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Historian Answers Folklore Questions | Tech Support | WIRED
Medieval historian Dr. Juliette Wood joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about folklore. How did unicorns become a symbol of little girl cuteness? Are mermaids and sirens the same? Has anyone ever actually found a razor blade in their Halloween candy? What are the origins of Slenderman? How did the legend of the…
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@stankles7688
October 28, 2025 at 8:28 pm
So who are the absolute losers that asked about slender man and twilight? A waste of this precious woman’s breath going over niche internet nonsense for you band kids.
@PusGrubbly
October 28, 2025 at 8:57 pm
Thank you. The ‘Twilight’ novels are trashy fan fiction – 200 year old vampires pretending to be teenagers so they can perv on High School girls.
@jandm4ever716
October 28, 2025 at 8:30 pm
20:49 I think I know what incident she’s talking about, except the girls did not actually kill her. The victim, an other young girl, survived.
@nattynattynat
October 28, 2025 at 8:31 pm
She’s like a real life Dr. Emily Wilde ❤️
@cosmickowboy
October 28, 2025 at 8:38 pm
Unicorns are real! The wooly Rhinoceros went extinct ❤️
@rickbowker4179
October 28, 2025 at 8:44 pm
Thank you for sharing your knowledge
@Raua12
October 28, 2025 at 8:49 pm
20:45 the girl survived. One of the assailants had a psychotic issue where she believed slenderman to be real, and she convinced the second friend that it was real. Together they attacked their friend, but the second girl freaked out and tried to stop it. After this the girl with issues got proper care.
@QuestionEverything79
October 28, 2025 at 8:50 pm
14:57 George Romero “I got this one”
@hoofhearted4
October 28, 2025 at 8:52 pm
I did not know Gremlins lore was them tearing apart planes. Makes the movie Shadows in the Cloud make a lot more sense on that front. Very cool.
@JackNap1er14
October 28, 2025 at 8:54 pm
Unicorns do exist except they aren’t land dwelling animals & live in the sea, most people today call them Narwhals & originally Vampires did not just change into bats but any creature of the night that hunted for meat/blood! Another reason maybe why Vampires & Werewolves are connected (they are both shape shifters that need to be killed with silver)
@TheDopekitty
October 28, 2025 at 8:57 pm
I’m 51 and i remember playing red rover as a kid
@aleija2109
October 28, 2025 at 8:58 pm
I don’t know why it fell out of favor.
Then say exactly why.
Lol😂
@musicluver7125
October 28, 2025 at 8:58 pm
How delightful. I could listen to her all day
@sasquatchwizard
October 28, 2025 at 9:03 pm
Didn’t know Sigourney Weaver was such a folklore buff
@KURO_ame
October 28, 2025 at 9:03 pm
She’s American? I thought she was British. 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅
@PhilStar.27
October 28, 2025 at 9:05 pm
Elite
@MarigoldDragon
October 28, 2025 at 9:07 pm
I love the gremlin lore xD My sister and I grew up with a similar little creature, we just called it the ‘Wall Gnome’. It was responsible for all missing socks and remotes
@merrillsunderland8662
October 28, 2025 at 9:07 pm
Joel Best (Professor of Sociology at University of Delaware) researched reports of Halloween candy tampering but has found no evidence of children ever being poisoned or harmed by razor blades, but apparently the “tradition” of warning about this happening goes all the way back to the 1950s so I think this was just the parents of the Boomers scaring each other … and now we have the society we live in
@BenjamintheTortoise
October 28, 2025 at 9:10 pm
Such a great episode!! Very interesting… This woman is so cute 😊💞
@kelvincannon3675
October 28, 2025 at 9:11 pm
Hidden in folklore is “Old English,” while hidden in “Old English’s” a dialect that most folk don’t think applies to day to day life…
…21:36 lyk “you ought to courtesy a full moon,” in of itself isn’t spreading awareness, so much as is Halloween’s to mask, with masks the already “vulnerabilities” being “normalized” in plain-sight via a “courtesy” to the potential creeps @night…
…only by Halloween the ultimate goal’s not to “courtesy” the full moon @potential werewolves, but more so to “courtesy” the inevitability of “vulnerabilities,” that are already being “normalized” in plain-sight, via masks to masks with masks the symbiotic relationship that good, had/has with evil…
…& or to mask alleged “good ppl’s” inclination for “necessary evil’s”…
…a/the hidden dialect that masks old English intent… …(“courtesy”)… …within folklore!
@dezb8510
October 28, 2025 at 9:12 pm
2:23 what if unicorn are a twisted representation of a rhinoceros or a triceratops?
@carlmichaels6562
October 28, 2025 at 9:14 pm
This was absolutely delightful!
@dezb8510
October 28, 2025 at 9:14 pm
Diet British
@uncletiggermclaren7592
October 28, 2025 at 9:14 pm
Dr Wood, I am glad you honoured us with your title. You deserve the respect it accords, and we can’t know that is we don’t hear it. Words and titles have meaning.
@carlashawww
October 28, 2025 at 9:23 pm
2:12 this made me happy
@JohnAuztin
October 28, 2025 at 9:23 pm
I love this woman so much and I’ve no idea who she is
@sweetyouths6916
October 29, 2025 at 7:30 pm
ugH she is so slay
@sweetyouths6916
October 29, 2025 at 7:31 pm
love Dr. Juliette Wood
@cwpv2477
October 29, 2025 at 7:35 pm
such a cool woman
@kaitomiku2346
October 29, 2025 at 7:39 pm
Excellent expertise. Thank you. <3
@keithwortelhock6078
October 29, 2025 at 7:39 pm
Before WW2 the Royal Airforce attributed mishaps etc to ‘The Maloney Boys’. I think it was the US influence that morphed these into ‘Gremlins’. Not many of the older RAF pilots around by this time, but a huge influx of new recruits who’d never heard of ‘The Maloney Boys’.
@mikeblair2594
October 29, 2025 at 7:43 pm
Why did you seem to dance around naming the saint in the lock Ness monster tale? It was saint Columba by the way.
@renatadeoliveira8486
October 29, 2025 at 8:01 pm
I enjoyed it very much! And learned so many new things too!! Thank you Dr. Wood!
@stefanlytwyn5885
October 29, 2025 at 8:03 pm
this lady is fuckin awesome. more of her please. I think she goes straight to the Tech Support HOF.
@BertoBerg
October 29, 2025 at 8:05 pm
That brooch is on point 💯
@gracehowell.
October 29, 2025 at 8:11 pm
No, no, the Loch Ness ‘monster’ is a Water Womble. We know that now, thanks to Elisabeth Beresford’s second Wombles book. 🙂
@MrMorrigan1989
October 29, 2025 at 8:14 pm
Oo I have that exact same box!
@rose_and_thorns
October 29, 2025 at 8:18 pm
Juliette Wood sounds like the exact right name for a folklore specialist.
@maren-emilie6055
October 29, 2025 at 8:23 pm
Folklore and fairytales are so interesting and I do find it fascinating how dark they tend to be. It makes life seem very scary to me back then lol. Like Nøkken, or Draugen or something like a Mare sounds terrifying not to mention all the Sámi children terrified of their version of “santa claus” taking them away. Very fascinating
@ThatKidRD97
October 29, 2025 at 8:27 pm
no no its fine I just wasnt expecting it to be a labubu
@dkryptid
October 29, 2025 at 8:29 pm
Fun Fact: Justin Berfield (Reese) auditioned for Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace.
@redleafgaming3335
October 29, 2025 at 8:44 pm
Some examples of modern-day folklore would be entities such as Slenderman and Jeff the Killer
@rose_and_thorns
October 29, 2025 at 9:08 pm
Slenderman is in the video.
@redleafgaming3335
October 29, 2025 at 9:11 pm
@rose_and_thornsyes and?
@middledog466
October 29, 2025 at 8:49 pm
her fit is FIRE
@zonepopsicle
October 29, 2025 at 8:49 pm
Oh she is just a delight to watch, can’t wait to see her back!
@wx4848
October 29, 2025 at 8:52 pm
best tech support yet
+ rep I love Dr.Juliette Wood please bring her back at every opportunity
@vethaydin77
October 29, 2025 at 9:08 pm
Well vlad did push the ottomans back but it just made them mad and comd back with a greater force and kill more romanians got vlad decapitated and and his head to the istanbul to displayed
@subzerodragon1984
October 29, 2025 at 9:09 pm
In The bugs Bunny cartoon, there was a gremlin that was tearing apart the train. That was way before the movie came along
@karoke6
October 29, 2025 at 9:11 pm
Whoever came up with the idea of expanding WIRED’s tech support to other topics truly needs to be recognized because this series never misses! They always find the most interesting SMEs for subjects I didn’t even know I wanted to know more about.
@jaydoggy9043
October 29, 2025 at 9:12 pm
On the question of why Disney changed so many grim and dark endings into happy endings: that’s nothing new. You see that a lot in Rennaissance and Baroque theatre in Europe: When Greek and Roman tragedies were getting more translatons and widespread, certain audiences wanted happy endings. This even happened with Shakespeare’s works. There’s a version of Orpheus and Euridice where they both make it out of the cave, and live happily ever after!
@Slickrick7172
October 29, 2025 at 9:13 pm
When I grow up, I want to have a large wand.
@karladenton5034
October 29, 2025 at 9:17 pm
I would love to have another round with this presenter – very knowledgeable and just a joy to listen too!
@dpadget
October 29, 2025 at 9:21 pm
20:39 TRIED to kill someone. The victim miraculously survived.
@dblanco77
October 30, 2025 at 4:59 pm
It is because of an italian mother that heavy metal has “the sign” the horns… thank you Ronnie James Dio!
@dblanco77
October 30, 2025 at 5:00 pm
Now, let’s have a similar video exploring the deitys of latin america!
@Audiesc
October 30, 2025 at 5:21 pm
The explanation of mermaids and sirens was INCREDIBLE! I’ve been asking myself that exact question for so long. Love this. Love her. New fan!
@christianwright5813
October 30, 2025 at 5:24 pm
I need her back on so badly!! She’s so much fun
@fredq6118
October 30, 2025 at 5:26 pm
I feel like Dr Juliette Wood is the closest we can get to a real life professor mcgonagal
@themiddleones11
October 30, 2025 at 5:33 pm
Hope to hear more about selkies
@AvieBadger
October 30, 2025 at 5:35 pm
“You can’t have the boyfriend vampire sleeping in a coffin all day and disappear in a puff of smoke” skill issue 😌
@oldloam
October 30, 2025 at 5:45 pm
we need a hundred more videos with Dr. Juliette Wood
@necrogenesis1981
October 30, 2025 at 6:31 pm
I’m pretty sure the reason Satan is portrayed with a pitchfork is a reference to Poseidon, and his body is a reference to Pan, it was meant as propaganda against the Greek pantheon.
@alandunbar4244
October 30, 2025 at 6:35 pm
Yet fails to mention that the Unicorn is the national animal of Scotland, and appears on the UK Coat Of Arms
@angelicdexter
October 30, 2025 at 6:36 pm
Hey, y’all! Romanian here.
So the thing about Dracula being tied with Vlad the Impaler also has a linguistic side to it, as Vlad the Impaler is the son of Vlad Dracul, who was a ruler in his own right.
And fun fact! Even if in Romanian ‘drac’ means devil, it carried another meaning back in the day – as Vlad II got this name (Dracul) when he enter in the Order of the Dragon, which was a military, but catholic organization. So this name was meant to paint him as a good man, a man of God who fights against the non-christians (in this case, the Ottomans)
@shinyrowlet
October 30, 2025 at 6:38 pm
I would sit in her floor close to the fireplace listening to her stories all day
@mr.x8259
October 30, 2025 at 6:46 pm
What kind of brooch is she wearing.
@julioboasorte
October 30, 2025 at 6:50 pm
OMG! So much richness in all that wisdom. Ty for sharing, Dr Wood! I’d love to hear your knowledge about other regions folklore as well, such as mine (South America/Brazil). ❤
@crimsonfirecat
October 30, 2025 at 6:54 pm
i need a series of this woman specifically doing more of this
@fennec13
October 30, 2025 at 7:20 pm
Fairy Tales and Folk tales were never meant specifically for children, The Brother’s Grimm weren’t even marketing them to children either. But to the middle class who was really starting to read and have access to books more. It just so happens that fairy tales and folk stories, cautionary tales and parables would be read to children, especially as they started to read. Its also interesting that the concept of fictional literature wasn’t presented as fictional. The legend of Sleepy Hollow was meant as a tongue- in- cheek story, which is fiction, but posed as a “true tale”.
When people in the 1800s read the brothers Grimm – they thought this stuff was (mostly) a true tale. It was magical because it was written in a book, an expensive and amazing thing.
So it must be true, right ?
@qnthrax
October 30, 2025 at 7:22 pm
I wonder if the discovery of germ theory flared up the miniature people fascination in folklore, just by virtue of pushing discussions on small, mysterious, unseeable things.
@salsaslinger7585
October 30, 2025 at 7:23 pm
I do not like that you beeped out her cussing.
@FewFew77
October 30, 2025 at 7:25 pm
I can’t take anyone seriously that uses the term First Nations unironically.
@madlad1391
October 30, 2025 at 7:30 pm
Absolutely obsessed with her
@mac5er
October 30, 2025 at 8:14 pm
I would like to see more of her.
@twincast2005
October 30, 2025 at 8:18 pm
2:30 13:50 Well, that explains the specific iconography but not why faeries and other magical creatures became tiny, which was that the round about human-sized ones no longer fit into the known world of the industrial age with every corner of England accessible by trains etc.
@SmittenKitten.
October 30, 2025 at 8:20 pm
I love her.
@RagtagCoach
October 30, 2025 at 9:13 pm
I think bars should start doing a ask your local PHD nights, were you can talk with people who are excited about specific topics.
@kumaranvij
October 31, 2025 at 3:14 pm
A wendigo can’t be cannibalistic unless it’s human! Which it doesn’t appear to be. Or does it eat other wendigos?
I think of cannibals as a species, usually humans, that eats members of the same species.
@kumaranvij
October 31, 2025 at 3:21 pm
How can you swim across a loch carrying a book with you in Medieval times? Wouldn’t the book get destroyed?
@Golden_Flute
October 31, 2025 at 3:42 pm
Dr. Wood is so frickin’ cool. I could listen to her talk about this for hours.
@aeslinn
October 31, 2025 at 3:52 pm
doctor juliette you’re so cool could you be my honorary grandma……..
@bogdanakoropkin7831
October 31, 2025 at 3:54 pm
I’d like to drink tea and talk for hours with this lovely lady
@mikitz
October 31, 2025 at 4:24 pm
I thought the brothers Grimm never wrote their stories for children in the first place.
@radiium1804
October 31, 2025 at 4:31 pm
The victim of the slenderman stabbing didn’t die, she survived and crawled her way to help.
@clairepettie
October 31, 2025 at 4:32 pm
PLEASE BRING BACK Dr. Juliette Wood! This episode was fascinating and so much fun. I love finishing an episode of Tech Support with more questions than answers!
@desheablunier9944
October 31, 2025 at 4:34 pm
The way this woman acts like Native folklore didn’t exist before white people were interested in it is…… a choice. A choice that made me feel so icky I couldn’t finish the video.
@shiekahfan01
October 31, 2025 at 4:53 pm
“wtf is a wendiboy” and then it doesn’t show what a wendiboy is! wolf with antlers IS NOT a wendiboy
@TheMusicscotty
October 31, 2025 at 5:14 pm
Fascinating. Part 2 please!
@VampireQueenBrittany
October 31, 2025 at 5:28 pm
Love this lady. Thank you for having her on. ❤
@dianariverjackson5123
October 31, 2025 at 5:36 pm
I could listen to this woman for hours and hours
@G0golak
October 31, 2025 at 5:47 pm
What an awesome lady.
@efrencantue
October 31, 2025 at 5:50 pm
Well this was delightful
@katherinerichardson2273
October 31, 2025 at 5:55 pm
I did find a needle in a Rice krispie treat one time
@Amandascx333
October 31, 2025 at 6:02 pm
Her talking about labubus is killing me 😭😭 shes so cute
@katherinerichardson2273
October 31, 2025 at 6:07 pm
I have a friend whose favorite is zombies Bigfoot and Nessie
@katherinerichardson2273
October 31, 2025 at 6:10 pm
I thought Slender Man was a creepypasta
@BioButje
October 31, 2025 at 6:45 pm
shouldnt caniibalsitic monsters eat their own kind?
@ivanzamarripa9393
October 31, 2025 at 7:21 pm
i wish she was my grandma so bad!!!!! i wanna talk to her all day long!!
@belenbermejochimeno7747
October 31, 2025 at 7:35 pm
love tis video, very interesting. Thank you Dr Wood
@MrDeadstu
October 31, 2025 at 8:36 pm
This one was awesome, this lady is great and the real lore is fascinating.
@findecanoxx
October 31, 2025 at 9:00 pm
as a non native english speaker, this lady’s talking is a candy for my ears.
@nadig9524
October 31, 2025 at 9:16 pm
queen. this woman must’ve studied so long and so hard to have all this knowledge!!
@KaroruruYT
November 1, 2025 at 5:18 pm
seeing someone ask the origin of slenderman makes me feel OLD
@KristiBrooks-l2b
November 1, 2025 at 5:30 pm
20:49 I believe the case shes talking about is with Payton Leutner but she wasn’t killed she ended up surviving the stabbing. I may be wrong maybe theres another famous Slenderman stabbing incident
@blankblank7101
November 1, 2025 at 5:34 pm
A doctor doesn’t know how to pronounce “Guillermo”?
@elizabethlarson9655
November 1, 2025 at 5:42 pm
This was fantastic and fascinating. Thank you!
@jo_giu
November 1, 2025 at 6:06 pm
Somebody call Hozier
@pocketloft
November 1, 2025 at 6:54 pm
Dr. Juliette Wood should watch Delicious in Dungeon.
@danswanson4830
November 1, 2025 at 6:59 pm
Did no one catch how she pronounced Guillermo Del Toro’s name?! Haha, phonetically, she said Galeea Montatoro.” Hahahaha
@jasonlira2755
November 1, 2025 at 7:06 pm
Zombies (not called by that name) are actually referenced in the epic of Gilgamesh so much older than transatlantic slavery. The goddess Ishtar says something like “I will knock down the gates of the underworld and the dead will come up to walk among the living. And they will outnumber the living, and they will be hungry.”
@seantlewis376
November 1, 2025 at 7:10 pm
I love this kind of stuff. Fantastic!
@kyhumphrey5247
November 1, 2025 at 7:21 pm
I thought that girl who was attacked in the Slender Man stabbing actually survived?
@timothyshoup5044
November 1, 2025 at 7:28 pm
what is the name of the painting at 6:03?
@vhol93
November 1, 2025 at 7:42 pm
Awesome
@emanellaithy4339
November 1, 2025 at 7:44 pm
I wish bills were a folklore.
@mei.creates
November 1, 2025 at 7:45 pm
curious question: I do agree that Victorians popularized the tiny fairy image, but there were small fairies before then. Shakespeare depicts small fairies in Romeo and Juliet, with Queen Mab. He also depicts large fairies in A Midsummer Nights’ Dream. So is Shakespeare an outlier, or did small and large fairies coexist in imagination until the Victorians decided that all fairies were small?
@AnnaAnna-uc2ff
November 1, 2025 at 7:46 pm
Thank you.
@ungoodthinkful
November 1, 2025 at 7:59 pm
Dr. Juliette seems like an absolutely lovely person.
@shananagar1601
November 1, 2025 at 8:06 pm
So werewolves and vampires were the “hurt people hurt people” parable?
@dissodatore
November 1, 2025 at 8:13 pm
the “Poisoned Candy” did happen, a father killed his child for the insurance money with Halloween candy and tried to put the blame on others.
@Usycjsga17
November 1, 2025 at 8:23 pm
Why do you have an accent if you’re American?????
@ls_rossi
November 1, 2025 at 8:41 pm
In some cultures, the vampire and werewolf are connected because they were one half of a whole; in others, they were connected because of psychological and biological health conditions
@ls_rossi
November 1, 2025 at 8:43 pm
When you look at anything Doyle did that wasn’t Sherlock Holmes, you really start to see an unraveling of a psyche.
@ls_rossi
November 1, 2025 at 8:45 pm
The word “wendigo” is a taboo word to First Nations people; it is largely a winter monster for a lot of tribes. It’s about starvation and the fear of doing horrible acts to survive.
@ls_rossi
November 1, 2025 at 8:47 pm
The only vampire associated with Lord Byron was Polideri’s, who was his doctor. The first vampire in western literature was Camilla, written by Sheridan le Fanu
@ls_rossi
November 1, 2025 at 8:50 pm
Meyer didn’t stick to her own lore for one.
@MrCarlbrooks
November 1, 2025 at 9:20 pm
Red Rover was the one game the fat kids excelled at. Fond memories
@invox_in_your_inbox
November 2, 2025 at 1:33 pm
If she had Youtube channel, where she did nothing but tell Folklore/Fairy Tales, she’d have a million subscribers in no time.
@BatsJustCrazy
November 2, 2025 at 2:25 pm
I looooove folklore and myths and legend so this was amazing. Please have her on for more
@georgielancaster1356
November 2, 2025 at 3:22 pm
Why? Because everybody needs a pet.
@jaimejohnson4445
November 2, 2025 at 3:23 pm
Dr. Wood was one of my professors at Cardiff University in Wales! She’s such a girlboss with her wealth of knowledge, fun attitude, and kindness. I loved her classes, so it was so fun to see her pop up on my YouTube!
@MarwaRegab
November 2, 2025 at 3:42 pm
I literally feel smarter
@mawmawd627
November 2, 2025 at 3:44 pm
I like this video but was surprised when she mentioned faeries and small folk as being a more recent phenomenon. Fairies in literature go back to 1000 BC. Little People references appear in Ancient Greek and Germanic Mythology and Native American oral traditions.
@andrewcard6664
November 2, 2025 at 3:44 pm
This woman is fabulous & beautiful ❤️
@laurenwilliams4048
November 2, 2025 at 3:46 pm
I need more of her! Does she have a podcast? Youtube channel? I’m not finding her – she needs her own series. Thanks so much for having Dr. Juliette Wood on – this was so interesting!
@KyleArmstrong
November 2, 2025 at 4:15 pm
She is awesome! This is so fascinating, I would love to learn more.
@EmilyMusic3v3
November 2, 2025 at 4:23 pm
12:49! YES! And to get back at whoever hurt or targeted me in the last round haha. A fun, but dangerous game
@cococovers1333
November 2, 2025 at 5:08 pm
20:45 actually the girl that was attacked thankfully by a miracle survived. Her name is Payton Leutner
@cococovers1333
November 2, 2025 at 5:14 pm
and with miracle i mean how she was able to get out of the woods to get help and tell a cyclist what happened who then called 911. I also say “miracle” because if one of the stab wounds over the heart had been the width of a human hair deeper, her heart would have been stabbed and she would have died.
@joeb5748
November 2, 2025 at 5:23 pm
more of her
@sofiamaniri7458
November 2, 2025 at 5:38 pm
5:50 earwax.. odysseus… epic the musical..
@jenconnolly37
November 2, 2025 at 5:47 pm
I’m so glad you set the story straight for Vlad the Impailer. Thank you. I try my best to straighten people out on that too, but you’re reaching a far greater audience.
@jenconnolly37
November 2, 2025 at 5:50 pm
I’m waiting for you to explain your eye brooch.
@FullPerspective
November 2, 2025 at 6:12 pm
Very interesting questions and answers. I really enjoyed this and it was great to both learn something new and have other things I knew already confirmed. Would love more like this.
@Trinity_57
November 2, 2025 at 6:14 pm
Never hit the like button faster
@sadem1045
November 2, 2025 at 6:14 pm
I wonder if Dr. Wood would like the show “Supernatural”
@KA-bl1ht
November 2, 2025 at 6:38 pm
If you earned a Doctorate you deserve to use it whenever possible. ❤
@ZalkarGorm
November 2, 2025 at 6:41 pm
Worth mentioning she mixes up Ulysses and Odysseus regarding Sirens.
@TrooperDogVT
November 2, 2025 at 6:53 pm
I’m sure someone else has probably already pointed this out but in regards to the Slender Man legend. It’s true that two young girls did attempt to kill a third girl who was a friend of theirs. The attack was extremely brutal but thankfully the girl survived. She dragged herself out of the woods and was found just in time.
@cress1234567
November 2, 2025 at 6:55 pm
i just squealed! Dr Wood was my prof for my MA – a total legend
@princesscassidy8016
November 2, 2025 at 7:11 pm
The slenderman girl lived!! She was 12 and after being stabbed 19 times she crawled to a place where people could see her and because of all that she started her career in medicine!!
@holocene2164
November 2, 2025 at 7:19 pm
This was fantastic! Please bring her back!
@timfriday9106
November 2, 2025 at 7:34 pm
the razor blade in halloween candy, is more appropriately described as a moral panic.
@valyria13
November 3, 2025 at 2:21 pm
Dr. Wood… thank you – this was a delightful episode ✨
@maiarossi1288
November 3, 2025 at 2:45 pm
22:25 is it Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso or something earlier?
@sitcomsTV
November 3, 2025 at 2:45 pm
27:16 – You shouldn’t scare children with stories THESE days…. because any lullaby/nursery rhymes have horrific lyrics. Like London Bridge is Falling Down, Rock-a-by-Baby, And children stories like Heidi or Bambi? The mom is killed, the kid becames an orphan, there’s a very sick kid on a well chair that can’t walk… is just drama, man.
@briannac3909
November 3, 2025 at 2:55 pm
I remember a “weird or what” episode about mothman (gave me nightmares) and it put forth the theory that it was a shadow of a barn owl.
@Cholpito
November 3, 2025 at 3:05 pm
I’m Kazakh and we have Red Rover too! I didn’t know other cultures had that game! It is called akserek-kokserek in kazakh, and my classmates would usually call out the name of the girl they like, so she runs at them, lol. As far as i know, children still play it at schools.
@Rama-zy9nr
November 3, 2025 at 3:33 pm
As usual… a very western perspective on things where everything started with the Greeks and Romans! 😒😒 many of these creatures have non-western origin that is much older than the Greeks… the first mermaid for example was an East Mediterranean goddess (particularly modern day Syria) and these’s actually a statue of her off the shore of a city called Latakia. And That’s just one example.
@MariaSheliaPutri
November 3, 2025 at 3:40 pm
Thank you for inviting such a wonderful woman into this discussion! Throughout the video I nodded so much for how extensive and stay-true her knowledge is.
@F1ghtGam3r
November 3, 2025 at 3:49 pm
My question is, why did the Greek gods not punish Gaia for bring forth Typhon to attack them? Same goes for when Heracles was NOT punished for saving Promethius
@JUSTANUTTERPROD
November 3, 2025 at 4:05 pm
It wasn’t a Guillermo Del Toro movie, he only produced don’t be afraid of the dark
@dynadushi
November 3, 2025 at 4:08 pm
Bogyman😅
@bunnilunar
November 3, 2025 at 4:13 pm
I want her to be my adoptive aunt. I adore folklore and it’s so rejuvenating to listen to an expert talk about something they know and love so well
@furrylittlepeach
November 3, 2025 at 4:21 pm
I LOVED this!
@Ryvana666
November 3, 2025 at 4:52 pm
12:36 we used to play a game called bullrush where you basically do the same thing except the teams dont hold hands and you dont call one person out. You have a few people in the middle and everyone rushes to the other side amd the few in the middle have to catch you. They decided we were too rough with each other trying to catch and banned the game. We already had touch rugby where you touch them instead of tackle them so they just did a version of that instead lol
@Ryvana666
November 3, 2025 at 5:01 pm
The girl they stabbed survived and named the 2 who did it
@matrixinterface
November 3, 2025 at 5:27 pm
Angela Lansbury looks great in this video!
@ChicagoFaucet.etc.
November 3, 2025 at 5:30 pm
12:00 I read something recently (in the past couple years) that it is now believed that Bram Stoker was not actually writing about vampires. It is believed that the monster in his story was more largely based on an old Scottish mythological creature (whose name I forget at the moment). He himself was never in Transylvania or Romania, but he liked the name and that it was so far away, so he used that place. It was more modern minds that plugged in the vampire and Vlad the Impaler parts.
@William_Sub
November 3, 2025 at 5:38 pm
Devil with a pitchfork was for converting people who believed in a Earth god, for harvest etc , they would tell them its the devil not god, and how it got portrayed that way, same with Easter bunny and eggs (spring fertility) for Jesus’s revival, it was to convert people, and use their already established holidays for ways of conversion
@idancealways4ever440
November 3, 2025 at 5:52 pm
This is epic, and a great reminder so much of what we think about the past was bastardized by the victorians😂
@EmmaQuintanar
November 3, 2025 at 5:55 pm
i am not using my history degree properly ugh
@MotherofUnicornsProductions
November 3, 2025 at 5:56 pm
As someone who’s lived in Scotland for a long time… I’ve always been told Nessie was female…
@bohemestarwriter
November 3, 2025 at 6:17 pm
This is not good.
@Joe-ft4qm
November 3, 2025 at 7:16 pm
Physicists and rocket propulsion engineers with multiple advanced degrees and doctorates: “Call me Mike”.PhD holders: ” I’m doctor so and so”
@erinvanlyssel
November 3, 2025 at 7:21 pm
20:41 correction: they did not kill someone the victim survived
@kathrynanne96
November 3, 2025 at 7:45 pm
You better bring this woman back for 5000 more videos 🫵
@JEDonnert
November 3, 2025 at 7:54 pm
I have a new favorite person. I absolutely adore her
@DaddyChill989
November 4, 2025 at 12:49 pm
She is so cool 😎
@llDarkPheonixll
November 4, 2025 at 12:56 pm
Ya’ll are worried about Halloween but you’ll take your kids to a christian church to be groomed and preyed upon by pdfs. Sense. Make it.
@kylelewis9163
November 4, 2025 at 1:05 pm
The Halloween candy scare was a dad who tried to poison his own kids
@Reinvigorates
November 4, 2025 at 1:34 pm
Because the talmudic “vampires” were always hunted by wolfs at night. (People cant see well at night, so they used wolves to track them)
@kylelewis9163
November 4, 2025 at 1:46 pm
What a lovely lady
@rionnachelliot8951
November 4, 2025 at 1:51 pm
The green buttonup and the wood shield collar clip go hard.
@ShadeOnTheUtube
November 4, 2025 at 2:20 pm
I love her explanation of the werewolf vampire take, but I feel she skipped out on one of the most important ties. They are commonly tied together because old timey vampires could take a wolf form, such as Dracula does. This makes them one of multiple types of werewolf depending on folklore. There were also folklore of witches turning into wolves, making them werewolves too. There is more to it that explains it better than I can exp,ain here, but theres some good videos onit here on youtube.
@kayn9651
November 4, 2025 at 2:29 pm
One headcanon of mine about Twilight vampires, is that they’re basically a natural “evolution” of vampires over generations.
Your greatest weakness is the sun? Then instead of taking it in, reflect it back.
Result then being that their anatomy would become almost crystal-like, maybe salt-made, to further fit with the notion of being “lifeless”. And their skin would be pretty much made of cell-sized crystal facets that reflect light so it doesn’t actually reach/enter their body…
And if they get injured? Boom, a wound is an opening inside the body, sunlight could get in there, so instead of gore and blood splatters that adaptive trait would quickly cover up the exposed tissue in more crystal, resulting in how and why their injuries in the movies look like glass shattering.
At least that’s how I justify it to myself, because I can’t handle the idea that they sparkle simply “becuz, lol.”
@Grayivan
November 4, 2025 at 3:03 pm
This was great! Loved it!
@a1ic3hard1n9
November 4, 2025 at 3:04 pm
I love this lady!
@shiraisi13
November 4, 2025 at 3:16 pm
18:18 about the toothfairy, we (Bangladeshi) do not have a toothfairy. But there is a saying that when children loose their teeth, they should give their tooth to the mouse (or just leave it near a burrow), and in exchange they will receive sharp and long tooth like the mouse.
@Hinannah
November 4, 2025 at 3:21 pm
This has been on my mind also
@kaoribecerril8342
November 4, 2025 at 3:27 pm
I was so invested and then she said in a very lovely way “pinche Isaac” hahahaha Lost it… jajajaja pinche Isaac, te mamaste con tu nombre de usuario jajajaja
@Guybrush_U_Threepwood
November 4, 2025 at 3:52 pm
But Ronald Clark O’Bryan really did poison his own child’s Halloween candy and killed him in Texas in 1974
@FarmerJim
November 4, 2025 at 3:55 pm
She didn;t say unicorns were for LGBTQ. Why add in your own agenda?
@TangyZizzle456
November 4, 2025 at 3:57 pm
She’s bloody brilliant
@allysonreneeelyse
November 4, 2025 at 4:18 pm
Can I be her best friend
@LordRubino
November 4, 2025 at 4:21 pm
“La collana di corallo ti proteggerà sempre!” Amazing video. Your way to narrate things are jsut second to none. Beautiful <3 Thank you for sharing those knowledge with us
@neokaneida
November 4, 2025 at 4:39 pm
She’s American? Her accent gives me Downtown Abbey/ Doctor Who vibes
@neokaneida
November 4, 2025 at 4:47 pm
nah. she said “zed” for Z (americans pronounce it as “zee”) this lady aint american.
@Kwaku959
November 4, 2025 at 4:50 pm
21:11 “Brenty-e-a-a-a” 😂 * *_Brent Yeaaa Folklore Begins_* *
@ConradSpoke
November 4, 2025 at 5:19 pm
Mothman isn’t a legend, it’s a shabby fabrication.
@henryarmendariz7667
November 4, 2025 at 5:58 pm
The real Professor McGonagall
@MindOverMuses
November 4, 2025 at 6:12 pm
Ok, can we get Dr Juliette Wood to go on all the cool YouTube channels and podcasts just spreading the folklore goodness, please? Send her through the DnD channels too! We just need more of her.
@VanessaGome-Cyber12
November 4, 2025 at 7:10 pm
She was just an absolute gift and SO INSIGHTFUL to listen to. I loved this video. I especially loved when she shared little stories of her childhood with Red Rover and with her grandmother. Made this video heartwarming in addition to being insightful. I don’t watch Wired often, but I’m glad I watched this video.
@Shards-of-Narsil
November 4, 2025 at 7:13 pm
Those are tridents, not pitch forks. Posedin/Neptune use that weapon.
@DarkAdonisVyers
November 5, 2025 at 9:40 am
Not always. There’s even a joke in Miss Vampire who lives in my Neighborhood, where said vampire straight up says that werewolves are nothing more than fairy tales.
@cugan83
November 5, 2025 at 11:04 am
The Slender Man attack was an attempted murder, the victim survived.
@terencew3840
November 5, 2025 at 11:26 am
shes got that 1800s american accent
@JohnAKlein-zs8oj
November 5, 2025 at 11:44 am
This is..she is amazing.What an open mind and knowledge…about mainstream or ancient.And so funny too!
@ren5731
November 5, 2025 at 11:47 am
20:02 Actually the girl that was stabbed by two other girls survived. It’s a really heartbreaking event and I can’t imagine what that survivor experiences on a daily basis because of this trauma.
@Wright805
November 5, 2025 at 12:16 pm
27:49 Funnily enough I once read an original fiction story where one of the protagonists was a banshee. She lamented how they get a bad rep in modern day when they’re actually trying to help people by warning them of imminent death so they can make the most of the time they have.
28:48 I don’t know if this is accurate or not but I once read that the name “gremlin” is a portmanteau of “goblin” and “Fremlin’s” (a brand of beer apparently popular with the RAF).
@PantherEd80
November 5, 2025 at 12:47 pm
20:43 to clarify this happened in Wisconsin, and the two girls attempted to kill the third but she did in fact survive. She was stabbed 19 times.
@joeb.evrythngEclectic5571
November 5, 2025 at 1:18 pm
Bambi scared me
@raedhaddad5604
November 5, 2025 at 1:25 pm
“Can I say Dr.?” Yes, in fact!
@Neuralatrophy
November 5, 2025 at 1:41 pm
21:17 I always thought of it as a “baying of the wolves” howling at the full moon. On a spiritual sense, the full moon is a time when the vale between the spirit realm is thinner, a time when the ‘spirit wilds’ would have been more aligned with the natural world allowing the aspects of the wolf to bleed through stronger and overwhelm the individual cursed by magic or other with lycanthropy… my understanding of it is heavily influenced by tabletop gaming of course.
@MegtheArchaeologist
November 5, 2025 at 1:44 pm
New favorite video alert
@thislycantomboy7087
November 5, 2025 at 2:22 pm
historians are so beautiful!! BRING HER BACK PLEASE SHE RULES!!!
@adisas8959
November 5, 2025 at 2:34 pm
werewolves are young indoeuropeans that raids villages
@futurecaredesign
November 5, 2025 at 3:31 pm
6:38
If you ask me, Vampire stories are also about what it would mean if humans COULD live forever. Like… it would be really bad if there was a single class of people that doesn’t die but continues on when all us plebs get born, grow old and die. Altered Carbon investigates the same idea. Imagine things like generational wealth, social inequality, power imbalance between boss and employee, political corruption. And now imagine there is a class of people that don’t die and have infinite amount of time to make themselves more powerful and rich.
The function of stories like this is to get across the idea that Death is not a bad thing, but a natural and inescapable part of Life. The great equalizer.
@muskaannagra8459
November 5, 2025 at 3:48 pm
Wait i just stumbled upon this video and oim loving it
@OstblockLatina
November 5, 2025 at 3:59 pm
10:25 – cannibalism is a practice of eating the members of own species. Wendigos don’t eat other wendigos. One is only referred to as cannibalistic if eating humans, if he or she is also human. Therefore wendigos are ANTHROPOPHAGIC.
@luk6997
November 5, 2025 at 4:18 pm
They are cannibalistic in the way zombies are. Not exactly humans but related
@preliz
November 5, 2025 at 4:58 pm
Not taking away anything that she says, but there have been multiple times where sewing needles have been found in kids’ candy bags during Halloween. I have had such unfortunate experiences as a child with my friends.
@stansbruv3169
November 5, 2025 at 4:59 pm
Zombies are crackheads
@s_okoroafor
November 5, 2025 at 5:19 pm
Wasn’t expecting the “NONE!”😂
@PureNeptune
November 5, 2025 at 5:45 pm
Thank you Doctor that was very informative and entertaining 😊
@SamanthaSmith-yu2eg
November 5, 2025 at 6:01 pm
20:45 ish, amendment here: Peyton leutner was the girl stabbed 19x by her 2 friends back in 2014 regarding the slendermen thing as the one girl was mentally ill with schizophrenia + some form of psychosis and Peyton actually survived 🥰.
@cc194229
November 5, 2025 at 6:41 pm
Correction, the girl who those two other girls obsessed with slender man stabbed survived , she was hurt quite badly but survived
@heckzotica
November 5, 2025 at 7:02 pm
I hate to correct the professional but the razors in candy myth is something that was perpetuated by religious anti Halloween groups to try to get people to stop celebrating the holiday. It is based off one case and it was NOT razor blades and NOT a stranger. It was poison by a family member.
@Lexisrae122
November 5, 2025 at 7:59 pm
Slender man was not a meme it was a youtube show @marblehornets
@Hotbeachboi
November 6, 2025 at 11:52 am
Bingo 23:06
@Thefavouritechild4life
November 6, 2025 at 12:35 pm
She was so fun!
@darkflux
November 6, 2025 at 12:40 pm
Lisa Frank can be blamed for the unicorns we think of nowadays, with rainbows and clouds.
@KrausseDF
November 6, 2025 at 12:40 pm
88
@ArefeA
November 6, 2025 at 1:24 pm
Red Rover is like a game that is still played in my country and has a national team. It’s a sport
@Bishop228
November 6, 2025 at 1:54 pm
Man, this was a good one. Banger after banger on this channel. Please have her back for a 2nd video.
@BethAge95
November 6, 2025 at 2:14 pm
This was fascinating, thank you!
@luishenriquevilela7001
November 6, 2025 at 2:14 pm
24:30 check out brazilian soap opera called “Beijo do Vampiro”, it does exactly that – leaves vampires closer to their original lore, while having a more closer (and, soap opera-ish) relation to human relationships and romance
@juanpared322
November 6, 2025 at 3:35 pm
She looks like Paul McCartney
@deckardcanine
November 6, 2025 at 3:39 pm
What does Red Rover have to do with folklore?
@Vadios_Davoid
November 6, 2025 at 5:36 pm
16:22 So yay or nay that there were hoodoo practices of blowing a drug in somebodies face that became fake death for a while and started to awake again but lost their minds?
@croyboudreau437
November 6, 2025 at 5:46 pm
Protect this woman at all costs
@keepingvigil
November 6, 2025 at 6:21 pm
I wonder what intelligent creature could someone “kill” in midevil 13-1500’s in his or her youth (20’s), that would be able to return in their older years (60’s+)?
One of the only things comes to mind for me is a Vampire. What does anyone else think?
@annekupillasfineart
November 6, 2025 at 6:25 pm
The Slenderman victim survived, although she was very much injured by the two girls who tried to murder her.
@UserMcName
November 6, 2025 at 6:30 pm
Where can we get more of this magnificent woman? Someone set her up with a podcasting gear and show her Jonathan Pageau’s Symbolic World for a rough format ✨
@shwing1428
November 6, 2025 at 6:31 pm
16:36 I’m sure it was an Irish saint that supposedly met Nessie in that tale. As a Scottish person I have also always thought of Nessie as female but I’m not sure how widespread that is.
@Chessalot
November 6, 2025 at 6:47 pm
We used to call it bulldog which is equally telling
@Crossbow-xy4xg
November 6, 2025 at 6:47 pm
Actually Grim Reaper is most often a she. Most of the Skeletal depictions of Grim Reaper are of Female Skeleton which can be discerned by the number of it’s ribs.
@CassIsABTSArmy
November 6, 2025 at 7:38 pm
“As a pride symbol as well” 🩷🫂
@SizzleCorndog
November 6, 2025 at 7:40 pm
Why did the Victorians ruin everything?
@Jonny_Black
November 6, 2025 at 7:48 pm
LOVE that she mentioned the GDT tooth fairies. I love those guys!!
@Mercury_Beetle
November 6, 2025 at 7:49 pm
How does one become a professional folklorist and is it a lucrative field? I love this stuff but I got mouths to feed. Dr. Wood knows it all and I’m so jealous.
@Iamyourdinner
November 6, 2025 at 8:17 pm
Envy here 💕
@Jimdigby
November 6, 2025 at 8:26 pm
Reapers use sickles. As a scythe user, Death should be called The Grim Mower.
@happiestplace3754
November 6, 2025 at 8:27 pm
On Halloween I always have jack o’lanterns, candles, lanterns, etc burning on the porch of my front door. Obviously they are a decoration, but their significance in history is to keep evil spirits away on the night when the veil between the living and the dead is the thinnest. I don’t blow any of them out until after midnight, which I guess can be considered a superstition, but it can’t hurt either.