Reddit mentions: The best books on folklore

>I'm heathen, been reading The Poetic Edda, but I'd be interested to learn about the Anglo Saxon Gods.

Here you are.

>Now I'm unsere how similar anglo saxon heathenry is to the nordic legends and beliefs, how much people know about the gods, or what source material even exists, but any help would be much appreciated.

You're not going to be in much luck searching for mythology, since even the most "pagan" of Anglo-Saxon poetics is still heavily Christianized/debated to be either/or.

A nice little primer, although kind of out of date, is Kathleen Hebert's Looking for the Lost Gods of England.

This is soo cool!! I LOVE MEDIEVAL THINGS

These are all good books on the topic, and cover it effectively to some degree. The most famous book is probably the examination of Skinwalker Ranch which just takes it's name from the creature, and which doesn't necessarily explore the creature by itself too deeply.

https://www.amazon.com/Some-Kind-Power-Skinwalker-Narratives/dp/0874802385/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468140712&sr=1-1&keywords=Some+kind+of+power

https://www.amazon.com/Skinwalker-Witchcraft-Related-Spiritual-Phenomena/dp/0965601404/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41E9Ejlcj5L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR240%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=BKS7D7CQDBVJ39H6FQ5T

https://www.amazon.com/Navaho-Witchcraft-Clyde-Kluckhohn/dp/0807046973/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_1?ie=UTF8&dpID=316K5XDNPWL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR214%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=XX423BBAX3MPJFMDGVZH

https://www.amazon.com/Witchcraft-Sorcery-American-Native-Peoples/dp/0893011274/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=51QgGUKd1EL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR224%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=EQ8757NR2RMZQVACXQF4

https://www.amazon.com/Native-American-Tribes-History-Culture/dp/1492195227/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=419fuLUq%2B0L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR214%2C320_&psc=1&refRID=XX423BBAX3MPJFMDGVZH

As a supplement to other texts, and as a handy reference book, The Dictionary of English Folklore is really worth getting your hands on. Also, the writings on [John Leland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Leland_(antiquary), a 16th century English antiquarian, contain a great deal of rural English oral history and legends collected from villages around the country.

These two ethnographies are easy/pleasant reads, frequently used in undergraduate courses:

• Marjorie Shostak, Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman
  
• Jean L. Briggs, Never in Anger: Portrait of an Eskimo Family
  
  Ethnographies written almost solely for the purpose of introducing hunter-gatherer societies to college freshmen/sophomores include ...
  
  
• Richard B. Lee, The Dobe Ju/'Hoansi
  
• Colin Turnbull, The Mbuti Pygmies: Change and Adaptation
  
• James F. Downs, The Two Worlds of the Washo: An Indian Tribe of California and Nevada
  
• E. Adamson Hoebel, The Cheyennes: Indians of the Great Plains
  
• N. A. Chance, The Iñupiat and Arctic Alaska: An Ethnography of Development
  
• Hart, Pilling, & Goodale, The Tiwi of North Australia
  
• Robert Tonkinson, The Mardu Aborigines: Living the Dream in Australia's Desert
  
  These teaching ethnographies have been around for decades, so while they don't reflect current scholarship, it should be possible to pick them all up for a couple of bucks each, and I think you'd get a lot out of browsing them that's lost in comparative work.

I swear by the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Arthurian Legends https://www.amazon.com/dp/1566198763/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gTK4CbCQ25Y7E


It’s not fancy by any means and it might be more basic than what you have in mind but it really does get to the basics of each story and it’s very easy to find what you’re looking for.

Big fan of this book - it's just a large collection of Yiddish Folktales, they have a chapter on chelm. It's definitely the grown up collection.

I don't know about online, but this book's pretty good: http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Jewish-Folklore-Nathan-Ausubel/dp/0517502933

Other Hopi resources available:

Aspects of Hopi Grammar: http://library1.org/_ads/1D39C68B8A08B484C9347B623EB7817A

Concise Hopi Lexicon: https://www.amazon.com/Concise-Hopi-English-Lexicon/dp/9027220158

https://books.google.com/books?id=lC-NAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=concise+hopi+lexicon&source=bl&ots=AUxb9WmawT&sig=bPM_Nw9ggV0Iyb_a-b4a8SnaR_k&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj-8I-gwbDbAhXSyVMKHesGDCAQ6AEIRTAH#v=onepage&q=concise%20hopi%20lexicon&f=false

Lessons in Hopi (240 pages) can be found as a pdf on line if you search (https://www.amazon.com/Lessons-Hopi-Milo-Kalectaca/dp/0816506175) as well as a pdf called Learn Hopi Textbook and Dictionary (340 pages)

I also have these books that feature bilingual stories in Hopi and English. The first one is a huge oversized book

https://www.amazon.com/Hopitutuwutsi-Hopi-Tales-Bilingual-Collection/dp/0816508364

https://www.amazon.com/Bedbugs-Night-Dance-Sexual-Encounter/dp/0803282397

https://www.amazon.com/Hopi-Coyote-Tales-Istutuwutsi-Religions/dp/0803281234

Here it is on Amazon, and here it is in PDF (though, if it benefits you, I'd suggest doing something for the author in way of compensation).

I've linked this book before. I think it could help here:

http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Things-That-Never-Were/dp/0670816078/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417587666&sr=1-1&keywords=encyclopedia+of+things+that+never+were

In fact it looked a little like this in size and style: https://www.amazon.com/Folklore-Ghosts-Mistletoe-Hilda-Davidson/dp/0859910792. So much so that I'm requesting a scan of the table of contents, since I can only find used copies for $300. D:

The Encyclopedia of Things that Never Were?
https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Things-That-Never-Were/dp/0670816078/

This one, maybe?
https://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Things-That-Never-Were/dp/0670816078/

I've read this one and it was very entertaining. Not only the spooky urban legends, but also the funny ones, some conspiracy theories etc. Lots of them! I don't think it covers Slenderman, but Jersey Devil is mentioned for sure.

You might look up works by local author Joseph Citro aka the "Ghostmaster General". He has lots of material on New England spookiness. For example:

​

https://www.amazon.com/Vermont-Ghost-Guide-Joseph-Citro/dp/1584650095/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=vermont+ghost+guide&qid=1558550002&s=gateway&sr=8-3

​

One of personal favorite creepy VT locations would be the abandoned mill foundation on Martinsville Road in Hartland VT. Comes complete with history of murder, suicide and cult activity. Very spooky. Pretty dangerous, too... don't go alone.