@northfolk @folklore I’m also in search of lost folklore to help me understand my ancestors. that’s very interesting there are no monsters of the sea. I’m not sure how typical that is but now I’m very curious.

@northfolk my ancestors were mainly from south briton, ireland, scotland with a smattering of french and dutch. lots of appalachian folks and potato famine refugees brought to USA by mormons. but I’ve barely scratched the surface and it was my family belief that killing spiders is bad luck that brought me to folklore for insight. I live in Oregon and I don’t recall if monsters figure in local Indigenous lore but I know whales do.

@northfolk so I didn’t inherit any sea creature lore even tho my entire maternal side were all fishers the last few generations. perhaps we lost sea lore from being landlocked, but no one really explained the fair folk either bc I think they just wanted to blend in 😭

@skyisland I think it's partly just the modern, westernised world we live in too - Ireland and parts of Scotland have kept more of their traditional folklore alive, but in most areas of England people haven't inherited any more than you. It was seen as old superstition with no place in modernity. The only reason we know a lot of the stories is that they were written down by educated, middle class people in the 19th Century, who went out "collecting" folk stories around the countryside. There must be so much that they missed and we simply lost, though!