Summary:
This episode, we turn our attention to the Potterverse and J.K. Rowling’s North American school of magic, Ilvermorny. We talk about the school house divisions, the mascots, and some of the differences between the Old World and the New that caught our interest.
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Producers for this show: Corvus, Diana Garino, Renee Odders, Ye Olde Magic Shoppe, Raven Dark Moon, Ivory, The Witches View Podcast, Sarah, Molly, Corvus, Catherine, AthenaBeth, Jen Rue of Rue & Hyssop, Shannon, Little Wren, Michael M. and Jessica (if we missed you this episode, we’ll make sure you’re in the next one!). Big thanks to everyone supporting us!
Play:
Download: Episode 98 – Ilvermorny
-Sources-
The main source for the show is, of course, J.K. Rowling’s work, including the Harry Potter novels and specifically the Pottermore site. You can find the Ilvermorny backstory here.
For a background on some of the various creatures and folklore in the episode, we drew from the following books:
- A Treasury of New England Folklore, by B.A. Botkin
- A Treasury of Southern Folklore, by B.A. Botkin
- A Treasury of Western Folklore, B.A. Botkin
- American Folklore: An Encyclopedia, by Jan Brunvand
- Myths, Legends, & Folktales of America, by David Leeming & Jake Page
- The Encyclopedia of Monsters, by Daniel Cohen
- Buying the Wind: American Regional Folklore, by Richard Dorson
If you like us discussing pop culture and media, we mentioned that we were looking back at Episode 8 – Magical Media Mania.
We should be launching our newest podcast effort, Chasing Foxfire, in the next month or so. If you like folklore, this show will be connecting the dots between folk tales, science, nature, pop culture, literature, and more.
If you have feedback you’d like to share, email us or leave a comment. We’d love to hear from you!
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Promos & Music
Title and closing music is “Pig Ankle Rag,” by The Joy Drops, and is used under a Creative Commons License (available at Soundcloud.com).
New World Witchery - The Search for American Traditional Witchcraft 
Hey, I’m really sorry to ruin your “maybe there are just a lot of wizards in England” head canon but I thought you’d be interested to know anyway. Here is a quote from “The History of Magic in North America” on Pottermore: “The overall ratio of wizards to non-wizards seemed consistent across populations, as did the attitudes of No-Majs, wherever they were born.”
Great find, Celeste! That makes me even more certain there should be multiple magical schools throughout the Americas. Thank you for sharing this!