Folklore: Definition and Stories

Topics

Featured

Friday the 13th

The Fear of 13 Just like walking under a ladder, crossing paths with a black cat or breaking a mirror, many people hold fast to the belief that Friday the 13th brings bad luck. Though it’s uncertain exactly when this particular tradition began, negative superstitions have swirled around the number 13 for centuries. While Western […]

Engraving of a Witches' SabbathEngraving of a Witches' Sabbath

History of Witches

Witches were perceived as evil beings by early Christians in Europe, inspiring the iconic Halloween figure.

Atlantis

Plato’s Atlantis Plato (through the character Critias in his dialogues) describes Atlantis as an island larger than Libya and Asia Minor put together, located in the Atlantic just beyond the Pillars of Hercules—generally assumed to mean the Strait of Gibraltar. Its culture was advanced and it had a constitution suspiciously similar to the one outlined […]

Bermuda Triangle

Legend of the Bermuda Triangle The area referred to as the Bermuda Triangle, or Devil’s Triangle, covers about 500,000 square miles of ocean off the southeastern tip of Florida. When Christopher Columbus sailed through the area on his first voyage to the New World, he reported that a great flame of fire (probably a meteor) […]

Stories

See All

Featured

7 Early Imaginings of Artificial Intelligence

Humans have conceived versions of intelligent machines for centuries.

How Inca Mummies Ruled Over the Living

The most important members of Inca society continued to be treated as living beings after death—and provided a powerful link to the gods.

Before America Had Witch Trials, Europe Had Werewolf Trials

A few of the accused may have been actual pedophiles or serial killers, but many were beggars, hermits or recent émigrés who were tortured into confessions.

8 Halloween Folk Legends: Video

From witches to zombies to creepy clowns, the season’s hair-raising legends all formed from decades—to centuries—of lore.

Videos

See All

1:45 minTV-PG

Play

Featured

History of Zombies

Learn more about Counter-Zombie Dominance, the Pentagon’s plan in case of a zombie apocalypse.

5:57 minTV-PG

Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness expert Adrian Shine discusses his involvement with the Loch Ness Project and recaps his decades spent working to uncover the truth behind the Loch Ness monster.

Watch now