Miscellany and Digressions

These are literary investigations that pop up while I'm in the middle of another project (often, another investigation). I get curious about things, and I can't help but dig. Since the results don't always fit neatly into the other categories on the site, I keep them here.

Attributions for The Astrologer of the Nineteenth Century : An 1825 compendium of occultish pieces lifted without attribution from various literary and astrological journals. So of course, I had to track those attributions down. Includes an interesting piece purporting to be from the diaries of John Dee. I couldn't prove that it was, but I couldn't prove that it wasn't either.

The Legend of Old Spital Inn: Discusses an earlier version of the Spital Inn legend that Vincent Price reads on the 1974 album A Graveyard of Ghost Tales. I also provide an English translation for a 17th century account of an "Aztec hand of glory."

The Cavern of Steenfoll: This is a retelling of R. P. Gillies' "The Nikkur Holl" by German Romantic writer Wilhelm Hauff. Read both and decide which you like better!

Spukenswald: A delightfully gory German gothic pastiche by Lambert A. Wilmer, friend and colleague of Edgar Allan Poe.

Hunting the Ghost of Lille: Two versions of a "true" haunted house story from Lille, France.

And in case I forgot any of them, here's a link to all posts about Miscellany Cases.