In the summer of 1816, a group of Romantic writers (Mary and Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Willian Polidori) gathered in a house on the shores of Lake Geneva and told each other ghost stories. These are some of the films inspired by the events.
My feature about the summer of 1816 and the birth of the Frankenstein monster is out this month in Fortean Times.
I’ve been there only once, fifteen or twenty years ago, but this Folklore Thursday made me feel like booking flights to the Czech Republic: The Czech Bogeyman — typo: it should be “bubak”. Apologies!– looks like an evil scarecrow, but can cry like a baby to lure his victims. The Bubach: evil scarecrow who drives a cart pulled by cats and weaves the souls of his victims. #FolkloreThursday pic.twitter.com/UYtu804gjv — Maria J Pérez Cuervo (@mjpcuervo) July 21, 2016 Tintin’s Ottokar — that of the sceptre– was supposed to be Ottokar IV of Syldavia, a fictional country I’d love to visit one day. The story of Ottokar II of Bohemia, however, could well be turned into a comic. King Ottokar II built Houska Castle over a hole in the ground thought to be a Gateway to Hell. #FolkloreThursday pic.twitter.com/OqdqN26tv7 — Maria J Pérez Cuervo (@mjpcuervo) July 21, 2016
Guillermo del Toro is a self-confessed fan of the Gothic Romance. I spoke to him about early influences and the pleasures and pains of reviving the genre on screen.
Guillermo del Toro described his recent film Crimson Peak as a “classic Gothic Romance”, a subgenre that has been consigned to oblivion for nearly four decades. But what is Gothic Romance, what makes it different to horror and why did it fall into obscurity?
In this month’s Fortean Times I write about Gothic Romance, interview Guillermo del Toro and review Crimson Peak.
10 lesser-known horror stories that really stuck with me.
Maria J. Pérez Cuervo 
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