CFTunnicliffe What to Look for in Autumn (1960)

BECOMING A VAMPIRE The myriad ways one can become a vampire according to Romanian folklore include dying unmarried, dying a suicide, dying unforgiven, the shadow of a man falling on your corpse, or a cat walking over it, being born with a caul #Gothtober #FairyTaleTuesday

It is said that when the fairies placed a magic wishing umbrella atop a high hill for the Earth children, only a little toad showed the resolve to reach it. As reward the Fairy Queen decreed the world be filled with these little gifts, and named them toadstools. #FairytaleTuesday

Thanks to everyone who joined me & Open Graves & Minds for #Gothtober. We are gearing up for our #BeingHuman2022 event 'Breaking Through to Faery' with The Folklore Centre, Todmorden next before we revisit #GothicAdvent on 1st December. See you there. opengravesopenminds.com/2022-breaking-…

2022 is a special year for Egyptologists and Tut-mania. 🤩 Explore Peter Der Manuelian's thoughts on Egyptology, Howard Carter, and George Reisner, and discover his new book "Walking Among Pharaohs" Get yours now! amzn.to/3zYVppE

Happy #HistoryWritersDay22! I write gothic historical / historical crime. My third novel #TheClockworkGirl was a Times number 11 bestseller and is out in paperback in Jan. I’m giving away a signed dedicated copy of the hardback. Follow and RT to enter.

#FolkloreThursday Frau Perchta, a female Krampus figure in Austrian folklore, reveals herself on the 12th night of Christmas. She punishes naughty children and, even, those lazy women found guilty of not keeping their homes clean and tidy, or leaving their spinning unfinished.

January’s Book of the Month is: Strange Relics Stories of Archeology and the Supernatural, 1895-1954 This anthology, edited by Dr Amara Thornton and @KJSoar Soar and published by @KateHandheld is unsettling, in the best sense. 1/2

We’re not open for subs yet, and won’t be for a while, but feel free to tag us in work you think may be suitable. We’d love to see what’s out there. You can get a vague feel for our interests here: gloamingzine.wordpress.com/submissions/

The Birth of Venus by John Bulloch Souter, 20th c.

FAIRIES ENCOUNTER WOODLAND CREATURES – A Thread #fairies are thought to cast an enchantment over woodland animals and birds; in the fantastical world of Jean-Baptiste Monge, the fae hitch rides on birds and are shown delighting in their mode of transport #FolkloreSunday

Psyche by Alexandre Cabanel, 1881

ST VALENTINE is the holy guardian of lovers but not many people know that after death his skull became a decorated floral relic, one of the most gothic items to be found in a Roman reliquary. Shown here in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin #botanicalgothic #ValentinesDay

PSYCHIC VAMPIRE STORY The Parasite is an 1894 novella by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle about a psychic #vampire Miss Penelosa, a small pale creature who practices mesmerism & the evil eye & transforms into a monstrous parasite who creeps into her victim’s form.

There's still an opportunity to join our collection on Green Women! We'd love to hear your ideas and receive your abstract!

TWO-SIDED MEPHISTOPHELES The demon featured in German folklore & in the Faust legend is represented in this uncanny two-sided C19th statue; it shows Mephistopheles on one side & Margaretta on the other🎨Salar Jung Museum #WyrdWednesday

Don’t forget to register for next Thursday’s amazing #Halloween line up! ⬇️ We’ve got Zola, beach vampires, shipwrecks, tree mothers, ecogothic decay & gothic insects! 📕🏝️🧛‍♂️⚓️🌲🥀🪲🦟 (it’s free, you can join for all/parts of the day & all times Central European Time)!