Whichever end of the earth you’re currently located in, today marks a momentous occasion in the annual calendar: it’s the solstice, and either the longest (in the north) or shortest (in the south) day of the year. It’s also a day with plenty of folkloric significance, so for this month’s community discussion I asked the BFS members for their favourite uses of folklore and/or ritual in SFFH.
Below is a selection of the chatter from our members-only Discord, which was surprisingly light on folk horror so I feel a burning need to rectify that immediately. For writers with a slant towards folklore and ritual, you absolutely must head for the works of contemporary writers like Tracy Fahey, Andrew Michael Hurley, Stephanie Ellis, Adam Nevill, Daniel Church, Lucie McKnight Hardy… I could go on and on and on. You can get a great crash course in folkloric weird fiction from the British Library’s Tales of the Weird series, or from their recently-released collection The Dead of Summer: Strange Tales of May Eve and Midsummer, edited by Johnny Mains. Of course, for the classics go no further than the late, great Shirley Jackson; for scholarly things look towards Adam Scovell and Robert Edgar.
As for films? You’ve got the ‘unholy trinity of folk horror’ in The Wicker Man, The Witchfinder General, and Blood on Satan’s Claw, but you’ve also got more modern fare like Ari Aster’s Midsommar (a perfect day to watch this if you haven’t yet!) and Hereditary, The Witch, Men, Apostle, Starve Acre, Pyewacket, and, yes, The Blair Witch Project. Oh, and also, if you haven’t seen Sinners yet, why not?!
For a total wrap-up of the genre, watch Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, directed by Kier-La Janisse. There’s plenty more, of course; these are just the folk hororry things I can immediately remember while my brain is melting on the hottest day of the year.
What are your own folkloric favourites? Give your own thoughts by leaving a comment at the end of this article, or jump back into Discord to get involved. Are you a member but not yet in the BFS Discord server? Contact us to request your invite.
-Lauren McMenemy, BFS Marketing
@laurenwrites.bsky.social
Comments are presented as they were in Discord/Facebook, including back-and-forths between multiple members. Where an individual contributor came back with more thoughts separately, those comments have been summarised as one.
I think one of my favourites has to be the last third or so of Lois McMaster Bujold’s The Hallowed Hunt, in terms of taking in-world ritual and faith that we’ve been slowly introduced to over the course of the book and making the reader understand the importance of what’s happening even as the story gets more and more dreamlike and more and more apart from the waking world (and I’m being very vague on purpose here because I don’t want to spoil the plot for folks who haven’t read it).
–Finn McLellan
Cli-fi horror – Verge by Nadia Attia is such a gem of a book that focuses on a young woman who believes she’s cursed and everyone she loves will die, with lots of superstition, dead animal carcasses and dark magic leading up to and immediately after Beltane (midsummer). It’s set in a dystopian Britain, which has almost become a Wild West of ritualists & creepy folklorish paganism. It’s YA/NA but written with a literary feel. The relationship between Rowena, stroppy and reckless, & Egyptian Halim, uptight and practical, as they embark on a road trip through a bureaucratic hellscape of a Britain in order to get her to perform a life saving ritual before she turns 18, is a masterclass in character.
As it’s not just Solstice but also folklore, can I suggest the anthology Whispers of the Earth, edited & illustrated by Gabriella Houston, which includes stories written by Houston, Stephen Aryan, Sam Horton, Eliza Chan and many more?
The Seer of York series by Alethea Lyons is another great example: witchy horror with magic system and characters inspired by folklore.
–Mel Reynard
AK Faulkner had Celtic gods and folklore in their Inheritance series and uses it so well! One of the main characters worships Cernunnos, a Celtic fertility god, and he also has gifts that allow him to magically nurture the plants he grows for his mum’s flower shop. I love how the Celtic folklore is woven into modern day San Diego. Also it’s really queer!
Lucy Holland uses British folklore in Song of the Huntress, weaving the folklore of Herla and the Wild Hunt in with the tales of Queen Aethelburg and King Ine in a really unique and engaging way! Also she makes it really queer!
Eliza Chan’s Fathomfolk and Tideborn books take amazing water-based mythology (kelpies, kappas, water dragons and so many more!), adds in elements of the little mermaid and mixes it up with East and South East Asian diaspora experience and it’s incredible!!
Labyrinth is one of my absolute favourite uses of folklore – it is (somewhat loosely) based on the folklore of the goblin king or erlking, who snatches children away. (Come on, you knew that was coming!)
Lyndsey Croal’s Dark Crescent is an excellent collection of short stories all revolving around Scottish folklore! Lots of dark and creepy tales but also some of hope and love.
Oooh North Is The Night by Emily Rath uses Finnish folklore from the kalevala, including the the gods of death, the underworld Tuonela and Väinämöinen, the only shaman to go to Tuonela and return alive – with added female friendship and a dash of romantasy.
–Katie Bruce
I have a calendar by Anne Stokes which is gorgeous and has a pretty picture every month, and the pictures are related to the month somewhat, including lots of little folklore touches (plus some text saying what it is, which I love because I don’t know a lot of folklore).
-Luna Profir
A Stirring from the Depths. Tis a romantasy based on folklore. Selkie and kelpie. Written by Kait Waterhouse. Stunning book.
–Helen Rose Thwaite
Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova was a really pleasant read with a lot of inspiration from Slavic Folklore. An oddly warm and cosy read given the subject matter and stakes. Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee is a unique spin on Arthurian myth brought into a near-future context And of course an obligatory Discworld mention, because just about everything from folklore has a Discworld equivalent
–Laurence J.R. Nix
Going for a game this time, and that is Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Not only is this game visually gorgeous, it is also heart breaking and an interesting mix of Pict (an ancient Scottish tribe) and Norse mythology. The protagonist, Senua, is a Pict woman suffering with schizophrenia who goes into the Norse underworld to save her lover from Hel. This is a game I have gone back to several times, and I am left sobbing every time. It is not for the faint of heart, but the folklore used is very detailed and immersive.
–Donna Morgan
For me Robert Holdstock’s Mythago sequence are the perfect combination of myth, folklore, and a more modern setting. Especially Mythago Wood, Lavondyss, and Gate Of Ivory, Gate Of Horn. It feels like he reached deep into myth and prehistory and pulled out something that resonates with a sense of deep authenticity.
Phil Rickman was also very adept at drawing on a deep knowledge of Welsh and Borders folklore into his stories in a way that made his Merrily Watkins detective stories in particular very creepy at times. The sense that human evil and supernatural malice might both be links in the deadly chain that Merrily was investigating, and the ritual she had to protect herself as a vicar working in Deliverance.
I’m sure everyone is aware that when the dark comes rising six shall turn it back…
–Ben Moxon
…Three from the circle, three from the track.
–Richard Hussey
I love the Brian Hodge short horror story ‘We the Fortunate Bereaved’ in which a community engages in an annual ritual for the chance to communicate with a deceased loved one. It’s genuinely eerie and he captures the collective-mania which can dominate in small communities. I read it (actually, listened to it) in his collection ‘Skidding into Oblivion’.
–Charlie Hughes
Two that instantly come to mind are Folk by Zoe Gilbert, which isn’t just beautifully written and delightfully creepy but also features made-up rituals that feel perfectly convincing and’real’; and Sistersong by Lucy Holland, which is structured around pre-Christian pagan festivals and set at a time when these beliefs are under threat from encroaching Christianity.
And then, of course, there’s Gorse by Sam K. Horton, which deals with the same kind of theme but centuries later and features anything from fairy folk to plant lore, charms, and mythic isles, and which you must absolutely read (some day I’ll stop going on about it!).
Ooh, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale. Another Christianity-vs-paganism novel, but set in Russia (in winter!) and sooo beautiful!!
Ooh, and let’s not forget Kit Whitfield’s In the Heart of Hidden Things, which is also beautifully written and quite unusual in the way it incorporates disability. I also loved the relationship between villagers and fae, which is marked by uncertainty (it always bugs me when magic systems etc. are too neat).
I also have to mention Baba Yaga’s Little Book of Hut Maintenance, or Chicken Legs for the Soul by Anastasia Kashian, which is a work in progress – stunning artwork, and very, very funny!
I also loved Lanny by Max Porter, which combines ancient folklore with a modern setting. It’s also stylistically interesting, in that it’s quite poetic with experimental elements
I promise I’ll stop now, feel free to ignore at will!
[later]
Uh… I just remembered I forgot to mention one of my very faves! I’m really sorry, but I have to add this one: Foxfire, Wolfskin and Other Shapeshifting Women, by Sharon Blackie. It’s a collection of short stories inspired by myths from across Europe, and the writing is stunning.
–Veronika Groke
I loved the use of folk elements in Sinners that came out earlier this year. The folklore around storytelling and music was phenomenal and the integration of different cultures’ commonalities across time and geography was very moving. Plus the vampires, of course.
-Rai Furniss-Greasley
Recent reads I’ve really enjoyed for how they played with folklore & folkloric rituals or traditions – Greenteeth by Molly O’Neill, When Among Crows by Veronica Roth, and Scuttler’s Cove by David Barnett.
–Lorraine Wilson
I’ve not actually read them (to my shame, but I do own them) but Juliette McKenna’s Green Man books have a fair chunk of folklore.
-Margaret Eve
Discworld, obviously. There are a lot of books I could list, but everyone else has already mentioned them. I think a lot of SFFH draws heavily on folklore and myths, whether the author knows it or not, because folklore tends to permeate culture, it’s the soil in which the plant of story grows.
–Rosemarie Cawkwell
The Silt Verses are one of the best fiction podcasts out there (I would argue they’re some of the best fiction out there full stop, regardless of genre or medium) and they absolutely fit the bill. It’s set in a world filled with hungry gods whose power depends on endless, violent sacrifice, and basically says “imagine a world where we were all locked into a system that depended on feeding countless bodies into the churning mill just to sustain itself and bring benefit to the very few people fortunate enough not to be sacrificed to its maw…. yet”. Imagine! People are transformed (and transform themselves) into grisly “saints”, either in desperate acts of personal faith, mass produced rituals designed to yoke the gods to the corporate bottom line, or in violent revolt against the gods and the world and everyone in it. Three seasons, not for the faint of heart but if you like your folk horror red in teeth and claw, i cant recommend it enough!
–Hero Owen
Monstrous Agonies is a podcast steeped in folklore.
-Rosemarie Cawkwell
I got so excited about the Silt Verses I forgot my own show!
-Hero Owen
I’m another Zoe Gilbert fan, yes to Folk mentioned above, but massively love Mischief Acts which takes Herne the Hunter down through the centuries, weaving in traditional celebrations of mumming and the wassail, the Lord of Misrule. She is someone who uses folklore properly, it is integral and not just a throwaway reference so a marketer can hang the tag of ‘folk’ on the book. I actually bought the book twice by mistake.
Benjamin Myers is another author who weaves lore into his writing. In The Gallows Pole, the stand against growing industrialisation is countered by reference to the land which feeds people, to heroes such as Robyn of the Hode. And Mother Nature ‘Never forget her. Because it was Mother Nature that created the Gods we call alder and oak and birch and poplar … So name your Old Gods lads.’ His recent work Cuddy, which I love so much with its mixture of prose and poetry takes the reader on the journey of St Cuthbert, weaving history and mythology together so perfectly.
Terry Pratchett takes so much of our folklore and gives it a wonderful twist in his Discworld. Trolls, vampires, werewolves, the Tooth Fairy and so many little touches of lore and superstition we recognise when we read.
And yes, back to the Wicker Man, which took inspiration from those early engravings of the supposed ritualistic Wicker Man and also from Fraser’s The Golden Bough, with its references to the King in the Wood (not forgetting Pinner’s Ritual use here btw but the film brought in the folklore). And who can forget the maypole dancing or the girls dancing around the stones. Plus the parade of hobby, Punch and the Teaser. Those carrying antlered skulls on poles in a manner reminiscent of the Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. And many more folkloric references all used to chilling effect.
And apologies, one more! I forgot Alan Garner, how could I? The Owl Service is a prime example, pulling in Welsh folklore, and The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.
And ooh, Worzel Gummidge, I grew up with Jon Pertwee’s version but loved the new one which definitely brought in the more folk aspects, the Green Man, the landscape. I’ll shut up now and get back to writing. Going down this rabbit hole is great procrastination.
–Stephanie Ellis
I knew you’d like this one 😉
-Lauren McMenemy
I’m actually buried in the ‘let’s create a ritual linked to folklore and try and be original’ in my current WIP 🤣
-Stephanie Ellis
EXACTLY. So, to add to your big list: check out Steph’s work!
-Lauren McMenemy
Just on a witchy front, I just wanted to big up The Blair Witch Project for not just framing itself as an exploration of local folklore but also for convincing loads of gullible kids – myself included – that it was all real. Also ends with a wee ritual in a cracker of a final sequence!
Had to Google the name of it, but there’s an absolutely mad Clive Barker (pictured; source) story, “In the Hills, the Cities” which has mega-Wicker Man vibes. Properly weird.
-Martin Smith
Oh god I read that in a clive barker short story collection my sister lent me when I was FAR too young and it’s stuck with me my entire life, what a story!
-Hero Owen
Haha I don’t know that there’s a good age to read any Clive Barker to come away unwounded 😂
-Martin Smith
That’s true enough haha but i think the tender age of eleven is pushing it xD
-Hero Owen
Dark Song has to be the hands-down the best ritual put on film; its a showcase of how to do it right, but is it Folklore? Probably not. Although it’s intricate and pushes people beyond their limits, which is something I think is important to see in rituals, but often overlooked. They are trying to reach beyond reality, the excess and exhaustion to reach that higher state should be evident, and Dark Song knocks it out of the park for 90 minutes.
Kill List, however, is one of the best spiritual successors to Wicker Man. It nails the strangeness of the cult. You can feel the characters’ confusion as they are drawn deep into their preordained roles, but they can’t stop moving forward. Even by the end, they are just as confused as they were at the start, but the cult is having a whale of a time.
For novels, anything by Adam Nevill, pick your poison. The Ritual hits the mark well. The scene where they find the hut in the deep woods is up there. Creep, they don’t know what they are doing, but there doing it none the unless.
–Graeme Patrick
I’m fond of Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries, with its scholars who study in-universe applications of fae folklore in practical, applied ways.
–Melanie Bell
Doctor Who’s The Daemons (screenshot source) visits a lot of the folk horror tropes. We have a village with Morris dancing, there’s a witch, there’s an archaeological dig that unleashes an ancient terror. There’s a vicar that’s up to no good. And it’s set in the UNIT era, so 70s or 80s (thanks to Doctor Who for its inconsistencies there). When it was repeated on the BBC in the ‘90s, it absolutely entranced teenage me, and people to this day go on pilgrimage to the village it was filmed in.
For a slightly more obscure Doctor Who story, there’s a novel called Grave Matter by Justin Richards, published in May 2000, which features islands covered in mist where the villagers all keep to themselves. You’re assuming it’s set in Victorian Britain until suddenly a helicopter arrives, and then the dead start rising. I won’t say anything more lest spoilers, sweetie, but it’s worth a read.
Outside the Whoniverse (and I hate that term with a passion), I’d recommend Midsommar for creepy daylight vibes, and its stunning and absorbing narrative. And of course I can’t talk about folklore and speculative fiction without mentioning the wonderful strangeness of The Wicker Man (original version, not the Cage one!).
–Chris Hawton
Shona Kinsella’s Heart of Winter is a brilliant reimagining of old Scottish folklore with a feminist edge that’s just perfect.
–PS Livingstone
What are your favourite uses of folklore or ritual in sci-fi, fantasy and horror? Let us know in the comments below ⬇️
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