New for Summer 2024; Tell the Bees Patreon Subscriptions

In July 2024 I’ll be launching a brand new subscription service for the zine ‘Tell the Bees’ via Patreon. Tell the Bees is a catalogue of bizarre stories from folklore, fiction and history. I spend countless hours researching, writing and illustrating every issue. Each issue includes a plethora of interesting and unusual tales such as ghost stories, strange history and local folklore. I include the stories from my research which I find the most interesting, creepy or compelling.

From July you will be able to access the Patreon at patreon.com/tellthebeeszine

After much research and deliberation Patreon seemed to be the best way for me to administrate zine subscriptions going forward. It will also provide a user-friendly interface to share a look behind the scenes into how the zine is made. This includes extra stories, sketches and a look into my library of vintage folklore books. It’ll be a look into the weird world where ‘Tell the Bees’ is made.

Patreon Memberships and Subscriptions

There will be tiers that include physical copies of the zine which will be sent out on a quarterly basis and also a tier that includes access to behind the scenes content only. The latter tier is perfect for those who’d like to support the zine without a physical subscription to the zine. There will also be tiers that include a whole host of extra goodies such as stickers and bonus zines. The zines will still be available for sale individually on my Etsy shop and at Redbrick Market Sheffield.

As the zine is a quarterly release, the monthly Patreon tier charges have been priced in accordance with the monthly membership fee model. This does mean that you will still be charged during the months where a zine is not released. However, these months will still include extra content being posted on Patreon so that you can get a fresh ‘Tell the Bees’ fix every month. 

I am launching this subscription model as so many of you have asked me about this previously, but in doing so this is a huge support to the zine. It allows me to have some foresight as to upcoming zine sales which allows me to dedicate more time to researching, writing and illustrating the zine. 

For me Patreon is also a perfect place for me to share stories that didn’t make it as far as the final edit, as well as showing you some of my resources and photographs from my research trips around the North of England.

A new chapter for ‘Tell the Bees’

‘Tell the Bees’ folklore zine is a real labour of love, and a lot of work goes into making every issue. It’s mind blowing that enough of you have supported the zine since it was first published in July 2023 that one year on a subscription model is something that makes feasible sense. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to read my zine and for every single review that’s been left and the wonderful things that readers have said. I hope that by launching a Patreon page and subscription service for ‘Tell the Bees’ it can make getting your quarterly copy easier, share more insight into the background of the zine and the stories it contains and also allow the zine to continue to grow, leading it into bigger, better and weirder territories.

From July you will be able to access the Patreon at patreon.com/tellthebeeszine

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31 Spooky Stories Collab with Notebook of Ghosts

I am super stoked and excited to share these spooky story record sheets with you as part of a collaboration with Ash from Notebook of Ghosts!

I first took part in one of her Spooky Stories reading challenges last year when she ran her #25spookystories festive reading challenge. Now we all know how much I love a Ghost Story at Christmas and last year I read 25 under the challenge and got myself into a suitably spooky Christmas mood! So much so that I started buying more festive collections in January, ready for this year!

This October launches the #31spookystories challenge where participants can read 13 or 31 short stories during the month of October. If you head over to https://notebookofghosts.com you can find info on the background to the challenge and a whole host of free resources to find your spooky reads without spending a penny. Plus lots of amazing ghostly tales on the blog too!

I’ve downloaded these progress sheets as an accompaniment to the challenge. Just pick whether you’d like the 13 stories or 31 stories sheet and use them as a place to jot down each spooky story you read so that you can see your challenge progress and revisit the stories at a future date. Last year I tracked my progress on the notes app on my phone, but I couldn’t help but think that there must be a much funner way to do it, and so the progress sheets were born!


You can download copies here as well as on the https://notebookofghosts.com website. And remember to use the #31spookystories to share your Halloween reads! I’ll be sharing mine too over at https://instagram.com/thisissianellis so head over and give me and @notebookofghosts a follow to follow the challenge.

Illustrated Ghost Stories 2. The Screaming Skull of Burton Agnes Hall


For my second video I covered the bizarre phenomenon of Screaming Skulls. A distinctly English folklore, there are tales of human skulls the owners of which have requested them to remain in the places they inhabited in life. It’s believed to be linked to Celtic beliefs about the importance of the head. Some believed the skulls to be a good luck heirloom to be passed down for generations to ensure the fortune of the family. In this video we looked at three tales of screaming skulls.

Anne Griffith, The Screaming Skull of Burton Agnes Hall 

Katherine ‘Anne’ Griffith was the youngest of three sisters living at Burton Agnes Hall, East Riding of Yorkshire. Daughters of Sir Henry Griffith, Anne was besotted with the building her father had erected. She believed it to be the most beautiful house ever built. One day, not long after the completion of the work, Anne fell victim of a violent mugging, less than a mile from their home. Anne was brought home to the hall suffering from a blow to the head sustained during the attack. She asked her sisters to promise her that once she died they would remove her head from her body and keep it within the walls of the home she loved so much. Days after the attack, poor Anne died of her injuries. However, the sisters broke their promise and Anne’s body was buried whole in the churchyard. 

A week after Anne’s funeral the first strange occurrence was reported. A loud crash was heard in the hall, like that of a large piece of furniture falling over. On investigation no source of the noise could be found. A week later doors were heard banging violently throughout the home but immediately ceased upon investigation. After this many strange sounds were heard at the hall. Footsteps hurrying up and down the corridors. An unseen figure ascending and descending the stairs quickly. The inhabitants of the hall had become greatly unnerved by the occurrences.

A Grisly Sight

The sisters remembered their sister’s dying promise that they had broken and hastened to make good their word. Anne’s casket was exhumed and within lay a grisly sight. Her head had inexplicably removed itself completely from her body. Her body remained preserved and yet her head was withered and almost completely skull like. This strange sight convinced the sisters that Anne was the source of the strange goings on at the hall. They returned her body to the home and fulfilled their sisters dying wish.

From this day on whenever the skull was removed from the hall, more bizarre experiences were recorded. One tale accounts a maid throwing the skull from a window where it landed on a manure load below. To the shock of the maid and the waggoner, the horses pulling the load refused to move (despite all efforts) until the skull was removed. On one occasion some time later the skull was removed and buried in the garden by the hall’s current occupiers. A terrible wailing and screaming was heard throughout the property until the skull was brought back indoors. It is said that Anne’s skull remains at Burton Agnes Hall, hidden within a wall so as not to scare visitors. 

As always you can find the Illustrated Ghost Story Videos on my Youtube channel and can support the project through my Patreon page.

Illustrated Ghost Story 1: The Gray Man


I thought it might be nice to start adding the stories that I’ve been covering on the blog so you guys can revisit them in the written format if it takes your fancy.

The first video tells the tale of The Gray Man of Bellister Castle. It is said that the ghost of the Gray Man wanders the grounds of Bellister Castle in Northumberland at twilight. An elderly man in tattered robes with a gruesome gash from forehead to chin and a bloody beard. A vision feared by all that has been suggested to sometimes be an omen of death.

The Tale of the Gray Man

The tale of the Gray Man begins on a stormy night at the castle. The Blenkinsops occupied the castle for some centuries. On this night an old minstrel arrived seeking refuge from the storm outside. He was granted refuge, but as the night wore on Lord Blenkinsop grew paranoid. He suspected that his unannounced visitor was a spy for his enemies. After entertaining his hosts the minstrel noted the change in the Lord’s demeanour towards him. He sensed that his welcome had taken an icy turn. The monsters decided that the cold of the storm outside was preferable to the frozen welcome of his host and fled the castle during the night.

A Grisly Demise 

Unfortunately for our poor minstrel, the Lord took his flight as an admission of guilt. Where the minstrel sensed danger and fled the Lord only saw a guilty conscience returning to the ones who had sent him. Enraged, the Lord set the dogs and his men on the poor elderly man. Accounts differ as to whether the minstrel was savagely torn to pieces by the Lord’s dogs, or that the dogs merely halted the man’s escape following which the Lord’s men captured him and hanged him from a nearby tree.

It has been some decades since a sighting of the Gray Man has been reported, and perhaps the Minstrel has found peace at last.As always you can find the Illustrated Ghost Story Videos on my Youtube channel and can support the project through my Patreon page.