Everyday magic, witch hunts and fairies in medieval Scotland

Fairytale expert, Kate Forsyth travels back in time to the stories of her youth, to a dark, fantastical and eerie world where cruelty and mischief abound.     As a young girl, Kate was sent to stay with her great aunts in Newcastle and there was introduced to the darkness, magic and mystery of Scottish folklore. These stories lit Kate’s imagination on fire, and let to a lifetime of study into these powerful stories and the messages behind them. One true story from this period that stayed with Kate was the treacherous and dramatic life story of Mary, Queen of Scots, who, in the telling, was only a few years older than the teenaged Kate. Intertwined with the true Scottish history were dark, fantastical and eerie accounts about cruel and mischievous fairies who would leave their young in place of human babies, as ‘changelings’.  This world abounded with magic - hazelnuts that give the power of invisibility and curses that cause boys to dance to their death. These legends also ...