Explores how the haunted, magical world of medieval times still surrounds us. It examines the inner side of texts and fairy tales from the Middle Ages, including the enduring presence of haunted areas and places of power, as well as the roles of witches, house spirits, rune priests, shapeshifters, and the dead. It discusses the dividing line between magic and demonology, as well as the importance of grimoires, bells, blacksmiths, storm callers, and more. It serves as a guide to an ever-present magical and imaginary kingdom, showing readers the borders and boundaries that allow access to the other world.

In this new collection of his writings, Sorbonne scholar and professor Claude Lecouteux reveals that the magical world of the distant past is real and still very present—if you know where to look. Explaining how the texts he studies reveal their hidden teachings, Lecouteux explores directly the inner side of medieval myths and fairy tales, stripping away the Christian veneer and showing the enduring presence of haunted areas and places of power, witches, house spirits, rune artists, vampires, shapeshifters, and the dead.

In stories ranging from Greenland and Iceland to Saxony, Romania, and beyond, the author discusses the dividing line between magic and demonology, as well as the importance of grimoires, bells, blacksmiths, and other magical objects and characters. He explores magic in the elements of nature and as depicted through the artistry of witches and wizards who specialize in weather magic—summoning and banishing storms. He examines the medieval mythology surrounding the clouds and the myth-making of the mountain in the haunted world of our ancestors, which is as close to us today as it was to them in the past. Taking a look at the borders and boundaries that can serve as gateways to other worlds, the author also discusses earth spirits and the rituals required to communicate with them, recognizing that ownership of the land can never be fully taken away.

Through these writings, Lecouteux acts as a ferryman, transporting readers to the realms of the wondrous and the magical. He allows us to see how the haunted magic of the Middle Ages has not ended and how the imaginary realm, lying just beyond the borders of our own, is as alive as the material world.