Monsters and Strange Creatures with Natalie Lawrence

Monsters and Strange Creatures with Natalie Lawrence

Author: Icy Sedgwick September 22, 2025 Duration: 49:43

Natalie Lawrence is an author and illustrator who explores our relationship with the natural world, looking through multiple lenses - from the biological to the mythic and psychoanalytic. She completed a MSc and Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge, exploring the making and meanings of monstrous creatures in seventeenth century Europe.

She published her first book as a teenager, Feathers and Eggshells, inspired by Hampstead Heath and the birds she was entranced by as a child, and published Planta Sapiens with Paco Calvo in 2022. She has also given a TedX talk, appeared on BBC Radio, and worked with installation artists. 

In this chat, we talk about humans' fascination for monsters, how the walrus was originally conceived of as being a monster, the Hydra of Hamburg, cryptids as contemporary monsters and the ways in which our understanding of what is real and what exists has changed over the centuries.

Buy Enchanted Creatures: Our Monsters and Their Meanings: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781474619035

Find Natalie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/natalie.j.lawrence/

And her website: https://nataliejlawrence.com/

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Each week, Fabulous Folklore with Icy offers a compact, fifteen-minute dive into the strange and storied shadows of our world’s traditions. Host Icy Sedgwick, a writer steeped in fantasy and Gothic horror, brings a storyteller’s eye to the material, weaving together tales of local legends, deep-rooted superstitions, and ancient myths. The podcast moves beyond simple retellings to consider the cultural soil from which these stories grew-why people believed what they did, how these narratives functioned in society, and the peculiar, often unsettling details that make them endure. You’ll hear about the oddities and occult practices that textbooks often overlook, all delivered with a blend of curiosity and a slight chill. It’s a consistently engaging exploration for anyone fascinated by the weird corners of history and human belief, a weekly reminder that our world is far more mysterious than it seems. Sedgwick’s background ensures the tales are told with both authority and a palpable sense of wonder, making each short episode a perfect gateway into a larger, fabulously folkloric universe. This isn’t just a catalog of curiosities; it’s an invitation to look at the familiar landscapes around us and imagine the layers of story hidden just beneath the surface, all packed into a brief, compelling listen that easily fits into a daily routine.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Fabulous Folklore with Icy
Podcast Episodes
The Scottish Fairy Courts with Morgan Daimler [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:26:36
Morgan Daimler is a witch who has been a polytheist since the early 1990s. Following a path inspired by the Irish Fairy Faith blended with neopagan witchcraft. Morgan teaches classes on Irish myth and magical practices,…
Dowsing for Treasure and Criminals: Extra Uses for Divining Rods [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:04
Dowsing is often used to find water, minerals, or even lost items. Where divination usually seeks to provide information, here the information is of a directly practical or tangible sort. Rather than telling a fortune, o…
Walnut Trees in Folklore: Evil Shade and Helpful Remedies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 23:29
When it comes to the walnut tree, we're probably more familiar with their produce than the actual tree. Walnuts are easily recognisable, and present in everything from nut selections to coffee cake. We might even know th…
Poplar Trees: Folk Belief, Remedies, and the Arbor Tree [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 20:26
Poplar trees are perhaps one of the lesser-known trees that I've featured on this blog. Many people can recognise an oak tree on sight, but how many could recognise the poplar? Indeed, how many would realise John Constab…
Polish Folk Magic with Joanna Tarnawska [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:03:06
Joanna Tarnawska is an animist, folkloric witch, and psychologist residing in the mountains of Lower Silesia, Poland. Her practice intertwines animism, bioregional traditions, and lore, drawing inspiration from the early…
Yew Trees: Death, Churchyards, and Helpful Tools [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 19:32
Back in November 2020, I explored the folklore of the yew tree; specifically, the common yew, or English yew (Taxus baccata). Yes, it's a poisonous tree. Yes, it's linked with death. And yes, people like to say they pre-…
The London Plane: A Tree Suited to City Life [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:18
Periodically, I choose a plant, tree or fungus to explore, only to find there is very little folklore about them. Invariably, there are two reasons for this. First, the plant, tree or fungus has little use to humans, so…
Childhood Games: Classics, Crazes and the Occult in the Playground [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:51
In January, I asked people if they wanted to share any children’s folklore as part of my February theme. As a branch of study, this largely refers to folklore created, shared, and maintained by children. Adults are not i…
Dolls and Doll Magick with Najah Lightfoot [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:59
Najah Lightfoot is the multi award-winning author and regular contributor to the Llewellyn annuals. Najah’s magickal staff is on display and part of the permanent collection of the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft. She is a…
Children's Beliefs: Superstitions, Luck, and the Brenin Lwyd [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:17
In January, I asked people if they wanted to share any children’s folklore as part of my February theme. As a branch of study, this largely refers to folklore created, shared, and maintained by children. Adults are not i…