London Fortean Society

Wednesday 30 October 2013 6.30pm £5 Book online (50p admin fee per ticket) Meet outside Farringdon station on Cowcross Street, EC1   The Smithfield Ghost (may not actually be a ghost.) Why should people who believe in ghosts have all the fun? Come walk the atmospheric and ancient streets of Smithfield and Farringdon hearing of the stories of screaming Anne, ghosts of inconveniently alive judges, carpet lifting pub ghosts, wizards reincarnated as slavering black dogs and the ghost of Scratching Fanny on Cock Lane (to name but a few). This walk will be funny, irreverent, and informative and will wonder what ghosts are what ghost stories say about who we are and how we think about the world.  No ghosts were harmed in the making of this walk; This is a walk for anyone interested in ghost stories and London be they sceptical or otherwise. All are welcome. Your guide is London Fortean Society host Scott Wood. Scott is the irregular writer of Fortean L...

Monday 28 October 2013 6.30pm £5 Book online (50p admin fee per ticket) Meet your walk guide, Scott, at the Queens Walk gate, by Green Park tube station, Piccadilly.  Ghost Lucy by Sarah Sparks This will be a dark trek past ghost-ridden palaces, haunted trees, headless phantoms and plague legends of Green Park and St James Park. Gaze upon St James Palace, Clarence House and Buckingham Palace while hearing of their ghosts. Linger not near the cursed trees, hear of the staked body buried at the cross-roads, the witch that lived where Buckingham Palace is now and do not blink while gazing upon the s tatue that is said to move. This Halloween walk is through Green Park and St. James Park and to the dark side of some of its most famous buildings is a 1 hour- 1 hour 15 minute tour which ends on Queen Anne Street near St James Park tube (and a pub).  Your guide is London Fortean Society host Scott Wood. Scott is the irregular writer of Fortean London for Londonis...

Saturday 26 October 2013 6.30pm start £5 Book online  (50p admin fee per ticket) Meet outside Farringdon station on Cowcross Street, EC1 Clerkenwell and Smithfield EC1 are steeped in history, soaked in blood and crawling with  The Smithfield Ghost ghosts. Meet at Farringdon station for a walk that includes a gut-wrenching phantom black dog, haunted plague pits, hungry ghosts, poltergeists, haunted pubs, subterranean folklore and the devilish secret of Bleeding Heart Yard. This Halloween walk is almost circular and covers legends and monsters of Smithfield Market, Cock Lane, Newgate Prison, St Bartholomew’s church and hospital and much more. This almost circular guided walk will take around 1 hour – 1 ¼ and ends near a number of pubs for those wishing to continue the discussion. Your guide is London Fortean Society host Scott Wood. Scott is the irregular writer of Fortean London for Londonist and the author of the forthcoming London Urban Legends: The...

8pm Thursday 31 October 2013 £3 / £2 concessions The Bell , 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX. Train & Tube: Liverpool Street. Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East. Our October meeting falls on Halloween so we’ve put a haunting night together: GHost artist Sarah Sparkes speaks on Poltergeists as hecklers Folklore expert Paul Cowdell discusses and sings ghostly folk songs Storyteller Olivia Armstrong tells haunted tales Mario Lautier Vella: Like Home Paul Cowdell: Ghost Songs Traditional songs are full of folklore about ghosts. They tell you why people become ghosts, what ghosts look like, what the living have to do to allow the dead to rest in peace. Paul, a folklore expert on ghosts and a fine singer, will be talking about ghostlore in and around traditional songs, and singing some of them. Expect tragedy, revenge, violence, romance and a woman mistaken for a bird. 'Domestic' by Mario Lautier Vella Mario Lautier Vella – Like Home In 2009, artist Mario Lautie...