Skip to main content

Subterranea: Myths, Mysteries and Magic of the Underground World

London Fortean Society in partnership with Conway Hall present


Subterranea: Myths, Mysteries and Magic of the Underground World

£8 plus booking fee (Advance tickets)
Saturday 9 April 2016
2.30-5.30pm
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Tube: Holborn / Directions
Facebook event page

We are all lying in the gutter but some of us are gazing at the sewers.  


Beneath our feet echoes another world of folklore, magic and the dead. Join the London Fortean Society for three talks on terra incognita: the world of tunnels, caves, caverns and underground labyrinths from English folklore to occult secrets to urban legends of the London Underground.



Urban Legends of the London Underground: Scott Wood

Just as fairy tales warn of the dangers of going in to the woods alone London’s urban legends are often horror stories about going alone down in to the London underground. Plague pits seethe beneath your feet in the most unlikely places, corpses ride on the tube and news of enemy bomb attacks are never further than a trip to the shops away. Some of these urban legends are older than they appear; others are new stories posing as history. Scott will tell these contemporary folk-stories, map them across London and then take them pieces of apart to show you what they’re really made of.

Scott is the author of London Urban Legends: The Corpse on the Tube, a regular-ish writer for Londonist and co-organiser & host of the London Fortean Society.



Secret Tunnels of England: Folklore and Fact: Antony Clayton



So-called secret tunnels are a subject of perennial interest. Are there really labyrinths of hidden passageways under our ancient buildings, towns and cities, or are these tunnel tales another seam of England’s rich folklore?

Antony Clayton will attempt to sort fact from fiction in this illustrated talk. Antony is the author of the highly popular Subterranean City, Beneath the Streets of London, described as ‘a modern history masterpiece’. He has given talks on subterranean subjects at the British Library, the ICA, Bishopsgate Institute and Freemasons Hall.


The Occult Underground: Gary Lachman


Caves, tunnels, tombs and other subterranean spaces have held a fascination for mankind ever since we first became aware of such places.
Gary will look at some of the ways in which underground passages and places have played a part in our 'occult' understanding of the world, from our Neolithic ancestors using caves as 'sensory depravation chambers' in order to commune with the gods, to ideas of some powerful superrace living beneath the earth. These notes from underground will give a new perspective of what it means to 'go within'.


Gary Lachman is the author of more than a dozen books on the meeting ground between consciousness, culture, and the western inner tradition. These include A Dark Muse: The Dedalus Book of the Occult, Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality and The Quest for Hermes Trismegistus From Ancient Egypt to The Modern World. As Gary Valentine he was a founding member of the pop group Blondie.

£8 plus booking fee (Advance tickets)
Saturday 9 April 2016
2.30-5.30pm
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Tube: Holborn / Directions
Facebook event page

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Time-Slips

  Time-Slips 26 November 2024 In the early years of the 20th century, two ladies visited the gardens of Versailles. Whilst there, they apparently slipped back in time to the late 18th century. They published a book describing their experience, which in later years was debunked as misperception and hallucination. Case closed. Or is it? There are a plethora of similar contemporary reports of apparent slips through time, from brief glimpses to full interactive experiences. Most reports describe features from the past, but a few describe possible slips forward in time. Dr Ann Winspe r has been researching people apparently travelling through time for the last 20 years. She describes some of these fascinating cases and looks at possible explanations, as well as how not all can be explained through misperception and psychology. Venue: The Bell 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX (Tubes: Liverpool Street, Aldgate, Aldgate East) Date: 26 November 2024 Doors: 7.30pm Start: 8pm Tickets: £5/£...

The Haunted Landscape 2025: Ghosts, Magic and Lore

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 E. Jay Gilbert – Ghost Stories and Their Afterlives Mark Norman – The Folklore of Churches and Churchyards Jeremy Harte – The Devil in Church Rachel Poulton – Unseen: In Search of the Sublime and Spirit of Place in the Haunted La...
  *** TUBE STRIKE *** Although the tube strike has been called off, we'd already shifted the date of our next meeting at the Bell, Jeremy Harte speaking on Gypsies and the Supernatural , from Tuesday July 25 to Tuesday August 1 . Please note that we're sticking with this new date.