See our Special Exhibitions

Believe it or not? - an exhibition for 2024

Each year we have a brand new exhibition in our special exhibition space called the High Barn.

Prepare to be bewitched by 2024’s exhibition, for all the family, telling the story of magic and beliefs from the North York Moors and beyond. Take a peek at some of the stories within the exhibition by watching our short films.

Discover...

 
A world of magical house protection,
Rare witch posts and enchanting spell tokens
The Ryedale women accused of witchcraft,
Mysteries of the Lyke Wake Walk,
Ancient wisdom, medicine and charms,
Ritual folk dance and corn dolly customs,
and
Elphi, the cheeky household sprite. 
 
What will you believe?
 
Entry to this exhibition is included within your entry ticket to the Museum or on presentation of a valid annual pass.

Saturday 23 March until Sunday 17 November 2024 (closed on Fridays)

Mysterious Witch Posts

Magical House and Personal Protection

Harvest Superstitions

Talk - Magical House Protection

Saturday 7 September, 2 – 3.30pm.  Tickets: £5 

In association with our special exhibition for 2024, we are hosting a series on talks. Join writer Brian Hoggard of Apotropaios as he uncovers the concealed world of counter-witchcraft.  

Across the British Isles, old homes and houses bear witness to the beliefs of our ancestors. Brian will be exploring the special signs and secret objects that have often lain hidden for centuries. From written charms to marks and carvings, the evidence mounts. But of particular fascination are the many objects, long-concealed. Welcome to a world of magical thinking, where everyday people buried witch bottles, horses’ skulls, so-called ‘mummified’ cats and an array of other curious finds… 

After writing an undergraduate dissertation on witchcraft and folk magic, Brian’s research quickly escalated into an incredible project to map and plot evidence of magical house protection. The results of this work – which started in 1999 – formed the basis of the publication Magical House Protection: The Archaeology of Counter-Witchcraft

(Please note, if you would also like to visit the Museum, an entry ticket must also be purchased or a valid annual pass shown.)

Talk - Hobnobbing with the Hobs

Saturday 14 September, 2 – 3pm.  Tickets: £5 

In association with our special exhibition for 2024, we are hosting a series on talks. Join writer and broadcaster Bob Fischer to discover a wonderful world of folklore from the North York Moors. 

This landscape is riddled with tales of ‘hobs’, the mystical little beasties once believed to have helped out on local farms, or, indeed, to have caused havoc on them!

Did Elphi, the mischievous Farndale hob, really cause the Oughtred family to leave their moorland home forever? And did the cave-dwelling Runswick Bay hob actually have the power to cure whooping cough? In this lively talk, Bob looks at the origin and history of these endearing local folk tales.

Bob Fischer is a North-eastern writer, broadcaster and walker whose own ‘hobsession’ started when he discovered the intriguing ‘Hob On The Hill’ moorland marker stone near Commondale. He is a regular writer about folklore and other weirdness for Fortean Times magazine and his popular Haunted Generation website chronicles the stranger corners of 20th century pop culture.  

(Please note, if you would also like to visit the Museum, an entry ticket must also be purchased or a valid annual pass shown.)