London Fortean Society

*** SOLD OUT ***  Tuesday 27 January 2026 Victorian Mummymania Before Tutankhamen unleashed his curse and Universal Studios’ mummy shuffled onto our screens, Victorian society was swept up in Egyptomania. Dr Jay Sullivan , author of Egyptian Gothic, unearths the mostly-forgotten trend that was originally more popular than vampire fiction: a 40-year craze for novels about reanimated mummies, cursed jewellery, and nightmarish museums.  But sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. At the same time, a magical secret cult formed in the galleries of the British Museum, the rich held mummy unwrapping parties, and the casual Egyptian tourist opted to bring more than a postcard back from their Thomas Cook trip.    Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East Date:  Tuesday 27 January 2026 Time: 8pm (Doors 7.30) Tickets: £5/£3 https://wegottickets.com/event/687014/  

  Sunday 28 December 2025 ’Twixt Xmas & NY We don’t have a meeting in December, but fortean friends old and new are invited to get together for a drink mid-way between the end-of-year festivities.  A new venue this year: the newly-reopened Blue Maid  pub on Borough High Street,  five minutes from London Bridge or Borough stations. Lots of beers on offer – but the three hand-pulled ales (two bitter, one mild) are £5 a pint, and only £4 on a Sunday! Burgers or pizza can be ordered in from the pub. The Blue Maid 174 Borough High Street, SE1 1HR Sunday 28 December 2025, 7.30pm onwards  

 Coming up at the Bell in 2026 Jan 27 – Dr Jay Sullivan – Victorian Mummymania  Feb 24 – Stevyn Colgan – A Policeman’s Progress from Law to Lore  Mar 31 – Dr Kate Cherrell – Celebrity Séances Apr 28 – David Southwell – The Fortean and Folklore Origins of Hookland May 26 – Deborah Hyde – A 21st-Century Werewolf in Hull? Jun 30 – Richard Marshall – The Levitating Hamster Tickets for each talk will be available a month before the event, with full details on our flyers, on this blog and on our FB page https://www.facebook.com/LondonForteanSociety/ The Bell 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East)  Meetings are on the last Tuesday of the month and start at 8pm (doors 7.30)

Tuesday 25 November 2025 The Tomb of the Mili Mongga   While exploring and discovering an entire recently extinct mammal fauna on an Indonesian island, Prof Samuel Turvey heard stories of a mysterious wildman called the mili mongga, a giant yeti-like beast supposedly living in the island's remote forests.  Professor of Conservation Biology at the Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, Sam Turvey draws together scientific exploration, anthropology, cryptozoology, folklore and more in this fascinating talk, which explores the many reasons why we might believe in stories about wildmen. The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX  (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) Tuesday 25 November 2025 8pm (Doors 7.30) Tickets £5/£3 https://wegottickets.com/event/681091/  

Whose claws are scratching at the church door? What’s that ghost tumbling over the moor? Who’s that figure cut into the earth? What can I do to lift this curse?  Join us for a legendary trip through the seventh Haunted Landscape, our day of expert talks on British ghosts, magic, and folklore. Photo by Henrik L. on Unsplash The Haunted Landscape: Ghosts, Magic and Lore 22 November 2025 10 am - 5 pm  In advance: Standard £25 / Living Support £17 / Student £21 (inc. £2 venue levy) Advance Tickets Online: £12   (inc. £2 venue levy)  Advance Tickets Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn London Fortean Email List Age Recommendation: All ages. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. Photo by AJO JOSE on Unsplash Going to the Haunted Landscape, online and at Conway Hall, next Saturday? Or planning to? It'll be a deep, dark dive into British folklore with some fine speakers.  Here is the schedule for the day:  10:00 Intro  1...

Tuesday 28 October 2025 Fifty-plus Years of Fortean Television   Since the late 1960s, there has been a largely unbroken strand of television programmes concerning the weird, the rum and the downright uncanny. From the days of three channels to today's several hundred, there have been fortean-themed shows from the famous (and notorious) to the deeply – and often rightfully – obscure and from the sublime to the ridiculous.  One half of the Fortean Times “resident couch potatoes”, Stu Neville , takes a not entirely reverent ramble through the last five decades of weirdness-themed telly. Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) Date: Tuesday 28 October 2025 Time: 8pm (Doors 7.30) Tickets £5/£3: https://wegottickets.com/event/678167/