Gothic Auntie

Literature, folklore, and history

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Category: Gothic History

  • 3 M. R. James Stories (and tea pairings) for a Victorian Christmas Eve

    One of my favourite Victorian Christmas traditions is the telling of ghost stories on Christmas Eve, and M. R. James is the undisputed master of it. A prolific author of short horror stories, much of his work was written for the specific purpose of reading aloud at his annual Christmas Eve party, where select staff…

  • Hans Trapp, Christmas’ Cannibal Scarecrow

    Santa has some scary friends. We all know about Krampus by now, the hairy goat-demon from the Alps, but it turns out he’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Father Christmas’ European enforcers. Meet Hans Trapp, the undead cannibal scarecrow who terrorises children in Alsace, France. Surprisingly, of all Santa’s terrifying…

  • Christmas is Gothic

    I was inspired to write this post at the beginning of November, watching the post Halloween despair sweep it’s way across my social media feeds. Christmas creep has come for us, and now everything is covered in twinkly lights, unsettling nutcracker statues, and exhortations to shop your way to happiness the moment the ghosts and…

  • Return to “A Mirror of the Graces” as I Count Backward from Ten

    Return to “A Mirror of the Graces” as I Count Backward from Ten

    Part two! Are you excited? I’m excited. I’m starting to find it funny now that I’m sharing it with you. We’re heading into the chapter entitled “On the Female Form” and just like Hildegard of Bingen I’m wondering if our dear Lady has some repressed feelings going with the way she’s cataloguing types of female…

  • Extracts from “The Mirror of the Graces” Very Much With Commentary

    Extracts from “The Mirror of the Graces” Very Much With Commentary

    I’ve been doing research into what the daily lives of historic gothic heroines might have looked like in those rare periods of stability when they weren’t running from castles or finding extra wives hidden in the attic. Part of this has involved reading “The Mirror of the Graces”, a 19th century guidebook on how to…

  • The Grim Origins of The Girl With the Green Ribbon

    You’ve likely come across the story of the girl whose head is held on with a ribbon at some point in your journey as a horror fan, but what if I told you it has surprisingly dark origins? The roots of this tale go back to the French Revolution, and the urban legends and folklore…