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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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Magonia Blog
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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- An error has occurred; the feed is probably down. Try again later.
Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture- Cash-Landrum UFO Questions
- 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
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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: Ministry of Defence
The UFO Files Rebooted
The second edition of The UFO files was published by Bloomsbury on 13 September 2012. You can order the book from Amazon here or via the publisher’s website here. The National Archives press release on the book can be found … Continue reading
Seeing Sprites
Six years ago I used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the release of a secret Ministry of Defence report on ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ (UAP). The study, codenamed ‘Project Condign‘, concluded that UAPs – as the MoD’s Defence Intelligence … Continue reading
UFO Files make waves
The release of the ninth collection of MoD UFO files by The National Archives continues to make news across the world. On the first day of the launch (Thursday, 12 July) the website received almost 60,000 visitors – an uplift … 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
Mystery Booms
It’s a familiar story. Police and emergency services inundated with phone calls from concerned members of the public who have heard or seen something unfamiliar in the sky. Last month it was a spectacular fireball meteor. This month it was … Continue reading
Fireball lights up northern sky
Hundreds of people reported seeing a fireball meteor that lit up the night sky across parts of northern England at 9.40 p.m. on Saturday, 3 March. Some excellent footage of the fireball has been posted on YouTube and can be … Continue reading
Worryingly big sea monsters
Last week it was UFOlogy in a Field. This week it’s UFOlogy in a pond. No, I’m not talking about the ‘submarine saucer’ (Nessie), but a subject I’ve mentioned elsewhere in my blog on ‘Sea Monster Files.‘ Two years … Continue reading
UFO Files break records
The release of the seventh collection of MoD UFO files has broken records for the The National Archives website. The number of hits on the UFO page has now reached 8.5 million, with almost 60 hits per second on the … Continue reading