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.-
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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
Bob Sheaffer’s Bad UFOs
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The Skeptic magazine
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- October Spookiness!
- Empirical Sex Talk on Dacryphilia, tonight
- Little Atoms 393 – Timothy Snyder & Black Earth
- Ash Pryce on "How to talk to the dead" @ Greenwich SitP, 7:30 pm, 7/10/15
- Weird Science at Exeter Hub: tonight, 6 pm
- Professor David Hand on The Improbability Principle @ Goldsmiths, 6:10 pm, 29/9/15 (tomorrow)
- Peter Popoff
- Me and Jean La Fontaine on Satanic Ritual Abuse Claims and False Memories at London Fortean Society, 7:45 pm, tonight, 24/9/15
- Little Atoms 392 – Royal Society Winton Prize 2015 Three
Charles Fort Institute Blog
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Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture
- The Cash-Landrum UFO Encounter of 1980
- Analyzing a 2007 UFO Sighting in Mississippi
- The Cash-Jamaica UFO Incident
- Ben Rich, Area 51, & Taking ET Home
- An Impressive New Book on UFO Witness Testimony
- UFOs, Fame and Anonymity
- The NSA Cash-Landrum UFO Document
- The Cash-Landrum UFO: 1980s Recording of Witnesses Interviews
- UFO Advocate: Betty Cash
- Cash-Landrum UFO Disinformation: Rick Doty & Bill Moore
Andrew May’s Forteana blog
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Paul Kimball’s The Other Side of Truth: Don’t believe, don’t disbelieve. Think
- Nick Pope - Useful Idiot of the Far Right
- Who Are They? What Do They Want?
- An Empty Suit
- Synchronicity, Irish Style
- Project Blue Book - A Review
- Stan Friedman Retires
- Halifax gets Haunted!
- Haunted Extra, Vol. 1.01 - Queen's County Museum Revisited
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - Remote Viewing Panel
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - August 11, 12, 13
Tag Archives: Halloween
THE STONES OF THE CROOKED GLEN
A Halloween story published by The Guardian newspaper reveals how a group of mysterious stones continue to be venerated in a remote Scottish glen. The Tigh nam Bodach or House of the Cailliche (Old Woman) is a small rocky shrine … Continue reading
Folklore: 10 things you didn’t know about Halloween
What is the history of Halloween and when was it first celebrated? Why do we trick or treat? Why do we carve pumpkins? Dr David Clarke of the Centre for Contemporary Legend, Sheffield Hallam University, investigates the origins of this … Continue reading
Sheffield’s spring-heeled legend
It’s Hallowe’en and time for me to tell a ghost story that is rapidly becoming Sheffield’s best known supernatural legend – the Park Ghost or Spring-heeled Jack. Last week I was surprised to find my account of the ghost’s pranks … Continue reading
Scared to Death
The Fortean Times Unconvention 2011 – billed as the world’s weirdest weekend – returns to London in November. I’m on the bill for both days (12 and 13 November): on the Saturday I will be speaking about my research into … Continue reading