This is the English version of the website. Click here to return to the Danish version.
Illustration from "Æventyrets Dyreverden" [Animals of Fairy Tales] (1887)
Welcome to Fabled Beasts and Folks of Lore - a website dedicated to all things Danish folklore.
The title is a loose translation of the book that kickstarted my interest in this subject, back when I was a little kid hiding in the school library during recess: "Fabeldyr og Sagnfolk" by Bengt Holbek and Iørn Piø.
Since getting my own copy of this book, when I was about 10, my book collection has grown exponentially - and so has my love for the subject.
This little project should not be seen as an attempt to make folklore 'real.' It's irrelevant to me whether ghosts, nisser, trolls, and merfolk really exist, and I am extremely skeptical of authors who try to create a narrative where they are definitively real — doesn't matter if it's cryptozoologists, ghost hunters, or UFOlogists doing it. I believe their search for proof is the wrong approach to folklore. I am not interested in constructing a world where vættir and spirits definitively exist. All I want to do is examine the beliefs and experiences of humans.
2023/06/24: New article! Click
here to read about long ghosts!
2023/05/03: Realized a few non-Danes are interested in this stuff, so I'm gonna try and translate the site into English. A lot of broken links may occur :P
2023/04/14: Updated the site description to better reflect my approach to folklore. I personally believe in many supernatural things, from witchcraft to vættir, but that should in no way reflect my study of folklore. I have seen way too many "guides to the occult," which pervert folktales due to some kind of desire to live in a world where the tales are real, instead of letting folk beliefs be beliefs.
2023/04/03: Took a break from my very busy studies to upload a few
newer stories to the site.
2023/01/19: The site now has a
cyprianus where all spells, wisery, guides to working with the devil, and so on will be collected.
2023/01/16: Yet another short article is done! Click
here to read about warding beasts and learn how to discover your own :D
2022/12/15: Came across a creature I'd never heard of before and immediately had to write about it. Click
here to read about drawing dolls!
2022/10/17: Fiddled a bit with the site the other day and ended up adding a few
links and a couple
modern urban legends.
2022/09/16: Found the time to write another article. Click
here to read about the Hazel Ram :)
2022/07/29: Finished the first article! Click
here to read about the Well Man.
2022/07/26: The site has launched! Can't wait to get really working on it :)