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Ceri Houlbrook

@cerihoulbrook.bsky.social
2.8K followers 347 following 395 posts

Author of 'Winter's Wishfall'. Folklorist. Mum. Northerner. Lecturer in Folklore & History. Eater of cake.

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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 13h
I wonder if the carved head of Barmouth minds having people hammer their wishes into him
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Just wanted to share something beautiful #NatureNoFilter
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
It's been an odd day today, beginning with an interview with the Boston based Christian Scientists Monitor about the folklore of scarecrows and ending with sharing a green room space with the rock band Amazons for my seed talk on folklore and feminism
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
A beautiful day for welcoming the newest cohort of MA Folklore Studies students @herts.ac.uk. The world definitely needs more folklorists (i.e. people who are curious about - and value - the customs we practice, the stories we tell & the beliefs we hold)
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Dr Jennifer Evans @historianjen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I'm a so pleased that the exhibition I co-curated with @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social is now open at the Chelsea Physick Garden. Running until the 15th Nov, it explores the autumnal plants of the garden through the work of pioneering botanical illustrator Anne Pratt.
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Thomas Waters @drthomaswaters.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
In case you missed it, here’s my article about historic magical (and religious) house protection. Fire-starting demons; hag stones; evil-repelling plants; mystical markings; witch chimneys; Bibles under pillows & more! Republished by the Smithsonian Magazine. www.smithsonianmag.com/history/six-...
smithsonianmag.com
Six Ways That People of the Past Used Magic to Protect Their Homes, From Witch Bottles to Mystical Symbols
Throughout history, humans around the world have employed protective talismans such as special stones, herbs and plants, and decorative demon tiles
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I really enjoyed contributing to this, thinking about why we want our landscapes to have their supernatural stories
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Folkloring Podcast @folkloringpodcast.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Giants, Devils and Dragons, oh, my! With some great quotes from @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/seven... #folklore #legens #europeanlore
smithsonianmag.com
Seven Places in Europe That Legends Say Were Built by Giants, Devils or Dragons
Bridges, mountains, caves and rock formations that seem impossible to explain become magnets for folklore
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
🍁 🍂 Meet Anne Pratt, Victorian botanical illustrator and researcher. Her work on the folklore and medicinal properties of autumn flora is the focus of mine and Jennifer Evans's new exhibition 'Plantlore' at Chelsea Physic Garden 🍂 🍁 www.chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk/plantlore-is...
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Looking forward to this event in lovely Glossop on 8 Oct - come say hi! darkpeakbooks.co.uk/event/an-eve...
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Why do I always look so bedraggled when I pop into bookshops? Signed copies of #Folklore available in Manchester Arndale Waterstones
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Project StoryMachine @storymachine-ht.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Chatbots are faeries? AI described in technomagical terms, using folklore to explain technologies that are rendered opaque. Products of genAI are compared to faeries: uncanny verisimilitude thwarted by No of fingers. Are such comparisons helpful or do they lead us further down the garden path?
text on blue background, text reads: algorithmic alchemy - a perceived mystique and opacity of algorithmic processes
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Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Spotted in Waterstones Manchester Arndale, signed copies of Folklore in paperback on the BOGOF table! Perfect for your TBR as we move into Autumn and spooky season 🎃 pick up your copy today! @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social @odavies9.bsky.social #folklore #booksky
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
They both honoured the ritual of the Boggart's Toe - balance on it and your wish will be granted
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
I had so much fun showing @timdownie.bsky.social & Justin Chubb around my favourite park, hunting for boggarts and discussing my book #Folklore, for their fantastic podcast FolkLands
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Katrina Navickas @katrinanavickas.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Really interesting to hear a whole panel on teaching practice. Clare Hickman on Newcadtle's environmental history module.
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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
30 years ago since I had my first academic articles published. Subjects: hag riding & charming. Not an easy sell at the time...
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Why was this Lincoln Imp found up the chimney of a C17th-house? You can read some of my theories in this OA article in this brilliant special issue of Revenant edited by @rorywaterman.bsky.social & Anna Milon www.revenantjournal.com/issues/linco...
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
My mum partaking in some ostensive play in Venice - name the film
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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
So, my next book "Legends and Landscape: An Alternative History of Britain" is now with the publishers. Sept 2027. Plenty of postcard images, thought not this one. Anyone recognise this legendary English landscape?
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
The lion, a symbol of Venice, has its nose rubbed for good luck. I'm curious why nobody asks the lioness for her favour
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Now that I'm recovered from the Death of Robin Hood, I can appreciate its take on folklore: "I've seen the power of stories. They can be used to make men do terrible things. And then those terrible things become stories. And stories? No. You cannot trust any of them. We cannot be trusted with them"
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
From now on I shall only talk folklore to a background of shiny streamers beneath a giant disco ball
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Katrina Navickas @katrinanavickas.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
If you're interested in submitting a book proposal to our Radical Histories series, give us a shout. manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/series/radic...
manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Radical Histories - Manchester University Press
The Radical Histories series encourages innovative and field-defining research in the history of individuals, groups, movements and ideas which challenged the political, social and cultural status quo...
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
In Greece, kites are flown on Clean Monday. In China, they're flown on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month. In St Annes, they're flown today!
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Witches guide the way on Pendle Hill. I wonder what the eleven victims would think of this, their legacy in the landscape...
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National Folklore Survey for England @nfsengland.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Folks in Worcester are being asked to collect their love locks after the council has removed them from a bridge over the Severn. Nice to see a little mention of our stats too: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
So chuffed to see 'Folklore' on a favourites table ❤️ Thank you @wedale-bookshop.bsky.social!!
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Had a great time launching the paperback of Folklore at Topping Books in York yesterday ❤️ It was lovely meeting so many new people and chatting about their favourite folklore. Other stops on the book tour include Manchester on 6 Sep and Glossop on 8 Oct
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Spotted in the wild (specifically York's Topping Books): signed copies of @witchesetc.bsky.social's amazing book 'Witchland: A Tale of Witch Hunting and War in Seventeenth-Century Britain'
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Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Out now in paperback, leading experts @odavies9.bsky.social & @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social have written the definitive guide to British folklore past & present. From witches, wizards and wicker men, to UFOs and fanfiction, they show that folklore is not just something stuck in the past. #booksky
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Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Coming up next week, the launch of 'Folklore' in paperback in #York, with authors @odavies9.bsky.social & @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social. Please note: the venue has been upgraded to @yorkstjohn.bsky.social. 1st September, 7pm Tickets: www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/york/... #FolkloreThursday #booksky
toppingbooks.co.uk
Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present with Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook at Creative Centre Auditorium
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Lunatraktors @lunatraktors.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Beginning our UK tour in style reading @odavies9.bsky.social and @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social's Folklore on the ferry. First stops... 26.9 Norwich Puppet Theatre 4.9 Cafe#9 Sheffield 9.9 Folklore Rooms Brighton 👉 www.lunatraktors.space #Radical #Traditional #Music
E-reader on a table by a ferry window with a blue evening sky.
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
When Ronald Hutton describes it as "The best overall view of the subject currently available, written by its most dynamic partnership of scholars", who are we to argue? 🤣 FOLKLORE is out in paperback this September @manchesterup.bsky.social: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526180407/
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Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Venue upgrade! Our Folklore paperback launch at Topping & Company York with @odavies9.bsky.social & @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social will now be held at @yorkstjohn.bsky.social's Creative Centre Auditorium. Book your place here: www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/york/... #FolkloreThursday #booksky
toppingbooks.co.uk
Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present with Owen Davies and Ceri Houlbrook at Creative Centre Auditorium
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Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Publishing in paperback in September, @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social & @odavies9.bsky.social gripping guide to the weird yet everyday world of British folklore, the definitive guide to folklore both past and present. Pre-order your copy today from all good bookshops. #FolkloreThursday #booksky
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
FOLKLORE! Soon to be in beautiful shiny paperback, and launching across the country - first stop: York's Topping Books on 1st September. Join @odavies9.bsky.social & I discussing our favourite folklore by signing up here www.toppingbooks.co.uk/events/york/...
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Collecting wishes in Lud's Church
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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
So a whole lot of my talented Humanities colleagues are now unemployed as of today. A lot of understandable concern over Exeter. But for over two decades my Hums colleagues were in the top quartile for their research contribution to society. History top 10. Now gone with only a national whisper.
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Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Every community has its legend – but not many have a legend about a pigman. Author and historian @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social says: "These kind of stories are macabre, they are thrilling, they are frightening." www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... 'Folklore' is out in paperback in September. #booksky
bbc.co.uk
How a mythical pigman became a Cannock Chase legend
The myth tells of a half-man, half-pig hybrid created during World War Two in Staffordshire.
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
Of all the things I expected to find in the basement of a cafe in Conwy, it was not a haunted dollhouse, crying boy paintings, and a mermaid
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
Folklore!! If that got your attention then you might be interested in pre-ordering mine and @odavies9.bsky.social book in its beautiful paperback design through @waterstones.bsky.social - 25% off if you pre-order before end of day tomorrow
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Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
This week only, @waterstones.bsky.social are offering 25% OFF RRP on pre-orders, including several MUP titles. If you've been looking forward to any of these new titles or new in paperbacks, now's the time to order! Use the code SUMMER26 at checkout online only, valid 'til the 24th July. #booksky
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
If you want to know who Pigman is according to Staffordshire folklore, then take a listen here: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
bbc.co.uk
Hidden Black Country - The Hunt for the Pigman of Cannock Chase - BBC Sounds
Did a secret experiment in World War II create a creature that lurks in Staffordshire?
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Back to this magical landscape today. Still no sign that those slumbering knights have woken up yet though
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Just leaving this here
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 02/07/2026
I loved exploring the folklore of Hertfordshire - from bored devils and diabolical deals to graveyard lore - on 'Weird Britain', which aired on Blaze last night
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Owen Davies @odavies9.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
50% off hardback of mine and @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social "Folklore: A Journey Through the Past and Present"! Only until 9 July. The paperback edition is out in September. Your choice!
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Manchester University Press @manchesterup.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Coming up this Saturday at @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social! @johnrobbofficial.bsky.social on his new memoir and protest music, @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social on fairy tales, and much more. Information & tickets on our Events page here: manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/events/ #booksky #Bradford
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Ceri Houlbrook @cerihoulbrook.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
I'm really looking forward to speaking #folklore on the 'Once Upon a Time: Reimagining Fairy Tales' panel at Bradford Literature Festival Saturday 4th July. Interested in joining? Get your tickets here #bradfordlitfest @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social www.bradfordlitfest.co.uk/artist/ceri-...
bradfordlitfest.co.uk
Ceri Houlbrook | Bradford Literature Festival
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