Welcome to my website
I am course leader and senior lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University where I teach media law and investigation skills. Prior to teaching journalism skills I worked as a news reporter for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. My Ph.D is in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. My interest in folklore and the supernatural goes back to my childhood and I've been researching and writing about strange phenomena for as long as I can remember. Since 2008 I have been working with The National Archives (TNA) as their consultant for the ongoing release of the UFO files created by Britain's Ministry of Defence. My book, The UFO Files, was published by TNA in September 2009.
What is Folklore?
Once upon a time… ‘Folklore’ meant ancient ballads or fairy tales or the peculiar superstitions and customs of ‘primitive’ peoples. Today folklore is a tool for studying custom and belief, urban legends, modern myth and even rumours spread via the internet. Much folklore can be found online and buried in the narrative content of media and social networking - from legends and reports of ghosts, UFOs and 'big cats' to language, customs and traditions. The study of folklore is centrally and crucially important 'in our attempts to understand our own behaviour and that of our fellow human beings' according to one scholarly definition. Folklore is a vital and ongoing area of study and one of the few academic disciplines that engage, in a fundamental way, with everyday life.Latest Updates
My Tweets
- The Legend of Spring-Heeled Jack | History Today: m.historytoday.com/blog/2013/05/l… via @HistoryToday 4 hours ago
- RT @JoshHalliday: ITV News left out a bit of the shocking #Woolwich video for legal reasons, I'm told. 8 hours ago
- @StaceyMDove too true but hope u feel better now its over 10 hours ago
- Triple child killer David McGreavy can be named, high court judges rule - victory for press and public interest gu.com/p/3g2jn 12 hours ago
- UK provided more support for CIA rendition flights than thought – study gu.com/p/3gxka 12 hours ago
Blog Stats
- 105,306 hits
Delicious bookmarks
Archives
- May 2013 (1)
- April 2013 (1)
- March 2013 (5)
- February 2013 (1)
- January 2013 (1)
- December 2012 (3)
- November 2012 (1)
- October 2012 (2)
- September 2012 (1)
- August 2012 (6)
- July 2012 (4)
- June 2012 (2)
- May 2012 (1)
- April 2012 (3)
- March 2012 (4)
- February 2012 (6)
- December 2011 (2)
- October 2011 (1)
- September 2011 (1)
- August 2011 (2)
- July 2011 (2)
- June 2011 (3)
- May 2011 (1)
- April 2011 (3)
- March 2011 (4)
- February 2011 (2)
Tag Cloud ahoy!
alien big cats Amazing Stories Andy Roberts BBC bbc news Ben Radford Bill Chalker Bloomsbury British Library Daily Mail Daily Telegraph David Clarke DI55 folklore Fortean Times Freedom of Information Act ghosts Halloween Hexham Heads Huffington Post Ministry of Defence MoD National Archives of Australia Paul Screeton RAF Rendlesham Roswell scared to death science fiction Sheffield Sheffield Star Silly Season spring-heeled jack steven spielberg The Guardian The National Archives The Sun Tigh nam Bodach UFO UFO desk UFO files UFOs V2 werewolf Winston Churchill
Magonia Blog- CARRY ON ABDUCTING May 22, 2013
- FIRST READ: ENTER THE SCEPTICS May 19, 2013
- LIFE OF PSI May 15, 2013
- A GOOD GUIDE TO STRANGE STUFF May 12, 2013
- REMEMBERING DOCTOR DEE May 8, 2013
Mark Pilkington & John Lundberg – Folklore & Deception in the UFO Age- Untitled May 11, 2013
- Coming soon October 3, 2012
- Area 51 Viewers Guide August 4, 2012
- From the vaults August 4, 2012
- Ebe’s Paranoia July 20, 2012
Bob Sheaffer’s Bad UFOs- That "Citizens Hearing" on UFO Disclosure Got the Respect it Deserved - (Very Little) May 13, 2013
- Greer's "Sirius" Documentary - no "Bombshell," just Nonstop UFO Claims April 23, 2013
- That "Citizen Hearing" on UFO "Disclosure" April 16, 2013
- Greer Documentary "Sirius" Promises Free Energy and a Dead Alien April 4, 2013
- UFO Sightings Debunker Claims UFOs Are Not Real! March 24, 2013
The Skeptic magazine- SitP London - Simon Clare: An Atheist's Guide to the Alpha Course May 22, 2013
- New paper on measuring belief in conspiracies out today May 21, 2013
- SitP Newcastle - Kathryn Ford: Looking Guilty May 19, 2013
- SitP Sheffield - Jennifer Saul: Implicit Bias and Scepticism May 18, 2013
- Little Atoms 279 – Chris Marsden and Ian Brown & Regulating Code May 17, 2013
Andrew May’s Forteana blog- Paranormal Shakespeare May 19, 2013
- 200 Years of Forteana May 12, 2013
- The Frieze of Parnassus May 5, 2013
- The Strange Death of General Sikorski April 28, 2013
- Big Black Cats: Physical or Paranormal? April 21, 2013
Tag Archives: H.G.Wells
Out of this World
This summer the British Library are staging a major exhibition entitled ‘Out of this World: Science Fiction but not as you know it‘ (20 May-25 September). Plans are underway for a major display that will explore sci-fi through literature, film … Continue reading →