Books in the Illustrated Tales of ... series

Discover some surprising, intriguing and curious stories, myths and legends from the county of Northumberland.

The historical county of Suffolk has a host of strange and mysterious tales ranging from ancient legends and stories of the supernatural to more modern documented cases. These strange and spooky stories include the Green Children of Woolpit, where a boy and girl with green-tinged skin, neither of whom could speak English, were discovered in a wolf pit in central Suffolk in the twelfth century, and the Wild Man of Orford who was a E mermanE captured off the Suffolk coast. The famous Black Dog of Bungay was a giant supernatural hound said to have killed parishioners in Bungay church during a thunderstorm in the sixteenth century, before killing again at Blythburgh church. Many tales have been told of the ninth-century King Edmund of East Anglia, who gave his name to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk. Another royal connection is the casket said to contain Anne BoleynE s heart that was found during the nineteenth century at Erwarton church. Other old tales include the Kessingland Sea Serpent - SuffolkE s answer to E NessieE ; the Beccles Rat-catcher Pipers, a story which has similarities with the Pied Piper of Hamelin myth; the lost city of Dunwich, sometimes called E BritainE s AtlantisE ; Suffolk witchcraft; and tales of hauntings and other supernatural activity. More recent stories include the 1980 Rendlesham Forest UFO incident dubbed E BritainE s RoswellE . These strange and spooky stories are accompanied by the authorE s photographs of places featured in the text, both present-day and historical, in this hugely entertaining book.

Essex is a place where you learn to expect the unexpected. If you know where to look, thereE s history and mystery at every turn, and this book is here to help you find it all. It brings you stories of strange places with weird names, mystery buildings that make no sense until you know their history, bizarre legends, forgotten facts, lost villages, unknown islands, spirits and ghosts, witches and smugglers. Who knows, for example, the part played by Essex in the colonisation of America? Or that a town in Essex was once the capital of England? Did you know that Captain Cook was married in Essex prior to setting out on his voyages of discovery? Or that legend has it that the story of Saint George slaying a dragon might have begun on Essex soil?All this and more is described by writer and photographer John Wade in Illustrated Tales of Essex. In it he reveals that EssexE s people and places of the past are a million miles away from the modern-day reality-TV view of the county.

A red and white dragon fighting tooth and claw in the moonlit sky; mischievous fairy folk luring unwary travellers deep into their underground lairs; a kind-hearted mermaid saving the lives of those in peril on the high seas; and a charmed boy who transforms into an otter and a bird to outrun a wicked witch. In Illustrated Tales of Wales, author Mark Rees explores the fantastical myths, legends and folk stories of Wales which have long fired the imagination of young and old alike. From the medieval tales of the Mabinogion to those rooted firmly in Arthurian mythology, they range from the quirky to the macabre and tell of heroic pets, strange superstitions, devious devils and restless spirits. Wales is home to mighty giants which live on the highest mountains and battle to the death with King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. It has a patron saint of hares, who created a safe haven for humans and animals alike, and a patron saint of love, whose idyllic island became a place of pilgrimage. It has a water horse which has been known to give those who mount it the ride of their lives, and the unforgettable Mari Lwyd, one of the world's more unusual Christmastime traditions in which an eerie horse-skulled visitor goes door-to-door in the dead of night. Illustrated Tales of Wales offers an engaging and different look at Wales, with this alternative tour through the country's peculiar past.