Tag Archives: scotland

In which the Author embarks on a Halloween tour of Scotland…

From 26th October to the 12th November I’m back in Scotland for a ‘Halloween tour‘ of lectures, talks and events. I’ll have books on sale at each event.

1. SATURDAY & SUNDAY 26TH & 27TH OCTOBER, SCONE PALACE, PERTH.

TALK: ‘THE BODYSNATCHERS OF SCONE (plus the puma, the witch and the severed head)’

Join Geoff as he delves into the dark world of the Resurrectionists, the strange collaboration of hardened criminals and respectable medical men who broke into coffins and stole bodies for the dissecting tables of the anatomists.

Bodysnatching ahoy!

Time: 1pm

Tickets: £10 (include grounds admission) – 01738 552300 or  visits@scone-palace.co.uk or  www.scone-palace.co.uk

SPECIAL: On the Saturday the talk (and the subsequent visit to the Palace graveyard) will be filmed by TF1 (the

French equivalent of BBC1) for a ‘Halloween in Scotland’ special to be broadcast in France on 2 November. Come

along and be on television!

 

2. THURSDAY 31ST OCTOBER – SKEPTICS IN THE PUB, EDINBURGH.

TALK: ‘SCOTTISH WITCHCRAFT’

Scottish witchcraft has by now developed its own mythology, a set of ideas that ‘everybody knows’. Geoff’s talk

will attempt to separate fantasy from historical reality, which is both stranger and more sordid than most people

suspect. By way of illustration he will detail his own groundbreaking investigations into the famous Maggie Wall

Witchcraft Monument in Perthshire, a B-listed historical monument (and favourite trysting spot for the Moors

Murderers) that, as the painted inscription states, supposedly commemorates “Maggie Wall burned here as a

Witch 1657”. The key word, boys and girls, is “supposedly”.

Venue: The Banshee Labyrinth
 29-35 Niddry Street
 Edinburgh 
EH1 1LG

Time: 7.30PM

Free – More details at http://edinburgh.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/1768/Witches-in-Scotland

3. SATURDAY 9TH NOVEMBER, GLASGOW – SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF PSYCHICAL RESEARCH ANNUAL

CONFERENCE.

TALK: ‘SEX, LIES AND PARANORMAL GLASGOW’

Venue: Hilton Glasgow Grosvener Hotel, 
Grosvener Terrace, Great Western Road / Byres Road, Glasgow

Time: from 10 am to 4.40 pm

Tickets: £35: http://www.sspr.co.uk/index.html

 

4. TUESDAY 12TH NOVEMBER: THE EDINBURGH FORTEAN SOCIETY.

TALK: ‘ZOMBIES FROM HISTORY’

Zombie culture didn’t start with George Romero. Here be medieval chroniclers’ sworn-to-be-true tales of the

plague-spreading undead; the pugilistic zombie of Paisley; archeological evidence of Anglo-Saxon and Romano-

British fear of the walking dead; several ‘Ladies with the Ring’, all supposedly revived in the grave by jewel-stealing

gravediggers; the man who was hanged and buried – and then revived; the Cumbrian Crusader whose corpse was still bleeding 800 years after his death; and the bog body that solved a modern murder mystery.

Warning: contains corpses. 

Venue: The Counting House, 38 West Nicolson Street, Edinburgh EH8 9DD

Time: 7.30pm

Cost: £1 – http://www.edinburghforteansociety.org.uk/index.html

Poltergeist Over ScotlandParanormal Perthshire11 - Maggie Wall monumentzombies cover for blog

Paranormal GlasgowScottish Bodysnatchers - A Gazetteer

In which the Author meets Macbeth’s zombie…

Today’s zombie taken from the upcoming  Zombies from History: A Hunter’s Guide is none other than Macbeth,

King of Scots.

 

However, forget everything you think you know about Macbeth. Shakespeare’s play is a fantasy, based on false

propagandist historical accounts. Macbeth was a hereditary mormaer or regional lord of Moray, at a time when

most Scottish nobles perished at the hands of their power-hungry relatives. Macbeth got the job by killing his

cousins (who themselves had murdered his father). Another power struggle developed when Duncan I – who, in

contrast to his aged portrayal by Shakespeare, was only in his thirties – became King of Scots. Macbeth killed him

in a skirmish.

King Macbeth went on to reign for seventeen years, feeling so secure as to go on pilgrimage to Rome, the only

Scottish king to do so.

 

And now he’s back: is this a zombie I see before me…?

Macbeth - beard and bling, model's own.

In which the Author undertakes a world tour of Scotland….

 

scotland-cottages-mapOver the next week I’m appearing at various venues and events throughout Scotland, stunning audiences into submission with my patented technique involving bluster, arms-waving and cunningly illustrated Keynote presentations.

 

On Friday 22 February I’m in Stenhousemuir, talking about Scottish Lore and Legend to Scouts from the Forth Valley.

 

On Monday 25 February I’m addressing the Dunkeld and Birnam Historical Society on the subject of ‘Paranormal Perthshire’. The event is at the Birnam Institute [http://www.birnamarts.com/index.asp?cookies=True] at 7.30pm and is open to all, although there will be a small charge at the door for non-members.

 

Then on Wednesday 27 February I’m talking about ‘Sex, Lies and Poltergeists at the Argyle Street branch of Waterstones in Glasgow. This free event starts at 7pm and will be followed by a signing for Poltergeist over Scotland.

 

Finally, on Thursday 28 February you can take in ‘An Evening of Murder with Geoff Holder’ at the Loch Leven Community Campus in Kinross. Featuring mysterious, unsolved and gruesome crimes, this talk starts at 6.30 and there’s a small entrance fee. []

 

See you around.

 

 

In which the Author sees another book swim into view…

 

My next book, Poltergeist over Scotland, will be published at the end of January. It is the first-ever survey of Scottish poltergeists, with 134 cases stretching from 1635 to 2012. Illustrated with images and distribution maps, and with cases in Shetland, Orkney, the Western Isles and the Highlands, as well as all the Lowland counties and the major cities, this should be the definitive work on the topic of Scottish polts.

New research throws light on a number of well-known episodes, from the Edinburgh ‘Egyptian curse’ poltergeist to the Trinity case that famously ended up with one of the participants suing the other in court. In addition, many cases have been rescued from dusty obscurity, while others have either not seen the light of publication for centuries, or are previously unpublished.

You can order Poltergeist over Scotland here.

Meanwhile, a series of interviews with the humble author on the subject of poltergeists can be found on this very website here and also on YouTube.

Hallelujah, it’s raining polts.

 

 

 

In which the Author talks about poltergeists on YouTube…

 

To mark the fact that I’ve got two books on poltergeists coming out, a series of interviews with the humble if prolix author have been posted on that there YouTube.

The interviews concentrate on both the ebook What is a Poltergeist? – Understanding Poltergeist Activity and the conventional book Poltergeist Over Scotland. For the former, which will be available for download soon, I discuss the nine different theories/beliefs that have been put forward over the centuries to explain poltergeists:

  1. Demons
  2. Witchcraft
  3. Ghosts
  4. Fairies
  5. Vampires
  6. Psychokinesis (powers of the mind)
  7. Tulpas (thoughtforms)
  8. Hoaxes
  9. Natural forces (electromagnetism, geomagnetism, earth movements etc.)

These are illustrated with cases from throughout the world, including America, Europe and Asia.

When discussing Poltergeist over Scotland I talk about some of the 134 cases I’ve uncovered over the past 400 years. This is the first ever history of Scottish poltergeists.

The interview clips are being released in 16 parts over the next week or so, both on this website here and on YouTube. Collect the set!

In which the Author talks about mummies and ghosts in the Sunday Herald…

 

Glasgow’s Sunday Herald did a full-page feature on Haunted St Andrews in their 8th July edition. I tried to look windswept and interesting for the photo shoot in the Cathedral ruins, and gabbled on in my usual windbag fashion. The full piece can be read here, courtesy of the Sunday Herald and journalist Cate Devine. I’ll be doing a book signing at J & G Innes on Market Street in St Andrews on Saturday 21st July.

Read the full article by clicking here, or the image to the left!