I’m a prize-winning, best-selling author of both fiction and non-fiction, whose work explores the gothic, folkloric, quirky and strange. My non-fiction books include Church Curiosities: Strange Objects and Bizarre Legends (Shire/Bloomsbury) and the forthcoming Atlas Gothica: An Alternative Guide to the World’s Most Curious Destinations (Headline/Hachette).
Church Curiosities investigates the weird artefacts found in Britain’s churches and churchyards and the legends and folklore linked to them. It’s a fascinating tour that takes in the likes of pyramid tombs, antler-sporting dancers, standing stones, pagan altars, lepers’ squints, mummified skulls, and the graves of beloved church cats. It has hit the number one best-seller spot in three Amazon categories.
Atlas Gothica will be published on August 13th 2026 in the UK and August 18th in the US. The book explores 50 gothic destinations around the world, including vampire-haunted Victorian cemeteries, eerie museums, abandoned mental institutions, haunted theatres, spooky old English libraries, and the graveyards that inspired Dracula and Frankenstein.
I’m a winner of the Go Gothic Short Fiction Prize and my novel The Standing Water (Steel String Books) blends psychological darkness and gritty real-life issues with the folkloric, mythic and surreal. The style has been described as “magical realism with a touch of Edgar Allan Poe.”
My poems and short stories have been published in American literary magazines, and my articles have appeared in All About History, Folklore Thursday, The Church Times, Mysterious Universe, Mainly Museums, Newcastle Magazine, and Durham Magazine. My blog The Serpent’s Pen explores folklore, the gothic, psychogeography, weird history, and all that’s spooky and strange.
A bit about me. I grew up in rural North Yorkshire and some of my happiest childhood memories consist of me poking around the creepy churchyards and ruined castles and abbeys in which that part of England abounds. I studied history and cultural history at the University of London and have taught at several British and European higher education institutions. I still live in the north of England, where you might spot me outside a pub downing a pint of the excellent local ale. And I’ve never managed to lose the embarrassing gothic habit of poking around ruins and graveyards.
If you’d like to interview me or have any professional enquiries, please use this website’s contact form to get in touch. I can also be found on X, Bluesky and Mastodon.
Media Appearances
Below are links to some of my online lectures and podcast/documentary appearances:
Here are two lectures I did for the Churches Conservation Trust, one entitled Church Curiosities with David Castleton and the other British Churches: Creepy Artefacts and Spooky Tales
Here’s an interview I did for The Folklore Podcast about Church Curiosities
Here’s a podcast episode I did with cemeteries expert Tui Snider, entitled Sacred Eels, Holy Clowns, Sheela-na-gig, Bizarre Cemetery Legends and More with David Castleton
This is a short documentary I appeared in about Glasgow’s mysterious Gorbals Vampire
Here’s an interview I did with Alice in Gothic Land about Church Curiosities, The Standing Water and various aspects of the gothic