Welcome
I am a folklore researcher, author and broadcaster. I began my career as a journalist at the Sheffield Star and spent four years working as a Press Officer. But my passion was always for folklore and in 1999 I completed a PhD in Folklore at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield. I moved to Sheffield Hallam University in 2005 where for two decades I taught journalism and media law before I was promoted to Associate Professor. Working with colleagues who shared my interest in folklore, I co-founded the Centre for Contemporary Legend research group at SHU in 2018. I was Project Lead the AHRC-funded National Folklore Survey for England until I left the university in 2026 to return to full-time writing and broadcasting. My books include The Angel of Mons, How UFOs Conquered the World and Space Age Folklore that will be published by Reaktion in 2027. Contact me by email at furnival.news at googlemail.com
Tag Archives: British Library
Scared to Death – book launch
Who was Spring-heeled Jack, the agile bogeyman that terrorised Sheffield and escaped pursuers by making gigantic leaps? What were the eerie sounds in the sky known as the Gabriel Hounds? And why did people believe the ghost of a ‘white lady’ … Continue reading →
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Tagged 19th century newspaper archive, ACMRetro, Alan Murdie, Ann Beedham, British Library, Campo Lane ghost, Devil's Footprints, Gabriel Hounds, ghost stories, ghosts, Halloween, Off the Shelf literature festival, Professor Vanessa Toulmin, scared to death, Sheffield, Sheffield & Rotherham Independent, Sheffield City Library and Archives, Sheffield Daily Telegraph, Sheffield Flood disaster, Sheffield Star, Simon Heywood, spring-heeled jack, The Ghost Club, University of Sheffield, Upper Chapel, Victoriana, white lady ghost
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Aliens in the imagination
What explains our continuing fascination with aliens? Wandering (or was it wondering) around the British Library’s excellent Out of this World exhibition, I was struck by the long and deep debt the current cultural obsession with UFOs and ET visitors … Continue reading →
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Tagged Alex Fitch, aliens, Amazing Stories, Arthur C. Clarke, Bermuda Triangle, British Library, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Flight 19, Gareth Edwards, Gwyneth Jones, Jack Williamson, Mark Pilkington, Mike Ashley, Monsters, science fiction, steven spielberg, Through the Purple Cloud, Wonder Stories
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