La Loteria…

I’ve just randomly discovered that those eerie images one sees on Downtown area folkart matchbooks and wooden ladder games does indeed have a history…You know, the images of “The Mermaid” and “El Diablo” and “El Corazon?” The official name is Loteria and it’s yet another example of wild and uncultivated mythology echoing Appalachian English Folk… Continue reading La Loteria…

The Picts

The Picts were the early inhabitants of Scotland, so called “barbarian” tribes who often skirmished with the Celtic Britons living to the south of them, sometimes living on the spoils of their attacks. Little historic documentation is available regarding them, as Scotland gradually became Celticized itself. The only text left to us by the Picts… Continue reading The Picts

Slave House

When I was ten, visiting the ancestral familial stomping grounds of the Southern Illinois-Kentucky border, I was taking to visit the following “tourist attraction.” I don’t know if it’s haunted or not. I just know the horror of it is absolutely chilling. The absolute worst of what mankind can inflict on mankind. The stalls where… Continue reading Slave House

King Wenceslas

From Royaltu.NU: “Good King Wenceslas looked out on the Feast of Stephen, When the snow lay round about, deep and crisp and even. Brightly shone the moon that night, though the frost was cruel, When a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel.” You’re probably familiar with this old Christmas carol. But did you… Continue reading King Wenceslas

Thetis, Mother of Achilles

Thetis by James Hunter ——————————————————————————– Thetis was one of the Nereids. Zeus desired her, but she rejected his advances. The goddess Themis then revealed that Thetis was fated to bear a son who was mightier than his father; fearing for his dominion, Zeus gave Thetis as bride to a mortal, Peleus, and all the gods… Continue reading Thetis, Mother of Achilles