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Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

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The history of true crime consumption can be traced all the way back to the early 1500s. Source:  Sved Oliver/ Adobe Stock

Morbid Fascination: The Birth of the True Crime Genre

For many true crime junkies, podcasts are the way to go to get your next fix. But before podcasts and streaming documentaries, what did people do to get their true crime docs? When did true crime...
The Demon Drummer of Tedworth: Exploring The Truth Behind the Story

The Demon Drummer of Tedworth: Exploring The Truth Behind the Story

As a species, mankind has always been obsessed with things that go bump in the night. Whether it be around a campfire, written down in a book, or shown on the big screen, we’ve been telling each...
Painting of a ghostly looking woman. (Public Domain) Rose Hall, the estate house of a former sugar plantation, in Jamaica.

Annie Palmer, The White Witch of Rose Hall

One time I was down to Jamaica to a place called Rose Hall Plantation …A lady named Annie Palmer who lived in that great house there …Well they tell a lot of tales about Annie They say she had three...
Jezebel

Jezebel: Slander of The Queen of Israel, Virgin of Baal, Princess of Tyre

Jezebel - even to this day, the name of the wife of King Ahab is synonymous with wickedness and promiscuity. She was the most depraved of women, a murderess, an adulteress and worst of all an...
"The Eyes" in the Prohodna Cave near Karlukovo, Bulgaria.

God or the Devil? Whose Mystical Eyes Follow Visitors through the Bulgarian Prohodna Cave?

Prohodna Cave is a natural cave located in North Central Bulgaria. This cave is a popular tourist attraction due to a certain natural feature in the cave, i.e. two eye-shaped holes in its central...
Pied Piper of Hamelin

The Disturbing True Story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin

When, lo! as they reached the mountain-side, A wondrous portal opened wide, As if a cavern was suddenly hollowed; And the Piper advanced and the children followed, And when all were in to the very...
Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? A Fearsome Beast in Legends and Tales Around the World

Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? A Fearsome Beast in Tales Around the World

There are many stock characters that are present in folk stories, fairy tales, and legends from all over the world. However, few are as constant as the figure of the Big Bad Wolf, a giant predator...
Battle at Lanka, Ramayana, by Sahib Din. Source: Public Domain

Ramayana: The Grand Epic of Ancient India

Ramayana is an integral part of life for millions of Hindus across the globe. It is one of the two most popular epics written in Sanskrit from ancient India, the other one being Mahabharata...
Beowulf against the dragon.

Finding Beowulf: Is Some of the Famous Anglo-Saxon Heroic Epic Based on Truth?

Beowulf is possibly the most famous example of Anglo-Saxon literature. The heroic epic was created between the 8th-11th century and is set in Scandinavia. In the tale, Beowulf helps the king of the...
Atlantis underwater ruins

3 Problems to Remember When Trying to Find Atlantis

It is perhaps the greatest unsolved mystery of all time: Did the lost city of Atlantis actually exist? And if it did once exist, where was it located before its watery demise? Fortunately, the...
Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet: Not a Shakespearean Tale After All

William Shakespeare's world renowned Romeo and Juliet (written sometime between 1591 and 1595) stands in the historical record as one of the greatest love stories ever written. It has been retold...
Was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs based on real events?

Exploring the True Origins of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is one of the most famous fairy tales in the world, first related in 1812 when the Grimm brothers published their collection of tales that had been gathered from old...
The stork has been a bird of legends through the centuries.	Source: Serghei Velusceac / Adobe Stock

How Stork Legends, Myths and Omens Set Their Place in History

Contrary to what is happening today, humans of the past had close relationships to nature and wild animals. These bonds did not concern only utilitarian aspects, but also involved the sphere of the...
Faerie silhouette at night with a boy.		Source: 	fona / Adobe stock

The Time I Met The King of the Faeries

“One day you will be old enough to read fairy tales again!” – CS Lewis All my life I’ve been fascinated by faeries, as I grew up with European fairy tales, Walt Disney’s Tinker Bell and movies like...
Depiction of a volcano erupting to show what the eruption at Budj Bim could have looked like.           Source: SiriusRzn / Adobe stock

Is the Aboriginal Budj Bim Volcano Tale the World’s Oldest Story?

Researchers investigating the date of human settlement in Australia have made an amazing discovery. They analyzed geological data in relation to the oral tradition of local Aboriginal people, and it...
Dragon Myths: Tales of Beasts, Beauties, and Brutes

Dragon Myths: Tales of Beasts, Beauties, and Brutes

The dragon is a legendary creature found in many cultures around the world. Generally speaking, the dragon is depicted as a huge creature that has a serpent-like body and the ability to fly. Although...
Giovanni Lanfranco’s Norandino and Lucina Discovered by the Ogre, 1624. In many societies giants were long part of received wisdom. Source: Amcaja / Public Domain.

Giants: Why We Needed Them

Think of any sizeable water gap. It might be that between you and the island many kilometers off the coast, a place like Kangaroo Island (South Australia) or Sri Lanka as viewed from nearby India. It...
Memories of Childhood: Aesop’s Fables are as Relevant Today as They Were 2,600 Years Ago

Memories of Childhood: Aesop’s Fables are as Relevant Today as They Were 2,600 Years Ago

The Frog and the Mouse, The Fox and the Stork, The Boy Who Cried Wolf – these, and many other wonderful fables were a big part of childhood for many of us. But now that childhood is gone, did we stop...
‘Mermaid’ (1873) by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann. Mermaid tales are popular inspirations for the arts around the world

The Bizarre Tales of Four Lesser Known English Mermaids

For thousands of years, shanty tales of half-human, half-marine beings called mermaids , selkies , and finfolk have drifted ashore with sea beaten sailors. They stitch together the mythologies of...
Persian Women dancing. From a wall painting at "Hasht Behesht Palace" (Palace of 8 heavens), Isfahan, Iran.

My Mother’s Persian Stories: Rose and Marigold

The custom of telling bedtime stories is ancient. Over the ages, they have passed from one generation to another through oral tradition. Each generation has embellished them in new ways by adding or...
The Flaming Mountains of Turpan, Xinjiang, China. (Dosisdemi.com)

The Colorful Folklore Behind the Flaming Mountains of Turpan

The Flaming Mountains of Turpan (also known as Turfan ) are located in the Tian Shan Mountain range in China’s Xinjiang province. These mountains lie to the east of the city of Turpan, which is...
A stereotypical depiction of a leprechaun

Fascinating Facts You Probably Did Not Know About Leprechauns

The leprechaun is perhaps one of the best-known creatures in Irish folklore. Leprechauns are popularly depicted as little men with beards dressed in green coats and tall green hats. Other well-known...
Agastyar, Father and Chairman of first Tamil Sangams, Madurai, Pandiya Kingdom. (CC BY SA 2.5) Detail of ancient Tamil script found on the temple walls of the Tanjore Bragadeeshwara temple.

Sangam Literature: These Tantalizing Tales Offer a Window into Ancient Tamil Life

“In their antiquity and in their contemporaneity, there is not much else in any Indian literature equal to these quiet and dramatic Tamil poems. In their values and stances, they represent a mature...
Avalon finalised

Magic into Myth: Avalon, Mystical Isle of Medieval Arthurian Literature

The Isle of Apples, Isle of the Blessed, and the Otherworld. These titles have long been associated with the magical resting place of the early medieval king, Arthur Pendragon. A realm imbued with...

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