Centre for Inquiry UK, The Skeptic magazine and Conway Hall present
Halloween Special: Ghosts, Zombies and Vampires!
Chaired and organized by Stephen Law, Heythrop College University of London.
Saturday October 26th, 2013
Conway Hall (Main Hall)
25 Red Lion Square
Holborn
London
WC1R 4RL
£10 (£5 students) Free to friends of CFI UK. Tickets here.
10.30am registration. 11am-3.30pm
10.30 Registration
11.00 Deborah Hyde on vampires
12.00 Chris French on ghosts
1.30 Frank Swain on zombies
2.30 Scott Wood on London ghosts
3.30 END
(CFI reserves the right to change the programme due to unforeseen circumstances)
Deborah Hyde: Vampires
"The
Vampire has fascinated Western Europe from the early 1700s, but the
tradition was a real part of Eastern European lives for a considerable
time before that. In the last three centuries, the icon has been taken
up by art of all kinds - literature, film and graphics - and it has had a
lasting effect on fashion and culture. But what is the authentic story
behind tales of the predatory, living dead and can we understand a
little more about being human by studying these accounts? We will look
at recent attempts to understand the folklore and try to work out how an
Eastern European ritual made its way to late nineteenth century New
England, USA.
Deborah
Hyde writes writes, lectures internationally and appears on broadcast
media to discuss superstition, religion and belief in the supernatural.
She uses a range of approaches and disciplines from history to
psychology to investigate the folklore of the malign and to discover why
it is so persistent throughout all human communities & eras. She is
currently writing a book ‘Unnatural Predators’. She is also a film
industry makeup effects production manager who gets on the wrong side of
the camera from time to time"
Chris French: The Psychology of Ghosts and Hauntings
This
talk will consider a number of factors that may lead people to claim
that they have experienced a ghost even though they may not in fact have
done so. Topics covered will include hoaxes, sincere misinterpretation
of natural phenomena, hallucinatory experiences and pareidolia (seeing
things that are not there), the fallibility of eyewitness testimony, the
possible role of complex electromagnetic fields and infrasound,
photographic evidence, EVP, and the role of the media.
Professor
Chris French is the Head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at
Goldsmiths, University of London. He is a Distinguished Supporter of
the British Humanist Association and a Fellow of the Committee for
Skeptical Inquiry.
Frank Swain: Zombies
Ever
wanted to make your own army of undead servants? Join author Frank
Swain as he reveals 300 years of reanimation and mind control
experiments. You learn the tricks, techniques and toxins that everyone
from clandestine government scientists to crazed basement obsessives
have used in their quest to raise the dead and enslave the living.
Frank
Swain writes and talks about science. His first book, HOW TO MAKE A
ZOMBIE, if out now from Oneworld. Frank has a history of making zines,
being a filthy scenester, stage-managing burlesque shows, climbing
buildings, harrying his betters, arguing the toss and generally being a
force for good.
Scott Wood: Ghosts of London
In
London you are never more than ten feet from a ghost story*. Ghosts
have been an enduring part of London’s history, folklore and media and
it seems that nothing of note can take place in the city without
planting new ghosts.
Scott Wood, of the London Fortean Society and author of the forthcoming Urban Legends of London: The Corpse on the Tube examines
how ghosts and London ghost stories have changed through time, from
early modern revenants on Bankside to the Greenwich spooks that
disturbed Lady Gaga. What do we talk about when we talk about ghosts?
*Maybe.
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