We crave safety. We build rules and systems and even physical barriers in order to create a sense of security. But darkness has a way of creeping in, no matter how powerful the walls might be.

History is full of criminals. They come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Some are cheerful, some are dark. Some, however, steal more than money or precious belongings. To be caught in their web means paying the ultimate price.

Our connection to animals is ancient, intimate, and complex. Humans have worshiped them, sacrificed them, lived with them, and been buried with them. But folklore from all over the world hints at a darker connection, and it just might be true.

The more crowded our world becomes, the more frequently we are confronted with our commonality. Our interests, our passions…even our appearance. But just how similar can we get? Well, that’s the stuff of folklore.

Folklore is more than just a collection of stories; it’s the soul of a culture or location. Without them, our world has less texture and beauty. And like the stories themselves, some places have spirits that creep in and take up residence.

Fear has a way of spreading. It’s contagious, moving from person to person. Given enough time, fear can consume an entire community. Sometimes, though, there’s good reason to be afraid.

Nearly four centuries ago, a wave of sickness spread through a community in the French countryside. It wasn’t a traditional disease they were fighting, though. This plague had a more sinister source.

Human culture has a different expression no matter where you go. Despite that variety, though, we do share one common thread: music. And while it has typically been a source of joy, there have been moments when music has brought something else: fear, pain, and horror.

H.P. Lovecraft said it best: “…the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown”. And no other place in the world is as unknown to us as the ocean. It’s dark, it’s deep, it’s full of questions—and maybe something else.

Humans have an innate desire to fix what’s broken, and that’s a good thing. We’re not the best at it, though, and we often fail—sometimes horribly. And few examples are as powerful as the world of mental health.

You can tell a lot about a culture by the things it creates. Tools, exploration, weapons; all of it speaks to the priorities and character of that society. But if that’s true, then what are we supposed to assume about the mind behind one of history’s most bizarre creations?

Folklore and medicine often go hand in hand. In fact, for a long time they were the very same thing. But folklore has a way of leading people to tragic actions—all in the name of getting better.

Folklore and popular culture are filled with a type of event that seems both unusual and logical: time and time again, criminals return to the source. But as one man proved a century ago, it’s not always easy to go home. 

The bigger the city, the easier it is to miss the little details. Stories of loss, tragedy, and horrifying events have a way of vanishing beneath the bustle of everyday life. And no place is better at hiding away its dark secrets than the Big Apple.

There are very few bits of folklore that haven’t spread around the globe over the past few centuries. Yet every now and then, something fresh and distinct pops up. But just because it’s relatively new doesn’t mean it’s safe.

Fire is a dangerous tool. Used properly, it can transform a society, but if it isn’t respected, it can burn that society to the ground. Which is why we are obsessed with controlling it—and completely, utterly afraid of it.

There are some locations that seem to draw humans closer. Places that are away from the bustle of everyday life, that almost seem part of our soul. We go there for solitaire, or for rest, or recreation. Sometimes, though, we don’t return.

The older the country, the deeper the roots of its folklore have grown—roots that are fed by darkness, fear, and pain. And few countries hold such a variety of frightening tales, both old and modern, as the lovely Emerald Isle. But not everything that walks those hills is safe to approach.

The sky is full of mystery. It’s big, expansive, and—despite a century of powered human flight—outside our realm of control. Which is why, for centuries, humans have expected things to come down from the sky and harm us. It might sound crazy now, but the possibilities are wide open. And that might not be a good thing.

There’s a fine line between rationality and madness, but it’s not as easy to avoid as you might think. Throughout history, our world has played host to people who have taken their superstitions too far, but it was the chaos of the English Civil War that helped give birth to one of the worst.

We’ve conquered much of our world, but even with all of our great cities and urban sprawl, there are still shadows on the edge. And it’s in the shadows that the greatest threats still exist—creatures from our darkest nightmares that threaten our feeling of safety. Which has led some to strike out into the dark and hunt them.

Humans have a seemingly never-ending list of fears. The dark of night, small spaces, open water…there doesn’t seem to be an area of life that doesn’t come with a few reasons to take pause and be afraid. But the greatest of those fears might just come at the end of our lives, and for over a century, that fear drove people to unimaginable things.

When our health is failing and our lives are at risk, trust is essential. The people who care for us often find themselves in a position of power, with our well-being entirely under their control. As history has shown us, however, there’s danger in handing that much control over to another person.

The sky is a source of life for everything on this planet. Rain to quench our thirst and sunlight for our food. We don’t look up too often these days, but that hasn’t changed our dependance on it. But occasionally, the sky can be a source of something else. Something much less typical than rain or snow or sunshine. History, it seems, paints a very frightening picture of the world above us.

The pages of our greatest literature are full of tales of powerful wizards. People gifted with abilities that stand head and shoulder above their peers. They act as guides, ushering us into a new world with fresh possibilities. And yet they are much more than simply a tool used by storytellers. In fact, history paints a much more fascinating—and dark—picture for us.

Life is a lot like a big budget movie. We click play, and then let the action wash over us. There are highs and lows, laughter and tears, and then it’s all over and the screen goes silent. The dead can’t talk back, something most people are thankful for. Still, there have been rare moments in history when that rule appears to have been broken—and the results were extraordinary.