{"podcast":{"title":"The Three Ravens Podcast","slug":"the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563","podcast_index_feed_id":6092563,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6404e1f4c5ea8c0011811194","website_url":"https://shows.acast.com/threeravenspodcast","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6404e1f4c5ea8c0011811194/1762731467101-0eb1042b-7eea-4cd5-b8b9-9f44f87aadbd.jpeg","author":"Three Ravens","episode_count":511,"summary":"Three Ravens is an English myth and folklore podcast hosted by Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux. In each weekly episode, released on Mondays, we explore a historic county, digging into the history, folklore and traditions of the area, from ghosts and mermaids to mythical monsters, half-forgotten heroes, bloody legends, and much, much more. Across our first six series we ventured around England's 39 historic counties twice, taking turns to tell a new version of a legend from that county - all before discussing what that tale might mean, where it may have come from, and the truths it reveals about England's hidden past. Our Bonus Episodes are then released on Thursdays ( Magic and Medicines about folk remedies and arcane spells, Three Ravens Bestiary about cryptids and mythical creatures, Forgotten Melodies about folk song types with original performances from us, and Magus , which is about the lives of the most famous witches and wizards in history). On Saturdays, we then release episodes of our interview series Local Legends, with each episode featuring a chat between us and an acclaimed folklorist, author, podcaster or historian, deepening discussions about that week's county. In b…","last_synced_at":"2026-08-02T04:21:37.212610+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563"},"episode":{"title":"Three Ravens Bestiary #22: Leprechauns","slug":"three-ravens-bestiary-22-leprechauns","published_at":"2026-03-19T06:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563/three-ravens-bestiary-22-leprechauns","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563","url":"https://www.threeravenspodcast.com/","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6404e1f4c5ea8c0011811194/e/69b996d0e03672b0c75d39cb/media.mp3","summary":"On this month's episode of the Three Ravens Bestiary we're talking all about Leprechauns, hot on the heels of St Patrick's Day! We begin by setting some context, particularly around the cultural changes that took place across the 19th century in Ireland, from the sensational success of Thomas Moore's Irish Melodies in 1808 via the \"Great Hunger\" of the mid-century up to the birth of the Gaelic League. During this Celtic Revival, and spurred on by the success of Sir Walter Scott, this period in Irish life saw the Leprechaun reborn - though not as the cutesy, bright green gnome we're familiar with today, but as a \"solitary fairy\" famous for mending shoes and being, at best, amoral. Yet, is this new conception of the Leprechaun really all that Irish? Might they have more in common with the Scottish Redcap or the Welsh and Cornish 'Coblyn' and 'Knocker' fairies than the Lucky Charms marshmallow-hoarding cereal mascot? To find out, we leap back to the very start of the Leprechaun's story, from the water sprites known as \"little people\" in 8th century legends via a raft of Medieval sagas which give Leprechauns an all-new origin story. Could they in fact really be the withered remnants of Celtic gods, also written of in Wales and Gaul and Roman Britain, reshaped by the shame of defeat? As usual, expect deep dives into obscure places, monsters so terrible they fix your face into a mask of terror, and a bunch of linguistics as well. So if you can't hear one tapping away, mending shoes in your nearest hedgerow, we're offering the next best thing. Without the risk of your wishes crumbling to leaves or dust right before your eyes... Speak to you again on Saturday for Eleanor's Local Legends interview about Carmarthenshire with author Francesca Simon MBE! Three Ravens is an English…","meta_description":"On this month's episode of the Three Ravens Bestiary we're talking all about Leprechauns, hot on the heels of St Patrick's Day! We begin by setting some c…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4717,"processing_state":"processed","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563/episodes/three-ravens-bestiary-22-leprechauns/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-three-ravens-podcast-6092563/three-ravens-bestiary-22-leprechauns.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}