"All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered."

― Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

#Spooktober 2: Jikininki

The Jikininki is a human-eating Japanese ghost who features in Lafcadio Hearn’s collection of spooky stuff called Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things.

For those of you who follow the blog, I have written about him here and particularly I talked about three of his tales:
  • Oshidori, a tragic tale of love and loss featuring two ducks;
  • The Story of Hōichi the Earless, a spooky tale of a musician who’s enchanted into performing for a ghostly court (I will feature it here as a #ThrowbackThursday next week);
  • The Yuki-Onna as a winter tale: a snow ghost interacts with two woodcutters, with jarring consequences.

Today on my Patreon we feature one of two tales of the Jikininki, a corpse-eating ghost.

Happy #Spooktober!
books and literature

Werewolves Wednesday: The Wolf-Leader (16)

A werewolf story by Alexandre Dumas père. Chapter XVI: My Lady’s Lady Thibault was delighted at seeing what had happened to the young Baron, whose hand, anything but light, had so shortly before made use of his whip on Thibault’s shoulders, which still smarted with the blow.

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June 11, 2025 10:00 am
architecture, engineering and construction

Ornaments in Transit: Tracing Milan’s Art Deco Echoes

Do you remember last month, when we took a stroll through Milan in the wake of Casorati’s new exhibition at Palazzo Reale? I would be amiss if I didn’t follow up with another walk inspired by another, great show, closing this month, so here we

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June 11, 2025 10:00 am
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Werewolves Wednesday: The Wolf-Leader (16)

June 11, 2025

A werewolf story by Alexandre Dumas père. Chapter XVI: My Lady’s Lady Thibault was delighted at seeing what had happened to the young Baron, whose hand, anything but light, had so shortly before made use of his whip on Thibault’s shoulders, which still smarted with the blow.

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