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Morgan Sheppard (1036 KP) created a post

Jun 26, 2026

#FolkloreFriday 🌩️

The Cŵn Annwn are among the most enduring presences in Welsh folklore, and are one of the most consistently misunderstood.

They are the hounds of Annwn, the Welsh Otherworld, white-bodied and red-eared in the oldest descriptions, running with Arawn their master across the night sky and through the storms that gather after midsummer. They are associated with the Wild Hunt in the broader Celtic tradition, though the Welsh understanding of them is its own distinct and carefully considered thing. They don't simply terrorise. They have purpose, direction, and a sovereignty entirely their own.

The piece of their folklore I find most compelling is the detail about sound. The Cŵn Annwn are loudest at a distance and grow quieter as they approach. To hear them clearly and close is not a warning. It is already too late for warnings. That inversion of the expected, of danger growing quieter rather than louder as it nears, says something very precise about the nature of the Otherworld in Welsh tradition. It operates by different rules and doesn't announce itself the way the mortal world does.

They were heard in storms, in the depths of winter, on the old roads between places. They ran where the boundaries were thinnest. And they were not cruel, in the tradition's own terms. They were simply doing what they had always done, moving through the world on business that was not the living's to question. 🌩️

#FolkloreFriday #WelshFolklore #TalesFromWales

Kudos Comment

B (15 KP) rated Lore in Podcasts

Jan 10, 2018

Lore

Society & Culture

8.8

(35 Ratings)

Podcast Rating

Story times!

Lore narrated by Aaron Mahnke is awesome. With a book series, an Amazon video series and this podcast Aaron has a voice that adds an extra creep factor to the scary stories based in true life he tells. At times, I get goosebumps listening to the history and folklore surrounding places and things of the past. A must hear episode is episode 15: Unboxed. The story of Robert the Doll, who inspired the Chucky series and his original owner of the same name, is one of the creepiest. This story of inspired me to drag three other unknowing adults through a museum in Key West. Be sure no pictures exist of this venture.