Reading Laura Mauro’s “Japanese Toilet Ghosts” [FT459:30-35], reminded me of a less well known fear in the Western world, which –according to the modern rabbinical Internet resource site TheTorah.com

Our round-up of the funny, fascinating and unusual stories this fortnight

Sharan Sammi, 44, lives with her family in Wolverhampton. When a Christmas card plops through my letterbox, I think ‘Oh no! Where am I going to put this?’ From a decluttering point of view, Christmas

While the original National Folklore Survey from the 1960s was unscientific and open ended, simply asking random people “what do you know to be true?”, its 21st century successor is a very different b

Christmas stamps, as featured on this year’s COUNTRY LIFE Advent calendar cover, are a cherished annual event– but how did they become one? Emma Hughes investigates

CHRISTMAS cracker jokes aren’t meant to make you laugh; they’re meant to be groan-worthy. And if they elicit an eyeroll as well, I consider it a job well done,” laughs Julian Reed who, as head joke wr