Bone and Sickle

BONE AND SICKLE explores historical topics related to folklore and horror. With acerbic wit and a scholarly penchant for the grotesque, rogue folklorist Al Ridenour delves into a wide but carefully curated range of topics illustrated by stories from histo

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Recent Episodes

Halloween Bonus Episode

Posted October 30, 2020 • 00:12:36

As a short holiday bonus, we’re offering this special episode examining some obscure aspects of Halloween as manifested in our lives today. Forgotten...

Spook Shows

Posted October 24, 2020 • 00:53:35

Midnight Spook Shows featured stage illusions borrowing from techniques used in fraudulent seances alongside vaudeville-style comedy and burlesque....

The Gibbet, Hanged in Chains

Posted October 10, 2020 • 00:45:44

Illustration from 1832 broadsheet “Execution of...

Marvelous and Rare

Posted September 15, 2020 • 00:23:55

We’re doing something different this time out.

Bone and Sickle is taking off the rest of September to allow time for Mr. Ridenour’s research...

Gallows Lore

Posted September 4, 2020 • 00:47:38

We examine the lore of the gallows, focusing on the British Isles, encountering hangmen as figures straddling history and myth, strange histories and...