In which the author turns Kerouac and goes On the Road…

 

I’m out and about all over the place over the next few weeks, so here’s a round-up of upcoming events.

 

On Saturday 31st March I’m honoured to be the guest of the Ghost Club Scotland, inaugurating their brand new series of talks north of the border. “Haunted Glasgow and Dundee” – with tales of doppelgangers, folk ghosts and modern apparitions – kicks off at 1.15pm in the Tron Victorian Bar, 63 Trongate, Glasgow G1 5HB. Entry is £6 (including buffet) and is restricted to members of the Ghost Club and their guests only. To join, or find more out about the oldest paranormal investigation group in the country (founded 1862, no less), visit www.ghostclub.org.uk.

 

On Sunday 8 April I’m guesting on the ever-popular Paramania Radio show on the UKPN Radio channel (www.ukpnradio.com). Gary, Darren and Stuart will barrack me with questions on the paranormal, and I’ll attempt to come up with semi-coherent answers. The show runs from 9pm until 11, with a live chatroom for the asking of audience questions.

 

 

Saturday 14 April sees me getting up on my hind legs at the Manchester Monster Convention, a two-day celebration of all things monstrous and marvellous. I’ll be giving an illustrated talk on the allegedly 19th-century Vampire of Croglin Grange and the 1954 Glasgow children’s hunt for the Vampire with Iron Teeth. Bookending me at MancMonCon will be fiction authors Sam Stone and David J Howe, talking about their novels on vampires and Doctor Who, and Richard Freeman from the Centre for Fortean Zoology (and real-life monster hunter). Who, fangs and cryptozoology – it’s a marriage made in heaven. I’ll also be doing a book signing in the afternoon. Tickets are £10 – see the rest of the excellent programme at www.hic-dragones.co.uk/#/convention-programme/4559931370.

 

 

Saturday 21 April sees a return to Englandshire, with a book signing at Waterstones in Carlisle, from 11am-3pm. This is to promote Paranormal Cumbria, which is published at the very start of April (expect more info on this book very soon). The bookshop is at 66-68 Scotch Street, Carlisle CA3 8PN. If you can’t make it on the day, call 0843 290 8217 to reserve a copy of Paranormal Cumbria and I’ll sign it and you can pick it up later.

In which the author writes for The Author…

 

The Spring issue of The Author, the quarterly magazine of the Society of Authors, features an article I wrote on how writers can get the best out of giving talks and presentations. And speaking of such, my thanks go out to the staff of North Ayrshire Libraries for inviting me to give an illustrated talk at the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats on Thursday 22 March.

 

As the talk was on the subject of Scottish Bodysnatching, and as the venue is a former church, I delivered the first part of talk in the graveyard, giving the audience a quick lesson in grave-robbing, nineteenth-century style. This involved audience participation (well, someone had to be the corpse), a theme that continued back inside, where three audience members enthusiastically took on the roles of bodysnatchers.

 
 

In which the author visits the Ghost Club and meets some mummies…

On Saturday 17th March I was in London, the guest of the Ghost Club. My thanks to Alan Murdie and Philip Hutchinson for honouring me with an invitation, and for providing an exemplary example of a well-organised and hospitable event. The capacity audience tolerated my antics and rants about the Jacobites and the Supernatural with good grace, and a fine time was had by all.

 

 

 

On the way to the talk I popped into the Wellcome Collection on Euston Road, which has now barged into my list of favourite museums. The permanent Medicine man‘ contains such gems as

 

disease demons

amulets and headdresses made of human bone

skeletons of silver

votive phalli

a painting of William Price (the ‘druid’ of Llantrisant)

a piece of philosopher Jeremy Bentham’s dissected skin

several tattoos removed from dead bodies

Charles Darwin’s skull-topped walking stick

and a complete Peruvian mummy, huddled in the foetal position.

 

Entry into this enchanting modern day Cabinet of Curiosities is free. If you’re in the area, you really should visit.

In which the author gives a talk on bodysnatching – in a graveyard…

 

On Thursday 22 March I’m at the North Ayrshire Heritage Centre in Saltcoats giving a talk on Scottish Bodysnatchers.

 

The venue, formerly the North Ayrshire Museum, is housed in an eighteenth century church, so the first few minutes of the talk – how to rob a grave, bodysnatcher-style, will start in the graveyard itself. Then we’ll relocate to the comfort of the museum for the illustrated talk on bodysnatching across Scotland in general, with many Ayrshire examples.

 

The event is FREE and starts at 7pm. Call 01294 464174 to reserve a seat.

 

North Ayrshire Heritage Centre, Manse Street, Saltcoats KA21 5AA. Map here.

 
 

In which the author gave a talk at the ghost club in London…

 

On Saturday 17th March I was delighted to return to The Ghost Club, this time with a talk on ‘The Jacobites and the Supernatural’. My previous talk for the august institution (founded 1862 and still as sprightly as ever) was ‘Aleister Crowley and the Hauntings of Boleskine House’.

 

The Jacobite rebellions of the 17th and 18th centuries convulsed Scotland, Ireland and England – almost leading to regime change in Westminster – before the cause was extinguished at Culloden, the last pitched battle in Britain. The adventure was also steeped in supernatural belief, from magical healing and witchcraft to second-sight, crisis apparitions and deals with the Devil. Drawing on my book of the same name, ‘The Jacobites and the Supernatural’ was a journey through battlefield phantoms, Black Dogs, haunted castles, holy wells, water turned into blood, and, yes, endlessly multiplying spectres of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

 

The event was for memebers and guests only, but joining on the door is always an option. The event took place at 2pm, in The Committee Room at The Victory Services Club, 63 Seymour Street, just off Edgware Road, London, W2 2HF. A kind thanks to all those in attendance.

 

For more information on the Ghost Club, visit – www.ghostclub.org.uk

 

 

In which the author appears on the ‘Paranormal Podcast’ again…

 

 

That gentleman and scholar Jim Harold has just posted another slice of his inestimable internet supernaturalia, ‘The Paranormal Podcast’, this one featuring my second appearance on the American show. Jim and I discuss the meaning and reality (or otherwise) of hauntings, with reference to poltergeists, apparitions, doppelgangers, fetches, and the dubious genre of ‘haunted telly’. Somehow we also managed to shoehorn in time slips (ghosts-as-time-travellers), the ‘survival hypothesis’ (ghosts-as-conscious-spirits), the ‘stone tape’ notion (ghosts-as-recordings) – oh, and some knickers. It was great fun.

 

The show ‘What are Hauntings?’ can be downloaded for free from here!

 

http://jimharold.com/the-paranormal-podcast/what-are-hauntings-with-geoff-holder-paranormal-podcast-229/