Wicker Man crime
Last year, a documentary called The Last Sacrifice (dir. Rupert Russell) was released which explored links between the apparently sacrificial murder of a 74-year-old farm labourer, Charles Walton, in South Warwickshire in 1945, and the genesis of a series of seventies films in a new genre called “folk horror”.
Walton’s death was clearly an odd one – he’d been stabbed through the face with a pitchfork, partially undressed, and had his throat cut with his own trouncing hook (a kind of hooked scythe). He had symbols carved into his chest, and according to some reports, his body was surrounded by dead toads.
A Scotland Yard detective called in to assist the Lower Quinton village constables failed to solve the murder – although he apparently knew the perpetrator, but had insufficient evidence to make an arrest. A renowned Egyptologist called Margaret Murray visited the site and declared that Walton’s killing was “a blood sacrifice carried out by a coven of witches”. Most of the people in the village seemed very blasé about Walton’s ritualistic murder, and there was more talk that the killing was a sacrifice to replenish the village’s soil after the previous year’s bad harvest and undrinkable beer. Local newspapers began describing the crime as the “Whodunnit witchcraft murder”.
I mean, ritual sacrifice to replenish the harvest is, most definitely, a thing. Ritual fertility dedications that kill the old to make way for the new, or return the first and/or best fruits of the earth back to the ground, are considered a way to replenish the potency of that ground for the year to come - and are maybe an early, unrecognised way of providing healthy green compost to re-nitrogenise the soil. If the only food and drink you’re going to get in the year ahead comes out of the soil around you, keeping that soil healthy is critically important, right? Fertility rites have almost always involved blood sacrifice, and in agrarian cultures, this was (and remains, in many cultures) the cost of doing business with the earth.
Russell’s documentary suggests a direct connection between events like the murder of Walton in the UK, the upswell of interest in occultism in the seventies, and dark rumblings around class consciousness in Britain that birthed the “folk horror” genre and brought films like The Wicker Man (dir. Robin Hardy, 1973), Witchfinder General (dir. Michael Reeves, 1968), and Blood on Satan’s Claw (dir. Piers Haggard, 1971) to public success.
I absolutely love The Wicker Man (there’s a great article about it here) so I’m curious to check this new documentary out, and if there’s chat about the lineage of folk horror – including contemp folk horror films like Midsommar and Men – then all the better 😊
State High School visits for Book Week 2025 (18-22 August)
Hooray! This is something I’ve always said I wanted to do, and this year I finally get a chance to do it! I have space in my Book Week schedule this year to offer some cheap sessions for state high schools.
If you are a student, a librarian, or a teacher at a Victorian government high school, particularly if your school is in a low socio-economic area, and you would like me to come visit your school this year for Book Week, please get in touch with me via my email (elliemarney@gmail dot com) and we can hopefully schedule something.
I’m offering 1-hour sessions for $150 plus travel – each session will be a 30-40min talk about authoring, publishing, books, and more + 20-30min of question time with students.
Travel = $50 per hour of travel (I live in Castlemaine, Vic, so if your school is in Ballarat, for instance, my each-way travel = $100; if your school is in South Werribee, that’s about 4 hours of travel = $200).
Here’s the deal:
*I can do a maximum of 1 session per school (single-class, whole-year-level, book club…whatever suits)
*I’m afraid I cannot travel in excess of 4 hours per day, so this offer is not available to schools outside of that radius (so Geelong, yes, but Frankston, no – if you’re not sure, get in touch, maybe we can figure it out or mash two nearby school sessions together in one trip).
*These are the lowest possible rates I can offer – less than a quarter of my regular rates – and they are only available for open-entry public high schools that are run by the state government. These rates are not available to private or select entry schools.
*Please contact me by email no later than 10 July 2025 – I will reply to every email, and if it’s possible to fit your school in, I will make it happen.
I would really love to visit more government high schools! I myself went to a government high school, and I’ve spent most of my teaching career in government high schools, and in my experience, authors are rarely invited to visit these schools because of budgetary constraints. Let’s change that this year: If you would like your school to receive an author visit, please hit me up!
ComicCon
I went to OzComicCon Melbourne this year, and it was really rad 😊
(Seriously, I have never met so many people or sold so many books, it was amazing. ComicCon folks, I love you 🖤 I’m hoping to make it again in June next year – fingers crossed!)
Good excuses, and Take-a-break July (not Nailbiters)
Friends, this edition is late – soz – mainly for two reasons. The first reason is: I was deep in the editing trenches on a new book! (it’s coming early next year! Announcement is on its way! Huzzah!) The second reason is: I’m pooped. Spent. Knackered. Bushed. Fatigued.
You may (or may not!) be aware that I usually take a hiatus break from Christmas to the start of February every year. Well, this year, because of All Shall Mourn’s release, I wasn’t able to do that, plus I’ve been busting my butt for the last five months to get this new book finished, and I gotta confess, I’m feeling kind of beat.
So listen – I’m not sending out an edition of The Black Hand in July (I’m still sending out Nailbiters, but that’s a different thing).
I’m going on winter holidays with family in July, so I figured it’s a good time to give myself a mid-year break. Then I can return (recharged! Refreshed!) to do word-battle once again.
So just to reiterate, you won’t receive an edition of TBH in July, but I’ll be back before you know it in August. Cool? Cool.
Solstice
My little pagans, it’s the solstice this month! (for me, on 21 June but ymmv)
Remember to throw the paper with your list of things to banish into the fire on the night of the Longest Night (or if you’re in the northern hemisphere, the Longest Day).
You can even jump over that ole fire, if that’s your pleasure, just remember to wear non-flammable clothes (or no clothes at all?) if you give it a go!
What I’m reading/listening to
I listened to the absolute craziest podcast interview with Alan Moore (Watchmen, From Hell, Swamp Thing, V for Vendetta, The Killing Joke) the other day.

Moore had some quietly amazing things to say on the podcast, and he was intellectually engaged and fascinating to listen to (plus he has that lovely Northampton accent). Anyway, it’s a good interview, have a listen.
Song of Kali is one of the few books in Dan Simmons’s oeuvre that I hadn’t read until last month – it was his debut so I wasn’t expecting miracles, but I should’ve known better. He actually won the World Fantasy Award for Song of Kali in 1985, so yeah, it was a ripper.
As someone who’s recently travelled in Kolkata (Calcutta), I can definitely say that he pretty much captured the vibe of the place (especially if – like the narrator – you’re a freaked-out American tourist who’s a bit full of himself). The area in which the book is set is also the area where I stayed last time I was there, and honestly it was wild to see it described on the page – and to realise that it hasn’t changed all that much since the late seventies/early eighties.
Simmons got kinda slammed because of the way he depicted India in this book, but I honestly thought the depiction vibed well with the personality of the book’s lead character (see, freaked-out American, above). Also, Simmons definitely took liberties with the use of Hindu mythology/iconography, but I’m not personally offended by that, just like I wouldn’t be offended if someone depicted a horny, gun-toting Jesus in a book – I’m not that bothered by warped depictions of religion, but if you are, then give this one a swerve. Otherwise, dive into the murky waters of Song of Kali, because it’s tense and freaky af.
Unhallowed Halls
Look, I maybe haven’t mentioned this one before? But if you’re into gothic YA/dark academia stories, and you like stuff that goes very sinister, maybe give Unhallowed Halls by Lili Wilkinson a try.
It’s about a girl who, after being expelled from her old school for Reasons, is given a scholarship to a creepy and elite boarding school called Agathion College in the Scottish moorlands. If you enjoy things like secret societies, demonic influence, dark magic, cups of tea in front of a roaring fire, dusty books in old libraries, boarding school pals, soaring filigreed gothic architecture…Basically if a cross between Crimson Peak and The Secret History is your jam, you might find this book a rocking good time
(I’m biased because I know Lili, and I was the one who sent her an article about an elite boarding school for troubled teens that inspired her with the idea for this book, lol. But I still reckon you might enjoy it!)
Random giveaway – put your name in the hat!
I’m giving away a signed Australian paperback copy of None Shall Sleep this month, just for fun 😊
If you’d like to be in the running, please drop a comment at the end of this post, and I’ll add your name to the hat – I’ll draw a winner and email them about postal deets before the end of the month. Welp, you need to be a Black Hand subscriber to enter! (that’s how I get your email to contact you)
Signed copies of All Shall Mourn
They are coming, but I’m going to be away from my desk (and therefore unable to post things) for all of next month, so…
Keep your eye out for signed copies of All Shall Mourn arriving August 2025!
You’ll be able to buy them via my website (which is a thing that exists, if you were unaware), and basically I’ll just sign your books, parcel them up, and send them your way – ie. all orders will be fulfilled by me.
And that’s it! Hope you’re having a good month, my friends 🖤 If you’re in Australia, stay warm! If you’re in the US, congrats on the massive No Kings rallies, they looked awesome even from this far away – and I’m just going to leave these links to The Activist Handbook and How to Win a Fight right here, for no reason at all. If you’re in the UK or Canada or another lovely place, I trust you’re doing well and I send you lots of love.
If this is your first time reading The Black Hand and you like it enough to stick around, you can add your name to the subscriber list here:
(You can also sign up for my paid newsletter Nailbiters – which has more juicy stuff and extra perks and deep cuts of my books etc – if you want. Just remember that Nailbiters will be arriving in July like usual, but TBH won’t be cluttering your inbox again until I get back from hiatus in August.)
That’s it from me for June. Until next time, be cool, happy reading, and enjoy this short video of Big Bird rapping over The Birds:
xxEllie
Great newsletter as usual, and I always learn something new and cool with a touch of gore. Thanks, Ellie! And please add my name to the giveaway hat.
Unhallowed halls sounds so interesting! I would love to be entered into the giveaway and I hope you have a good break! :)