On Wednesday 31st August I’ll be the guest on The S-Files, a community radio show broadcasting out of Leith, Edinburgh, with a remit that runs “from the paranormal to psychics, myth to magic, ghosts and much much more.” Presented by Ewan Irvine, the show runs from 10pm to midnight. If you’re in the Edinburgh area you can listen live on 98.8 FM. Elsewhere, pick the show up live online at http://www.leithfm.co.uk/listen. Expect me to discuss bodysnatching, hauntings, and other Scottish mysteries.
Tag Archives: Paranormal
In which the author appears on the ‘History & Mystery Show’ on RedShift Radio…
On Tuesday 30th August I’ll be the feature guest on the ‘History & Mystery Show’, a weekly broadcast from the online community radio station RedShift Radio, based in Crewe. My interrogator will be the estimable ghost tour guide Mr. Tim Prevett. The show goes out from 10-11pm on Red Shift Radio and can be heard for the following six weeks on the station’s Listen Again facility – only without the music. Yes, I get to choose some of the tracks played during the show, so expect classic clattery-ah post-punk-ah from Manchester-ah, beautiful driving Krautrock, and bonkers Italian film soundtrack horror-prog. Yay!
As for the topics, Tim will be quizzing me on the Vampire with Iron Teeth and other stories covered in Paranormal Glasgow. Be prepared for urban legends, crypto-Communists, monster-hunts, Spring-Heeled Jack and city hobgoblins.
In which the author actually writes a book…
There have been no posts recently because I’ve been sequestered away writing Paranormal Cumbria (deadlines are a wonderful thing). The text of the book is now complete so normal service (such as it is) should be resumed as soon as possible. As a sneak preview, I can promise witchcraft, monsters of sea and lake (oh yes, Bownessie gets a look in), twentieth-century fairy sightings, ‘scareship’ UFOS, the Cursing Stone of Carlisle, the Cumberland Spaceman and the Croglin Vampire. Crikey.
Just a reminder that the event at Ladywell in Glasgow, originally booked for Wednesday 24th August, has been rescheduled for 19 October. Same venue, same time, same vampire with iron teeth – just a different date.
In which the author gets a grand review from veteran Fortean Lionel Fanthorpe…
Back in the day, I enjoyed many a talk (at Fortean Times UnConventions and elsewhere) by the Rev. Lionel Fanthorpe, the President of ASSAP (Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena) and the former President of BUFORA (British UFO Research Association). Among his 250(!) books, many written in conjunction with his wife Patricia, my favourite is an in-depth study of that enduring Fortean enigma, the Oak Island Mystery.
Just recently, Lionel and Patricia kindly got in touch with a splendid review of The Jacobites and the Supernatural. Here it is, reproduced with permission:
Review of The Jacobites and the Supernatural
By Lionel Fanthorpe
Geoff Holder already enjoys an excellent reputation as an author specialising in history and mystery – and The Jacobites and the Supernatural enhances that reputation yet further. What he has done in this highly readable and informative book is to take the reader through the period from 1689 to 1745 and the grim battles of Culloden, Sheriffmuir and others. He has also brought the Jacobite period vividly to life again with accounts of witchcraft, talismans, sorcery, psychic phenomena and portents: all of which coloured Jacobite society.
Geoff takes the reader to fascinating sites and locations including Lord Pitsligo’s ruined castle at Rosehearty, Blair Castle, Loch Rannoch, Dunkeld and Eilean Donan Castle. He introduces the reader to many larger than life characters of the Jacobite period: James II, Louis XIV, Viscount Dundee, Duncan Forbes and the beautiful Mary of Modena. All this relevant and worthwhile historical and geographical material provides an ideal background for the accounts of the anomalous and paranormal events which make the book so interesting.
In which, as you do, the author podcasts on medieval cannibal children…
“Sawney Bean, Christie Cleek and other Scottish Cannibals”, the next episode of my “Fortean Freak Out” podcast, is now online here, here.
Based on an episode investigated in Paranormal Dundee, I investigate the relationship between authentic history, legend and hoax in the stories of the Scottish cannibals Sawney Bean and Christie Cleek – and come to the conclusion that a source story may be the little-known tale of a cannibal child allegedly executed in Dundee in the 15th century. It is (cough) a piece of folklore you can really get your teeth into.
In which the author wibbles about in a video interview…
My recent video interview, entitled “Inside the Author’s Library”, is now available on that there YouTube. Go here to see excessive authorial wibbling, with topics including:
- The role of the Ramones in paranormal research
- The danger of dinosaurs
- Paradigm shifts
- Numinous ritual caves
- Skepticism vs. scepticism
- The genesis of a Glasgow urban legend
- The hitch-hiker’s guide to life-changing moments (especially if Colin Wilson is involved)
- The process of writing, from pitch to publication
- Navigating by graveyards_