London Fortean Society

We have about 20 seats left for our Brentford Griffin talk tonight. Tickets have been taken off sale - please pay on the door! 7.45pm Thursday 29 March 2018 £4 / £2 concessions ( Advance tickets ) The Bell , 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX. Train and Tube: Liverpool Street. Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East Facebook page In the spring of 1985 reports began to circulate of sightings of a mysterious beast in West London. Centred on the Thames-side town of Brentford, this creature seems to be a thing from escaped from myth and legend – a Griffin. Initially derided by sceptics, reports continued to arrive at the local newspaper office and circulate in local pubs. Named witnesses came forward to report their sightings. Sir Sir Sir John Rimmer Longtime fortean researcher and Magonia editor John Rimmer finds a hidden trail of links ranging from Samuel Pepys to the local football team, as well as the unsettling influence of a notorious fantasy writer. 7.45pm Thursday 29 March ...

7.15pm Wednesday 14 March 2018 £6 plus booking fee ( Advance tickets ) Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn Directions Facebook event page From a political cult to the heart of the Washington establishment - the bizarre and untold story of how the CIA tried to infiltrate a radical group of U.S. military deserters during the Cold War. Stockholm, 1968. A thousand American deserters and draft-resisters are arriving to escape the war in Vietnam. They’re young, they’re radical, and they want to start a revolution. The Swedes treat them like pop stars but the CIA is determined to stop all that. It’s a job for the deep-cover men of Operation Chaos and their allies; agents who know how to infiltrate organizations and destroy them from inside. Within months, the GIs have turned their fire on one another, and the group dissolves into interrogations and recriminations. When broadcaster and author Matthew Sweet began investigating this story, he thought the...

7.15pm Monday 12 March 2018 This event has now sold out, we are sorry. We shall attempt to book it again. Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn Directions Facebook event page   Image by Chesca Potter from Embracing the Darkness .  In 1984 Mrs Mary Whitehouse attacked the Robin of Sherwood TV series for its Pagan elements. Writer Kip Carpenter had deliberately introduced the transgressive power of myth into his groundbreaking series with Herne the Hunter. From Shakespeare onwards Herne has been re-imagined as a vengeful spirit, the leader of "the wild hunt", a shaman and the horned god of the greenwoods. Historian Dr John Callow , author of Embracing the Darkness: a cultural history of witchcraft , explores the roots of Herne's tale and how his legend has inspired generations of writers and artists to create a powerful figure for both the modern Pagan pantheon and the wider environmental movement. 7.15pm Monday 12 March 2018 Th...