Episode 157: Hanging On (ad-free)

One of the most common features of our legends and folklore is our dreams. And one of the most common dreams, across all the pages of history, is a desire that has haunted people since the dawn of time—a desire that might just be more attainable that we realize.

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Further Reading

1. “Archaeologists Find Mysterious 'Elixir of Immortality' in Ancient Chinese Tomb,” ScienceAlert, March 2019, https://www.sciencealert.com/archaeologists-discover-elixir-of-immortality-in-ancient-chinese-tomb.
2. Theresa Bane, Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore (Jefferson: McFarland and Company, Inc., 2016).
3. Robert Bartlett, The Hanged Man: A Story of Miracle, Memory, and Colonialism in the Middle Ages (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004).
4. Anne Birrell, "The Elixir of Life,” in Popular Songs and Ballads of Han China, (HONOLULU: University of Hawai'i Press, 1993) pp. 41-56.
5. Mark Bushnell, “Then Again: Bizarre Tale of Hibernation is a Mystery,” VT Digger, February 2017, ttps://vtdigger.org/2017/02/05/then-again-bizarre-tale-of-hibernation-is-a-mystery.
6. Amanda Cantu, “Gilgamesh: The Search for Immortality,” StMU History Media, October 2017, https://stmuhistorymedia.org/gilgamesh-the-search-for-immortality/#markerref-75740-2.
7. Roger Chapman, “Throwing the Explorer out with the Fountain: American History Textbooks and Juan Ponce de Leon,” The Florida Historical Quarterly 94, no. 1 (Summer 2015), pp. 92-107.
8. Joseph A. Citro, Weird New England: Your Travel Guide to New England’s Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (New York: Sterling Publishing, 2005).
9. Natalie Clunan, “The Obscure Story of Vermont’s Frozen Hill People Will Give You Goosebumps,” Only in Your State, February 2019, https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/vermont/frozen-hill-people-vt.
10. David J. Colins, S.J., “Learned Magic,” in The Cambridge history of Magic and Witchcraft in the West: From Antiquity to the Present, edited by David J. Collins, S.J. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015) pp. 332-360.
11. “‘You’ve heard of the Count Saint-Germain…’--in Pushkin’s ‘The Queen of Spades’ and Far Beyond,” New Zealand Slavonic Journal, Festschrift in honor of Arnald McMillin (2002), pp. 49-66.
12. Deborah M. Coulter-Harris, Chasing Immortality in World Religions (Jefferson: McFarland and Co., 2016).
13. “Two Tales of Mermaid Meat,” Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, Sept. 2015, https://hyakumonogatari.com/2015/09/24/two-tales-of-mermaid-meat.
14. Laurinda Dixon, Nicolas Flamel: His Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures (1624) (New York: Garland Publishing, 1994).
15. “The Folklore of Japanese Mermaids.” KCP International. Published 4/16/2017. https://www.kcpinternational.com/2017/04/the-folklore-of-japanese-mermaids/. Accessed 4/13/2020.
16. Gerald J. Gruman, “A History of Ideas about the Prolongation of Life: The Evolution of Prolongevity Hypotheses to 1800,” in Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 56, n. 9 (1966), pp. 1-102.
17. Jussi Hanska, “The Hanging of William Cragh: The Anatomy of a Miracle,” Journal of Medieval History 27 (2001): 121-138.
18. “Japan: The ‘Mermaidisation’ of the Ningyo and related Folklore Figures,” in Scaled for Success: The Internationalisation of the Mermaid, edited by Philip Hayward (East Barnet: John Libbey Publishing LTD., 2018) pp. 51-68.
19. E.J. Holmyard, Alchemy (New York: Dover Publications, 1990).
20. Christopher Klein, “Is the Quest for the Holy Grail Over?” History.com, Sept. 2018. https://www.history.com/news/is-the-quest-for-the-holy-grail-over.
21. “A Strange Tale,” Argus and Patriot, Dec. 21, 1887, https://www.newspapers.com/image/355548971/?terms=frozen.
22. Douglas T. Peck, “Anatomy of an Historical Fantasy: The Ponce de Leon-Fountain of Youth Legend,” Revista de Historia de America no. 23 (Jan-Dec. 1998), pp. 63-87.
23. John Read, “Alchemy and Alchemists,” Folklore 33, no. 3 (Sept. 1933), pp. 251-78.
24. “Sisyphus," in Dictionary of Classical Mythology, by Jennifer R. March, 2nd ed. (Oxbow Books, 2014).
25. C.J.S. Thompson, Alchemy and Alchemists (Mineola: Dover Publications, 2002).
26. “Alchemy and Immortality--The Tale of Nicolas Flamel and the Lapis Philosophorum,” Ancient Origins, January 2014, https://www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/alchemy-and-immortality-tale-nicolas-flammel-and-lapis-philosophorum-005161.
27. Arthur Edward Waite, Lives of Alchemystical Philosophers (London: George Redway, 1888).
28. Harriett Webster, translator and editor, “Mary de Briouze,” City Witness, ttp://www.medievalswansea.ac.uk/en/statement/2.
29. Harriett Webster, translator and editor, “The Twice-Hanged William Cragh,” City Witness. http://www.medievalswansea.ac.uk/en/the-story/the-twice-hanged-william-cragh/#ref-1.
30. Harriett Webster, translator and editor, “William Cragh,” City Witness, http://www.medievalswansea.ac.uk/en/statement/5.
31. Harriett Webster, translator and editor, “William de Briouze Jr.” City Witness, http://www.medievalswansea.ac.uk/en/statement/3.