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Electronic Ghost Voices

8pm Thursday 27 March 2014
£3 / £2 concessions

The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX.
Train & Tube: Liverpool Street. Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East

Can we hear the voices of the dead via electronic devices? Psychologist Cal Cooper, author of Telephone Calls from the Dead, and Prof Chris French of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit, Goldsmiths College, London offer very different views of Electronic Voice Phenomena
All are welcome.




Each LFS evening begins with the Fortmanteau: our monthly summary of strange news stories.

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Many people, when asked, will say that at some point in their lives that they have experienced what they believe to be a ghost, or have had a psychic experience. However, will many people openly admit that they have experienced what they believe to be a 'phone call from the dead'? This question has been asked before, and was investigated back in 1979, in a book entitled ''Phone Calls from the Dead'', written by D. Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless. For many years, this subject has remained dormant, until now, thirty years on.  New cases of anomalous telephone communication have been researched, new history has been considered, new findings are presented and alternative theories for how such events take place are discussed.''

Cal Cooper is a psychologist and a doctoral candidate based at the University of Northampton (UK), within the psychology division’s Centre for the Study of Anomalous Psychological Processes. He is a member of the Society for Psychical Research, the Parapsychological Association, and a Hope Studies Graduate Researcher (Hope Studies Central, University of Alberta). He is the author of Telephone Calls from the Dead and co-author of Conversations with Ghosts (with Dr Alex Tanous).


There are good reasons to believe that EVP is best explained in psychological rather than parapsychological terms. Whatever the truth of the matter, it is most certainly the case that the human tendency to see and hear meaningful stimuli in randomness accounts for the vast majority of cases of EVP. This point will be illustrated with visual and auditory examples of various kinds. And, yes, I will be playing Led Zep backwards again...

Professor Chris French is the Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, as well as being a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association and a member of the Scientific and Professional Advisory Board of the British False Memory Society. He has published over 100 articles and chapters covering a wide range of topics. He frequently appears on radio and television casting a sceptical eye over paranormal claims, as well as writing for the Guardian and The Skeptic magazine. His most recent books are Why Statues Weep: The Best of The Skeptic and Anomalistic Psychology. Follow him on Twitter: @chriscfrench


8pm Thursday 27 March 2014
£3/£2 concessions
London Fortean Society meets upstairs at the fantastic
Bell pub, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX.
Train & Tube: Liverpool Street. Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East.

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