15 October 2024

HOLD THE BOILING OIL!


James Wright. Historic Building Mythbusting; Uncovering Folklore, History and Archaeology. History Press, 2024

There's always a hidden tunnel, isn't there? Whenever you are being shown round some old mansion, castle, church or even there will be someone who tells you about the hidden tunnel.

Sometimes they are are dug by smugglers hiding their contraband, or thieves stashing away their booty. If you're very lucky they might reveal the resting place of the Holy Grail or the Ark of the Covenant – this one is in Burton-on-Trent if you want to go searching. Quite often it's a bit of ecclesiastical naughtiness, linking the monastery with the nearest pub - or convent.

Well it doesn't take much to disprove most of these legends. One reputed tunnel in the author's own county of Staffordshire, supposedly linking an abbey with a local mansion house, would have been nearly two miles long, in difficult tunnelling terrain, and also had to burrow under the River Trent. A task which, the author comments “would have troubled even the prowess of the Cornish tin-miners” of the time. And apart from anything else there would seem to be no particular reason for constructing such a tunnel in the first place.

But not all stories of hidden passages are completely false. A blocked-up archway in a cellar may not be the entrance to a secret tunnel, but may hide secrets of its own, which although not as romantic as some of the tunnel legends can be even more important archaeologically. They can reveal store-rooms, wells, mines, drains, even actual tunnels built for access and escape. But these are all relatively short.

A lot of tunnel-lore is attached to castles, but these raise other problems. What is a castle for? Well obviously it's a stronghold of the local earl or baron, defending his territory against other barons, the king or the rebellious peasantry. This involved lots of sword fights, often on spiral staircases which turned in a clockwise direction going upwards so that right-handed swordsmen would have more room to wield their weapons against attackers from below. Sounds logical, and we've all seen the films. Unfortunately actually examining the way staircases turn in castles outside Hollywood, there is no particular pattern, the orientation depending more on the structure of the castle, and its architecture.


It is a myth in itself that castles were the scenes of dramatic battles. in England at least they very seldom were, and they never hosted daring sword-fights between defenders and attackers. And you can forget about pouring boiling oil on attackers, oil was far too valuable for that.

Oh, and whilst waiting to be called into action, swordsman and archers have probably never sharpened the blades and arrowheads on the side of the parish church, leaving noticeable grooves in the stonework. The priest would not have liked that. The real reason for those grooves is a much stranger phenomenon. As is the real source of the strange burn marks found on the timbers of old houses. It is far more interesting than the conventional explanation of careless servants leaving candles burning unattended.

Even more surprisingly the sometimes rather obscene carving hidden away in churches were not put there by disgruntled craftsmen protesting over pay and conditions, but had the full authority of the clergy. Here you will find the very strange explanation of what was their real purpose.

And that emphasises something rather important about this book, it is not a 'debunking' exercise designed to show us how ignorant we are about history. The 'myths' are not just dismissed, they are carefully analysed, and the backgrounds to them unravelled, as usually they are based on actual historical evidence, which has been misinterpreted, by scholars and laymen, over the centuries. The story behind the myth is usually far more interesting and entertaining than the myth itself.

This is a book that will be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in history, combining a depth of scholarship with an accessible style. The author is a professional archaeologist and he gives interesting insights into what that entails, having worked with local councils and conservation bodies.

By the way, if you're looking for then oldest pub in England there are a number of possibilities, but rather depends on what you mean by a 'pub', or 'inn', or 'tavern' or 'hostel'. But whatever, it's almost certainly not one that calls itself 'the oldest pub in England'. It seems the answer is all in the trees. Dendrochronology is your friend.

Film director John Ford is reputed – wrongly – to have said “when you have to choose between history and legend, print the legend.” This book demonstrates that invariably the history is far more interesting than the legend.
  • Richard Samuels

6 October 2024

A CASE OF DEJA VU

Starve Acre (2023) Dir Daniel Kokotajlo BFI Blu Ray.


At the beginning of Starve Acre a young boy named Owen cannot sleep. When his mother speaks to him he says that the whistling has gone now. The next day, when his parents are resting, under a tree, near a cricket pitch, they’re disturbed by a young girl’s scream followed by the cry of a distressed horse that’s just had one of its eyes injured. The attacker is Owen holding a bloodstained twig.
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24 September 2024

LITERARY CRITICISM

Joshua Blu Buhs. Think to New Worlds; the Cultural History of Charles Fort and his Followers. University of Chicago Press, 2024.

In the days of the long forgotten UFO UpDates Internet discussion group, ufologist and Fortean Jerome Clark described much of Magonia's output as 'literary criticism'. He felt that, rather than studying the 'actual existing phenomena', we were more concerned about the manner in which they were described and written about and their influence on society, rather on examining what it is 'up there'.
πŸ”½

13 September 2024

RECOVERING THE OUTCASTS

The Outcasts (1982) BFI Blu Ray / Flipside. Robert Wynne-Simmons (Director)
(24 September 2024.)

Very few films have a genuine Celtic/Pagan sensibility where environment and characters possess a mysterious and magical charge that feels authentically rooted in myth and legend. The cult favourite The Wicker Man is an obvious first choice. Then Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s still underrated Gone to Earth. 
πŸ”½

7 September 2024

SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE BOOKS

I have been involved in the UFO/Fortean scene for 56 years, contributing to, editing and publishing MUFOB and Magonia as print magazines, and continuing with the on-line Magonia Review. This is something which I have enjoyed greatly, and which has introduced me to many interesting and entertaining correspondents across the world, who have all contributed to the Magonian legacy.
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30 August 2024

TRACKING THE GRIFFIN

A. L. McClanan. Griffinology, the Griffin's Place in Myth, History and Art. Reaktion Books, 2024.

A book previously reviewed in Magonia (1) suggested that the image of this mythical beast was created in Greece and the ancient Near East as a result of travellers finding the fossil remains of prehistoric creatures, particularly the protoceratops. These bones were often found on or near the surface in the areas to the north of the Caspian Sea, and the story of the griffin was built around them.
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16 August 2024

DRAINING THE NAZI UFO SWAMP

Maurizio Verga. Flying Saucers from Naziland. The Real Story of the Nazi UFOs. Volume 1. Verga, 2023.

The 'Nazi UFO' stories have been haunting ufology and ufologists, even from before the official birth of the saucers in 1947. Promoted by a coalition of naΓ―ve ufologists, cynical exploiters, conspiracy theorists and actual real-life Nazis, they have created a hugely complex network of myth, rumour, fraud and political intrigue.
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2 August 2024

YOURS SINCERELY, CHARLES FORT

Chris Aubeck (Editor). Letters of the Damned; the Forgotten Investigations of Charles Fort. Aubeck, 2024.


We are all familiar with the four 'canonical' texts of Charles Fort, and mostly aware of, if not familiar with, his earlier literary works such as The Outcast Manufacturers and the lively short stories depicting working-class New York tenement life, which were published in magazines and newspapers.
πŸ”½

22 July 2024

SCREENING SATAN

The Satanic Screen: An Illustrated Guide to the Devil in Cinema by Nikolas Schreck. Headpress, revised edition 2024.


“True to its mirroring nature, the satanic cinema has often portrayed the Devil as whatever force was perceived by consensus consciousness as embodying cosmic maleficence at the time.” 

10 July 2024

CHANCE'D BE A FINE THING

Nigel Pennick. Fortuna; the Sacred and Profane Faces of Luck. Destiny Books, 2024.

'Chance' is a difficult thing to understand, 'randomness' even more so. There is the old trick question: if someone tosses a coin nine times and each time it comes up heads, what should you bet on for the tenth toss? Well any mathematician will tell you that it makes no difference what you choose as each individual toss is a 50/50 heads or tails bet.*
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