The Silver Pen
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Fairy Roads and Forgotten Paths: When Victorian Travelers Feared the Otherworld
Pioneers spoke of wandering lights—will-o’-the-wisps—that danced across the plains. Some called them swamp gas, others fairy fires, but the effect was the same: men and women followed them, entranced, until they were thoroughly lost.
Victorian Courting Customs
Courtship and romantic relationships during the Victorian era was a time of strict social codes and intricate customs designed to uphold societal values such as modesty, propriety, and class distinctions.
The History of the Circus
A brief history of the wonderful, magical circus.
Victorian Funerary Rites
During the Victorian era (1837–1901), funerary rites and mourning practices became highly elaborate and ritualized, reflecting the period’s attitudes toward death and social propriety.
Flowers of the Frontier
The fascination with floriography was not just limited to England. It quickly spread to the United States, where Victorian women in the more established cities of the East also adopted the practice of communicating through flowers.
Irish Fairy Folklore: The Banshee
Even in contemporary times, belief in the banshee lingers in parts of Ireland. There are stories of people claiming to hear unexplained wails in the night before the passing of a loved one.