Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
Ebook465 pages6 hours
The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends
By Simon Young
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this ebook
Winner of the 2023 Brian McConnell Book Award from the International Society for Contemporary Legend Research
In the last fifty years, folklorists have amassed an extraordinary corpus of contemporary legends including the “Choking Doberman,” the “Eaten Ticket,” and the “Vanishing Hitchhiker.” But what about the urban legends of the past? These legends and tales have rarely been collected, and when they occasionally appear, they do so as ancestors or precursors of the urban legends of today, rather than as stories in their own right.
In The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends, Simon Young fills this gap for British folklore (and for the wider English-speaking world) of the 1800s. Young introduces seventy Victorian urban legends ranging from “Beetle Eyes” to the “Shoplifter’s Dilemma” and from “Hands in the Muff” to the “Suicide Club.” While a handful of these stories are already known, the vast majority have never been identified, and they have certainly never received scholarly treatment.
Young begins the volume with a lengthy introduction assessing nineteenth-century media, emphasizing the importance of the written word to the perpetuation and preservation of these myths. He draws on numerous nineteenth-century books, periodicals, and ephemera, including digitized newspaper archives—particularly the British Newspaper Archive, an exciting new hunting ground for folklorists. The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends will appeal to an academic audience as well as to anyone who is interested in urban legends.
In the last fifty years, folklorists have amassed an extraordinary corpus of contemporary legends including the “Choking Doberman,” the “Eaten Ticket,” and the “Vanishing Hitchhiker.” But what about the urban legends of the past? These legends and tales have rarely been collected, and when they occasionally appear, they do so as ancestors or precursors of the urban legends of today, rather than as stories in their own right.
In The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends, Simon Young fills this gap for British folklore (and for the wider English-speaking world) of the 1800s. Young introduces seventy Victorian urban legends ranging from “Beetle Eyes” to the “Shoplifter’s Dilemma” and from “Hands in the Muff” to the “Suicide Club.” While a handful of these stories are already known, the vast majority have never been identified, and they have certainly never received scholarly treatment.
Young begins the volume with a lengthy introduction assessing nineteenth-century media, emphasizing the importance of the written word to the perpetuation and preservation of these myths. He draws on numerous nineteenth-century books, periodicals, and ephemera, including digitized newspaper archives—particularly the British Newspaper Archive, an exciting new hunting ground for folklorists. The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends will appeal to an academic audience as well as to anyone who is interested in urban legends.
Author
Simon Young
Simon Young, a British historian, is author of The Boggart: A Study in Shadows. His work has appeared in many periodicals including Contemporary Legend, Supernatural Studies, and Folklore.
Read more from Simon Young
So Much for the 30 Year Plan: Therapy? The Authorised Biography Medicines Management for Nurses at a Glance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends
Related ebooks
Folklore of Yorkshire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ghosts of Wales: Accounts from the Victorian Archives Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Grim Almanac of South Yorkshire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHauntology: The Presence of the Past in Twenty-First Century English Literature Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Plymouth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Farnham Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Tunbridge Wells Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCincinnati Curiosities: Healing Powers of the Wamsley Madstone, Nocturnal Exploits of Old Man Dead, Mazeppa’s Naked Ride & More Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Realm of the Eerie & Unexplained: Volume 3: In The Realm of the Eerie & Unexplained, #3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn The Realm of the Eerie & Unexplained: Volume 2: In The Realm of the Eerie & Unexplained, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Scranton: After Dark in the Electric City Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Georgia Legends & Lore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHidden History of Northwestern Pennsylvania Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPeoria's Haunted Memories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMissouri Nightmares: The Top 10 Chilling Legends Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFolklore of Sussex Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Haunted Independence, Oregon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts of Penn's Woods Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Bodmin Moor Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Haunted Salisbury Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhost Stories and Legends of Eastern Connecticut: Lore, Mysteries and Secrets Revealed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGhosts of Cambridge: Haunts of Harvard Square and Beyond Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCalifornia's Haunted Central Coast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMore Haunted Hoosier Trails: Folklore from Indiana's Spookiest Places Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMUDLARKS: Treasures from the Thames Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Terre Haute Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Haunted Albuquerque Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Haunted Highgate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Massachusetts Book of the Dead: Graveyard Legends and Lore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHaunted Huddersfield Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Social Science For You
A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Little Book of Hygge: Danish Secrets to Happy Living Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Men Explain Things to Me Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Close Encounters with Addiction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions (and How to Crush Them) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related podcast episodes
Holzer's Ghosts - The Restless Ghosts of the Suffern House 0% found this document usefulThe Untold Story Of The Summerwind Mansion - Wisconsin 0% found this document useful10 | Ghosts 0% found this document usefulHere There Be Monsters | Ep 20: Monsters have been with us from the dawn of humankind. The monster's history in our mythology and belief systems speaks to the many hidden needs and fears within the human mind. On this episode, we explore why the human mind has always needed... 100% found this document usefulGirlfriend goes on MURDER RAMPAGE when lover gets date with MISS OHIO 0% found this document useful4 Hour Mystery Marathon Of Paranormal And Unexplained Stories 0% found this document usefulEP 99 - The Devil in Brookfield | Brookfield, CT 0% found this document usefulRoadside Oddities, legends and folklore in America. 0% found this document usefulCthulhu with Jason Colavito - ArchyFantasies 56: Bow to the power of Cthulhu! 0% found this document usefulPoltergeists: Fact and Fiction 0% found this document useful
Related articles
The Moth Shall Rise Again Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
The Moth Shall Rise Again
Aug 13, 2020
2 min readStrange Days Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Strange Days
Jan 26, 2023
3 min readGoat Riders In The Sky Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Goat Riders In The Sky
Jan 26, 2023
For most of the 18th century, border provinces of what’s now the Netherlands and Belgium were gripped by a reign of terror. Mysterious gangs of armed robbers carried out nocturnal raids and blackmailed the population with brandbrieven (arson letters)
12 min readKept Corpses Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Kept Corpses
Jan 5, 2023
Police raiding a “suspected ritual shrine”, in Benin City, southern Nigeria, found 20 mummified bodies being kept in the building. “Fifteen mummified male corpses, three mummified female corpses and two mummified children’s corpses were discovered at
3 min readHorror In Highgate Chat It's FateUNLIMITED
Horror In Highgate
Jul 9, 2019
2 min readThe Devil’s domain Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
The Devil’s domain
Feb 22, 2024
13 min readOn The Trail Of The Lirpa Loof Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
On The Trail Of The Lirpa Loof
Mar 21, 2024
11 min readThe Ruskington Horror Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
The Ruskington Horror
Jan 28, 2021
17 min readA Compendium Of Cryptids Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
A Compendium Of Cryptids
Mar 21, 2024
11 min readDeath, The Boggart And Me Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Death, The Boggart And Me
Feb 24, 2022
10 min readIn The Wake Of Morag Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
In The Wake Of Morag
Jul 15, 2021
In the summer of 1979, Morag wasn’t the only strange and elusive entity in the vicinity of Loch Morar: two LN&MP (Loch Ness and Morar Project) members told of encountering a mysterious American who claimed to be living in a cave on the northern shore
15 min readStrange Deaths Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Strange Deaths
Jan 27, 2022
3 min readTelevision Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Television
Mar 21, 2024
Forty years ago, a publishing sensation was born: a book, promoted as wholly factual, by journalist Jay Anson about the haunting of a house in Amityville, Long Island, which had been the site of a massacre years before. The perp, Ronnie DeFeo, claime
4 min readArchæology Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Archæology
Apr 18, 2024
Last September, the head of a marble statue of Alexander the Great was unearthed amid the ruins of a second century AD theatre at Konuralp, north of the city of Düzce near Turkey’s northwest coast. Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, so the statue ma
6 min readEditorial Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Editorial
Jan 26, 2023
Mothman, the winged monster with burning red eyes first reported from the previously unremarkable town of Point Pleasant, WestVirginia, in 1966, has enjoyed remarkable longevity and ever-growing fame in the fortean field and, indeed, the wider world:
2 min readArchæology Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Archæology
Jun 13, 2024
6 min readOn The Dark Side Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
On The Dark Side
Jul 14, 2022
Mark Norman & Tracey Norman The History Press 2021 Hb, 174pp, £14.99, ISBN 9780750998017 There is certainly darkness a-plenty within the world of folklore; what Chthonic treasures will be found in Dark Folklore? Its five chapters offer a bewitching a
4 min readFairies, Folklore And Forteana Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Fairies, Folklore And Forteana
Sep 5, 2024
2 min readAlien Zoo Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Alien Zoo
Nov 2, 2023
KARL SHUKER ponders a mysterious golden orb and greets an unexpected canine hybrid On 30 August 2023, a remotely-operated vehicle (ROV) run by the Seascape Alaska 5 expedition, launched by the USA’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NO
3 min readSidelines Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Sidelines
Jan 5, 2023
Since July, American Airlines flights on the New York City to Los Angeles and Santa Ana to Dallas-Fort Worth routes have been plagued by a mysterious voice grunting, moaning and groaning over the in-flight announcement systems, sometimes for the whol
5 min read5 Things You (probably) Didn't Know About The History Of Dogs History RevealedUNLIMITED
5 Things You (probably) Didn't Know About The History Of Dogs
Dec 21, 2023
3 min readClassical Corner Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Classical Corner
Mar 21, 2024
4 min readCatastrophes! Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Catastrophes!
Feb 24, 2022
A spate of fires in South Korea have been traced to pet cats. The Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Department issued a statement saying that cats had caused at least 197 house fires between January 2019 and November 2021. They had done so by swit
3 min read7 Ways to Use Maps in Genealogy Research Family TreeUNLIMITED
7 Ways to Use Maps in Genealogy Research
Aug 17, 2021
1 min readWeirdness in WestVirginia Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Weirdness in WestVirginia
Jan 5, 2022
3 min readThe Classical Werewolf Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
The Classical Werewolf
Nov 4, 2021
Daniel Ogden Oxford University Press 2021 Hb, 280pp, £25, ISBN 9780198854319 Daniel Ogden has established himself as the go-to academic for scholarly, text-based surveys of supernatural motifs in the Ancient World, into which context this book fits a
8 min readThe Maddest Place On Earth TracesUNLIMITED
The Maddest Place On Earth
Nov 30, 2018
4 min readFairies, Folklore And Forteana Fortean TimesUNLIMITED
Fairies, Folklore And Forteana
Jan 26, 2023
2 min readForest Gods BBC Countryfile MagazineUNLIMITED
Forest Gods
Mar 11, 2021
1. Jack in the Green, or the Green Man, can be found grinning out of ceiling bosses and stone carvings in churches all over Britain. A vegetation god, he is linked to the woodwose: Middle English for ‘wild man of the woods’. 2. Gwyn ap Nudd is an an
1 min readBread: Feeding The Workers Of The Industrial Revolution All About HistoryUNLIMITED
Bread: Feeding The Workers Of The Industrial Revolution
Apr 20, 2023
What was the state of bread-making prior to the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries? For 1,000 years before the Industrial Revolution, making bread was done in the home. You would make your dough and then you’d take it to a communal
3 min read
Reviews for The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
1 rating0 reviews
Book preview
The Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends - Simon Young
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1