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Viking berserker

Viking Berserkers – Fierce Warriors or Drug-Fuelled Madmen?

Today, the word ‘berserk’ is used to describe anyone in an irrational, agitated state of mind who cannot or does not control his or her actions. The meaning of the word originates with the Viking...
Sunken kingdom prehistoric forest

Storm Reveals 4,500-Year-Old Forest of a ‘Sunken Kingdom’ in Wales

A storm has revealed an amazing sight on a beach in Wales. High gusts of winds have exposed an ancient forest of dead trees that are 4,500 years old. These submerged trees are believed to have...
A man alone in a faerie realm.

Mysterious Worlds: Travels to the Faerie and Shamanic Realms

There are many accounts of a land of immortality and eternal youth in world myths and legends, as well as shamanic and indigenous spiritual traditions. Mysterious Worlds Writing in his recent work,...
Yoshitoshi, Ushiwaka Maru learns Martial Arts from Sojobo, King of the Tengu, 1880

The Dogs of Heaven - Tengu and the Secret Practice of Buddhism

The Tengu ( 天狗 ) are possibly the most recognizable of all the Japanese yokai , with their enormous black wings and faces of either a large crow or a red-faced, long-nosed, goblin . They are often...
Devil’s Lake State Park, Baraboo area - Manitu spirit graphic

The Legends and Archaeology of Devil’s Lake: A Place of Ancient Power in Wisconsin

Located south of Baraboo in Sauk County Wisconsin, Devil’s Lake is a place of natural wonder and legend. The central feature of the biggest State Park in Wisconsin , Devil’s Lake covers 360 acres (...
A saber-toothed cat stands atop a boulder on a grassy plain. Credit: Daniel / Adobe Stock

Of Bunyips and Other Beasts: Evidence of Extinct Megafauna Displayed in Art and Stories

On many continents during the last ice age , typically from about 50,000 to 12,000 years ago, species of megafauna that had lived there for hundreds of thousands of years became extinct...
Lord Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama: How The Father of Buddhism Walked From Suffering to Enlightenment

Siddhartha Gautama, also known as the Buddha or “Enlightened One,” is probably one of the most influential individuals to come out of India through the incidental founding of Buddhism . Siddhartha...
The Loch Ness Monster is a valuable tourist draw.

Scientists Finally Closing in on Nessie, The Loch Ness Monster

Ever since the Irish Missionary St. Columba confronted a ‘ great serpent ’ in the River Ness in 565 AD, Loch Ness in Scotland has been the traditional home of the famous monster by the same name. But...
Snow White a Disney story based on real historical events.

The Truth Behind 5 Disney Movies That Are Based On Real Histories

Many of us grew up watching Disney movies and their tales of fairy princesses and evil queens are undeniably a part of the modern zeitgeist . Some of the movies are original to Disney, but at their...
Illustration of El Dorado

The Lost City of Z and the Mysterious Disappearance of Percy Fawcett

The Lost City of Z is the name British surveyor Percy Fawcett gave to a secret city buried in the jungles of Chile that was said to have streets paved in silver and roofs made of gold. It’s also the...
The Lia Fáil on the Hill of Tara. It is also known as the Coronation Stone for the ancient High Kings of Ireland.

Legendary Lia Fáil: A Roaring Rock for the Coronation of Ancient Irish High Kings

Lia Fáil is a carved standing stone on the Hill of Tara. Legends say this Stone of Destiny roared at the touch of a true king, making it the coronation stone for the High Kings of Ireland from the...
Detail from one of the fragments showing the name Merlin.

Fragments of Ancient Manuscript About Merlin Have Been Discovered and Could Change Arthurian Legend

A lucky discovery in a rare book has the potential to transform our knowledge of perhaps the most famous story from the entire Middle Ages. Some damaged manuscript pages found inside the volume are...
Relief image on the Tablet of Shamash, British Library room 55. Found in Sippar (Tell Abu Habbah), in Ancient Babylonia; it dates from the 9th century BC and shows the sun god Shamash on the throne, in front of the Babylonian king Nabu-apla-iddina (888-855 BC) between two interceding deities. The Babylonian language text tells how the king made a new cultic statue for the god and gave privileges to his temple.

Ancient Babylonian Reborn After Having Been Silenced for 2000 Years

Almost 2,000 years after falling out of use, a Cambridge University linguistics specialist, Dr. Martin Worthington has learned how to speak ancient Babylonian and is not only campaigning to revive it...
A magical sword, in a Fairy Tale fores

Espada de Anibal - The Mystery Behind Hannibal’s Magical Lost Sword

Ancient Origins’ readers were recently delighted with the news that Hannibal’s first battlefield, fought on the river Tagus in Spain in 220 BC has finally been found . But for historian Ricky D...
One of the elements of Magic of the Unicorn horn was its supposed ability to purify water.

Legends of the Unicorn Horn: Cures, Antidotes and Medicinal Magic

Legends, myths and folkloric systems across the western world record legendary horned creatures which have become known to us collectively as unicorns. In heraldry, the unicorn is the symbol of my...
St Mary and All Saint, Chesterfield

The Crooked Spire: Kicked Over by the Devil?

Saint Mary and All Saints, an Anglican parish church in Chesterfield, England is better known locally as The Crooked Spire for one very obvious reason: the spire, which was added in about 1362,...
The island of Es Vedra

The Legendary Isle of Es Vedra: Atlantis, The Odyssey and a Magnetic Attraction for UFO Sightings

Es Vedra is a small island situated off the Spanish island of Ibiza. Unlike Ibiza, which is a popular tourist destination, Es Vedra is uninhabited. This is one of the factors contributing to the...
Dalbyneder Church, the western arch in the naive with a gothic fresco from 1511 of two blemmyes

Blemmyes: The Headless Men of Ancient and Medieval Mythology

The Blemmyes are an example of various species of bizarre creatures rumored, in antiquity and later, to inhabit remote parts of the world - from dog-headed humanoids to strange men with a single...
Zmaj and the Dragon Lore of Slavic Mythology

Zmaj and the Dragon Lore of Slavic Mythology

The dragon is one of the most well-known creatures in ancient mythology, and many cultures have this creature (or one of its related forms) in their folklore. In East Asian countries, for instance,...
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...
Centaurs in the Forbidden Forest.

Ancient Mythology Informs Modern Series: The Fantastical Folktales of Harry Potter

Global, myth, folklore, and legends provided inspiration for the vast array of vivid creatures and fantastical elements that fill the pages and the silver screen of the enthralling, magical world of...
Goujian: The Ancient Chinese Sword

Goujian: The Ancient Chinese Sword that Defied Time

Fifty years ago, a rare and unusual sword was found in a tomb in China. Despite being well over 2,000 years old, the sword, known as the Goujian, did not have a single trace of rust. The blade drew...
The Mysterious Village of Dargavs, Russia

City of the Dead: The Mysterious Village of Dargavs, Russia

Often referred to as the City of the Dead , the village of Dargavs is considered to be one of the more mysterious sites in Russia. Hidden away in one of the five mountain ridges somewhere in the...
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...

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