London Fortean Society

  Tuesday 30th January 2024 SOLD OUT -- SOLD OUT -- SOLD OUT Aleister Crowley The Spy Who Loved the Occult   SOLD OUT -- SOLD OUT -- SOLD OUT   SOLD OUT -- SOLD OUT -- SOLD OUT   Mountaineer, artist, magician, was Aleister Crowley also a secret agent who worked for different branches of British Intelligence at various stages of his life? Did this culminate in his interrogation of Nazi warlord and occultist Rudolf Hess in 1941? Richard C McNeff deciphers Crowley’s espionage career as well as taking a wider look at his role as an influencer, with some very surprising followers. The author of two novels prominently featuring Crowley, Richard will separate fact from fiction in his portrayals of the Beast. Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX Date:   Tuesday 30th January 2024 Doors: 7.30pm Start: 8pm Tickets: £5/£3 https://www.wegottickets.com/event/604335/  THIS TALK IS COMPLETELY SOLD OUT WE HOPE TO RUN IT AGAIN LATER IN THE YEAR

  'twixt Xmas & NY Thursday 28th December     We don't have a London Fortean Society meeting in December -- but a few of us get together for a drink in that fairly odd time 'twixt Xmas & NY. No speaker, no programme, just a few pints and chat. Regulars and irregulars equally welcome. We'll be in the front room at the Cittie of Yorke pub between Chancery Lane and Holborn, from around 7.30 on Thursday 28th December . They do standard pub food. See you there!

  Tuesday 28 November 2023 A New Demonology: John Keel and the Mothman Prophecies     From the 1960s the “ultraterrestrial hypothesis” became a popular alternative to the ETH for UFOs and other fortean anomalies as a result of the writings of the American journalist John Keel (1930-2009). Keel’s theories are best known today via his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies that chronicled an outbreak of weirdness in the Ohio Valley, USA, that included visits by a winged humanoid (the Mothman), Men-in-Black, UFOs and animal mutilations. His book had a Hollywood makeover in 2002 and the legend is now marked by an annual Mothman Festival in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Dr David Clarke ’s talk is based on an extended interview with Keel during his visit to the UK in 1992 and the contents of his chapter “The Mothman of West Virginia: a case study in legendary storytelling” in The Contemporary Legend Casebook 2: North American Monsters (Utah University Press 2020). Date: Tuesday ...

It’s getting darker. Join us at Conway Hal l as we explore the Haunted Landscape, our annual gathering of witchcraft, folklore, ghosts, and fairies from the British Isles. Speakers this year: Jamie Canton, Nigel Pennick, Dr. Helen Frisby, Kirsty Hartsiotis, Sandra Lawrence, Allyson Shaw, James Edward Frost, and Francis Young.  Live and online. The Spro Mine by Vlash on flickr Saturday 18 November 2023 Doors, books stall, and coffee from 9.30am. Talks 10 am - 5 pm. Lunch 1 pm-2 pm (ish) £25 / £18 concessions. £15 live stream. Advance tickets Conway Hall , 25 Red Lion Square, London WC1R 4RL Tube: Holborn Directions A link to all live streams will be sent out to all online participants after booking.  London Fortean's Mailing List Facebook event page 10 am Allyson Shaw - Ashes and Stones: A Scottish Journey in Search of Witches and Witness.  A moving and personal journey, along rugged coasts and through remote villages and cities, in search of the tra...

  Hallowe'en Special Tuesday 31 October 2023   Instead of our usual fortean talk, we’re delighted to welcome back after 10 years the wonderful storyteller Olivia Armstrong to tell us witchy and ghosty tales. Olivia has been a professional storyteller for over 15 years, telling stories at (amongst many others) Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, the National Gallery and the British Library.  As well as telling us haunting folktales and fairytales, Olivia will answer your questions about the storyteller’s craft, where she finds her raw material and how she crafts her stories. A rare opportunity, not to be missed!   Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX Date: Tuesday 31 October 2023 Time: 8pm (doors 7.30) Tickets:  www.wegottickets.com/event/595522/

  Tuesday 26 September 2023 The Highest Strangeness Forteana by its very nature is strange. Nobody could say that encountering a ghost, UFO or sea serpent was an everyday occurrence. Yet there are some fortean cases that go beyond the bounds of simply strange. These could be called The Highest Strangeness, cases so weird that they have even the most seasoned investigators scratching their heads. Modern day sightings of dragons, giant glowing ghost crabs, bigfoot piloting UFOs and haunting houses like ghosts, bubbling, stinking, crawling phantom trees, weird little animals turning up during poltergeist outbreaks, demonic dogs in flying saucers, the town haunted by a Godzilla-sized phantom snake, fairies in spaceships, organic flying saucers, balls of light melting people alive, giant worms in stone circles, pixie and fairy sightings, the giant talking cat with human eyes that saved two kids from a child molester, and that's just the tip of the iceberg! Richard Freeman , zoologi...

Tuesday 29 August 2023 Shifting Realities Myth and landscape in Alan Garner's novels   Alan Garner has been exploring creatively the landscape of his native Cheshire for over 60 years; his fictional landscape is a country in which fantastic creatures from mythology erupt into the mundane world, communication between dimensions is possible in a supernatural multiverse and events proceed through the operation of repeated actions played out across generations, articulated through folktale, myth and story, as Garner takes his cue from the quantum universe and the overarching constellations above Alderley Edge. Sue Terry , who lives 40 minutes away from Alderley Edge and is working on a book on Garner’s fiction, explores the shifting nature of reality that emerges through the interplay of history, folklore and landscape within Garner’s early novels, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen , The Moon of Gomrath , Elidor and Red Shift .    Venue: The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street E1 7EX D...