The Feral Folklorist
The Feral Folklorist is a podcast that blends strange history, old-world witchcraft, and hands-on folk magic. Each episode explores a real haunting, folktale, or magical belief—then digs deeper into the spellcraft, superstition, and shadow work buried underneath. From witch bottles and death omens to crossroads myths and Southern curses, this show uncovers the folklore people whisper about but rarely explain.
Hosted by author and folklorist Papa Gee, The Feral Folklorist combines storytelling with practical magic, revealing how ancient beliefs still shape the way we protect, hex, heal, and haunt. Whether you’re into ghost stories, rootwork, or ritual, this podcast invites you to explore the eerie, the enchanted, and everything that still smells like smoke.
New episodes every other Monday.
Episodes
32 episodes
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale - The Story of the Night Mare
This time, I’m sharing “The Story of the Night Mare,” an old piece of folklore about the strange weight that sometimes comes in the middle of the night. Long before people had medical names for sleep paralysis, many believed a spirit called a <...
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Season 2
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9:28
Feral by Night Sneak Peek - Don't Answer the Third Knock at the Back Door
A knock at the back door in the middle of the night is bad enough. A second one is worse. By the time the third comes, it may already be too late.In this first episode of Feral by Night, Papa Gee pulls you into a dark and uneasy tale of...
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Season 2
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18:46
20. The Boo Hag of the Gullah South
The Boo Hag is one of the most chilling spirit figures in Gullah folklore. In this episode, we dig into the old Lowcountry belief in a skinless night spirit that slips through cracks, rides the sleeping, and leaves people waking up weak, breath...
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Season 2
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Episode 20
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32:17
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale - The Boy Who Drew Cats
This time, I’m sharing “The Boy Who Drew Cats,” a Japanese folktale about a small temple boy who won’t stop sketching cats—on scraps of paper, in margins, anywhere he can get a bit of ink. The priests think it’s a pointless habit until the temp...
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Season 2
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8:52
19. Foot Track Magic - Conjure Hidden in the Footprints
Hot Foot is the most well known term. In this episode, we dig into the old Southern conjure practice known as foot track magic—the belief that a person’s footprint can be used as a direct line to their body, luck, and movement. From West...
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Season 2
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Episode 19
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26:22
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale - The Woman Who Married a Bear
This time, I’m sharing “The Woman Who Married a Bear,” an old northern folktale about a girl who goes missing into the woods and returns with a husband no one quite understands. In some versions he is gentle, in others he is feared, but he is n...
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Season 2
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7:26
18. The Face of Medusa: Myth, Monster, or Magical Shield
Medusa is more than a monster in a hero story. In this episode of The Feral Folklorist, we look at Medusa as a protective figure tied to the Evil Eye and the old idea that envy and bad intent can reach a person through attention. We co...
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Season 2
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Episode 18
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36:30
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale - The Man Who Sold His Shadow
This time, I’m sharing “The Man Who Sold His Shadow,” a European-style folktale about a bargain that looks harmless at first and the quiet trouble that follows it home. When a man trades away his shadow for comfort and ease, the world slowly st...
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Season 2
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6:27
17. Witching Hours - Magic, Timing, and the Clock
Some moments aren’t for action—they’re for waiting. In this episode, we step into the folklore of time itself: the hours we were warned not to touch, the nights we were told to leave well enough alone, and the ways folk magic used clocks, moons...
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Season 2
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Episode 17
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29:36
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale - The Monkey King Tricks the Demon
This time, I’m sharing “The Monkey King Tricks the Demon,” a Chinese folktale-style story about a mountain road gone quiet and the kind of creature that thinks a sealed jar is the same thing as control. The Monkey King walks in looking harmless...
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Season 2
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7:42
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale - The Men of the Turning Year
This time, I’m sharing “The Men of the Turning Year,” a Czech and Slavic-style folktale about a girl sent into a winter forest to fetch what winter doesn’t give. In a clearing, she finds twelve men around a small fire—each one tied to a piece o...
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Season 2
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5:59
16. Stitched Under Pressure: Sewing, Knotting, and the Magic of Fabric
Needle and thread don’t just mend. In this episode, we step into the older folklore of sewing—where stitches could bind a person’s luck, knots could lock a fate in place, and finishing the wrong piece at the wrong time was believed to invite tr...
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Season 2
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Episode 16
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29:23
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale - The Cat That Swallowed The Stars
Feral Folktales is where I step aside from the main show and tell a straight folktale—simple, spoken, and exactly as it’s meant to be heard. These bonus episodes are just a little something extra between the full installments of The Feral Folkl...
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Season 2
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6:39
15. When the Dead Answer Back: Séances, Mediums, and Spirit Communication
Season 2 opens with spirit communication. In this episode, we’re stripping the velvet off the Victorian séance to look at the grit underneath. We trace the path from the first mechanical "raps" in a drafty New York house to the high-stakes, loc...
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Season 2
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Episode 15
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29:23
14. Christmas Conjure: A Wicked Yuletide Podcast
Holiday folk magic, protective charms, and old-world winter witchery you can still use today. While the world decks the halls, we’re lacing cookies with fixed sugar, slipping sachet powders into gift wrap, and turning ornaments into spell jars....
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Season 1
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Episode 14
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25:47
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale - Duppy and the Silk Cotton Tree
Feral Folktales is where I step aside from the main show and tell a straight folktale—simple, spoken, and exactly as it’s meant to be heard. These bonus episodes are just a little something extra between the full installments of The Feral Folkl...
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Season 1
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11:58
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale – Grýla and the Yule Lads
Feral Folktales is where I step aside from the main show and tell a straight folktale—simple, spoken, and exactly as it’s meant to be heard. These bonus episodes are just a little something extra between the full installments of The Feral Folkl...
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Season 1
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8:53
Feral Folktales: A Short Tale – The Old Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle
Feral Folktales is where I step aside from the main show and tell a straight folktale—simple, spoken, and exactly as it’s meant to be heard. These bonus episodes are just a little something extra between the full installments of The Feral Folkl...
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Season 1
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7:55
13. The Dybbuk Box: Cursed Object or Haunted Idea?
The Dybbuk Box - wood, metal, a couple of drawers. But the moment people touch it, things start to unravel—sickness, nightmares, strange smells, broken lives.In this episode, we dig into the origin story of one of the internet’s most inf...
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Season 1
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Episode 13
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35:01
12. The Lady in White: Ghosts That Never Rest
She stands by the road. In a white dress. Silent. Watching. And no matter what country you’re in, someone has a story that starts just like that.In this episode, we trace the recurring shape of the Lady in White—across highways, rivers, ...
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Season 1
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Episode 12
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26:36
11. Elizabeth Bathory: The Notorious Blood Countess
High in the Carpathian hills, the ruins of Cachtice Castle still whisper her name. In this episode, we descend into the history and legend of Elizabeth Bathory—the Hungarian countess accused of bathing in blood and condemned without a trial. Yo...
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Season 1
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Episode 11
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26:05
10. The Tomb of Marie Laveau – Voodoo, Graveyard Magic, and the Spirit of New Orleans
White-washed and sun-cracked, the tomb of Marie Laveau stands in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 like it’s still waiting for someone to knock. In this episode, we dig into the magic and myth surrounding the most famous Voodoo Queen of New Orleans—and ...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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30:14
9. The Hex Murder of York County: A True Crime Rooted in Pennsylvania Dutch Folk Magic
In 1928, a Pennsylvania folk healer named Nelson Rehmeyer was beaten and killed by three men who believed he’d hexed them. They weren’t strangers—they knew him, had sat at his kitchen table, and came armed with folk instructions: steal his spel...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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32:38
8. Where Haints Get Stuck: Bottle Trees to Trap Evil Spirits
Blue bottle trees aren’t just porch decorations—they’re spirit traps. In this episode, we dig into the Southern and African origins of this folk magic tradition, where glass bottles are used to confuse, trap, or drive off wandering spirits. You...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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28:34
7. The Myrtles Plantation: The Mirror That Watches Back
Mirrors are supposed to show us the truth—but in folk magic, they do a whole lot more. In this episode, we’re heading to Louisiana’s most famously haunted home to unravel the legends behind the Myrtles Plantation and the mirror said to trap spi...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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31:38