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

#17 Christmas Ghosts

Posted December 24, 2018 • 00:39:12

Traditionally Christmas was a time for ghost stories, and tonight we’re doing our part to bring back the custom. A bit of history on supernatural...

#16 The Haunted Season

Posted December 9, 2018 • 00:37:27

Historically, Christmastime in Central Europe was a season haunted by otherworldly spirits, werewolves, ghostly huntsmen, and wandering hordes of lost...

#15 Saint, Devil, Sugar-Bread, & Whip: KRAMPUS AND NICHOLAS

Posted November 28, 2018 • 00:39:10

The Krampus and St. Nicholas represent a folkloric duality embodying a mode of childrearing the Germans call “sugar-bread and whip” — in English,...

#14 Singing Bones & Scrumptious Children

Posted November 12, 2018 • 00:38:46

This episode looks at some particularly gruesome fairy tales and folk ballads telling of murderers convicted of their crime through magical intervention...

#13: Ancient Necromancy

Posted October 31, 2018 • 00:39:21

Finishing up with our October theme of “talking to the dead,”...