London Fortean Society

A ghost. A witch. A princess. This is a story of those who lie. And of those who choose to believe them. Thursday 7 May 2026 7 pm - 8.30 pm In advance: • Standard £15 • Living Support £8 • Student £10 (+ £2 venue levy) On the Door: • Standard £16 • Living Support £9 • Student £11  (+ £2 venue levy) Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Getting to Conway Hall Join the London Fortean Email List Here lies Fanny Lynes, who, after death, became the notorious scratching ghost of Cock Lane, London. Here swings Mary Bateman, the Yorkshire Witch and apocalyptic prophetess who died a murderer. Here stands Mary Willcocks. Or is it Anne Burgess? Or Princess Caraboo, from the distant island of Javasu? A ghost. A witch. A princess. This is a story of those who lie. And of those who choose to believe them. Join History Hit After Dark ’s Madeleine Pelling and Anthony Delaney as they discuss Madeline’s new book Hoax: A ghost, a witch and a princess in the Age of Enlightenment . The di...

***  SOLD OUT  *** 28 April 2026 The Fortean and Folklore Origins of Hookland This event has sold out. We hope to be able to repeat it some time in the next few months, so if you missed out this time, please look out for announcements here and on our Facebook page.   Hookland – an open-source strange landscape whose motto is re-enchantment is resistance – has become a favourite online project among many fans of horror and hauntology. Author David Southwell created the lost English county, described by Fortean Times as “pitch-perfect” and “breathtaking”, not only to challenge the nationalistic weaponistion of folklore, but to re-wild the subject.  In this lively talk he will not only examine the folkloric origins of Hookland, but some of the forteana that underpins it. Delving into his childhood, expect true tales of daylight disappearances, UFO cults atop Essex hills and naked amnesiacs appearing in Romford’s high street. Date: Tuesday 28 April 2026 Time: 8pm (Doors...

A day of ghosts, monsters, UFOs and Fortean strangeness on 18 April 202 at Conway Hall, central London and online. Join the London Fortean Society for a day of deep dives into the paranormal world. We will be hosting expert talks on ghost hunting, flying saucers, sea monsters, sasquatches, and more. Saturday 18 April 2026 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 Getting to Conway Hall Join the London Fortean Email List All ages. Under 16s must be accompanied by an adult. Timings 10am David Clarke: Deception, Conspiracy and the New Folklore of the Calvine UFO 11am Dominic Chorney: History's Weird Money: Treasures of the Occult 12pm Darren Naish: Sea Monsters Past and Present 1pm Lunch 2pm Andrew J Bartlett & Jamie Lewis: The Shape of Bigfoot: Making Knowledge Claims from Absences 3pm Mark Pilkington: UFOs:...

Celebrity Séances Tuesday 31 March 2026     In this light-hearted talk paranormal historian, author and broadcaster Dr Kate Cherrell takes a sideways look at the weird world of celebrity séances in western history, from Elvis’s spectral adventures in Watford to Mark Twain’s post-mortem literature. Since the creation of the modern celebrity, séance and the supernatural have been unhappy bedfellows, allowing audiences to incite or imagine interactions with their idols. Mediums and psychics have built careers on the backs of dead celebrities, with many long-dead pop stars unknowingly spurring an entire subsection of psychic memoirs and after-death experiences. Neither Elvis, John Lennon nor Diana, Princess of Wales have had restful afterlives, but have experienced decades of public appearances and sightings, captured on film, vinyl and countless paperback books. Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) Date: 31 March 2016 Time:...

Tuesday 24 February 2026 A Policeman’s Progress from Law to Lore   What is behind the current renaissance of British folk culture? Why are various forms of paganism attracting so many new followers?  Ex-cop and QI researcher/scriptwriter Stevyn Colgan set out on a five-year mission to find out. And now he's sharing his conclusions. And plenty of quite interesting facts.  Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) Date: Tuesday 24 February 2026  Time: 8pm (Doors 7.30) Tickets: £5/£3 https://wegottickets.com/event/689355/

*** 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/