Yearly Archives: 2013

In which the author publishes another book (this one’s on witchcraft)…

‘Maggie Wall – The Witch Who Never Was’ is out on December 1st. Telling the story of my investigations into the

famous Maggie Wall Witchcraft Monument in Perthshire, Scotland – the only historic monument to a named witch

in the whole of the UK – it is a non-fiction detective historical story, leading to some very surprising conclusions

about this most enigmatic of monuments. Here’s the blurb:

A remarkable and striking B-listed roadside cross in Perthshire is painted with the words

‘MAGGIE WALL

BURNT HERE

AS A WITCH 1657′

Maggie Wall has subsequently become the most famous witch in Scotland, featuring in folklore, folk history and

modern pagan belief alike.
Which is strange, seeing as she never existed.
This is the story of the Witch Who Never Was.

 

‘Maggie Wall – The Witch Who Never Was’ is  published as an ebook by The New Curiosity Shop out of Edinburgh. It is currently available on Amazon/Kindle, and will soon be downloadable for Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and the Apple iBookstore. The cost is around £2.80 or $3.60. 

Maggie-Wall938x1500

In which the Author discusses Zombies for the Edinburgh Forteans…

On Tuesday 12th November I’m giving a talk on ‘Zombies from History‘ for the Edinburgh

Fortean Society. You can expect:

Archaeological evidence for belief in the walking dead in Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon times

Medieval accounts of plague-spreading, people-battering zombies

People who have returned from the dead after being hanged or buried (or both)

And the exploding corpse of William the Conqueror…

Warning: contains corpses.

Venue: The Counting House, West Nicholson Street, Edinburgh.

Time: 7.30pm, Tuesday 12th November.

Cost: £1.

There’ll be books for sale on the night.

Zombie-Geoff_MONO

In which the Author is the guest of the Scottish Society for Psychical Research…

This Saturday (9th November) I’m talking at the National Conference of the Scottish Society for Psychical Research (SSPR), a fine institution if ever there was.

The day long event promises to be a belter, with talks including:

Anthony Peake ‘Cheating the Ferryman: A New Blueprint for Post Mortem Survival’

P.G. Maxwell-Stuart ‘Poltergeists and Witches: Unruly Sisters’

Brian Allan ‘The Dark Messiah: Magick, Gnosis and Religion’

And a guest panel featuring Joan Charles.

As for your humble author, he’ll be waffling on about ‘Sex, Lies and Paranormal Glasgow’ – expect the usual coalescence of vampires, poltergeists, zombies and scepticism. Plus sex and lies of course.

sspr copy

The event is at the Hilton Glasgow Grosvenor Hotel in Glasgow’s West End, and runs from 10am to 5pm. Tickets and more details here.

In which the Author is on le French TV…

Sacré bleu! On Saturday 2nd November the popular mid-evening French TV magazine

programme “50 Minutes Inside” broadcast a piece called “Légendes d’Ecosse” (Legends

of Scotland), on the Scottish predilection for all things supernatural and spooky, especially at Halloween.

Amidst the Harry Pottering and the actors in ghost paint, some beardy bloke in a Doctor

Who scarf waffled on about ghosts and bodysnatching:

geofftf1You can see my contributions in the full replay here and also at “le document d’Inside: Légendes d’Ecosse”.

“50 Minutes Inside” (or “50mn Inside”) is broadcast on TF1, the French equivalent of

BBC1. My thanks to reporter Tania Meppiel and cameraman Pierre for an enjoyable two

days’ filming at Scone Palace and St Andrews.

legendes d'ecosse

 

In which the Author talks Scottish witchcraft for Skeptics in the Pub…

Halloween… where better to spend it than in a pub with the words ‘Banshee’ and

‘Labyrinth’ in its name, deep within Edinburgh Old Town, talking about Witches in Scotland?

The nice people at Skeptics in the Pub have invited me to give a Halloween special as part of their round of talks.

I’ll be discussing the historical reality of Scottish witchcraft as contrasted with its typical

portrayals, and outlining my investigations into the possible truth behind the famous Maggie Wall Witchcraft Monument in Perthshire.

The illustrated talk is free and kicks off at 7.30, at The Banshee Labyrinth, 29-35 Niddry

Street, Edinburgh EH1 1LG. I’ll be bringing books for sale, as usual.

11 - Maggie Wall monument

In which the Author writes on zombies for the History Press blog…

With Halloween upon us, the October Newsletter of the History Press (publishers of

Zombies from History among other fine works) turns appropriately to thoughts of ghost and ghoul. I’ve contributed five zombilicious items to their blog:

Zombies: the return of the dead in history

A zombie hunter’s guide

Where to ride out the zombie apocalypse

Anti-zombie weapons

And the all-important question: Why do we love zombies?

Enjoy the zombie jamboree.