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
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- @MJWayland when did we last meet/talk? 2 hours ago
- @CryptoLoren @djp1974 yeah its a difficult read but worth the effort! 4 hours ago
- Roy Greenslade on Woolwich media coverage - why editors were right to publish horrific pictures gu.com/p/3g3gj 8 hours ago
- @MJWayland we should meet up I have lots of BL stuff you r welcome to browse etc 11 hours ago
- @MJWayland re Dash book why dont you ask Mike? 11 hours ago
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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- 25 YEARS AGO: MAGONIA 29 May 23, 2013
- 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
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- New paper on measuring belief in conspiracies out today May 21, 2013
- Little Atoms 279 – Chris Marsden and Ian Brown & Regulating Code May 17, 2013
- The Incredibly Interesting Psychology Book ebook by David Webb - Kindle edition FREE!!!! May 17, 2013
- This Morning, tomorrow, on Near-Death Experiences May 15, 2013
- CFI-UK: Can Science Solve Every Mystery? Conway Hall, 8/6/13 May 14, 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: US National Archives
UFOs and the Vietnam War
Just occasionally we learn about a genuinely baffling UFO incident from a reliable primary source, such as a military memoir or pilot’s logbook. One such gem was discovered hiding in a collection of journals covering daily events during the Vietnam … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Da Nang, Joe Gillette, UFO, US National Archives, Vietnam War
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