[Folklorists are accustomed to the idea that supernatural legend – and even contemporary paranormal experience –surrounds the ancient monuments of Europe. Stonehenge. Silbury Hill. Carnac. The Rollrights. So common is it that one may presume every little stone-circle or barrow (burial mound) comes with some local legend. It’s an unfortunate surprise to too many Americans to hear […]
When I’m anywhere near a major sacred site, a “place of ancient sanctity” in the words of John Michell, I try to get into it by myself with a journal and spend a bit of reflective time. It’s a balm for the interior self even if no revelations come. The megaliths of Europe and the […]
I don’t believe in ghosts, although I’ve seen my share.Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen One of the unforgettable memories of my teaching career is of sitting in on the English class of Nichols School legend William F. Kimberly (1929-2011), to me the model of a man who knew where he […]
[Supernatural folklore and ancient monuments go hand in hand in Europe. In the Americas, the connection is not so well known.] When the first historic European cultures, the Celts, moved into northern and western Europe, they found the landscape marked by the monuments of an earlier people. Many of them were apparently simple constructions of […]
An enormous supernatural tradition has built up around the ancient earthworks. In England, they say Merlin built Stonehenge with his spells. A formation of standing stones – Long Meg and her Daughters – were a coven of witches turned into stones by Scottish wizard Michael Scot. The Cerne Abbas hill figure (a gigantic chalk carving) […]
When I’m anywhere near a major sacred site, a “place of ancient sanctity” in the words of John Michell, I try to get into it by myself with a journal and spend a bit of reflective time. It’s a balm for the interior self even if no revelations come. The megaliths of Europe and the […]