Welcome to my website
David Clarke is Associate Professor in the Department of Media Arts and Communication at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He teaches media law and his research specialism is contemporary legend. Previously he worked as a journalist for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. His PhD in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. From 2008-13 he acted as consultant and curator of the MoD UFO files project with The National Archives. His books include The Angel of Mons (2004) and How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth (2015). In 2018 he co-founded the Centre for Contemporary Legend at Sheffield Hallam University. This blog covers his twin research interests in journalism and folklore. The views expressed in the contents are entirely his own.
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
- @showroomcinema Fantastic I hope you will showing Nomadland? 7 hours ago
- RT @showroomcinema: 📢BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: Grab yourself some popcorn, make your way to your favourite cinema seat and wait for the lights to d… 7 hours ago
- RT @Al_Humphreys: “Solitude restores body and mind. Lonelinesss depletes them.” An interesting distinction for adventures: https://t.co/bua… 11 hours ago
- RT @AndrewMarr9: Another extraordinary thing about Shirley Williams. As prisons minister, in 1966, she wanted to find out what life was rea… 11 hours ago
- RT @yorkshirepost: A woman looking for shellfish on a beach near Filey was astonished to find a three-toed footprint belonging to a Jurassi… 11 hours ago
Blog Stats
- 706,044 hits
Snopes.com – Rumour has it…
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Magonia Blog
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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
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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
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Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture
- 40 years and the Cash-Landrum UFO Case December 11, 2020
- Flying Saucer Swindlers: Four Convictions November 6, 2020
- UAP Task Force: The Pentagon Responds to Questions September 2, 2020
- UFO Documents: Provenance and Credibility by Barry Greenwood June 28, 2020
- Pentagon Answers on Navy UAP Investigations May 18, 2020
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
- Synchronicity, Irish Style September 9, 2019
- Project Blue Book - A Review January 28, 2019
- 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
Tag Archives: David Clarke
25 years ago: Alien film a FAKE says movie wizard
25 years ago crowds gathered to see the world premiere of the ‘alien autopsy‘ film at an international UFO congress held at Sheffield Hallam University. At the time I was journalist at the Sheffield Star and according to expert Philip … Continue reading
Where Eagles Dare…and the Sun never sets
Sheffield Star/South Yorkshire Times, 21 May 2016. David Clarke took a cruise along Norway’s rugged coastline to see the Midnight Sun and experienced Arctic wildlife at close quarters. ‘We can never guarantee that you will see them’, one of our … Continue reading
Nessie: shoot on sight!
The Sunday Express has published a summary of my research into official files on The Loch Ness Monster. The article by Mark Branagan is headlined: ‘The day big game hunters were called in to kill Nessie…and almost sparked war’ and begins: ‘It … Continue reading
Haunting my bookshelves in 2012:
Here’s my choice of other key books that floated my folkloric boat during 2012: The Legend of Spring-heeled Jack: Victorian urban folklore and popular cultures, by Karl Bell (Boydell Press). As readers of my blog will know, the mysterious figure … Continue reading
MoD files make UFOs history
The ninth collection of UFO files, released by the UK government on 12 July, takes the chronology full circle back to the MoD’s decision to ‘make UFOs history’. A guide to the highlights of the 25 files can be found … Continue reading
Saucer Sam – the UFO story that convinced a Government minister
The second edition of my book The UFO Files – based on the latest documents released by The National Archives – will be published by Bloomsbury in September. One of the most interesting stories from the book was previewed in … Continue reading