Strange December Book Fair: UFOs, Ghosts, Zombies and Much More

Christmas should be stranger. Join London Fortean Society for an afternoon of talks on ghosts, UFO art, voodoo, the world's first amphibious baby and much more. There will be book sales, stalls pizza and beer to mark the darkening days before Yule.

Saturday 1 December 2018
12pm-6pm
£15 / £10 concessions (advance tickets)
Black Magic Friday! All tickets £10 this weekend
Backyard Bar and Kitchen, 231 Cambridge Heath Rd, London E2 0EL
Train & Tube: Bethnal Green
Tube: Whitechapel / Train: Cambridge Heath

Speakers include:

Cathi Unsworth - Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Sophia Kingshill - The Mermaid’s Tale
David Clarke - In the Eye of the Beholder: UFO Artwork
Susan Owens - The Appearance of Ghosts
John Cussans - Bond's Black Ops: Graham Greene, Papa Doc and Loa OS 22
Thomas Morris - Diagnosis: Unexplained

Stall to be confirmed

Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?
Cathi Unsworth is the author of six pop-cultural crime novels based on real-life unsolved or controversial cases. Her latest, 'That Old Black Magic' (Serpent's Tail), interweaves the true stories of the Hagley Woods mystery of 1943 and the trial of Helen Duncan, the last woman to be prosecuted for witchcraft in the UK, in 1944.


Real life characters mingle with the imagined in a secret history of spiritualists, stage magicians and spooks of all persuasions under the blackout of Britain's bleakest hours. 

Sophia Kingshill - The Mermaid’s Tale
‘The Mermaid’s Tale’ examines the complex family tree of the mermaid, from ancient images to modern media. Mythology, symbolism, romance and lechery, with a touch of fraud and a taste of salt.

Sophia Kingshill is the author of Mermaids (Little Toller, 2015), a cultural history of sirens, selkies and other sea women. She is co-author of The Fabled Coast (Random House, 2012) and The Lore of Scotland (Random House, 2009), with the late Jennifer Westwood. Her YA fantasy novel Between the Raven and the Dove was published by Accent Press in 2017, and she is currently working on the sequel. She lives in London, and is a member of the Folklore Society.

Dr David Clarke - In the Eye of the Beholder: UFO Artwork

Dr David Clarke from Sheffield Hallam University's Centre for Contemporary Legend will talk about his book UFO Drawings at The National Archives. He will look at the myriad ways in which people have depicted strange phenomena in the sky, from the earliest times to the drawings, paintings and other artwork that was submitted to the former Ministry of Defence UFO desk that closed in 2009.

Dr. Susan Owens - The Appearance of Ghosts: shrouds, sheets or see-through? 


The idea that the dead can return to haunt the living is deeply rooted in the British imagination, and ghosts are central to countless plays and paintings, stories and ballads, photographs and films. But why has the appearance and behaviour of ghosts in art and literature altered over time? When did they stop wearing shrouds and put on white sheets or become see-through? And what do these changes reveal about them – and us?

Dr. Susan Owens, former Curator of Paintings at the Victoria and Albert Museum, is the author of The Ghost: A Cultural History.

Bond's Black Ops - Graham Green, Papa Doc and Loa OS 22

John Cussans, author of 'Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror and the Zombie Complex' examines the story of Papa Doc, François Duvalier: President of Haiti from 1957 to 1971, emulated the Vodou loa of the dead Baron Samedi, a tale first promoted by Graham Greene that finds an uncanny precedent in Ian Flemming's 1954 novel Live and Let Die.


Thomas Morris - Diagnosis: Unexplained

Early medical journals contain numerous cases which appear inexplicable to modern science. One Victorian patient apparently had an entire family of slugs living in her stomach; another started to emit urine from her eyes, ears and even her navel. Thomas Morris examines some of the strangest tales ever reported in the medical literature, from exploding teeth to the world's first amphibious baby.

Christopher Josiffe - Black Books: the Curious Career of Rollo Ahmed
A friend to Aleister Crowley, Tom Driberg and Dennis Wheatley (who consulted him on supposedly authentic details for several of his 'black magic' novels), author, lecturer and magician Rollo Ahmed was one of very few Black people on the mid-20th century literary and occult scenes. An eloquent writer and by all accounts a charming and magnetic personality, there is still mystery surrounding his background and even his real name. Christopher Josiffe will attempt to shed some light on this elusive character.'

Saturday 1 December 2018
12pm-6pm
Black Magic Friday! All tickets £10 this weekend
£15 / £10 concessions (advance tickets)
Backyard Bar and Kitchen, 231 Cambridge Heath Rd, London E2 0EL
Train & Tube: Bethnal Green
Tube: Whitechapel / Train: Cambridge Heath

Concealed and Revealed: Magic in the post-medieval home?

7.45pm Thursday 29 November 2018
£4 / £2 concessions
This event has sold out! Thank you to everyone who  has booked, we shall attempt to rebook Ceri as early as possible for this fascinating talk. 
The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX.
Train and Tube: Liverpool Street.
Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East

Post-medieval houses yield many mysterious finds. Old shoes up chimneybreasts; garments secreted away in roofs; mummified cats bricked up in walls. It is probable that these objects were deliberately concealed during the 18th and 19th centuries. though researchers do not know the beliefs or motivations behind this. 

Dr Ceri Houlbrook, Researcher in Folklore and History at the University of Hertfordshire, explores the many educated guesses have been made, and how such objects are viewed and treated today, once the concealed is revealed

7.45pm Thursday 29 November 2018
£4 / £2 concessions 
This event has sold out! Thank you to everyone who  has booked, we shall attempt to rebook Ceri as early as possible for this fascinating talk. 
The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London E1 7EX.
Train and Tube: Liverpool Street.
Tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East

Unexplained Podcast presents: The Hexham Heads

Summer 1971, in the small north-eastern Market Town of Hexham in England. Two young boys are digging about in the garden when they discover a pair of strange heads, formed of an unknown substance.

7.15pm Wednesday 14 November 2018
£5 plus booking fee
This event has sold out! Thank you to everyone who  has booked, we shall attempt to rebook Richard as early as possible for this fascinating talk. 
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Tube: Holborn
Directions
Facebook event page

After bringing the heads into their home, a series of peculiar events ensues: The heads seem to move themselves around the room and strange creatures are witnessed stalking the homes of anybody that houses the bizarre artefacts.

Despite a number of prominent academics having attempted to identify their provenance, none could provide a definitive answer. Were they, as some believed, of a pagan, Celtic origin; ancient idols worshipped by an obsessive Cult of the Head? Or were they merely remnants of crudely made dolls, gifted to a young daughter by her doting father?

Join Richard MacLean Smith, creator of the ‘world’s spookiest podcast’ Unexplained as he takes you on an atmospheric journey through this extraordinary tale. And dare to ask the question, does it matter if something is real or not, if we believe it enough to be so? 

Richard’s book Unexplained will be available on the night.

7.15pm Wednesday 14 November 2018
£5 plus booking fee 
This event has sold out! Thank you to everyone who  has booked, we shall attempt to rebook Richard as early as possible for this fascinating talk. 
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL
Tube: Holborn
Directions
Facebook event page

Where the Light Gets In: The Occult Roots of Computing

Cyberpunk has unexpectedly occult roots; virtual and augmented reality enable the supernatural and the mythic within science fiction; and personal computing is built on 1960s psychedelic utopianism. 

THE GLITCHED RAINBOW HEAD OF PHILIP K DICK by TORLEY on flickr

Tuesday 6 November 2018
8pm (doors 7.45pm)
£5 / £2 concessions 
This event has sold out! Thank you to everyone who  has booked.
The Miller, 96 Snowsfields, London Bridge, London SE1 3SS
Tube & Rail: London Bridge
Tube: Borough
Event Facebook page

Al Robertson will talk about how the weird pervades modern technology, as a jumping-off point for a discussion about how myth, magic and unreason might force themselves into the futures we’re all building.

Al says "I’m a writer, poet and occasional musician. I’ve published two novels with Gollancz. My first book, Crashing Heaven is about an accountant of the future, a psychotic virtual ventriloquist’s dummy and the sentient corporations who are persecuting them both. It was followed by a stand-alone sequel, Waking Hell, in which the past attacks and only a dead estate agent can save us."

Tuesday 6 November 2018
8pm (doors 7.45pm)
£5 / £2 concessions 
This event has sold out! Thank you to everyone who  has booked.
The Miller, 96 Snowsfields, London Bridge, London SE1 3SS
Tube & Rail: London Bridge
Tube: Borough
Event Facebook page