Olivia

@oliviaarmstrong

Professional Storyteller. Folklore Lover. Believer in magic.

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Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Aug 2

Houdini said if it is real after all, I'll come back to you. And so Bess kept a candle burning by his picture. Each Halloween she took that candle to a seance, for 10 years. But nothing. And so finally up on a Hollywood roof, she blew out the candle "This is the end, Harry, goodnight.” #SpookySunday

Bess and Harry Houdini. He wears a dark suit and bow tie. She wears a black hat and black velvet dress. They stand so closely together. Both have a slight smile.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Jul 15

The monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff with large square head with bolts through the neck is sitting by the peaceful water's edge holding a daisy. Meanwhile a little girl, her lap filled with flowers talks to him.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Jun 18

Banshees used waxwings as torches to guide them through their haunting nights... #FolkloreThursday 🖌️Banshee Appears - unattributed

Two startled men in top hats stand aghast as a waving distraught female figure arises out of the misty fields.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Jun 18

I love the dark & scary lore! #FolkloreThursday In Scotland & NI yellowhammers were alleged to drink a drop of devil's blood every day in May... 📷Simun Ascic

A bright yellow little bird sits on a post and sings.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Jun 18

In Danish folk belief, the moon was a cheese churned from curds that dropped out of the Milky Way... #FolkloreThursday I have always loved folklore of the Moon!

A large yellow smiling moon looks at a boy in red striped pyjamas, wearing a baker's hat and holding a plateful of yellow cheese.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Jun 18

In Irish folklore, blackbirds held the souls of those in purgatory until judgement day. When the birds' voices were shrill, it was those souls, burning and parched, calling for rain. Rain always came... 🎨Böcklin #FolkloreThursday One of my favourite pieces of folklore!

A hairy-legged satyr lies beneath a bush whistling, on the branch above, a blackbird echoes his whistling.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· May 28

If a cat jumped over a corpse in its coffin, it was said the soul of the dead belonged to the devil or that they would return as one of the walking undead... #FolkloreThursday

A disintegrating photograph in which a woman has her face obscured by the holes in the photo but a white fluffy cat is in perfect focus on her lap.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· May 28

Forget St. Pat, the 17th March belongs to St Gertrude of Nivelles - patron saint of cats, invoked by the souls of purgatory and those troubled by mice... #FolkloreThursday 🎨Carolee Clark

A saint with a bright golden halo wearing a nun's habit sits in a verdant garden, she is softly cuddling a tortoiseshell cat.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· May 28

In Swedish folklore, a fungus known as witch's butter was made from the vomit of a witch's cat...! #FolkloreThursday 📷Daniel Greenwood

a vividly yellow jelly like fungus growing on a green mossy barked tree.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Apr 18

"I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains and southwards which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge". CS Lewis describing CO. Down and the Mournes, the inspiration for Narnia. #BookWormSat 📷Nigel Killeen

the mountain tops dusted lightly with snow, the sun sets pink above them.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Apr 18

It’s a valley where you feel completely safe, Moomintroll told her. You feel happy when you wake up and it’s a pleasure to fall asleep at night. There’s a climbing tree where I’m going to build a house and a completely secret place that I shall show you. Comet in Moominland Tove Jansson #BookWormSat

A map of Moomin Valley showing places of interest including The Cave, Woodshed and Moominhouse.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Apr 18

That evening, the dark flat streets of New York, the tomorrow of work, the milk bottle dropped and broken in her sink, became unimportant. The Price of Salt - Patricia Highsmith 📷Times Square with Pigeons - Frank Oscar Larson #BookWormSat

New York, slick wet streets, multiple pigeons walk. A huge billboard advertises A Star is Born starring Judy Garland and James Mason.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Apr 5

On Easter Sunday in England, people once arose early to witness the sun dancing... #EasterSunday #Folklore

Inside a golden frame decorated with colourful birds and flowers, a bright red sun is rising over a hilled city. The sun has human features and appears solemn and somewhat serious. There are trees and a winnding river in the foreground.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Apr 3

In Scottish lore, folk born on Good Friday not only have the ability to see ghosts but to order them about... #PhantomsFriday

A sepia photograph which shows the classic white sheet transparent ghost standing outside in a garden by some ivy draped large French Windows.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 31

A maritime superstition said it was unlucky to “save a stranger from the sea” for “he’ll turn your enemy”. There was a belief that the one who saved the other, would soon be drowned themselves... #MorbidMarch 🎨Niss

a grey sea, overcast sky, a skeleton is dragging a man into the water and the man is resisting so far...

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 30

Balls of light have been reported hovering over various stretches of water on the Scottish lochs, sometimes stationary, then moving fast and dropping down into the water. In local lore such lights were thought to foretell death, and upon seeing them, fisherman would stay on dry land... #MorbidMarch

shimmering blue sea with a fishing boat bobbing. a young woman in pink cardigan and white apron is walking across the rocky shore with a wicker basket, handle under her arm.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 29

Whitby Jet became THE most integral piece of Victorian mourning jewellery. Following the death of Prince Albert 50 jet workshops swelled to 204... #MorbidMarch 🎨Jules Émile Saintin

a fashionably dressed dark haired woman in a black silk striped mourning dress with bustled back staring out to sea. She wears a black hat with black feathers and a long white ribbon, and holds a closed black umbrella and a white handkerchief with a black border. Her mourning jewellery includes a silver and jet cross around her neck, jet beaded earrings and jet and pearl rings.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 28

There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts. . . . There’s fennel for you, and columbines. Hamlet, act 4, scene 5. #ShakespeareWeek #BookWormSat 🎨John Everett Millais

Ophelia in a long grey dress is floating, drowning in the shallow river, a string of colourful flowers of blue, red and white clasped in her right hand. The riverbank is abundant and overhanging with long reeds, white flowers, grasses and plants.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 28

Tattoos all had symbolic meanings. The swallow represented how many miles the sailor had travelled and, if they drowned, would also fly their soul to heaven. The anchor represented stability, strength and safety... 📸Todd Walker #MorbidMarch

A circus family. A glamorous mother in a tasselled bikini, her daughter in a tutu and two smaller boys. The eldest boy smiles whilst the rest of the family pose stony-faced. Everyone including the children are heavily tattooed all over their bodies. They are posing for the camera and behind them a sign reads Circus.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 27

The fantastic legend of The Lady Lovibond is the tale of a ghost ship which reappears every 50 years off the coast of Kent. The ship was said to have been deliberately steered off course by the first mate who was in love with the captain's wife... 🎨Alfred Kubin #MorbidMarch

a ship is going down into a cascading sea overseen by a skeletal monster with a single giant bulging eye.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 26

Inveterate practical joker Charles Vance Millar had weird clauses in his will including leaving a house to three men who hated each other as long as they lived together; and a fortune to the Toronto woman who gave birth to the most children in 10 years - known as The Great Stork Derby! #MorbidMarch

A flying stork carries a bundle containing a golden-haired baby. Text reads Announcing the arrival of our Baby.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 25

The aroma of roses repels vampires and the petals burn them like acid. Placing a rose on a grave helps trap a vampire underground... 🎨Munch #WyrdWednesday

a woman with long flowing red hair presses her mouth to the neck of a man in a black suit who is bent over into her embrace.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 25

Would you like to read your own obituary? PT Barnum did. On his death bed and in a final act of showmanship, he persuaded The Evening Sun in New York to publish his obituary whilst he was still alive. The paper did acknowledge this fact though! #MorbidMarch

A poster showing a large dinosaur skeleton with a small crowd of folk in Victorian dress gathering round and a cameo insert of P T Barnum's face. It reads Barnum and Co's Greatest Show On Earth.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 24

In Jamaican folklore when a child lost one of their teeth, the rolling calf would come rattling chains to take the tooth AND the child away! But the clever child would put their tooth into a tin can and shake it. The noise would keep the rolling calf away... #MorbidMarch 🎨Picasso

A bull swishing their tail, looking rather startled. A simple ink drawing.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 23

Sweet basil in Italy was the flower of lovers while in ancient Greece it was an herb of hatred... #MorbidMarch 🎨Isabella and the Pot of Basil - John White Alexander

A tall woman dressed in a flowing robe of greys and blacks stands in a shallow niche caressing a pot lost in an erotic spectral trance, oblivious to the world and to observers.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 22

Cauls (pieces of the birth membrane) were rare and highly prized by mariners who bought them for quite high prices. They were believed to protect the owner from drowning... 🎨Alma-Tadema #MorbidMarch

Stormy sea, rolling waves, a cradle floating on the water with a golden haired baby asleep soundly. a startled black and white cat is clinging to one corner desperately maintaining balance.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 21

“Oh, Trees, Trees, Trees,” said Lucy (though she had not been intending to speak at all). “Oh, Trees, wake, wake, wake. Don't you remember it? Don't you remember me? Dryads and Hamadryads, come out, come out to me.” Prince Caspian - CS Lewis #BookWormSat 🎨 Pauline Baynes

trees. snowy forest. branches bare. a lone figure looking around.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 21

In Scottish lore, the Bean-nighe (Fairy Woman) was found in all the lonely places washing the linen of those about to die. If a person caught her unawares, she would tell them all what would happen after life. But if she saw them first, they lost the power of their limbs... 🎨Brian Froud #MorbidMarch

Between the rocks a woman in green is bent over washing linen in the rock pool.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 20

In Italy & Spain on Mid Lent Sunday there was a Spring custom known as "Segare la vecchia" or sawing the old woman. Boys made an effigy of the oldest woman in the village which represented winter, then sawed it in half. The rasping sound of the saw was said to drive away evil spirits... #MorbidMarch

against a clear blue sky, the snowy mountains shimmer. In the foreground is a larger than life size puppet of an old grandmother with white bushy eyebrows, two big teeth and spectacles perched on her nose. she is holding a herb, possibly rosemary.

Olivia@oliviaarmstrong· Mar 19

Parsley germinates so slowly, it was said it visited Satan nine times before appearing! If parsley is transplanted on any day other than Good Friday, a family death especially that of the gardener, was once believed to follow... #FolkloreThursday 🎨Hugo Simberg