Start Here

Welcome.

This website is an archive of historical research into supernatural belief, folklore, and investigation. It exists for two reasons: to explore how people have understood strange phenomena across history, and to show how those ideas can shape powerful stories.

Many supernatural tales begin in imagination. But many others grow from something older and stranger, from traditions people once believed were real. Séances held in Victorian drawing rooms, cunning folk practicing village magic, early detectives exposing fraudulent mediums, or governments quietly studying psychic phenomena during the Cold War. These are not inventions of fiction alone. They are part of cultural history.

The articles gathered here explore those traditions and the worlds that produced them.

If you are new to the site, the best place to begin is the guide below.

Writing the Supernatural

At the centre of the archive is a guide called Writing the Supernatural.
It explains how belief, folklore, investigation, and history combine to shape supernatural storytelling.

If you are curious about how real traditions influence fiction, start there.

Explore the Archive

The research library is organised into several subject areas.

Supernatural Belief
Articles exploring ghosts, spiritualism, and the cultural traditions surrounding contact with the unseen.

Folklore & Witchcraft
Studies of cunning folk, divination, charms, and the everyday magical traditions that existed alongside organised religion.

Psychic Research
Historical investigations into psychic phenomena, from Victorian psychical societies to Cold War experiments.

Policing & Investigation
The history of detectives, policing methods, and the investigation of supernatural claims and fraudulent mediums.

Intelligence & Security
The expansion of the modern information state, wartime secrecy, and the strange intersection between intelligence agencies and paranormal research.

For Readers of Fiction

The research on this site also informs a series of stories set in the fictional village of Easterwich.

These stories draw on the historical material explored in the archive, blending folklore, investigation, and supernatural mystery.

You can explore those stories in the Fiction section of the site.

Browse the Full Archive

If you would prefer to see everything at once, visit the Archive page.
It provides a complete map of all articles organised by subject.

This site is not a paranormal blog and it is not an academic journal.
It sits somewhere between the two: a curated archive exploring how belief, investigation, and folklore shape the stories we tell about the unknown.

Wherever you choose to begin, I hope you find something here that sparks curiosity.

Welcome to the archive.

— Richard Odell