Wyrd Wessex

What happens when you mix giant outlaws, eerie supernatural warnings, and communities fiercely defending their right to the land? This week on Wyrd Wessex, co-hosts Craig and Andy welcome back author and storyteller Eileen Budd to wrap up a massive, sprawling conversation that bridges the folklore of England and the Scottish Highlands.

Instead of postcard myths, we're diving into the gritty, shared history of British land resistance. We look at how common folk on both sides of the border used everything from legal battles to straight-up defiance to push back against privatisation and oppressive laws. Along the way, we dig up the shadowy lore of the "Ootlings"—entities that exist completely outside the natural order—the chaotic history of midnight poachers outsmarting the Crown, and the terrifying reasons you should never, under any circumstances, move a Dorset screaming skull just to please a TV crew.

Highlights of the Episode:

The Call of the Cupboard: Eileen joins us live from her literal "story cupboard" under the stairs to discuss the struggle of writing about freezing winter snow while the summer sun is blazing outside.

The Giant o' Legs: Andy defends the home turf of Hertfordshire with Jack o' Legs—a towering, cave-dwelling Robin Hood figure who has been immortalised by a local craft beer.

The Cuckoo Calendar: Craig goes toe-to-toe on West Country bird lore, breaking down the dark secrets hidden inside the verses of the classic magpie rhyme.

The Screaming Skull of Bettiscombe: Andy recounts the chilling curse of the Dorset screaming skull, including the infamous time an ITV crew allegedly triggered a minor earthquake by moving it on camera.

The Rebellion of the Salmon: Eileen breaks down Scotland's hard-won Right to Roam along Jock's Road, before sharing a hilarious local tale about a legendary poacher who bit off way more than he could chew with a stick of dynamite.

The Glaistig & The Lullaby: Eileen introduces us to the eerie world of the Glaistig—the shape-shifting "Ootlings" who exist outside the realms of sky, sea, and earth—and shares a beautiful traditional melody used to guide the dead home from the Battle of Sheriffmuir.

Find out more about Eileen Budd, her books, and her seasonal folklore series:
https://www.eileenbudd.co.uk

Stay Wyrd!

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Written and hosted by Craig Brooks and Andy Stevens
Edited by Craig Brooks

Intro music by Antipodean Writer: Full of Soul - Neon Waves Extended - Remix
Outro music by Colt Fingaz: Ding Ding Dong
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome back to WyrdLore, our bonus series dedicated to the strange tales, local legends, and folklore that are just too "Wyrd" for the main show.

In this episode, Andy and Craig travel to 15th-century York to uncover a tale from the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould’s Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events. We meet Brother Jucundus, a monk who joined St Leonard’s Priory during a particularly bad hangover and spent the rest of his life trying to drink his way back out of it.

After a "jollification" at the York Fair involving a see-saw and a very public arrest, Jucundus faces the ultimate medieval punishment: being walled up alive. But a lucky tumble through a thin wall and a year of forced silence in the Abbey next door leads to a "miracle" that even the most devout monk couldn't have predicted.

Support the show and join our Discord here: buymeacoffee.com/wyrdwessex

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Written by Craig Brooks
Hosted by Craig Brooks and Andy Stevens
Edited by Craig Brooks

Main theme: NRA-LAB Intro
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to an episode of AfterWyrd that proves the truth is often stranger (and smellier) than fiction. After a month-long hiatus due to Andy’s "cough-splatter" lung-rot, the Wyrdos reunite to tackle a massive backlog of weirdness. We’re moving from the linguistic mysteries of the afterlife—discussing why Geordie ghosts don’t just sing "Fog on the Tyne" at you—to the high-stakes world of Finnish Air Force "cock and ball" flight patterns.

We dive into the ethics of the digital age, from $1.99-a-minute video calls with AI Jesus to the "Black Mirror" reality of using AI clones to keep the deceased "alive" for grieving relatives. Things take a turn for the underground as we explore the newly discovered tunnel networks of Bloxham and the mysterious activity recorded at the York Dungeons. Finally, we look at the political-paranormal crossover of the year: Donald Trump’s promised UFO file dump and the skepticism of former AARO director Sean Kirkpatrick.

The Wyrd News:

Geordie Ghosts & Willington Mill: Following our look into the Willington Mill haunting via the Hallowell and Ritsons files, we ask: Do ghosts keep their accents? We discuss the terrifying prospect of a Nazi ghost and wonder why nobody has ever been haunted by a ghostly trilobite.

The Trump UFO Files: They’re finally arriving. We discuss Trump’s promise to "spill the secrets" on everything from UAPs to JFK, and why some insiders claim it's just a "shiny object" to distract from the war with Iran.

The Bloxham Underground Tunnel Society (BUTS): Tales of hidden tunnels in North Oxfordshire prove true. We discuss Dave Green’s discovery of a massive network featuring pre-medieval red deer skulls and potential Roman origins.

York Dungeon Poltergeists vs. Slushy Machines: We review the CCTV footage of flying tumblers that has investigators from Project NCC stumped. Is it a restless spirit, or just the vibrations from a nearby slushy machine? Plus, Andy recounts a "scaredy-cat" ghost hunt at Woodchester Mansion involving a very tense trip to an outdoor toilet.

The 24,000-Year-Old Zombie Worm: A microscopic rotifer is thawed from the Siberian permafrost after 24 millennia and immediately starts reproducing. We compare the discovery to the classic X-Files episode "Ice" and wonder if the Late Pleistocene is coming for us.

Finnish Aviation Art & Operation Bearclaw: The "Rainbow Scissors" flight patterns that landed Finnish cadets in hot water, and the California insurance scam that proved a man in a bear suit is no match for a suspicious biologist.

The Range "Deposit" & AI Salvation: From a shopper in Banbury choosing a shelf over a toilet to a King James-trained AI Jesus providing wisdom for a fee.

Wyrdo Shout-outs:
A massive thank you to our newest subscribers: Tena, Vicky, Steph, Gabby, Andrew, John, Rosie, Nick, Simon, and Terry. Most of you have your Green Man badges on the way!

Stay Wyrd.

Website: www.wyrdwessex.co.uk

Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/people/saxonforageruk/explore

Hosted by: Craig Brooks & Andy Stevens
Edited by: Craig Brooks
Intro & Outro: Full of Soul - Neon Waves Extended - Remix by Antipodean Writer.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of WyrdLore, we follow the journey of naturalist Gavin Maxwell, a man of the "faithless generation" who moved to the remote West Highland coast armed with scientific detachment, only to have his scepticism shattered by the inexplicable.

From the shadow of the Isle of Skye, we explore a world where the Wyrd is a neighbour—where witches walk as cats and the sound of a shipwreck can arrive days before the event itself. We detail the forty-eight hours of poltergeist activity that transformed Maxwell’s worldview and the "captive echoes" of King Haco’s Viking fleet still heard at the narrows of Kyleakin.

Into the Wyrd:
The Empirical Wall: How a flying jar of marmalade and a sliding stack of LPs broke a lifelong barrier of scepticism.
The Viking Echo: The metallic clang of swords and the muttering of Old Norse voices at the lighthouse cottages—a "warlike party" frozen in time.
Watchman, What of the Rowan Tree?: The significance of the guardian tree and the chilling "witch’s moon" night when poet Kathleen Raine placed a curse upon the bark.
The Price of Fire: The tragic end of the sanctuary at Camusfeàrna and the burial of Edal the otter at the foot of the Rowan.
Highland Entities: Identifying the presence—was it a Bòcan (the shapeshifting stalker), a "sour" Gruagach (the slighted house spirit), or the Frìth reacting to a malignant wish?

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Written by Craig Brooks and hosted by Craig Brooks and Andy Stevens
Edited by Craig Brooks

Main theme: NRA-LAB Intro

Don't open the WyrdLore!
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1835, a hardworking Quaker named Joseph Proctor moved his family into a three-storey powerhouse of the Industrial Revolution. It should have been a crowning achievement for a man of "the plain truth," but the ground itself had other plans. For eleven years, the Proctor family lived in a state of siege, trapped in a house that could throw its own voice, walk through nailed-shut doors, and watch the children through "eyeholes" that held no eyes.

In this episode, the Wyrdos dig through the private, redacted journals of a man who tried to manage a supernatural catastrophe with a pen and ink. We aren't just looking at bumps in the night; we’re investigating how industrial progress collided with a "Wyrd" legacy that the locals had whispered about for centuries. From the "Willington Witch" to the physical displacement of furniture in a locked house, we explore the heavy price of living over a witch's hearth.

Finally, we navigate the fallout of Britain’s most detailed industrial haunting. We look at the disastrous 1840 investigation of Dr Edward Drury, the "mimic" that stole the family’s own voices, and the chilling final night where the ghosts seemingly helped the Proctors pack their bags to leave.

In this episode:
The Plain Truth: We explore Joseph Proctor’s obsessive diary and why he felt the need to heavily redact his own experiences for forty years.
Industrial Infrasound: Craig attempts to "debunk" the haunting with a theory about railway vibrations that hits a very spooky brick wall.
The Eyeless Lady: The terrifying account of the nursemaid and the children who encountered a transparent visitor who "looked so hard" at them.
Drury’s Folly: Why a skeptical doctor brought a brace of pistols to a ghost hunt and left the Mill a broken, trembling man.
The Monkey in the Blue-Room: We break down the bizarre physical encounters with "funny cats" and a vanishing monkey that tickled the children’s feet.
The Final Move: The cinematic and cruel "spiritualistic repetition" of the family's final night and the rumors that the haunting followed them to North Shields.

It turns out the "Wicked Spirit" didn't want the Mill—it wanted the people inside it.

Stay Wyrd.

Help keep the lights on and join our Discord here: buymeacoffee.com/wyrdwessex

Buy our merch here: https://www.redbubble.com/people/saxonforageruk/shop?asc=u

Written by: Craig Brooks Hosted by: Craig Brooks and Andy Stevens Edited by: Craig Brooks

Intro music: Antipodean Writer: Full of Soul - Neon Waves Extended - Remix Outro music: Colt Fingaz: Ding Ding Dong
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.