THE IMPROBABLE HISTORY OF A HOLY GRAIL

John Matthews, Ian Pegler and Fred Stedman Jones. The Nanteos Grail, the Evolution of a Holy Relic. Amberley, 2022. 

How did a rather chewed – in fact very chewed – wooden bowl come to be regarded by many people as the cup from which Christ and the Disciples drank at the Last Supper. Or else had been carved from the wood of the Cross on which He died? And how did it end up, after many moves and adventures in a library in Aberystwyth? 

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ANGELS OF WAR

Richard J. Bleiler. The Strange Case of “The Angels of Mons”: Arthur Machen’s World War 1 Story, the Insistent Believers, and His Refutations. McFarland, 2015. 

Hundreds of thousands of words have been written about the most enduring legend of the First World War, The Angels of Mons. BBC Radio 4 called it ‘the first example of an urban myth’. Their usage of the word myth implies a false belief, but the historian A.J.P. Taylor disagreed.

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GETTING MY GOAT

J. Nathan Couch. Goatman: Flesh or Folklore? Createspace, 2014.

A constant theme of Fortean/Magonian analysis is how to draw boundaries between phenomena which are physically real, actually experienced, genuinely believed, rumoured, or imaginary. Indeed whether there is really any way we can define these various levels of experience. 

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HIT AND MYTH

Grace Banks and Sheena Blackhall. Scottish Urban Myths and Ancient Legends. History Press, 2014.

This book follows on from titles covering contemporary legends and rumours in Kent by Neil Arnold, and London by Scott Wood. However, the addition to the title of the words 'and Ancient legends' radically changes the nature and scope of the book, making it quite different from its predecessors.
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LONDON PECULIARS

Scott Wood. London Urban Legends. History Press, 2013.

To many people London can be an alarming place: big, busy, noisy; you are surrounded by strangers, strangers who at any time might want to do you harm. Travelling on the Underground can be confusing: sitting - or more likely standing - in the train you may be singled out as a ‘mark’ by a pickpocket, or if you are a woman, as a potential victim for a frotteur.
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KENTISH TALES

Neil Arnold. Kent Urban Legends: The Phantom Hitch-Hiker and Other Stories. The History Press, 2013.

Blue Bell Hill, that sounds a nice place, doesn’t it? Redolent of Enid Blyton and sunny picnics with lashings of ginger beer. Don’t go there. Literally. Don’t go there. According to Neil Arnold, you’re likely to bump into any number of phantom hitchhikers, whether they’re a bride killed on the way to her wedding, a cyclist mown down by a car or the gruesome end products of various other road-traffic accidents.
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SCOUSELORE

S. D. Tucker. Paranormal Merseyside. Amberley, 2013.

Any book which says “[T]he journal Magonia, the main outlet for what might be termed ‘alternative’ perspectives and viewpoints upon ufology, was based in Liverpool under the auspices of its Liverpudlian editor, John Rimmer, for a long period, which is surely worth celebrating” is pretty well assured of a good review here! However, even without this endorsement this book will be getting a good review.
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MONSTER MASH

Nick Redfern. Monster Diary: On the Road in Search of Strange and Sinister Creatures, Anomalist Books, 2012.

Picture the scene. You are sitting with Nick Redfern in the Rampant Ram on the edge of the moors, there is a storm blowing outside. It must have taken down the power lines because the inn is lit only by the open fire and flickering candle light. In the corners groups of the local sons of the soil sit around talking in low whispers of the fearsome thing that has wreaked havoc among their beasts.
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THE MUMMY'S CURSE

Roger Luckhurst. The Mummy’s Curse: The True History of a Dark Fantasy. Oxford University Press, 2012

When on the 5th of April 1923, Lord Carnarvon, who had financed the archaeological excavation that had unearthed the tomb of Tutankhamen the previous November, died from an infected insect bite, the rumour went around that he had been the victim of some ancient curse.
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NASTY LEGENDS, URBAN RUMOURS

Gillian Bennett. Bodies: Sex, Violence, Disease and Death in Contemporary Legend. University Press of Mississipi, 2005

Though some time has elapsed since this book was published, it has only just come to my attention and is sufficiently important to note. In many respects this book marks a sharp contrast to Gillian Bennett's first book Traditions of Belief. which looked at the ghostlore of middle aged women in Greater Manchester, rather gentle and comforting traditions and experiences. This volume, to the contrary, deals with the dark side of contemporary legend.
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