DARK FOLKLORE

Mark and Tracey Norman. Dark Folklore. History Press, 2021.

Dark Folklore, it seems, is all around us, from when we get out of bed in the morning – or at least try to if the Old Hag isn't sitting on us – to when we attempt to get to sleep again at night, trying not to think about the headless terror that walks down our street at midnight. Even in the broad light of day we may encounter Slenderman lurking in the undergrowth in our local park, or stumble into the traps and trips of our Internet browsing.

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The authors start our journey into the dark side by introducing us to the Old Hag and its many relatives across the world. The Hag has been troubling us for millennia; references to a phenomena which seems very like it are found in Chinese documents from the first and second centuries AD. A written character with the apparent meaning 'being oppressed by a ghost at night and paralysed' appears in a dictionary compiled at that time.

During deep REM sleep the brain suppresses rapid bodily movement to avoid us injuring ourselves by physically acting out our dreams. On sudden awakening our senses of sight and hearing work immediately, but our muscles are still 'asleep', which produces the feelings of paralysis and restraint.

Although the basis of the phenomenon is physical, its interpretation is culturally determined. From mediaeval times there have been accounts of incubi and succubi, male and female entities which overpower and have sex with their victims. The Old Hag phenomenon occurs world-wide; Japan seems to have a richly varied collection of such creatures, and the authors give numerous accounts of other culturally structured 'Hag' experiences from around the world.

Sleep paralysis and the imagery associated with it were also responsible for many witchcraft-era confessions of having had intercourse with demonic figures. In modern times it seems to be an explanation for UFO 'bedroom visitors' and abduction stories, as well as many first-hand ghost reports. In one remarkable account, an informant described to the authors how her bedroom intruders appeared in the form of the robotic aliens from the old ‘Smash’ instant mashed-potato adverts, [left] and Shaggy, the Scooby Doo dog!

Such images are unlikely to appear in any collection of conventional ghost stories, and in their chapter on 'Folklore Ghosts' the authors make a very valid distinction between ghostly accounts which come from direct personal experiences, and those ghost 'stories' which exist unconnected to any specific personal account, and are part of local folk-lore rather than direct observation.

These tend to be ones associated with historical figures or events. One example cited is the ghost of Sir Francis Drake, which allegedly tears across Dartmoor in a black hearse pulled by headless horses. Another folk-ghost motif described here are 'cockstride ghosts'; individuals cursed for their evil actions in life are condemned to perform a Sisyphean task after their death – one example is emptying a pool with an acorn – their soul getting no rest until it is accomplished, which of course it never will be. Often these tasks have to be done at an appointed time, like New Year's Eve.

These folk-ghosts are not amenable to study with the means used by an investigator for the SPR, for instance. Although everyone knows the details of where and when the ghost is scheduled to appear, but no-one really goes along to check because they know they will see nothing. It's folklore!

Even in church we are not free from the shadow of Dark Folklore. This is the place where for most people in the past came closest to the world of the supernatural and the boundaries between life and death. The graffiti found in old churches often record the fears, wishes and sometimes the curses of the congregations. Even the ministers may have had connections to witchcraft and sorcery. An example given is a certain Parson Parker, with a reputation for occult powers and shape-shifting and a large library of occult tomes. After his death - as recently the 1880s - he was buried in his churchyard at twice the usual depth, to ensure he was not able to return in animal form!

Modern folklore in the form of internet memes and urban legends have grown from the older traditions. Although the way in which these stories are transmitted has changed, the essential nature of them has stayed remarkable stable. Even a phenomenon produced entirely by the internet like ‘Slenderman’ does not differ greatly from nineteenth century urban panics like Springheel Jack. These were transmitted through the then new medium of widely-read popular papers like the Illustrated Police News and the ‘penny dreadfuls’ which were responsible for middle-class concerns about the ‘wrong sort of literature’ falling into working-class hands – a panic we now see repeated about social media.

The authors give us an interesting account of a number of waves of hoaxing which contributed to the spread of ‘unofficial’ folklore. Besides the numerous pranksters who jumped on the Spring-Heel Jack bandwagon, ghost hunting, or perhaps more accurately ‘ghost-spotting’ became almost a spectator sport in the nineteenth century. Huge unruly crowds would assemble outside supposedly haunted premises, a forerunner of the ‘legend-tripping’ excursions by teenagers today.

This is an intriguing tour through the darker and more overgrown pathways of folklore, and the authors show us glimpses of a world which sometimes seems historically remote from us, but which on the closer examination that they provide, is shown to be something which still surrounds us. Mind how you go!

• Richard Samuels