Our Hosts

Bethan

Bethan grew up in Glamorgan, South Wales; a land of myth and folklore. After finding a dusty old book called “The Folklore of Glamorgan” in the corner of a closing down charity shop, she has been in love with the tales found on the outskirts of history ever since.

Now living in Essex with her husband and two children she spends her time researching the more supernatural side of the county for the Eerie Essex podcast, the storytelling podcast Spectre of the Sea, volunteering for the Folklore Library and Archive and expanding an ever growing library of folklore tomes.

Bethan has given talks on folklore connected with death and the landscape, helped to organise conferences on witches and fairies and in the past year has been consulted on Welsh Folklore for Netflix and Sky Discovery. When she is not doing research she can be found in her art studio painting and works part-time at the University of Essex.

Ailsa

Ailsa grew up on the border between Essex and Suffolk after her family left Scotland in the early 90s. Ailsa idealised Scotland as a more interesting and mythic place than the flat landscape she grew up in and especially liked hearing Scottish ghost stories.

She has always had an interest in different cultures Folklore and Mythology and that interest grew into a desire to study Archaeology as a college student alongside Medieval History. However she decided to study Fine Art at University and went on to do a Masters in Art Design and the Book. She carried on studying history, myth and folklore as a pastime.

Ailsa often looks to the past for inspiration in her art and illustration which can particularly seen in her Inktober illustrations, Inktober is an annual challenge to draw and ink based picture every day throughout the month of October which takes place internationally. Ailsa’s Illustrations are usually based around mythology and folklore of many different countries.

She currently lives and works in Essex and jokes that she had worked for every tourist attraction in Colchester at one point, including the zoo. Through working for the museum service she learned that Essex has not completely forgotten its folklore and eerie past and became more interested in researching the county’s extensive history.