London Fortean Society

  Tuesday 30 April 2024 The Supernatural on Trial   The English Legal System is widely considered to be a bastion of intellectual probity, respectability and rationality, with no time for supernatural matters. However, people have always believed in strange and fantastical creatures, including witches, demons, aliens and ghosts. Their beliefs have led them to do strange and terrible things, from fraud to murder, and when they appear before the judge and jury, these motives and beliefs cannot be ignored. Instead, they must be subjected to the same harsh legal scrutiny as any other criminal or civil case. So join criminal barrister and ghost-enthusiast Naomi Ryan for a journey into this strange area of law in which the fortean meets the forensic, the bizarre is examined by barristers and the strange is investigated by the state, and learn about witches leaking war secrets, fairies stealing wives and ghosts solving their own murders. A certain demon mongoose might even appear. ...

'...eclectic recruitment to the war effort, strange goings-on in Surrey and a ritual that allegedly took place in the New Forest in 1940 to repel Operation Sealion, Hitler’s plan to invade the British Isles.' Monday 15 April 2024 Doors 6.15 pm Talk & Q&A 6.30 pm - 8 pm £9 / £6 cons / £6 online Advance tickets Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn Directions London Fortean's Mailing List Facebook event page pentagram on a tree. St Bride's Ring Dun, Near Kingennie by stuart anthony on flickr Many of us are aware of the Nazi’s obsession with the occult (look no further than Indiana Jones, ‘Call of Duty Black Ops’, Hellboy etc). Less is known, however, about what the Brits did to exploit what they saw as a weakness in the German chain of command. In ‘The Grand Illusion’ Syd Moore turns her eye on this rather bizarre chapter of history. Her talk for the London Fortean Society will cover the research she undertook to write the novel, includin...

  Tuesday 26 March 2024 Hidden Messages (that aren't really there)   One of the reasons we are successful as a species is our ability to recognise meaningful patterns in our surroundings, because of the way our cognitive systems work, particularly the interaction between bottom-up and top-down processing. But sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking we have perceived a meaningful message when, in fact, there is no such message there. Prof Chris French ’s light-hearted, interactive presentation illustrates the power of top-down processing in several contexts including electronic voice phenomena (EVP), reverse speech theory – and Satanic messages in rock music! Chris’s brand-new book The Science of Weird Shit , based on his years running the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths College, will be available.   Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX Door: 7.30 Start: 8pm Tickets (£5/£3) https://www.wegottickets.com/event/612491/