Anatole Le Braz & Ankou: Breton Death Lore, Ghost Stories, and the Man Who Interviewed Death

In this chilling mega episode of The Strange History Podcast, host Amy explores the dark, forgotten world of Anatole Le Braz, the Breton folklorist who preserved some of Europe’s most unsettling ghost stories and death traditions. Traveling to Brittany, France, this episode dives deep into Breton culture, oral history, and the eerie figure of Ankou, the Breton personification of Death who walks the roads at night collecting souls. Through rich storytelling and historical detail, we uncover how Le Braz recorded real eyewitness accounts of ghosts, death omens, funeral mistakes, and spirits returning to correct the living. From villages at the edge of the Atlantic to fireside confessions whispered in Breton homes, this episode reveals how an entire culture lived alongside death—not fearing it, but respecting it. If you love strange history, dark folklore, ghost stories, Celtic mythology, or forgotten European legends, this episode is a must-listen journey into a world where death keeps records and the dead sometimes come back to fix clerical errors.

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