Bone and Sickle

Bone and Sickle

BONE AND SICKLE explores historical topics related to folklore and horror. With acerbic wit and a scholarly penchant for the grotesque, rogue folklorist Al Ridenour delves into a wide but carefully curated range of topics illustrated by stories from historical texts. Narratives are given dramatic readings by “Mrs. Karswell” (Sarah Chavez) backed by richly produced soundscapes blending original music, sound design and effects. The source books, though real enough, are said to be pulled from an imaginary library on Ridenour’s imaginary estate situated somewhere in the neighborhood of Charles Addams and Edward Gorey. Each episode begins with our hosts briefly discussing goings-on in this world before diving into the topic to be explored. Occasional alternate-format episodes are devoted to readings of classic horror stories or curious texts of antiquarian interest. Ridenour is the author of “The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas” (2016) and “A Season of Madness: Fools, Monsters, and Marv

Episodes

A Werewolf in Court

November 25, 2025 • 21 mins
In our second short episode for November, we take a close look at a the 1692 trial of Thiess of Kaltenbrunn, a purported werewolf in the town of  Jürgensburg, in Livonia, (a Baltic region now divided between Estonia and Latvia). “Old Thiess,” as he was known, described himself as being a  particularly exotic form of werewolf -- one who served God in Hell.  The testimony offered was so curious that we will be presenting the court tr...
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Horror, Fact, Fiction, and a Revelation

November 22, 2025 • 19 mins
This is a special short episode looking at fictional evidence used to bolster horror narratives in literature, film, and broadcast media.  We compare the found-footage phenomenon with earlier literary techniques and discuss some famous hoaxes and Halloween pranks, some historical and others closer to home.
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Halloween Fortune-Telling Party

October 30, 2025 • 37 mins
This year, in the tradition of Halloween fortune-telling, we have an interactive divination game you can play at home.  It comes from aa 19th-century book on cartomancy called, The oracle of human destiny: or, the unerring foreteller of future events, and accurate interpreter of mystical signs and influences; through the medium of common cards. TO PLAY ALONG,  you will need an ordinary DECK OF CARS or you could can draw your cards...
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Mr. Ridenour’s Haunted Basement

October 27, 2025
If you've been curious regarding Mr. Ridenour's and Mrs. Karswell's troubles with anomalous events in the house, this short episode should answer some of your questions as Dr. Bartusch and crew attempt to restore order.
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Update: GO LOOK AT THE GRAVE!

October 20, 2025 • 4 mins
(SPOILER ALERTt: Do not listen to this until you have heard Episode 146 "Urban Legend".) This is  a short postscript to our "Urban Legend" episode based on feedback from a listener. It has to do with a very curious grave in Chesterton, Indiana, which may be related to our story.  And here is the grave:
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Urban Legend

October 18, 2025
A 1968 Halloween "Spook Show" in the Midwest left an unsettling heritage of urban legends possibly rooted in even more unsettling facts.  What little is definitively known regarding this event comes from the newspaper archives of the Danville News-Gazette, in which we find a short October 28  promo piece in the "Entertainment" section featuring this photo presumed to be of the impresario behind it all, J. Jolly. "Dr. Killer Hertz"...
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Pumpkins, Turnips, and Spooklights

September 30, 2025 • 51 mins
The Halloween Jack-o'-lantern, made from pumpkins in the US and originally turnips in the UK, began its existence as a wisp of glowing marsh gas or "spooklight." We begin our episode with a montage of modern American spooklights including that of Oklahoma's "Spooklight Road," North Carolina’s Brown Mountain, and the flying saucers sighted in Michigan in 1966, famously identified by investigator Allen Hynek  as "swamp gas." "Jack-o...
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St. George, the Dragon, and More

August 29, 2025 • 49 mins
There's so much more to the figure of St. George than his battle with a dragon. Legends also tell of his grisly martyrdom, capture of a demon, and postmortem abilities to cure madness through contact with his relics. In the Holy Land, there is even a tradition syncretizing St. George with a a supernatural figure of Muslim legend. We begin with a look at a modernized take on the St. George legend, the annual Drachenstich, or “drago...
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International Folk-Horror Film Round-Up

July 31, 2025 • 53 mins
As a summer replacement for our regular episode: a round-up of non-English-language Folk-Horror films (here as audio but also available as video) The presentation was created by Mr. Ridenour’s for the Rural Gothic conference hosted by The Folklore Podcast on 9/26/2020. The focus is on European folk-horror films, including Russian productions, and a few especially interesting Turkish films are also highlighted. It's by no means com...
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The Fates

July 8, 2025 • 49 mins
The Fates of Classical Antiquity not only survived in the form of related fairy-tale figures but also as the object of superstitions and rituals associated with newborns. In South Slavic and Balkan regions particularly, these customs represent a surprisingly long-lived and genuine case of pagan survival. We begin our episode examining the fairy godmothers of "Sleeping Beauty" as embodiments of the Fates.  Mrs. Karswell reads a few...
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Rolling Hells and Land-Ships

May 22, 2025 • 33 mins
During the 15th-century, citizens of Nuremberg, Germany, experienced spectacular Carnival parades highlighted by the appearance of floats known as "hells."  Featuring immense figures, including dragons, ogres, and man-eating  giants, these hells were also peopled with costumed performers and enhanced with mechanized effects and pyrotechnics. In this episode, adapted from a chapter of Mr. Ridenour’s new book, A Season of Madness: F...
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Happy May Day!

April 30, 2025
Your favorite podcast is now seven years old!  As a birthday gift to our listeners, we decided to try a super short, experimental video podcast. For your pleasure, Mr. Ridenour yesterday edited together this vide0, entitled "The May Queen".
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The Unknown Carnival

April 21, 2025 • 24 mins
Mr. Ridenour introduces his new book "A Season of Madness: Fools, Monsters, and Marvels of the Old-World Carnival," explaining how the project grew out of his research for "The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas."  In this episode, he sketches out chapter themes and topics, from ancient Rome to modern Bulgaria, focusing particularly on cultural hinterlands where festivities still echo the cruel realities of the old, agricultural w...
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The Sin-Eater

March 24, 2025 • 45 mins
The Sin-Eater was a figure associated with funerals of the 17th - 19th century, mostly in Wales, and the English counties along the Welsh border. According to tradition,  he was invited by grieving families to transfer the burden of sins from the deceased to himself by consuming bread and  beer in the vicinity of the corpse, after which he might receive some financial compensation. He typically came from the fringes of society and ...
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Mélusine, the Serpent Fairy

February 18, 2025 • 55 mins
Mélusine is a female fairy of medieval legend. who suffers under a curse transforming her once weekly into a monstrous form. In various tales she becomes either a serpent or fish from the waist down, or fully transforms into a dragon. Mélusine can only break this curse via marriage to a mortal who is obliged to allow her certain secret freedoms.  In return, her husband enjoys magical assistance and sees his fortunes flourish, at le...
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Announcement: Show Delay

January 31, 2025 • 29 secs
Unfortunately, release of the episode scheduled for this month has been delayed thanks to the Eaton Wildfire in California. Your hosts are safe and sound, but complications from the fire temporarily halted production. The episode in question should be available in February. Thank you for your patience!  
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A Christmas Ghost Story VII

December 23, 2024 • 33 mins
The Victorian tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas has been celebrated by Bone and Sickle since 2018.  This year is no exception as we share two stories in this episode, one comic, and one frightening. We begin with the Introduction to the 1891 anthology, Told After Supper, by the British writer, Jerome K. Jerome, following this with "The Old Portrait" from  Scottish writer Hume Nisbet's 1900 collection Stories Weird and...
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La Befana, the Witch of Twelfth Night

December 15, 2024
A short extra episode on Befana, the gift-bringing Italian witch associated with Twelfth Night, the end of the Christmas season.  Included in the show is material from the book, "The Krampus and the Old, Dark Christmas," traditional music of the season, audio from actual celebrations, and a few pop songs associated with la Befana. Befana on the Piazza Navona, Rome. The Cucibocca of Montescaglioso
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Vlad the Impaler

December 1, 2024 • 54 mins
A figure of mythic proportions during his lifetime, Vlad the Impaler's notoriety receded over the centuries only to be resurrected in the 1970s, when a pair of Boston University scholars went public with theories connecting him to Bram Stoker's Count Dracula. We begin with snippet of Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 film, Bram Stoker's Dracula, the first film to connect the literary vampire with the Eastern European prince -- a rather ...
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Devil Boards

October 28, 2024 • 34 mins
The devilish reputation Ouija boards enjoy in horror films is a relatively new phenomenon.  In the Victorian era, they were regarded by "psychical researchers" as something to be embraced in a spirit of calm scientific inquiry, while Spiritualists saw in them a means of reaching out to those who'd passed into the "Summerland," an anodyne realm of sweetness and light. While these were the dominant attitudes of the day, the idea of ...
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