English antiquarian folklore and occult

John Aubrey

1626 – 1697

John Aubrey was a 17th-century English antiquary and pioneering folklorist who systematically collected accounts of apparitions, folk magic, customs, and popular beliefs at a moment when England's pre-modern folk traditions were rapidly disappearing under the pressures of the Civil War era and its aftermath. His Miscellanies (1696) gathered ghost stories and supernatural curiosities, while his Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme (posthumously published) preserved vanishing English folk traditions. He also conducted early archaeological surveys of Stonehenge and Avebury, making him a founding figure in both folklore studies and archaeoastronomy.