Myths & Legends for Sleep

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Latest episodes

• The Leprechaun: The Stranger Folklore Behind the Little Green Figure

  October 5, 2026 · 51 min

  Behind a sunny hedge on a harvest holiday, Tom Fitzpatrick hears a small clacking sound. At first he thinks it is a bird among the leaves. Then he finds a very small old shoemaker at work beside a pitcher, a wooden stool, and a tiny brogue…

• The Thunderbird: The Giant Bird of North American Legend

  September 28, 2026 · 49 min

  A Quinault story recorded on the Washington coast follows Sisemo, the husband of Thunder’s daughter, as Thunder tests whether he is worthy of a place in the family. Sisemo is sent for snow from five mountain tops, then for mountain lions…

• The Chupacabra: The Strange Beast of Caribbean Folklore

  September 20, 2026 · 44 min

  In 1995, reports of dead sheep, goats, chickens, and other domestic animals began troubling communities across Puerto Rico. Some animals were said to bear puncture wounds. Some owners believed there was little blood visible. Soon, the…

• The Sea Serpent Legends: What Sailors Claimed to See Beyond the Horizon

  September 13, 2026 · 58 min

  For centuries, sailors, missionaries, fishermen, naval officers, and naturalists described unfamiliar forms moving through the water: long bodies, raised heads, repeated humps, fins, and trailing shapes that seemed difficult to fit within…

• The Wendigo: The Winter Spirit of the Northern Forests

  September 7, 2026 · 35 min

  In the northern forests and lake country of North America, Ojibwe, Cree, Innu, Naskapi, and other Algonquian-speaking peoples preserved traditions about a being known by many related names: wiindigoo, wihtikow, windigo, and wendigo. Often…

• The Selkies: The Seal People Who Came Ashore at Night

  August 31, 2026 · 57 min

  Along the northern coasts of Orkney and Shetland, seals rested on low rocks, lifted dark eyes above the water, and entered the stories of island communities that lived beside the sea. In those stories, some seals were said to be selkie…

• The Yeti: The Snowy Watcher of the Himalayas

  August 24, 2026 · 59 min

  Settle into a quiet account of the Himalayan world of the Yeti: a varied body of mountain traditions shaped by forests, high valleys, monasteries, difficult passes, mountaineering history, and the immense presence of the world’s highest…

• The Mermaid Legends: Voices Beneath the Moonlit Sea

  August 18, 2026 · 58 min

  On a quiet sea beneath the moon, a sailor hears a song drifting over black water. It may be wind, a bird, another vessel beyond sight, or something remembered from an old tale. This gentle journey follows the changing legends of mermaids…