Author: TQ Townsend

For hundreds of years, sailors have seen the Flying Dutchman – a ghost ship that is doomed to sail forever in troubled waters after its foolish and greedy captain took it through a storm. The Dutchman sank, taking its entire crew to the bottom with it.

Here I present the two earliest written accounts of the Dutchman, and we see that not everyone who hears the tale is a believer. John MacDonald first wrote about the Flying Dutchman in 1790 with a brief passage in his book Travels in Various Parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa.

The first full tale of what sailors believed about the Dutchman was written by George Barrington in 1795 in Chapter 6 of his book A Voyage to Botany Bay. But what do you think? Is there really a ghost ship doomed to sail the seven seas for all eternity, or is this just what happens when a little too much rum goes down the hatch?

You can find the commentary-free version of this tale here:

This is the True(?) Story of the Black Dog that has been terrorizing the East of England since 1577. The Black Dog, also called Black Shuck, is a famous apparition that has terrorized East Anglia for centuries. He first appeared at the village church in Bongay (pronouned BUN-gee), where the marks of his claws can still be seen in the church door. To this day, folk tell tales of their own encounters with the Black Dog.

But was this vision real? The interesting part about this story is that it happened at a time when medieval superstition was alive and well but when folk were also keen not to be seen as superstitious, so they tried to carefully document the events to prove they weren’t simply madness or fancy. But what do YOU think?

In order to get right to the story, this version deletes a rather lengthy prologue which is a delightfully alliterative fire and brimstone sermon, but if you’d like the full account by Abraham Fleming with no commentary, you can find that over on my storytelling channel:

These are the 13 nights of Halloween, during which I will spook you silly with awful anecdotes. Tonight’s terrible tale is “The Honest Witch,” a story about a real Korean courtier who, four hundred years ago, discovered that not all witches need to be burned.

This story was first recorded by Im Bang in the 17th century, and the event allegedly happened within the author’s own lifetime to a real government bureaucrat named Song Sang-in. It was first translated into English by James Gale and included in his book “Imps, Ghosts, and Fairies, Translated from the Korean of Im Bang and Yi Ryuk,” which was published in 1913.

A note on the spelling of “mutang” and the use of the word “witch” to translate it: These days it is more common to spell the word “mudang.” However, the original Korean word has a sound in the middle that is midway between the English letters d and t, so you’ll see both spellings in writings about these women. The word “witch” might feel perjorative, but remember that this was over a century ago, when Korean and Western cultures knew very little of each other and they were just beginning to share their stories.

Today “mudang” is more commonly translated as “shaman,” but there isn’t really a perfect word. Mudangs act as a conduit between the living and the dead, and at various times in Korean history they have been accepted or persecuted based on the politics and spirituality of the day. But within indigenous Korean religion, they were seen merely as guides and helpers. Though, no doubt, plenty of frauds took advantage of the beliefs of the people, hence Song Sang-in’s very negative opinion of them.

If you’d like the commentary free version of this episode, it’s at my storytelling channel:

They say that in the depths of Windsor Forest, the ghost of a vengeful huntsman rides on a steed with hooves of flame, taking out his wrath on the wicked — or in some accounts, innocent livestock.

Shakespeare wrote about Herne in his play The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the legends are still told today about the mysterious rider with the stag’s horns on his head.

If you’d like the commentary-free version of this tale, you can find that at my storytelling channel:

Welcome to my 13 Nights of Halloween, during which I will heebie your jeebies with freaky folktales. Tonight’s terrifying tale is “The Finger,” is a Jewish folktale which was recorded nearly 400 years ago.

This story is as funny as it is creepy, and it was what inspired Tim Burton to make his film Corpse Bride. Reuven is ready to marry his beloved, but a drunken joke at his bachelor party leaves him with a dead bride laying claim to him. Can a thoughtful rabbi settle the dispute?

If you’d like the commentary-free version, you can find that over on my storytelling channel:

Welcome to my 13 Nights of Halloween, during which I will torment you with terrible tales Tonight’s freakish bit of folklore is “Kuchisake-onna” or “The Woman With the Slit Mouth,” a ghost legend from Japan that goes back many hundreds of years but which became a frightening urban phenomenon in the 20th Century in Japan.

This malevolent spirit is the ghost of a vain woman who asks you an unanswerable question, then punishes you however you answer. The real question is, is there any way to escape her?

There is a commentary-free version of the story here:

Welcome to my 13 days of Halloween, during which I will make your hair curl with freaky folktales. Tonight’s terrifying tale is De røde Skoe, or The Red Shoes, by Hans Christian Andersen. This is the 1899 translation done by Susannah Mary Paull.

This story warns children not to be vain, and to show proper respect for those who care for them. HC Andersen named the main character after his sister Karen, whom he hated.

So catty.

You can find the commentary-free version of this story over on my storytelling channel:

Welcome to my 13 Nights of Halloween, where I will share frightening folktales guaranteed to scare the bejeebers out of you. Tonight’s story is “The Baba Yaga” which comes from William Ralston’s 1873 collection of Russian Folk-Tales.

Baba Yaga is a delightfully nasty witch who never apologizes and likes to eat up little girls and boys who are too stupid to escape from her. She rides around in a mortar and pestle, presumably because she likes to grind herbs while on road trips.

PREPARE YOURSELVES! And please enjoy “The Baba Yaga.”

If you would like the commentary-free version of this tale, you can find it over on my storytelling channel:

This is the second of my 13 Nights of Halloween, and tonight you will hear “The Ghost Sailor,” a folktale that comes from the Mashpee people of Cape Cod.

This is my own retelling, and the story teaches us that you can’t put a price on the safety of your children.

PREPARE YOURSELVES! And please enjoy “The Ghost Sailor”

If you would like a commentary-free version of this story, here it is:

Welcome to my 13 Nights of Halloween, where I will share frightening folktales guaranteed to scare the bejeebers out of you. These are stories so scary that most grownups won’t share them with children any more. But I think we’ve gone soft! Bring back the screams, the peril, the ghastly, the ghoulish. Kids from the past loved feeling their hair stand on end, and so do kids today.

Tonight’s story is “The Blue Beard,” which was originally published as “Barbe Bleue” in Charles Perrault’s 1697 collection, Histoires ou contes du temps passé. Perrault didn’t just write happy stories like Cinderella. “The Blue Beard” is gruesome and horrible. I am reading the 1729 translation by Robert Samber, which is the earliest English version.

PREPARE YOURSELVES! And please enjoy “The Blue Beard.”

If you would like a commentary-free version of this story, you can find it over at my storytelling channel: