This may be "the only written primary source of the Berbalang legend," about a village filled with ghouls on the island of Cagayan Sulu (now, Mapun) in the Philippines, as the author describes his own personal experience of trying to visit the ghoul village and the terrible events that followed. I found this story thanks to the #FolkloreThursday Twitter tag and @MultoGhost (Nina Zumel).

Today, with sturdy shoes that will last a year or more available in stores around the world, the idea of shoes that wear out in a single night sounds magical. To the fathers of past centuries, obligated to purchase dancing shoes for their unwed daughters, it might have seemed more nightmarish. Even the daughters themselves, forced to dance in ill-fitting, thin-soled slippers if they were to dance at all, may have found the idea tortuous.

Does this story resonate for you? Do you imagine the girls complicit in their nightly excursions to the dance floor, delighted to keep the secret from the court? Or, does this story sound sinister, with girls dragged unwilling from their beds and magically forced to endure hours of dancing in increasingly painful shoes, all the while prevented from sharing the secret? If you're like me, it's the tension between these two extremes that makes this story, dare I say it, dance.

The supernatural has been present in literature for as long as there has been literature. What is Beowulf, but a kind of werewolf story, after all? So, in having such a conference, these academics are returning to their literary roots, and discovering that by doing so they are better able to engage students.

Gorgeously illustrated edition of Chinese fairy tales.

Beautiful. I love these paper and clay interpretations of fairy tales.

"Is this a mummified fairy? No, of course it's not."

Or so they say. I say that if you've got a mummified fairy, you don't want to admit it where the fairies might find out. They have ways of dealing with humans that pry into stuff that should be left to fairy folk.

Tolkien's famous essay “On Fairy-Stories” is a must read for anyone with an interest in fairy tales, reading, or writing. Here, Brain Pickings adds their commentary to excerpts from the essay.

Wow! Gorgeous art.

Great interview with renowned folklore and fairy tale scholar Maria Tatar.

This episode of "Stuff You Missed in History Class" looks at whether the Grimm Brothers' story, the Pied Piper of Hamelin was based on a historical event. While Candace Gibson and Jane McGrath introduce several possibilities, no actual sources are provided, and the connections all seem speculative. Still, it's a fun piece and could possibly spur someone to further research.

This wonderful book has been turned into a seven episode mini-series for BBC America, but the BBC is being far too mysterious about when it will be released. Soon, I hope. Waiting is going to be hard.

P.S. Do click through and read the letters to The Times. They offer important perspective from Gilbert Norrell and Jonathan Strange that should not be missed.

Reviews of three books that examine the Victorian interest in fairy tales. Robert Means Lawrence's tome The Magic of the Horseshoe: A Collection of Folklore, Myths and Superstitions, first published in 1899, has been "repackaged for the modern day." Victorian Fairly Tales, edited by Michael Newton, presents fourteen stories selected by Newton, including tales by George MacDonald, Oscar Wilde, and John Ruskin, as well as tales less well known to today's readers. And, Melanie Keene examines "the close relationship between fact and fancy" in Science in Wonderland: The Scientific Fairy Tales of Victorian Britain.