Goblin Tales of Lancashire

On Lancashire's moors, along its coast and around its village churches, ordinary sounds and sights take on unsettling meanings. James Bowker gathers local tales of fairies, goblins, wandering spirits and strange animals, setting them within the landscapes that helped sustain these beliefs. His introduction considers how lonely cottages, difficult roads, storms and mist could make supernatural explanations part of everyday life.

The stories give those beliefs human faces. In one passage, an anxious bell-ringer encounters a mysterious wanderer and a white hare with red eyes in a dim church tower. Elsewhere, the account of a spring near Blackpool records the hopes of visitors seeking relief from illness. Alongside the tales, Bowker reflects on inherited traditions and the moral warnings carried by ghost stories. Readers interested in English folklore can find both eerie storytelling and a record of how communities understood danger, misfortune and the unknown.