The Red Branch
If there is one thing every reader of fairy tales can tell you, it’s that you should never, ever venture into the woods alone. From the whispering willows to the ominous oaks, this episode brings you the stories of the trees that loom large in our collective imagination, exploring their sinister attributes and the cautionary tales they inspire.
Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.
Music
Purple Planet - Creepy Hollow
Purple Planet - Desolation
Purple Planet - Bittersweet
Purple Planet - Chimera
Purple Planet - Sense of Loss
Purple Planet - Shadowlands
Sources
Primary
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy: Inferno. Translated by James Romanes Sibbald. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1884. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/41537/pg41537-images.html
Blackwood, Algernon. The Willows. 1907. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11438/pg11438-images.html
The Blair Witch Project. Directed by Myrick, Daniel, Eduardo Sanchez, Heather Donahue, et al. Santa Monica, CA: Artisan Entertainment, 1999.
“Deirdre of the Sorrows.” Bard Mythologies. https://bardmythologies.com/deirdre-of-the-sorrows/
Ferguson, Samuel. “The Fairy Thorn: An Ulster Ballad.” In Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasants, edited by William Butler Yeats, 38–40. London: The Walter Scott Publishing Co., 2010. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/33887/pg33887-images.html
Sandars, N. K., ed. The Epic of Gilgamesh. Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1964.
Tolkein, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. 50th anniversary edition. Boston: Mariner Books, 2005.
The Watchers. Directed by Ishana Shyamalan. Berwyn, Pennsylvania: Blinding Edge Pictures, 2024.
Secondary
Briggs, Katharine Mary. The Fairies in English Tradition and Literature. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967.
Classen, Albrecht. The Forest in Medieval German Literature: Ecocritical Readings from a Historical Perspective. Blue Ridge Summit: Lexington Books, 2015.
Darwin, Tess. The Scots Herbal: The Plant Lore of Scotland. Edinburgh: Mercat Press, 1997.
Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion. New York: Macmillan, 1922. Project Gutenberg. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/3623/pg3623-images.html
Kasperek, Andrzej. “The Willows by Algernon Blackwood, Das Unheimliche and Sociology: Horror Literature in the Dispute on what is Recognized as Real.“ Zeszyty Naukowe Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Studia Religiologica 56, no. 1 (2023): 1-16.
Maitland, Sara. Gossip from the Forest: The Tangled Roots of Our Forests and Fairy Tales. London: Granta Books, 2012.
Marques, Diana. “The Haunted Forest of A Song of Ice and Fire: A Space of Otherness.” Fafnir 3, no. 3 (2016): 31-40.
Melhem, Qateralnada. “Reality Awry: Spatial Experiments in Algernon Blackwood's ‘The Willows’ and Environmental Awareness.” Journal of Narrative Theory 54, no. 2 (2024): 230-248.
Parker, Elizabeth. The Forest and the Ecogothic: The Deep Dark Woods in the Popular Imagination. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
Paterson, Jacqueline M. Tree Wisdom: The Definitive Guidebook to the Myth, Folklore, and Healing Power of Trees. Thorsons: London, 1996.
Scotland's Yew Tree Heritage Initiative. ”Fortingall.” 2022. https://scotlands-yew-trees.org/yewtree/fortingall/
Trees for Life. “Alder Mythology and Folklore.” 2024. https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/trees/alder/alder-mythology-and-folklore/
Trees for Life. “Ash Mythology and Folklore.” 2024. https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/trees/ash/ash-mythology-and-folklore/
Trees for Life. “Birch Mythology and Folklore.” 2024. https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/trees/birch/birch-mythology-and-folklore/
Trees for Life. “Oak Mythology and Folklore.” 2024. https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/trees/oak/oak-mythology-and-folklore/
Trees for Life. “Willow Mythology and Folklore.” 2024. https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/trees/willow/willow-mythology-and-folklore/
Trees for Life. “Yew.” 2024. https://treesforlife.org.uk/into-the-forest/trees-plants-animals/trees/yew/
Vickery, Roy. A Dictionary of Plant Lore. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
