THE DENHAM TRACTS .
From 1846 to 1859, MICHAEL AISLABIE DENHAM published a series of writings on folklore in the British Isles, which would later be reprinted by the Folklore Society in 1895. Its most notable and intriguing section is a collection of fairies, ghosts, and other supernatural creatures. This list contains only names, with no descriptions. Most names have well-known folklore associated with them (brownies, redcaps, etc.); many are more obscure (melsh dicks and the like); and most interestingly, some names appear nowhere else.
For Halloween, when the veil between our world and theirs THINS, I thought I'd illustrate a few of these bogles. I've tackled both kinds—creatures with known folklore I've drawn in WARM COLORS, and names we can only speculate about I've drawn in COOL COLORS.
And if you find yourself on a dark lane at midnight, and one of these fellows should lope, flap, or slither across the track . . . you can thank me for helping you put a name to it. Me, and Mr. Michael Denham.
From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!
—Traditional Scottish prayer