Badder was born in Llwyn-hudol near Pwllheli, Gwynedd, Wales.[1]
Badder studied at the Ysgol Feddygaeth Prifysgol Caerdydd (Cardiff University School of Medicine).[1] She is the world's first Welsh-speaking consultant paediatric and perinatal pathologist, working for the National Health Service (NHS) in Pontypridd, Wales. She is a Medical examiner for the Welsh Medical Examiner's Office.[2] She works part-time to divide time between pathology and folklore.[1]
Badder is a Welsh folklorist with special interest in Welsh death omens, apparitions and the nineteenth-century neo-druidic movement in Pontypridd.[3] She is an Honorary Research Fellow with Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum of Wales).[2] She is studying a masters degree in the field at Cardiff University.[4]
Badder co-wrote The Folklore of Wales: Ghosts (2023) with fellow folklorist Mark Norman, curator of the Folklore Library and Archive in Devon, England.[5][1] The book recounts historic folkloric beliefs about ghosts in the Welsh landscape, such belief in the Tylwyth Teg (fairy folk), holy ghosts, spectral white ladies and water spirits.[6][7] Rare Welsh folk stories were collected in their original Welsh language versions from manuscripts, with several printed and translated into English for the first time.[1][8][9] Famous ghosts are also included in the book, like Gwynedd's Cadi’r Forwyn (Cadi the Maid), the Bwci Melyn Bach y Cwm (The Little Yellow Bogey of the Valley), the soldier Owain Lawgoch, whose ghost was supposedly captured in a bottle then flung into the deep of the River Dulas in Ceredigion, Wales,[6][7] and Arawn (king of the otherworld realm of Annwn in Welsh mythology)[1]
Badder is a regular contributor to discussions on Welsh folklore in the media. She has been invited onto Welsh national radio to discuss Welsh folklore,[10] tell traditional ghost stories at Halloween,[11] share old Welsh rituals and traditions of the Christmas season,[12] cover how birds are presented within Welsh folklore and legend,[13] and to discuss the life and work of the "eccentric" Welsh Archdruid, physician and political activist William Price.[14] She had been a guest on podcasts[4] and the Fabulous Folklore Presents on YouTube.[15] She has delivered talks at Welsh language-events, including a talk on "Charms and Magical Powers of the Welsh Common Folk" at Bangor University in Bangor, Wales.[16]
Badder is married to Welsh children's author Elidir Jones.[2] She plays the harp and the piano.[1]
