Debbie introduces Savanna to the irreplaceable role horses played in WWI. We talk about the Christmas Truce, about Warrior, about Dorothy Brooke, and there may even be a dad joke thrown in there. This one is a sad one and as we approach Christmas, we remember the things that matter, making the Christmas Truce of 1914 an important story to share.

When WWI began in 1914, horses had been essential to warfare for 4,000 years. But the machine gun changed everything. Just months into the war, half a million horses were dead—yet on Christmas Eve, something miraculous happened in the trenches. This episode tells the story of the Christmas Truce of 1914, a real war horse named Warrior who beat impossible odds, and Dorothy Brooke's mission to save forgotten war horses that sparked a movement still protecting working equines worldwide.

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PRIMARY SOURCES

Brown, Malcolm, and Shirley Seaton. Christmas Truce: The Western Front December 1914. Pan Grand Strategy Series, Pan Books, 1984. Revised ed. 1994.

Seely, General Jack. My Horse Warrior. Hodder & Stoughton, 1934. Reprinted as Warrior: The Amazing Story of a Real War Horse, Racing Post, 2011.

Hayter-Menzies, Grant. Dorothy Brooke and the Fight to Save Cairo's Lost War Horses. McFarland & Company, 2017.

"British Army Veterinary Service, 1914-1918." Official War History, British Veterinary Service. Government Archives, 1920.

"Horses in The Great War." University of Kansas Medical Center, School of Medicine, Department of History and Philosophy of Medicine, kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/academics/departments/history-and-philosophy-of-medicine/archives/wwi/essays/veterinary-medicine/horses.html. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.

"Horses in World War I." Imperial War Museum Collections and Archives, iwm.org.uk. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.

"The Christmas Truce." Imperial War Museum, iwm.org.uk/history/the-real-story-of-the-christmas-truce. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.

"Christmas Truce." Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., britannica.com/event/The-Christmas-Truce. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.

"Our History." The Brooke, thebrooke.org/about-us/our-history. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.

"Warrior: The Real War Horse." Warrior War Horse Official Site, warriorwarhorse.com. Accessed 15 Dec. 2025.

The time has come, it’s our very first in person episode! And our very first listener tails (eh? see what I did there?) episode! And our very first episode with a guest! There’s just so much going on and we’re so very happy you’re here with us for it. Everyone’s in Kentucky for Savanna’s nursing school graduation (she got a 3.9 GPA this last semester WHILE working full time and doing a million other things! She’s amazing!) so Debbie is joined by Haley, Savanna AND their mom all sit down to talk about their favorite and most meaningful childhood pets. Trailer roofs are ripped off! Savanna tames a feral cat! A cat is stolen and jumps out the window! Haley and Savanna’s mom instilled in them a deep love and respect for all living creatuers and she did the same thing for Debbie. Their house was always full of laughter and plenty of animals to pet so it’s only fitting she join the three of them for this very first listener tails episode.

Do you have a pet or animal that changed your life? We want to hear it and share it on an upcoming episode. Email us with your story at creaturemeetsculture@gmail.com

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We love you!

It’s the three of us! Debbie, Haley, and Savanna explore how ravens are clever and not crows and also not in Kentucky! Also, forgive the audio! We’re still learning and figuring this out. Thank you for your patience as we figure out how to be the best podcast we can be <3

The Tower of London's ravens are one of Britain's most famous legends. According to tradition, King Charles II decreed in the 1660s that at least six ravens must always remain at the Tower, for if they ever leave, the Crown will fall and Britain with it. The legend claims an ancient prophecy, a royal astronomer's complaint, and three centuries of continuous tradition. There's only one problem: it's almost certainly Victorian fiction. This episode traces the real history of the Tower ravens—from the legend's probable invention in the 1880s, through its crystallization during World War II, to the modern Ravenmaster tradition that continues today. We explore the remarkable intelligence of common ravens, their deep significance in Norse and Celtic mythology, and how an invented tradition became genuine national heritage. Along the way, we discover that sometimes the best myths are the ones we consciously create.

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Sources!

Dickens, Charles. Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty. London: Chapman & Hall, 1841.

Lady Gregory. Gods and Fighting Men: The Story of the Tuatha de Danaan and of the Fianna of Ireland. London: John Murray, 1904.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Raven." The Evening Mirror, January 29, 1845. Reprinted in The Raven and Other Poems. New York: Wiley and Putnam, 1845.

Reid, Bill, and Robert Bringhurst. The Raven Steals the Light. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1984.

Sturluson, Snorri. The Prose Edda. Translated by Jesse L. Byock. New York: Penguin Classics, 2005. [Originally composed c. 1220]

The Poetic Edda. Compiled 13th century from earlier sources. Translated by Carolyne Larrington. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Historic Royal Palaces. "The Ravens." Tower of London. Accessed November 23, 2025. https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/whats-on/the-ravens/.

Historic Royal Palaces. "The Story of the Tower of London." Tower of London. Accessed November 23, 2025. https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/the-story-of-the-tower-of-london/.

Parnell, Geoffrey. "Riddle of the Tower Ravens Almost Resolved." London Topographical Society Newsletter, no. 65 (November 2007): 5-7.

Parnell, Geoffrey, and Edward Impey. The Tower of London: The Official Illustrated History. London: Merrell Holberton Publishers Ltd, 2000.

Skaife, Christopher. The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2018.

Cannadine, David. "The Context, Performance and Meaning of Ritual: The British Monarchy and the 'Invention of Tradition', c. 1820–1977." In The Invention of Tradition, edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, 101-164. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Castleton, David. "The Tower of London's Raven Legend - Victorian Myth or Ancient Folklore?" David Castleton Blog - The Serpent's Pen, September 26, 2023. https://www.davidcastleton.net/ravens-tower-of-london-england-fall-myth/.

Hobsbawm, Eric, and Terence Ranger, eds. The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Trevor-Roper, Hugh. "The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition of Scotland." In The Invention of Tradition, edited by Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger, 15-42. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.

Victoria and Albert Museum. "Victorian Christmas Traditions." Accessed November 23, 2025. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/victorian-christmas-traditions.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology. "Behavior - Common Raven - Corvus corax." Birds of the World. Accessed November 23, 2025. https://birdsoftheworld.org/bow/species/comrav/cur/behavior.