Mark Pilkington: Magic, Deception and the Abuses of Enchantment

8pm (doors 7.30pm) Thursday 29 May 2014
£3 / £2 concessions

The Vaults Bar, Dirty Dicks, 202 Bishopsgate, City of London EC2M 4NR

Cyber-Mage

Mark Pilkington looks at two formerly secret documents, published six decades apart, that reveal the methodologies of psychological manipulation and deception practised by American and British intelligence services. “The Art of Deception, Training for a New Generation of Online Covert Operations”, an internal presentation for the UK’s GCHQ, was leaked by whistleblower Edward Snowden earlier this year, while “The Exploitation of Superstitions for Purposes of Psychological Warfare” was published by USAF’s RAND Corporation in 1950.

The similarities between the two papers demonstrate that while the world we live in has changed dramatically in the intervening years, the human mind, and the techniques for manipulating it, have remained very much the same; both papers discuss the exploitation of belief systems and fortean phenomena.

Mark Pilkington is the author of Mirage Men (2010, now a feature documentary) and runs Strange Attractor Press.

Sightings

We begin each evening with our monthly round-up of fortean news stories from the month.

8pm Thursday 29 May 2014
£3 / £2 concessions

The Vaults Bar, Dirty Dicks, 202 Bishopsgate, City of London EC2M 4NR

Nearest station is Liverpool Street.

Comments

The Haunted Landscape: Witchcraft, Ritual and the Supernatural 2023

It’s getting darker. Join us at Conway Hal l as we explore the Haunted Landscape, our annual gathering of witchcraft, folklore, ghosts, and fairies from the British Isles. Speakers this year: Jamie Canton, Nigel Pennick, Dr. Helen Frisby, Kirsty Hartsiotis, Sandra Lawrence, Allyson Shaw, James Edward Frost, and Francis Young. Live and online. The Spro Mine by Vlash on flickr Saturday 18 November 2023 Doors, books stall, and coffee from 9.30am. Talks 10 am - 5 pm. Lunch 1 pm-2 pm (ish) £25 / £18 concessions. £15 live stream. Advance tickets Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn Directions A link to all live streams will be sent out to all online participants after booking. London Fortean's Mailing List Facebook event page 10 am Allyson Shaw - Ashes and Stones: A Scottish Journey in Search of Witches and Witness. A moving and personal journey, along rugged coasts and through remote villages and cities, in search of the traces of those accused of witchc

Haunted London: Ghosts of The British Museum and Bloomsbury

London is an old and haunted City; join us for ghost stories of central London. Noah Angell on ghostly sightings at the British Museum, Roger Luckhurst discusses a cursed object in the Egyptian rooms of the British Museum and Sarah Sparkes presents the hauntings and other unexplained happenings of Senate House. Wednesday 10 April 2024 Doors, books stall, and drinks from 6.15 pm Talks 6.30 pm - 9.30 pm £15 / £12 Advance tickets Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn Directions London Fortean's Mailing List Facebook event page Noah Angell – Ghosts of the British Museum: A True Story of Colonial Loot and Restless Objects When artist and writer Noah Angell first heard murmurs of ghostly sightings at the British Museum he had to find out more. What started as a trickle soon became a landslide as staff old and new, from guards of formidable build to respected curators, brought forth testimonies of their inexplicable supernatural encounters. It became clear tha

*** 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.

London Fortean Society

Search This Blog