London Fortean Society

  Tuesday 24 June 2025 The F olklore of South London Parks Enjoy some larks in south London parks. London writer and tour guide Chris Roberts talks about history, development and challenges facing open spaces in London. They are places of joy, relaxation and adventure and the setting for his fascinating new collection of short stories, South Parks (reviewed in FT458, and available tonight), in which he explores folklore, myths and the cultures around or linked to London’s open spaces. There are talking statues, strange cults, pagan estate agents and a very wrong horse. There are foxes and a vengeful toilet goddess – but also stories of love, friendship, family life and growing up. Meanwhile in Brockwell Park a song as old as time is sung again and in Streatham Common some herbivores revert to their man-eating roots. Come and celebrate these places to play in, stay in and spend the day. Date:  Tuesday 24 June 2025 Time: 8pm (Doors 7.30) Venue: The Bell,  50 Middlesex S...

  Tuesday 27 May 2025 The Devils of Loudun A Case of Demonic Possession in 17th-century France Aldous Huxley’s The Devils of Loudun was an account of a 17th-century case of demonic possession in an Ursuline Convent in Loudun, France. Ken Russell’s film T he Devils was a rather more salacious re-telling. In 1617 Urbain Grandier became priest of the church of St Pierre du Marche and canon of la Collégiale de Sainte-Croix in Loudun. Seventeen years later he was found guilty of sorcery for having made a pact with the devil, and responsible for the demonic possession of the nuns in the town’s Ursuline Convent. He was tortured then burnt at the stake in the market place. Witnesses claimed to have seen demons escaping from the flames. How could a man of God find himself accused of maleficium ? Wayne Perkins relates one of the strangest and most infamous cases of witchcraft in 17th-century France and early modern Europe. Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverp...

  Tuesday 29 April 2025 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. Now award-winning journalist Elizabeth Winkler’s book Shakespeare Was a Woman and Other Heresies: How Doubting the Bard Became the Biggest Taboo in Literature is making waves. A London Library event featuring Winkler in discussion provoked a furious attack by a Times journalist, who depicts authorship questioners as “conspiratorial fantasists” aligned with the far right, a threat to “a liberal society” and the question as “a contagion of superstition and ignorance”. Dr Ros Barber explores what is r...

Art / Magic / Lore returns to Conway Hall this summer to explore the lesser-trodden paths of wild folklore and myth. From pagan counterculture, rebel folk, and roadside magic, we will discover the activism and resistance threading through occult history. Saturday, 26 April 2025 1.30 pm doors, 2 pm start.  £15/ £11 Concessions / Advance Booking Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn London Fortean Email List   Phil Hine – Delinquent Elementals A fascinating glimpse into the pagan counterculture, from the ‘Satanic Panic’ to ‘occulture.’ In Delinquent Elementals: The Very Best of Pagan News, Phil collects some of the finest articles, news reports, interviews, and humour that appeared in this singular publication, providing a fascinating glimpse into the pagan counterculture. He charts the historical timeline of the Satanic Panic scandal of the late 1980s, documents previously uncollected information, and provides a wide selection of practical knowledge a...

The tale of two forgotten mystics: Tahra Bey, who took 1920s Paris by storm as an ‘Oriental’ missionary, and Dr Dahesh, who harnessed Western science to create a pan-religious faith in Lebanon. Travelling the world, they reflected the desires and anxieties of a troubled age. Tuesday, 15 April 2025 6.30 pm doors. 7 pm start.  £10 / £7 Concessions / £7 Livestream  Advance Booking Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London, WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn London Fortean Email List The interwar period was a golden age of the uncanny. Clairvoyants, fakirs, Theosophists, mind-readers, miracle-workers and jinn-summoners—all assured the masses that, just like the newly discovered invisible forces of electricity, radiation and magnetism, unseen spiritual powers commanded a realm of hidden human potential. This was a transnational movement of eccentrics, gurus and prophets, with East and West interacting in unexpected ways. Drawing on untapped sources in Arabic as well as European records, Raphael...

  Tuesday 25 March 2025 Women of the Golden Dawn The Golden Dawn is the most talked about and accidentally well documented magical Order of the last 150 years. It was set up with women and men working together as equals, and that created a harmony and a “roundedness” to their rituals even when the ink was barely dry on them. Respectable, disreputable, sociable and dedicated, quite a few of the members made names for themselves outside the Lodges. Geraldine Beskin , co-owner of the Atlantis Bookshop, talks about Moina Mathers, Florence Farr, Annie Horniman and other women who were not in supporting roles – they were great achievers both within the Golden Dawn and in the wider world.  Date: Tuesday 25 March 2025 Time: 8pm (Doors 7.30) Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) Tickets: £5/£3   https://wegottickets.com/event/652812/