Dispatches

Historic Mysteries / 19:00

1855 Sketches and Letters Show the Devil’s Footprints Were Never All Alike

On February 9, 1855, south Devon woke to lines of small hoof-shaped prints in the snow, and some locals blamed the Devil. Letters and sketches from 1855 show the marks varied in size, stride and place, which undercuts the legend of one…

Historic Mysteries / 15:00

Bridget Cleary: Fairy Changeling or Murdered Wife in 1895 Ireland?

In 1895 Michael Cleary told his Tipperary neighbors that the sick woman in his bed was a fairy changeling, not his wife. Days later she was dead. Did he truly believe the old stories, or did he use them to explain away a killing? The post…

DigVentures / 08:00

Inside the Sacrewell Urn: Micro-excavating a Hexagonal Roman Glass Cremation Vessel