Myths, folktales, and legends are often passed down orally, some more famous than another. They are rooted in general human experience and have always had important roles in the cultures. I believe every story has its place and deserves to be remembered. This is a sanctuary of the forgotten tales that whisper from the edges of history, a place where lesser-known pantheons, unspoken legends, and the creatures that haunt the forgotten corners of our collective imagination lives. I don't have a professional team, just me, my books and my microphone. However flaw my presentation might be, you would never hear AI voice use here- that's a promise.
The Real Horror of Transformation | Sadhbh, Fionn & Oisín
What if the greatest horror of transformation isn't becoming something else, but remembering who you were?
In Greek mythology, Circe transformed Odysseus' men into swine. But Homer tells us that their minds remained human. They remembered who they were, and they knew what had happened to them.
Centuries and cultures away, Irish mythology tells a darker story. Sadhbh was a young woman who was transformed into a deer by the druid Fer Doirich. Her fate would bring her into the world of Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna, where, for a brief time, she would find love, family and a life she thought she had lost forever.
But some stories of transformation do not have happy endings.
This is the story of Sadhbh, Fionn and Oisín, from the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology. A story of love, loss, transformation and memory.
And perhaps, beneath it all, there is a question that belongs not only to Irish mythology, but to all of us: If you could forget your greatest sorrow, would you?
16 Jun 2026
The Heart After Death: A History of Love, Grief, and Separate Burial
For twenty years, Lady Dervorguilla of Galloway carried her husband's heart in an ivory casket. She spoke to it. She slept beside it. When she died, the heart was buried with her.
She was not alone.
Across medieval and early modern Europe, the dead were sometimes buried in pieces. Hearts sent home from crusades, smuggled across borders, or kept in desk drawers for decades. A Breton noblewoman was found with her husband's heart in a lead casket. Mary Shelley kept what she believed was Percy Shelley's heart wrapped in silk. Chopin's sister risked everything to bring his heart back to Poland.
Why the heart? For centuries, Europeans believed it held love, memory, and even the soul. Removing it was a way to keep someone close, or send them somewhere sacred.
This is the strange, forgotten history of separate heart burial. From Sweetheart Abbey to the Habsburg crypts, from Saint Teresa's preserved relic to the question of where your own heart might rest.
Watch the video version of this episode:
https://youtu.be/CATMN17ErYY
11 Jun 2026
The Sacred Horse That Guides the Dead: Chinese Burial Traditions
Six hundred horses, buried in perfect rows. A 3,000-year-old ritual still practiced today. And a paper horse burning in a modern funeral.
In this episode, we look at the forgotten Chinese tradition of giving the dead a horse. Not as a symbol of wealth, but as a guide and protector for the soul's perilous journey to the afterlife. From the horse worship rituals of the Zhou dynasty to the 600-horse burial of a Qi state king, we trace how ancient Chinese believed that the dead needed transportation. But burying real horses was only for the elite. Then, a revolutionary invention changed everything: paper.
We follow the evolution of Zhi Zha, the art of burning paper effigies. From imperial luxury to a folk tradition that crossed class boundaries. Today, families still burn paper horses, alongside iPhones and designer handbags, as offerings of love and farewell.
But do the dead really receive them? And why do we keep burning, even when we're not sure? This is a story about fear, hope, and the longest bridge between the living and the dead.
Watch the video version of this episode:
https://youtu.be/qI1qnesbtRc
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31,747
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5.0 / 5
1 ratings
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5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 34 / 100
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0
YouTube
76
Engagement
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