London Fortean Society

J Draper digs out unusual stories of individuals who have shaped the world, uncovering the lessons their unique experiences can teach us.  With Reweirding: Monday 10 February 2025 6.30 pm doors. 7 pm start.  £10 / £7 Concessions / £6 online   Advance Booking Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn London Fortean Email List Witty and engaging TikTok historian J Draper digs out unusual stories of individuals who have shaped the world, uncovering the lessons their unique experiences can teach us. Breaking away from history told through the lens of kings, queens, and nobles, this book instead lifts the lid on 24 fascinating stories of little-known underdogs, mavericks, trailblazers, and oddballs. Through these stories, you will meet characters such as Sabrina Sidney, an orphan kidnapped into a bizarre child-raising experiment; Eleanor Rykener, a gender-bending sex worker from medieval England who spilled juicy gossip about her clients in the cler...

  Tuesday 28 January 2025 Vampires: from Monster to Mister Some people seem to think that a good vampire novel is a story in which the vampire marries the heroine at the end. Vampires have always had a connection with sex, as either Demon Lover or Rapist Monster, but it’s difficult to find anything in folklore or literature which characterises them as likely to make good husbands – until, of course, the arrival of Twilight . How did it happen? Why did it happen? Was it inevitable? Will it go away – should it go away? The lure of the vampire has been summed up as being Sex, Death and Fancy Costumes. Must we now add: faithful, patient, kind, hard-working and good with the children? Vampire specialist Dr Tina Rath answers these and many other questions about the dark seducer. Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) Date: Tuesday 28 January 2025 Time: 8pm (Doors 7.30) Tickets: £5/£3 https://wegottickets.com/event/642844/

  'twixt Xmas & NY Monday 30th December   We don't have a London Fortean Society meeting in December -- but a few of us get together for a drink in that fairly odd time 'twixt Xmas & NY. No speaker, no programme, just chat over a pint or two. Regulars and irregulars equally welcome. See you there! The Cittie of Yorke pub (Chancery Lane tube, exit 1) Monday 30th December from around 8pm They do standard pub food

  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/£...

Moral panic, myth, and the macabre: Video nasties in the 1980s and beyond. Thursday 21 November 2024 6.30 pm doors. 7 pm start.  £10 / £7 Concessions Advance Booking Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn London Fortean Email List When the widespread introduction of the VHS cassette changed the face of home entertainment in the early 1980s, it wasn’t long before video rental store shelves were filled with lurid tapes promising orgies of sex, violence, and terror. In this talk, authors David Kerekes and Jennifer Wallis explore how the panic over ‘video nasties’ developed: prompting raids and arrests, implicating films in real-life murder cases, and targeting film dealers, distributors, and viewers. They will ask how far policies and campaigns directed at video nasties — not forgetting the marketing of these films — created a mystique and mythology of their own, as fans sought out every tape on the famed video nasty ‘list’ produced by the Director of Publ...

‘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...

  Tuesday 29 October 2024 From Satanic Panic to Pizzagate and QAnon   Investigative journalist Dr Rosie Waterhouse has been researching and writing about what has become known as the Satanic Panic for 34 years. Tonight she explains how believers in Satanic Ritual Abuse claim that depraved Satanist paedophiles breed, rape and sacrifice babies and children, and drink their blood for Adrenochrome, a mythical elixir of life. She describes the origins and spread of the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 1990s from Canada and the USA to the UK and beyond. She explains how since 2016 it has morphed into Pizzagate and then QAnon, as a global conspiracy theory, amplified by social media, that the world is run by an international network of paedophile Satanists, and that Donald Trump is the saviour. Will this bizarre conspiracy theory have any influence in the US presidential election just a week after this talk? Date: Tuesday 29 October 2024 Time: 8pm (Doors 7.30) Venue: The Bell, 50 M...

When the future is uncertain, people often turn to occult and cosmic guidance through methods such as astrology, Tarot cards and other forms of truth-seeking. Join us for an in-depth exploration of predicting the future through magic and not-quite-science. Saturday 16 November 2024 10.30 am doors. 11 am - 5 pm £18 / £13 Concessions Advance Booking Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn London Fortean Email List Confirmed talks. More to follow.  Kelly-Ann Maddox – Using The Tarot Kelly-Ann Maddox is an award-winning professional Tarot reader, witchcraft mentor, and author. Her approach to the Tarot focuses on enhancing mental well-being, encouraging spiritual evolution, and addressing real-world challenges. In her talk, she will explore the value of Tarot as a tool for navigating life’s obstacles and as a powerful magical instrument. Prepare to be inspired and motivated, with new ideas on how to use your Tarot deck to achieve personal growth. Jen Cownie – W...

CANCELLED Unfortunately our speaker for The Shakespeare Furore has had to pull out at the last moment. It's too late to organise a replacement, so I'm afraid we'll have to cancel the meeting altogether. Ticket holders will be refunded. We hope to be able to rebook her next year. Tuesday 24th September 2024 The Shakespeare Furore   The Shakespeare authorship question first burst into public consciousness 170 years ago. Early questioners included many prominent figures of the 19th and 20th centuries. In the last two decades, while those defending the orthodox narrative have increasingly characterised the authorship question as a conspiracy theory, over 50 peer-reviewed articles challenging the traditional narrative have been published in academic journals. Meanwhile, the orthodox position has begun to shift towards the ‘many hands’ idea, with the New Oxford Shakespeare now claiming that a third of the Shakespeare canon is co-authored. Now award-winning journalist Elizabe...

This event is cancelled. John is not coming to the UK at this time. We wish him all the best. Here is a recording of a similar talk John did for us online in the very early days of the first Covid lockdown.  Real or imaginary, shapeshifters lurk deep in our psyches and remain formidable cultural icons. The myths and magic surrounding shapeshifters are brought vividly to life in John B. Kachuba’s compelling and original cultural history. Tuesday 10 September 2024 7 pm doors. 7.30 pm start.  £5 / £3 Concessions Advance Booking The Miller , 96 Snowsfields, London Bridge, London SE1 3SS Tube and Rail: London Bridge Facebook Page  London Fortean Email List There is something about a shapeshifter – a person who can transform into an animal – that captures our imagination; and causes us to want to howl at the moon or flit through the night like a bat. Werewolves, vampires, demons, and other weird creatures appeal to our animal nature, our dark side, and our desire to break free ...

  WARNING: Talk contains adult images Tuesday 27 August 2024 8pm (Doors 7.30) £5 / £3 concessions ( Advance tickets ) The Bell ,  50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) London Fortean Email List Dr Eric Dingwall was a friend, associate, rival, and occasional enemy of the more publicity-hungry Harry Price. Appointed Research Officer for the Society for Psychical Research, Dingwall's specialism was physical mediumship, a mainstay of numerous mediums' performances before, between, during and after the two World Wars. In public, Dingwall could be frustratingly sceptical (much to the chagrin of his SPR colleagues), but private communications tell a different story. Certain mediums had impressed him with their displays of apparently fraud-proof and inexplicable phenomena. At the end of the War he was appointed Honorary Assistant Curator of the British Musuem's Private Case, a secret collection of erotic, pornographic, libellous and blasphemou...

  Tuesday 30 July 2024 The Legacy of The Wicker Man Since 2010 author and performer David Bramwell ( The Odditorium, The Haunted Moustache, No 9 Bus to Utopia ) has been performing as Lord Summerisle in Sing-Along-A-Wicker-Man , a show that attracts more than its fair share of Pagans, despite the film’s portrayal of them as a homicidal cult. Since the advent of monotheism, Pagans have been portrayed as purveyors of the dark arts. What led us to demonise a way of life that honours nature and gave us such beloved festivals as May Day, Halloween and Yuletide? In this entertaining and thought-provoking talk Bramwell unravels the history and cultural significance of The Wicker Man and undertakes a quest to understand its relationship with Paganism now. Along the way he interviews druids at Glastonbury, rewrites the “unholy trinity” of folk horror, participates in May Day rituals and meets The Wicker Man ’s Robin Hardy and musician Julian Cope, revealing an island still alive with r...

Magical Art, Radical Folk Dance, Sacred Landscapes, and Women's Stories. Saturday 29 June 2024 Doors, coffee from 10.30 am Talks: 11 am - 6 pm (inc. breaks) £18 / £14 cons  Advance tickets Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn Directions London Fortean's Mailing List Facebook event Art, magic, and folklore cross over and over again making new forms of creativity and lore. Join us at Conway Hall on 29 June 2024, for talks and discussions on making new traditions, art and magic, lost woman artists, radical Morris Dance, and much more. Talks and performance timings: 10:30 There should be coffee 11:00 Doors 11:15 Thomas Sharp, Marc Spicer & Rosey Trickett: Circling the Square Mile 11:45 Break 12:00 Jennifer Higgie: A Journey into Women, Art, and the Spirit World 12:30 Amy Hale - “This current drew you”: Ithell Colquhoun’s erotic energies and sacred landscapes 13:00 Lunch 14:00 Site-Specific Performance: Aliki Karveli 14:30 Break 14:...

  Tuesday 25 June 2024 Aleister Crowley: The Spy Who Loved the Occult Mountaineer, artist, poet, magician, was Aleister Crowley also a secret agent who worked for different branches of British Intelligence at various stages of his life? Did this culminate in his interrogation of Nazi warlord and occultist Rudolf Hess in 1941? Richard C McNeff deciphers Crowley’s espionage career as well as taking a wider look at his role as an influencer, with some very surprising followers. The author of two novels prominently featuring Crowley, Richard will separate fact from fiction in his portrayals of the Beast. (This talk completely sold out when we ran it in January – so we’re giving you another chance to hear it – or to hear it again!) Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX Date: Tuesday 25 June 2024 Time: 8pm (Doors 7.30) Tickets: https://www.wegottickets.com/event/623170/

Join us and James Ball, Professor Chris French, Professor Karen Douglas, Brent Lee and Jonn Elledge for a deep dive into conspiracy theory and culture. The history, the people and the dangers of a conspiracy mindset Saturday 22 June 2024 Doors, coffee from 11.30 am Talks & Q&A:12 pm - 6 pm (inc. breaks) £18 / £14 cons  Advance tickets Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn Directions London Fortean's Mailing List Facebook event page Photo by Olof Nyman from Pexels Conspiracy Theory states that nothing is how it is reported, that everything you know is wrong, and that sinister forces are controlling everything for their own, dark motivations. Opposing this dark pantomime are the lone hero truth-tellers, from David Icke to Donald Trump, Alex Jones to the gnomic, anonymous Q.  Conspiracy thought has moved to the centre of society, bringing with it violence and terror and the removal of faith in conventional media and law. The concept of truth has...