David Castleton (Author)

@david-castleton.bsky.social

894 Followers 1076 Following

Writer specialising in the gothic, weird history, folklore, graveyards, myth. Novelist; best-selling non-fiction (Shire/Bloomsbury); winner of the Go Gothic Short Fiction Prize. Website & blog: https://www.davidcastleton.net/

Painting of Morpheus showing a near-naked man with wings slumped asleep.
Large mound surrounded by trees in a flat, green landscape of fields.
'Punch' cartoon of 1892, showing a skeletal-looking sailor seated on a chest at the bottom of the sea.
Water colour painting of a crowned, winged being with red hair clutching an orb and sceptre surrounded by smaller spirits holding scrolls and playing musical instruments.
Chinese chef dressed in white handling long strings of noodles.
Golden statue of Anteros at Piccadilly Circus, London, against a blue sky.
Painting by Pieter Bruegel showing the land of Cockaigne (1567). Three men lay around a table in a stupor while a pig runs past with a knife in its back to allow easy carving.
Henry Irving photographed in 1878. He has greying hair, is wearing a smart jacket and cravat and glancing to the right.
The Wolves Pursuing Sól and Máni by J. C. Dollman, 1909. Two winged figures in chariots, one haloed by the sun and the other by the moon, drive chariots while being pursued by black wolves with open mouths.
Photo looking out to sea, showing Whitby's famous steps under a blue sky. A lamppost can be seen in the foreground, opposite a coffin rest.
Photo showing Bauhaus performing in 2006 on a dark stage lit by two spotlights
Painting showing a near-naked Prometheus, wrapped in an orange cloak and holding aloft his fire. A dark, clay, lifeless man sits at his feet.
Photo showing Wistman's Woods in winter, with moss-covered rocks and bare, twisting, moss-covered branches of trees.
Fresco of the god Saturn - represented as a man in a hooded robe holding a sickle.
Grey statue of a fairy with wings and cap among some green vegetation
Front cover of the book 'Dracula's Guest and Other Weird Stories' from 1914. A man lies in a snowy graveyard, pinned down by a howling wolf, as a horse gallops in the background.
Poster for a theatrical performance of Goethe's Faust, showing a celebration on the Brocken with flying witches, skeletons and devils. The poster advertises 'Lewis Morrison as Mephistopheles'.
Church mural showing a row of skeletons dancing hand in hand with a richly dressed man, a man with a crutch and wooden leg, and a child.
A mounted St George thrusts his lance into the mouth of a green dragon in a landscape of parched fields as a medieval lady looks on.
Green man roof boss in Rochester Cathedral. It shows the face of a bearded man with green foliage growing out of his mouth and leaves on his forehead.
Sketch of the Jabberwocky - a large dragon type creature in a forest in front of a small girl brandishing a sword.
Weathered, leaning gravestones in front of a honey-coloured stone church with a square tower.
Metal sculpture of Bobby, a long-haired Skye Terrier, atop a memorial drinking fountain, with some grey, stone Edinburgh tenements in the background.
Painting of a harlequin in a red and black patterned suit and cream-coloured hat clutching a staff, by Paul Cezanne.
Two signs stuck to a lamppost by the side of a busy road - one reading '491' and the other 'Former 666'.
Shot from a 1931 trailer for the film 'Dracula' showing three women clad in white dresses in a cobwebby, gothic-looking crypt.
Oregano plant with pink and purplish flowers.
Large stone church with an elaborate tower against a cloudy sky
An old stone packhorse bridge spanning a small river. It is fringed by green trees and it is a sunny day with a blue sky. A golden Labrador stands in front of the bridge.
Black and white photo of children gathered in front of a church, watching a man holding up a hoop-like object.
The web of an orb spider, with a small, orangey coloured spider at the centre of it.
A domelike boulder split neatly in two in a churchyard under a blue sky. Part of the church, some graves and a bench can be seen in the background.
View looking across a narrow sound to the smaller island of the Calf of Man from the Isle of Man. The landscape is very verdant but craggy. There are rocks and islets in the sound.
Photo of Joyce seated, facing sideways. He is wearing glasses and a heavy dark coat and his hair is swept back.
Illustration from 1904 showing a multi-coloured salmon in the well sticking its head out of the water to catch hazelnuts falling from trees.
Painting showing Hansel and Gretel by the side of the gingerbread house, with the witch leaning out of the door accompanied by two black cats. Otto Kubel (1930)
A hedgehog photographed in a natural environment.
A black cat perched on a wire fence, looking directly into the camera. In the background is the roof of a house, some trees and a blue sky.
The name F. Rint written in bones mortared into the wall of Sedlec Ossuary, along with the date 1870.
Print from Georges Méliès's 1902 film Le voyage dans la lune. The moon is depicted with a human face and a spacecraft having landed in his eye.
Aerial view of the ruined keep and walls of Richmond Castle. Some of the town's stone houses can be seen as well as a verdant landscape of fields and trees.
Two ravens perching on a rail in front of the Tower of London. The birds appear to be conversing with each other.
Human skull photographed against a black background
Skylit main reading room of the Lit and Phil, with a red metal balcony and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves
A wooden church bench, whose end is carved with a worn image of a mermaid. She had long flowing hair and is clutching a round mirror and a comb.
Station of the London Necropolis Railway, near Waterloo - a four-storey Victorian building blending Baroque and Neo-classical styles.
1919 illustration to 'The Masque of the Red Death', showing a death-like figure holding a mask, with a dagger dropped on a carpet in front of a grandfather clock.
A short metal key with a heart-shaped head propped up on the edge of a wooden board.
A book cover showing a photo of a door knocker on Durham Cathedral in the form of a demon's face. This was a 'sanctuary knocker' that fugitives could use in the Middle Ages to get sanctuary in the cathedral.
Semi-ruined castle with an imposing, intact tower.
Mount Vesuvius viewed across the bay from Naples. A church tower with bells is in the foreground.
1932 'authorised' edition of Lady Chatterley's Lover. The book has a plain grey cover with red lettering.
Grey stone carving of Helios as a long-haired youngish man. He has a sun-like halo around his head and is driving a chariot with four horses.
Large model of a red-coloured elephant with a turret on its back in South London's Elephant and Castle district. A large office block is in the background and the sky is blue.
A bowl and a shaker of salt with some spilt on a black surface
The figure of Satan - illuminated by a ray of light - plummets through space, in a drawing by Gustave Dore.
A barbed-wire fence stretching into Dozmary Pool - a dark, wide lake beneath an overcast sky.
Two crossed metal keys lying on a map showing the west coast of North and Central America.
Loch Morar, framed by wooded mountains.