At this time of year, as thoughts turn to winter, stories would have been especially important to our ancestors. It is in sympathy with this telling of tales that we offer you issue five of our irregular periodical. We see the shadowy reverse of the British countryside revealed for younger readers in our exploration of folk horror in children’s literature, while Stewart Lee digs into the travels and tales of the mysterious writer Blanche E. Ward. Elsewhere, ritual animal disguise, water worship and the gothic tones of the pipe organ spin their own cultural narratives.