Skip to main content

Halloween: Ghost Night

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 Lautier Vella discovered his home was haunted. Strange events prompted further investigation, resulting in new artwork that explores ideas around sensing and collaborating with the invisible as well as the uncanny domestic space.


Olivia Armstrong: Haunted Stories
Olivia is a London-based storyteller, telling traditional folktales, wonder tales, legends and myths from around the world.

Sarah Sparkes: Poltergeists: The Disembodied Heckler
"The malicious tricks played by the poltergeist are as well known as the low level of his intelligence and the fatuity of his communications"

Karl Jung

A Heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes. Hecklers are often known to shout disparaging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set pieces with the intent of disturbing performers or participants. Poltergeists disrupt routine and order in a domestic arena with insulting retorts, the use of domestic objects as missiles and the occasional possession of a family member.

The Poltergeist subvert the control dynamics within the family, with poltergeist agent 



Enfield Poltergeist image by Sarah Sparkes
becoming the intermediary of alleged outside forces; unpleasant behavior is rewarded with notoriety, the unseen and the taboo become visible and beguilingly charismatic. At their most successful the agent will come under the scrutiny of so-called experts; titillating a much wider, even global, public audience via extensive media coverage. Drawing on a number of case studies this presentation will put the case for poltergeists as 'disembodied hecklers'.

All are welcome. Each LFS evening begins with the Fortmanteau: our monthly summary of strange news stories

8pm start. Thursday 31 October 2013
£3/£2 concessions

London Fortean Society meets upstairs at the fantastic Bell pub, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX.
Train & Tube: Liverpool Street. Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

  *** TUBE STRIKE *** Although the tube strike has been called off, we'd already shifted the date of our next meeting at the Bell, Jeremy Harte speaking on Gypsies and the Supernatural , from Tuesday July 25 to Tuesday August 1 . Please note that we're sticking with this new date.

Time-Slips

  Time-Slips 26 November 2024 In the early years of the 20th century, two ladies visited the gardens of Versailles. Whilst there, they apparently slipped back in time to the late 18th century. They published a book describing their experience, which in later years was debunked as misperception and hallucination. Case closed. Or is it? There are a plethora of similar contemporary reports of apparent slips through time, from brief glimpses to full interactive experiences. Most reports describe features from the past, but a few describe possible slips forward in time. Dr Ann Winspe r has been researching people apparently travelling through time for the last 20 years. She describes some of these fascinating cases and looks at possible explanations, as well as how not all can be explained through misperception and psychology. Venue: The Bell 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) Date: 26 November 2024 Doors: 7.30pm Start: 8pm Tickets: £5/£...

Into the Uncanny: Danny Robins, Chris French & Deborah Hyde

‘The ghosts of today don’t live in castles or stately homes, they’re in normal houses and workplaces, witnessed by people just like you and me. But are they the dead returning from the “undiscovered country” of death, or the product of that equally mysterious location, the human mind?’ Friday 4 October 2024 6.30 pm doors. 7 pm start.  £16 / £11 Concessions Advance Booking Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn London Fortean Email List Danny Robins is on a mission to solve the greatest mysteries – do ghosts exist? His thrilling new book tells the stories of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things and want to understand them. It is also a journey of self-discovery, as Danny explores what the paranormal means to us, and considers the exciting yet terrifying prospect that we are not alone. Are you Team Believer or Team Sceptic – and do you dare to find out? Helping you decide are Uncanny crew members Chris French and Deborah Hyde. Danny Robi...