MYTH and Ghosts with one of my Favourites

It’s always a real pleasure whenever I’m lucky enough to have anything to do with Charles Christian. We go waaay back and, as well as being a brilliant human, his work always excites me. I was so pleased when I got to read his latest Shuckland – weird tales, ghosts, folklore and legends from East Anglia’s Waveney Valley before it was released – it does all the things I’ve loved from books since I was small (my mind isn’t too far away from those things, even as I’m knocking of 40’s door) – it’s exciting and interesting and packed with actual facts and myth and ghosts – and enthusiasm. Those ingredients come together to make the perfect broth of a book.(I should nudge you over to Charles’ Weird Tales Radio, because it’s brilliant.)

It’s out now and it’s brilliant. This is a genuinely heartfelt recommendation. And, because I love hearing (reading!) Charles’ take on things I asked him over…

NON-FICTION: THE POWER OF MYTH

by Charles Christian*

Just imagine you are a medieval peasant and you discover the skull of a dinosaur or the bones of a mammoth. You are living at a time long before modern science emerged and when the only educated person in your village is a priest whose sole source of reference is the Bible. What’s he going to say? He’s going to say you’ve found the remains of a dragon. Now read on…

So Nik asked… “Having just launched your new book Haunted Landscapes: Shuckland – weird tales, ghosts, folklore and legends from East Anglia’s Waveney Valley would I like to write something on the power of myth and what keeps them being remembered. And I said “Yes” – so let’s start at the beginning…

I was the strange boy at school who didn’t like sport but did have a soft spot for history. I’m also ancient, which means I grew up in the 1950s when television wasn’t as pervasive as it is today and family gatherings over the Christmas season would inevitably end late at night with everyone sitting round an open coal fire telling ghost stories and other strange tales. And did I mention the family home, in the old town area of Scarborough immediately opposite the harbour, was haunted? (Although for years my parents insisted the clumping sounds I could hear above my bed at night were merely seagulls hopping across the pantiled roof – and definitely not the ghosts of mariners in the attic rooms, as a psychic friend of my mother once blurted out. Gee thanks Mum, I can hear dead people.)

In the circumstances, it would have been distinctly odd if I hadn’t grown up to have a life-long fascination with the weird, ghosties, goulies and things that go bump in the night. At university I used to go on ghost-hunting forrays in the Leeds area. I’m a member of the Ghost Club, the Folklore Society, and the Society for Psychical Research. And a few years ago a national newspaper even commissioned me to go on a werewolf hunt, on the night of a full moon, in Hull of all places. Spoiler alert: I didn’t find a werewolf – or perhaps it didn’t find me!

But, beneath all these activities, there has always been the nagging question of “Why?” Why do tales of ghosts, stories of weird characters, and legends of unusual occurrences live on, in some instances for centuries after the events that inspired them actually took place? Most of these not only predate the internet and mass media but also have their roots before the era of mass literacy. Furthermore many of these tales have no religious significance, nor any obvious moral to be drawn or lesson to be learned. They are just tales that intrigue, amuse… and maybe also send a shiver down the spine.

Well, you might ask, isn’t that what any good storyteller seeks to do? Devise and tell a tale that fascinates and entertains the audience on multiple levels. 

Fair comment except there are no examples of legends and folk tales that can be traced to specific authors. Even William of Newburgh, the 12th century monkish chronicler who peppers his histories with footnotes about fairy folk and what we’d now call vampires and zombies, is adamant he is not making this stuff up but merely reporting stories that were already in circulation and had actually been seen by credible witnesses.

All of which has prompted me in my studies and writings to conclude that no matter how far fetched and strange a legend or myth may seem, if you scratch far enough beneath the surface you will eventually find a nugget of truth. A real life historical event or occurrence that gave rise to the legend but which over time, either through misunderstanding or exaggeration during retelling, has lost its mundane origins and become transformed into the fantastic tale we now all know. 

Which brings us back to where we began with the medieval peasant finding the mysterious fossil, which becomes a dragon, and which in turn must have at some time been slain by a brave hero or a saint – and so becomes the stuff of myth and legend. Fast forward 500 years and I wonder what myths our descendants will tell of the life and times of the people of the 21st century?

* Charles Christian is a barrister and Reuters correspondent turned writer, podcaster and award-winning tech journalist. He now writes and talks mainly about folklore, urban myths, history, and the weird. You can find him on socialmedia @urbanfantasist and at www.urbanfantasist.com

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nikperring

Nik Perring is a short story writer, author, teacher of writing, and editor from the UK. His stories have been published widely all over the world. His books include the widely celebrated Not So Perfect (Roastbooks 2010), A Book of Beautiful Words; and Beautiful Trees; and he co-wrote Freaks!(TFP/HarperCollins, 2012).

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