James tells Alasdair the spooky story of a poltergeist in Dorset*. All your polterguy classics are in play here: scratching sounds, flying objects and a young girl with a talent for throwing things while no one is looking. Prepare yourself for strange happenings in a Durweston semi, witnessed by a gamekeeper whose perception of time and space is al…

The Loremen travel to the North Country and meet the Trash Hounds of Lancashire. No, not the live lorefolk audience. We're talking tales of headless dogs, skeletal huntsmen and be-buttocked pipers. This is another episode from our "Sold Out" "National" "Tour". James brings stories of boggarts and barghests and Alasdair presents three northern eccen…

This episode was recorded live (or at least undead) in West Norwood Cemetery, in front of a sold-out crowd. The brave lorefolk were chilled, literally and figuratively, by tales of subterranean mystery and otherworldly encounters. James told the story of an eccentric English aristocrat who took to burrowing like a badger, while Alasdair hopped aboa…

The Loremen were LIVE at the QED festival in Manchester and we were joined by Deputy Loreperson Hayley Stevens. Sceptical listeners might be familiar with the Hayley is a Ghost blog, all about ghosts that (spoiler warning) probably don't exist. In this episode, we meet roadside ghosts and road-adjacent spectres from across the UK (and beyond). Have…

A country walk always brings to mind certain maxims. "Stop and smell the roses," for one. "If a tree falls..." is another. But now there's a new one - "Beware the Crooker!" The boys are taken to a spooky Derbyshire riverside by historian and author Willow Winsham. You might feel a gnarly wooden finger tingling your spine in this episode. But James …

Deputy Loreperson Icy Sedgwick (Fabulous Folklore with Icy) joins James and Alasdair, and she brings with her the stories of a Geordie graverobber and a Mackem resurrection man. It's Newcastle vs Sunderland, and the bones of the dead do not rest easy in this Tyne-Wear derby. Plus the Loreboys come up with several new business ideas. Anyone for glow…

The terrifying tale of the Grey Hitchhiker (or the Gray Hitcher, for Americans) comes from that spooky road, The Notorious A38. Over several decades, drivers have made the mistake of stopping for a hitchhiker who does not obey the laws of hitchhiking (or nature). If you're driving between Tiverton and Taunton, you might see the Grey Hitchhiker. If …

The Loremen encounter what might be the biggest ghost in the history of the podcast. We're talking about a house that is a ghost. (Pretty big, right?) James takes Alasdair to the South West of England to view a property that's just come on the market and could vanish at any moment. Could this phantom maison be an echo of The Anarchy from the reign …

The boys are back, with yet more tales of Moreton lore! This time James visits South Moreton in Oxfordshire, for the outrageous story of a faux-poltergeist (fauxtergeist?). But don't fret, folklore fans - the village of South Moreton boasts enough "real" ghosts to spook the horses. Plus, a deadly locomotive and a very misleading prophecy. Come see …

Who's that, beckoning to you from the mouth of a weird looking cave? Why it's Alasdair Beckett-King of course! Join him and James Shakeshaft, and enter a subterranean labyrinth hidden beneath a leafy London borough. In 1907, The Illustrated London News called it The Great Chislehurst Cave Mystery: 22 miles of hand-carved tunnels, with stories of sm…

We return to the Tower of London and make a last ditch attempt to find John Barkstead's lost treasure. Meet Mr Quarrell (the treasure hunter) and Major Pogson (the big daddy of British dowsing). The year is 1957: will the traitor's horde finally be unearthed? No, of course not. But James will tell a fun story about the Ceremony of the Keys. Come se…

What connects a traitor, a Sandwich and a mushroom farmer from Kent? It's the lost treasure of 'Invisible' John Barkstead, which is buried somewhere underneath the Tower of London. Although there are those who say ... it isn't. In Part 1 of this LIVE episode, we meet a regicidal bum bailiff, Alasdair unearths the TRUTH™ about the death of Oliver Cr…

James talks Alasdair through the case of Anne Gunter's demonic possession... or was it all an elaborate hoax with lashings of wee wee? It's time for more Moreton! We're not talking Eleanor Morton, here. And We're not talking Moreton-in-Marsh either. This week's tale comes from North Moreton, and from from Mike White's book The Veiled Vale: Strange …

Saints alive! Amy Jeffs returns to the pod, and she's brought a bunch of kooky saints with her. We're talking adorable otters, vengeful ghosts and a guy with a load of forks in his beard. (Maybe...) An alternative telling of St Edmund's legend (and many more) can be found in Amy's upcoming book: Saints: A new legendary of heroes, humans and magic. …

Athena Kugblenu returns to the pod, for a journey through Enfield: the Croydon of North London and home to one of the world's most famous polterguys. But how is this London borough connected to a three-legged ape in Illinois? What kind of beast appears on the Enfield coat of arms? And is The Conjuring 2 a good film?* These, dear listener, are the E…

Pssst! It's mid-August Holidays Bonus Episode Bonanza time! Enjoy this bundle of bonus material from our Xmas Pig episodes. Featuring: Sunil Patel BB Miller Nick Mason and... Danny Robins You can get more bonus bits at patreon.com/loremenpod Join... Us... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices…

Join Alasdair and James in a hot air balloon of the mind and gently float over the actual rolling hills of the cotswolds / Vale of the White Horse area. Quiet, peaceful, serene - wait what on earth is that on the side of that hill? Is it a horse? Is it?? Really? Have a look at the graphic for this ep - Have you seen a horse before? This episode was…