Welcome to my website
I am a Research Fellow in Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University where I specialise in teaching media law and investigation skills. Before I entered academia 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. 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 latest book, How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth, was published in 2015.
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.My Tweets
- RT @RobGMacfarlane: "I only went out for a walk, and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going i… 10 hours ago
- RT @RobGMacfarlane: Word of the #EarthDay2018: "Gaia" - in ancient Greek cosmogony, the personification of Earth (γαῖα) & the mother of all… 11 hours ago
- @RenshawGlenn @NickMargerrison This razor: simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s… 1 day ago
- @RenshawGlenn @NickMargerrison The razor is what the doctor prescribes for all UFO maladies 1 day ago
- 20 years on the track of the MoD's secret #UFO files podcast with @NickMargerrison acast.com/cultofnick/000… 2 days ago
Blog Stats
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Archives
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- February 2011 (2)
Tag Cloud ahoy!
- Air Ministry
- alien abductions
- alien big cats
- aliens
- Andy Roberts
- angels of mons
- BBC
- bbc news
- Bloomsbury
- Britain's X-Files
- Britain's X-traordinary Files
- British Library
- BUFORA
- Chinese lanterns
- CIA
- Civil Aviation Authority
- Close Encounters of the Third Kind
- Cold War
- curse of the crying boy
- Daily Mail
- Daily Mirror
- Daily Telegraph
- David Clarke
- DI55
- Dr David Clarke
- flying saucers
- folklore
- Fortean Times
- Freedom of Information
- Freedom of Information Act
- ghosts
- H.G.Wells
- Halloween
- Hexham Heads
- How UFOs Conquered the World
- Huffington Post
- Kelvin McKenzie
- Kenneth Arnold
- Loch Ness Monster
- Men in Black
- Metropolitan Police special branch
- MI5
- Ministry of Defence
- MoD
- myth
- NASA
- National Archives of Australia
- New York Times
- Nick Pope
- Peak District
- RAF
- Rendlesham
- Rendlesham forest UFOs
- Roswell
- scared to death
- Sheffield
- Sheffield Hallam University
- Sheffield Star
- Silly Season
- spring-heeled jack
- steven spielberg
- Sunday Telegraph
- The Guardian
- The National Archives
- The Sun
- The UFO Files
- The X-Files
- UAPs
- UFO
- UFO desk
- UFO files
- UFO myth
- UFOs
- urban legends
- Winston Churchill
Snopes.com – Rumour has it…
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Magonia Blog
- STORIES ALL AROUND April 21, 2018
- GOING DUTCH April 13, 2018
- THE FIGHT OF THE CENTURY April 9, 2018
- AMATEUR HOUR April 5, 2018
- STILL SEARCHING March 30, 2018
Mark Pilkington & John Lundberg – Folklore & Deception in the UFO Age
- Mirage Men in The Guardian August 18, 2014
- Mirage Men Double Disc DVD June 16, 2014
- UFOs and F-14s over Iran May 2, 2014
- We have lift off! March 27, 2014
- Mirage Men revealed by Greenwald? February 25, 2014
Bob Sheaffer’s Bad UFOs
- "To The Stars" Releases Another Video, And Things Get Curiouser & Curiouser March 14, 2018
- To The Stars, or To The Dogs? The Case of the Missing Hot Dogs March 4, 2018
- A Skeptic at the 2018 UFO Congress, Part 4 (last) February 28, 2018
- A Skeptic at the 2018 UFO Congress, Part 3 February 25, 2018
- A Skeptic at the 2018 UFO Congress, Part 2 February 21, 2018
The Skeptic magazine
- Ooops! TWO errors in previous message! October 1, 2015
- October Spookiness! October 1, 2015
- Empirical Sex Talk on Dacryphilia, tonight October 1, 2015
- Little Atoms 393 – Timothy Snyder & Black Earth September 30, 2015
- Ash Pryce on "How to talk to the dead" @ Greenwich SitP, 7:30 pm, 7/10/15 September 30, 2015
Charles Fort Institute Blog
- Exciting news from Mr X August 13, 2016
- The First Forteans: The Light of Other Days August 11, 2015
- Edinburgh Fringe 2015 August 5, 2015
- A Baby Boy! August 5, 2015
- Fortean Approaches to the Study of Religion May 6, 2015
Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture
- The Original Cash-Landrum Case File, 3/4/81: Transcript & Analysis February 9, 2018
- UFOs, the Media, the Military & Dreams of Discovery December 28, 2017
- Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and their UFO Report December 17, 2017
- The Cash-Landrum UFO: The Original Case Files November 21, 2017
- Hocus Pocus: The Roswell Slides Return October 2, 2017
Andrew May’s Forteana blog
- Pseudoscience and Science Fiction October 9, 2016
- Astronomical debunking October 2, 2016
- Contradiction - the All-Video Murder Mystery September 25, 2016
- Sacred Porn September 18, 2016
- Astronomical computers (old ones) September 11, 2016
Paul Kimball’s The Other Side of Truth: Don’t believe, don’t disbelieve. Think
- Stan Friedman Retires March 13, 2018
- Halifax gets Haunted! September 29, 2017
- Haunted Extra, Vol. 1.01 - Queen's County Museum Revisited August 17, 2017
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - Remote Viewing Panel August 15, 2017
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - August 11, 12, 13 August 6, 2017
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