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

When:
December 1, 2018 @ 12:00 pm – 6:00 pm
2018-12-01T12:00:00+00:00
2018-12-01T18:00:00+00:00
Where:
Backyard Bar and Kitchen
231 Cambridge Heath Rd
London E2 0EL
UK
Cost:
£15 / £10

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.

Speakers include:

David Clarke – In the Eye of the Beholder: UFO Artwork
Richard MacLean Smith of the Unexplained Podcast
Susan Owens – The Appearance of Ghosts
John Cussans – Bond’s Black Ops: Graham Greene, Papa Doc and Loa OS 22
Thomas Morris – The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth and Other Curiosities

Stall to be confirmed

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.

Richard MacLean Smith of the Unexplained Podcast

Part Scottish, part English and proud citizen of nowhere, Richard Maclean Smith researches, writes and produces the podcast Unexplained, described by the Guardian as the ‘spookiest podcast ever.’
An international success, Unexplained has been #2 in the US, UK and Canadian iTunes chart. Unexplained is The Examined Life meets The X Files. He has a new book out on 25th October.

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 Greene, 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.