Count Stenbock: Decadent master of the macabre – a Zoom talk by James Machin

An introductory Zoom talk by James Machin on the decadent writer of strange tales, Count Stenbock – 'scholar, connoisseur, drunkard, poet, pervert, most charming of men'

Medieval Mermaids – a Zoom talk with Professor Sarah Peverley

This illustrated Zoom talk will explore the Medieval history of one of the most popular and long-lived of all the mythical creatures that humans have invented.

Literature - Past Digital Events

Hymns, Myths and Mysteries of Orpheus – Ronnie Pontiac

Who were the wandering poet priests of Orpheus and why did Plato and Euripides despise them?

Queer as Folklore – a Zoom talk with Sacha Coward

To mark LGBT+ History Month, Sacha Coward takes us on an illustrated Zoom talk through the hidden queer history of myths and monsters.

TV Adaptations of Dracula – a Zoom talk with Jon Dear

Join Jon Dear and learn about the history of Dracula and vampires on the small screen. Enter freely and of your own free will!

Mermaids across the Millennia – a Zoom talk with Professor Sarah Peverley

This illustrated Zoom talk will explore one of the most popular and long-lived of all the mythical creatures that humans have invented.

It Was Upon a Lammas Night: Summerisle and The Wicker Man – Zoom talk with Edward Parnell

An illustrated Zoom lecture on the real Scottish locations used in 'The Wicker Man' to create the geography of the fictional Summerisle.

The Wind in the Willows – Professor Ronald Hutton – Zoom Lecture

This talk looks at how and why it came to be written, and at the story of Grahame himself, the outwardly boring and conventional bank clerk who created it

The Green Children of Woolpit: fairies or lost children? – Zoom talk with John Clark

This Zoom lecture investigates the story of the two ‘Green Children’ who appeared ‘as if out of the ground’ in a C12th Suffolk village.

Inventing the Green Man – a Zoom talk with Dr Alex Woodcock

In this illustrated Zoom talk Dr Alex Woodcock will explore one of the most familiar images from medieval art.

Winnie The Pooh – Professor Ronald Hutton – Zoom Lecture

This talk is designed to introduce readers to his often rather dark story, and complex character

Gef the Talking Mongoose – a Zoom talk with Christopher Josiffe

"I am a ghost in the form of a mongoose, and I shall haunt you with weird noises..." Find out about the Isle of Man's most-famous spook in this Zoom talk with Christopher Josiffe.

Quatermass at 70 and humanity’s future – a Zoom talk with Jon Dear

Jon Dear leads us through the work of Nigel Kneale, one of Britain’s most significant screenwriters of the 20th century – the creator of Professor Bernard Quatermass

Gargoyles and Grotesques – a Zoom talk with Dr Alex Woodcock

In this illustrated Zoom talk Dr Alex Woodcock will explore why there are monsters, wild figures and faces carved on our medieval churches.

Borley Rectory: The Most Haunted House in England – a Zoom talk by Sean O’Connor

Sean O'Connor's book 'The Haunting of Borley Rectory' (Simon & Schuster, Oct 2022) details the strange history of this infamous house...

Personal Myths: the Weird World of Fake Native Americans – a Zoom talk by Paul Willetts

Paul Willetts shares the almost-unbelievable stories of various 20th-century imposters who took on Native American identities.

In the Fort Archive: Charles Fort and the Making of the Twentieth Century

A Zoom talk by Colin Dickey on the father of all things Fortean: Charles Fort

“The Devil’s Gateway” – Daughters of Eve in the Middle Ages – Professor Elizabeth Archibald

This Zoom lecture by Professor Elizabeth Archibald will explore the complex medieval attitudes with which women were regarded.

Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life – a Zoom lecture by Ruth Franklin

An online Zoom lecture about one of the greatest American women writers of unsettling fiction, Shirley Jackson (1916–1965).

J. Sheridan Le Fanu: Irish Master of Mystery – a Zoom talk by Jim Rockhill

Jim Rockhill gives an illustrated talk on the Irish ghost story writer and novelist Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, who was born this day (28 Aug) in 1814.

The Recognition of H. P. Lovecraft – a Zoom lecture by S. T. Joshi

An illustrated Zoom lecture on H. P. Lovecraft, the New England writer of weird, science-fiction and horror fiction, by S. T. Joshi.

An introduction to Arthur Machen – a Zoom talk by James Machin

James Machin gives an introduction to Welsh writer Arthur Machen, ‘The Flower-Tunicked Priest of Nightmare’

C.G. Jung, Lord of the Underworld – Gary Lachman – Zoom

A Short History of Modern Occultism in Three Lectures - Lecture 3 of 3 is C.G. Jung, Lord of the Underworld

Robert Aickman – Master of the ‘strange story’: a Zoom talk by R. B. Russell & Rosalie Parker

R. B. Russell and Rosalie Parker talk about the master of 'strange stories', Robert Aickman (1914–1981).

Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Magician in the World – Gary Lachman – Zoom

A Short History of Modern Occultism in Three Lectures - Lecture 2 of 3 is Aleister Crowley: The Wickedest Magician in the World

Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society – Gary Lachman – Zoom Lecture

A Short History of Modern Occultism in Three Lectures - Lecture 1 of 3 is Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society

Matthew Holness and Edward Parnell’s Darkplaces – Zoom lecture

Join Matthew Holness and Edward Parnell as they talk about their favourite ghost stories and tales of the weird and eerie.

The Flying House of Loreto – Dame Marina Warner

The story of this holy house and its ‘wondrous flittings’ in relation to ideas about losing home and remaking it, exile & settlement

Cruel Intentions: Haunted Food & Doomed Relationships in Gothic Literature – Alessandra Pino – Zoom

Alessandra Pino will dissect how food and consumption symbolise more than just sustenance in Gothic literature / Zoom lecture

A Dark Muse – Writers & The Occult – Gary Lachman Zoom Lecture

Gary Lachman will look at how occult thought and ideas influenced some of the most important and influential writers and poets of the past two centuries

For the Love of Birds: An Introduction to Birdwatching by Mark Cocker on Zoom

Step into the fascinating world of bird watching as award-winning author and naturalist Mark Cocker lays out its history and practice

Philip Terry on Oulipo, France’s Longest Lasting Literary Group

Join writer and translator Philip Terry to learn about France's Ouvroir de littérature potentielle or Workshop of Potential Literature

On The Monstrous Pictures of Whales – Philip Hoare – Zoom Lecture

Philip Hoare on how to depict the impossible, a monster more bizarre than any medieval Apocalypse or engravings of krakens and rhinoceroses?

Freud’s Pandemics: A Live Zoom Lecture with Professor Brett Kahr

Join Dr Brett Kahr to learn what Freud—having lived through WWI, the Spanish Flu, and Nazi occupation—can teach us in this new pandemic

Viktor Wynd on The UnNatural History Museum – The Lecture That Never Was

Join Viktor Wynd for an illustrated zoom lecture on his new book, hear about fairies, mermaids, ghosts, shrunken heads and his dead friends.