Title page of "A Treatise of Specters" from our Robert White Collection.

Title page of the St Alb-ns Ghost, found in our 18th Century Collection.

A nightmare for every archivist: A pile of pieces of perished elastic band.

A ghostly shelfmark!

As it's #Halloween today we've had a hunt around our stores, and here are some scary things we've found lurking there! We hope you don't find them too scary!
@exploreyourarchive.bsky.social #EYAMonsters

Four books arranged on a white background. Clockwise from top left, the books are titled Horror Cinema, The Modern Horror Film, Nightmare Movies: A Critical Guide to Contemporary Horror Films, and The New Horror Handbook. Some of the covers include images from horror films, including Freddy Krueger and the 'door scene' from The Shining.

🎃 Nos Kalan Gwav Lowen dhyworth an govskrifva! / Happy Halloween from the archives! 🎃

We're sharing some of books relating to horror films from our Bill Douglas and Peter Jewell Collection. Scary stuff!

The Special Collections are open to browse, 10am-4pm, Monday to Friday.

#Archive #EYAMonsters

A dimly lit room with a crowd of children, dressed as monsters with scary masks, all peering at the camera.

If you were in Bolehill at #Halloween 2003, then you may have opened your door to this scary bunch of trick or treaters. The stuff of nightmares!
#PhotoFriday #EYAMonsters

English – Coflein

Initially, this might look like an unfortunate soul being pursued by a monster. However, the carvings might represent Adam and Eve. Either way, they don’t look thrilled about the situation
Carving at St Padarn’s Church, Llanbadarn, Radnorshire.
📸RCAHMW, 2012
zurl.co/bG7z5
#EYAMonsters #coflein

English – Coflein

Is it a monster? Or a badger with a hangover? Either way, this little creature was carved into stone at All Saints’ Church, Gresford. The church was mentioned in the Domesday book, but was almost wholly rebuilt in the 15th century
📸RCAHMW, October 2009
zurl.co/GDrhc
#EYAMonsters #rcahmw #coflein

colourful illustrated map of Cornwall from 1576, the seas around Cornwall are filled with various fantastical sea monsters

colourful illustrated map of Cornwall from 1576, the seas around Cornwall are filled with various fantastical sea monsters

colourful illustrated map of Cornwall from 1576, the seas around Cornwall are filled with various fantastical sea monsters

Who doesn’t love a map? 🗺️ This 1576 Elizabethan map by Christopher Saxton features sea monsters—once drawn to spark imagination or hint at ocean mysteries. They vanished by the late 1600s as science advanced. #eyamonsters #cornishmaps #seamonsters @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social

Black and white photograph of a railway truck with a massive rectangle of coal on it. Several miners are sitting on and standing next to the truck. A wooden board is propped against the truck; it says "From Messrs Oakes & Cos Pollington Colliery to the Colliery Exhibition, London".

This huge block of coal was hewn from Pollington Colliery, near New Brinsley, at the time the largest single piece of coal taken from a mine, 4 Tons 12 hundredweights (4,600Kg), loaded onto an Oakes railway truck to be taken to the London Colliery Exhibition 1903.

#EYAMonsters #coalmining

1979 Smith's #Monster Munch
#EYAMonsters #Archives #Advertising #Food #Snacks

Two images showing the front and back of a small card on which a puzzle being an illustration of multiple faces appears with the text "The other side is not a puzzle, but a fact, and you will save time and money by dealing with us. THE PUZZLE OF PUZZLES. PUZZLE. COUNT FIFTEEN FACES IN THE ABOVE". The back of the card contains details of the services provided by the Derby Repairing Co. as well as their locations in the borough.

How's this for a creepy monster? This puzzle appeared on a late 19th century advert for the Derby Repairing Co. "The Great Repairing Kings".

#EYAMonsters #Victorian #puzzle

Whether mythical or real, Cornwall’s ‘monsters’ tell powerful stories about belief, fear and identity. Come and explore them with us!

Thanks to one of our volunteers for writing this post.

@exploreyourarchives #eyamonsters #witchcraft #folklore #cornishfolklore

A baker wearing a white overall and cap stands in a bakery window with a huge flat tin of Bakewell Pudding. The tin is almost as big as him. Smiling people look through the window from outside.

Need inspiration in #NationalBakingWeek? How about a Bakewell Pudding? It doesn’t need to be as big as this one made in 1987 at The Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop, which weighed a massive six hundredweight. That’s 672 pounds, or 304.81kg!!

#PhotoFriday #EYAMonsters

Poster of Durga as the killer of the buffalo demon, 1976-1978 #EYAMonsters https://ow.ly/tL5c50X1xBo

Reminiscent of the Indian Mkara and the sino-annamite dragon an ornate twelfth-century figure of a fantastic monster representing the more violent aspect of cham design in culture. #EYAMonsters https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA000392/00001

Poster of Durga as the killer of the buffalo demon, 1976-1978 #EYAMonsters https://ow.ly/tL5c50X1xBo

The lion-faced ogre kirtimukha—seen in the text boxes of this 1903 Javanese manuscript—appears across Hindu, Buddhist & Islamic art in SE Asia. Derived from South India’s “face of glory,” it’s a symbol of protection #EYAMonsters digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA005781/0...

This 19th-century Burmese silver bowl showcases deep repousse work & vivid storytelling. Figures like Ravanna, Princess Sita & the ogress Ma Gambi (the golden deer) animate compressed local versions of the Rama tale, popular across the region. #EYAMonsters https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA005819/00001

Krishna kills the demon Keshi. Image by Paul Fox, 1978 #EYAMonsters https://digital.soas.ac.uk/AA00000160/00001

The lion-faced ogre kirtimukha—seen in the text boxes of this 1903 Javanese manuscript—appears across Hindu, Buddhist & Islamic art in SE Asia. Derived from South India’s “face of glory,” it’s a symbol of protection #EYAMonsters https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA005781/00004/5x

✨It's #ExploreYourArchive Day! ✨

The 10th of every month is a day to share and celebrate your archives - our monthly theme for October is #EYAMonsters 👻

Get involved by using the hashtag, we've loved seeing your spooky posts so far this month!👍

The lion-faced ogre kirtimukha—seen in the text boxes of this 1903 Javanese manuscript—appears across Hindu, Buddhist & Islamic art in SE Asia. Derived from South India’s “face of glory,” it’s a symbol of protection #EYAMonsters https://digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAA005781/00004/5x

If you’re going on a monster hunt, look up! Gargoyles are an excellent place to start. This particular specimen looks out over St Michael’s Churchyard from the Old College, Aberystwyth
📸Arthur Chater, December 1968
zurl.co/slpuC
#EYAMonsters #Architecture #welshhistory #coflein #cbhc

colourful illustrations of mythological or medieval creatures like a sphinx with wings, beaked armadillo, a winged goat, a dragon, and so on

For this month's @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social theme #EYAMonsters, these illustrations by Dorrit Dekk for a mural for the Trust Houses Forte Edinburgh, now known as the Balmoral Hotel

Dorrit Dekk Archive
DDK/4

This pantomime version was written by Wilfred Miller and features Sinbad visiting the realm of King Neptune! 🔱

@redruthoperatic1909 #RAOS #pantomime #sinbadthesailor #eyamonsters @exploreyourarchive #redruthamateuroperaticsociety

This image is of Zeeba, a mythical Tibetan beast created by Shiva #EYAMonsters digital.soas.ac.uk/LOAB000124/00001

Black and white photograph from 1926 of Lord and Lady Mountbatten with Laddie Sanford on board Lord Mountbatten's yacht MY Shrimp. Lady Louis Mountbatten is standing with an inflatable toy in the shape of a simplified sea monster between her legs

This month's @explorearchives.bsky.social theme is #EYAMonsters. Here is a photograph from 1926 of Lord and Lady Louis Mountbatten and Laddie Sanford on Mountbatten's yacht, MY Shrimp. Lady Mountbatten is holding an inflatable toy of a sea monster, possibly a shrimp like the yacht's namesake.

Black and white photograph from 1926 of Lord and Lady Mountbatten with Laddie Sanford on board Lord Mountbatten's yacht MY Shrimp. Lady Louis Mountbatten is standing with an inflatable toy in the shape of a simplified sea monster between her legs

This month's @explorearchives.bsky.social theme is #EYAMonsters. Here is a photograph from 1926 of Lord and Lady Louis Mountbatten and Laddie Sanford on Lord Mountbatten's yacht, MY Shrimp. Lady Mountbatten is holding an inflatable sea monster, possibly a shrimp like the yacht's namesake.

A colour illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis. The main body is painted black, with eyes painted to look bioluminescent

From our rare books collection we have this illustration of Vampyroteuthis infernalis, also known as the vampire squid from hell. In an order of its own, we don't really think the vampiric moniker is fair either as they actually feed on detritus and not blood #EYAMonsters

Two medieval-style illustrations of a person figting mythical monsters. Text above describes designs on glass at York, text below describes the wool embroidary that these images are from.

Pencil sketches of a heraldic eagle, a shield, a fish and a dragon-like creatures on aged paper.

Two images of creatures from St. Martin's Church in Spurriergate, York; left: a horned demonic creature, right: a lion-like creature.

We are sharing some of the #monsters in our Knowles collection. The collection contains lots of early illustrations, templates, and research notes of existing artworks and designs in churches in York, England, and parts of Europe.

#EYAMonsters #EYA #archives

This month's @exploreyourarchive.bsky.social
theme is #EYAMonsters

Read about the spooky alleged 1890s haunting of Ballechin House near Perth in Scotland, and the book detailing it's unexplained phenomena, on our blog:

blogs.ncl.ac.uk/speccoll/202...

[Ref. Clarke-Misc-437]

The Loch Ness Monster made from a long length of fabric and a papier mache head. You can see children’s legs underneath and standing alongside is a man dressed in a kilt and sporran, and a child carrying a sign reading 'Loch Ness Monster Beware Do Not Touch'. Image courtesy of www.picturethepast.org.uk

On #PhotoFriday we visit Ripley in 1932 when you might have been surprised to see the Loch Ness monster taking a stroll along Cromford Road. But don’t worry, this magnificent beast was taking part in Ripley Carnival and definitely friendly!

#EYAMonsters #1930s