Zombies and Revenants | Three Ravens Bestiary #19
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Show notes
For this week's Haunting Season-themed Bonus Episode we're chatting all about the mythology of Zombies and Revenants!
To start off with, which is which? Because one dates from Medieval times, and the other comes from a word invented by an English poet in 1819.
And if we look further back, to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome and Scythia, what root creatures and legends can we find that travel forward through history to become 'The Zombie' and 'The Revenant.'
One is rooted in fear surrounding death, too, and society showing due respect to the dearly departed, while the other is rooted in racism, yet both end up in the same place.
A world of paranoia, filled with the fear of others, and about the belief the End Times are coming.
Mix in a little bit of Samurai and Cowboy mythology and a sprinkling of Science Fiction and it turns out we've ended up exactly where we wanted to be.
A place where zombies could be anywhere, or anyone... but don't worry, as zombies can be cute now, so, presumably, less dangerous?
About Three Ravens 🔮
Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.
Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’
We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.
Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.
Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…
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