Edinburgh Fortean Society

ALT Next EdFortSoc: Wednesday 11th of November Dr. Charles Paxton will talk on Do Skeptics Believe Weird Things About Science? Skeptics regard themselves as being evidence-based rational thinkers but is this always the case? Here I explore situations where the skeptical perspective does not always seem to be the most scientific perspective. Are Forteans more “scientific”? Is there, in fact, skeptical horseshoe theory where extreme skeptics actually agree methodologically with the believers in strange things but not with the scientists? Wednesday 11th of November The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1

ALT Highlander Jonathan Melville will talk on the 1986 action fantasy, Highlander, and his new book, The Art & Making of Highlander. A school trip to the Tower of London’s armoury inspired an American screenwriting student to write Highlander, the story of an immortal Scottish warrior who must fight for survival until the time of the Gathering in 1980s New York. When the script found its way to two producers looking for a sure-fire hit, it attracted the interest of an imploding British film studio, an experimental music video director, a former James Bond, and a myopic actor playing a sword fighting expert who could barely see a few feet in front of him. Jonathan Melville returns to discuss his decade-long research into the film that has led to two books on the subject. Hear about missing Immortals, deleted scenes, and how a box office bomb became a cult favourite. Jonathan will be selling (and signing) a limited number of copies of his new book for £40 – please let Gordon know in advance.

ALT Next EdFortSoc: 9th September Gordon Rutter will talk on Siberian Cauldrons. Not a cookery lesson nor an investigation into Baba Yaga. Amongst other things the Siberian Cauldrons have been claimed as a global defence system – and some say they were responsible for the Tunguska event! They are in fact giant, mysterious copper or metal dome-shaped objects rumoured to be hidden in a remote swampy region of Yakutia, Russia, known as the “Valley of Death” Apparently. Come along to find out about this little known piece of Fortean Folklore and find out what has happened to those who went looking for them. And find out why I didn’t go looking for them! Wednesday 9th of September The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1

ALT Next EdFortSoc: Wednesday 8th of July We have done Fortean books, music and films. Its now time for the one you have all been waiting for – Fortean Poetry! (Not to be confused with Vogon poetry) A chance to regale us all with your favourite Fortean poems and a chance to find out what we are managing to squeeze into the category. The only criterion is it must not just be a spoken version of a song lyric. If you wish to take part with a reading or a dramatic recitation just give me a shout so we don’t have a dozen people trying to do the same poem. Wednesday 8th of July The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1 A reminder – there will be no formal meeting in August due to some obscure local festival called the Fringe.

ALT Before the Loch Ness Monster, Scotland had sea serpents. Giant marine serpentiforms were reported around Scotland throughout the nineteenth century. Starting with reports and strandings in the islands, there were approximately 69 reports within Scottish marine waters until 1900 plus a number of misidentifications and hoaxes. Until 1873, all but one report, came from the regions of Scotland that were associated with Norse influence. Scottish attitudes to the existence of sea serpents in the period, transformed from irreverent scepticism to a more widespread belief and enthusiasm with sea serpent themed entertainments and appearances in literature. Intriguingly, newspaper interest in the sea serpent peaked in the late 1840s and declined in the 1870s and 1890s – two decades which saw the most Scottish reports. The few Scottish scholars who did express an opinion on the existence of giant serpentiform animals were cautiously in favour.

ALT Will You Join The Dance? A brief history of the Danse Macabre The Dance of Death was an artistic trope that began in the fifteenth century to show death as the great leveller: everyone will die, from the lowliest peasant to the king and the pope. Death is depicted as a skeleton, leading people from all walks of life to join his dance. This talk will look at the origins of this image, and the way it evolved, and tied in with other memento mori images, as well as reflecting shifts in anatomical understanding. Cat’s Bio: Cat Irving has been the Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons’ Hall since 2015 and has been caring for anatomical and pathological museum collections for over twenty years. After a degree in Anatomical Science she began removing brains and sewing up bodies at the Edinburgh City Mortuary. Following training in the care of wet tissue collections at the Royal College of Surgeons of England she worked with the preparations of William Hunter at the Hunterian Museum at Glas

ALT Auction There will also be an auction of donated books etc. So please bring any Fortean related books or other things you would like to donate, and also some cash. The auction proceedings will be split between group funds and a charity to be decided on the night. Wednesday 12th of November The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1

ALT The Dance of Death as depicted in Ingmar Bergman's 1957 film "The Seventh Seal", with the knight and his five companions, now dead from the plague, dancing in a chain behind the Grim Reaper.

ALT The next meeting of the Edinburgh Fortean Society will be Ewan Irvine talking on: Between Fear and Faith: A Medium Who Still Sleeps With the Lights On From the wide-eyed curiosity of 18 to the weathered wisdom of 56, my journey has been a collision of chills and charm—a lifetime spent straddling the line between skeptic and believer. I’ve coaxed stories from the departed and unraveled mysteries in haunted halls, yet I still sprint up the basement stairs like a kid fleeing monsters. Why? Because the dark reminds me that wonder and terror are two sides of the same coin. This talk isn’t about conquering fear; it’s about how the unseen world taught me to embrace the aliveness of being spooked—and why every shadow holds a story waiting to be heard. Wednesday 10th of September The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1

ALT The next meeting of the Edinburgh Fortean Society will be Gavin Ritchie talking on: The Unavoidable Subject An apple falls in gravity irrespective of the hand that drops it, so why are outcomes in parapsychology so dependent on the individuals involved? This presentation explores subjectivity within experiences of psi and the paranormal. If our individuality truly is a decisive factor in these experiences, what might that tell us about the reality of reported phenomena, or even, about reality itself? Wednesday 9th of July The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1

ALT Next EdFortSoc : Wednesday 11th June 2025 The next meeting of the Edinburgh Fortean Society will be Gordon Rutter talking on: You Cannot Be Serios! Thoughtography Ted Serios was a Chicago bellhop who claimed he could imprint images onto photographic film and Polaroids using only the power of his mind. How were the images produced? Was Serios the first person who claimed this ability? And what has happened since the 1960’s heyday of Ted Serios? Come along to find out more about Ted Serios and his strange abilities. Wednesday 11th June The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1

ALT The next meeting of the Edinburgh Fortean Society Michael Cox will be talking on The Tarves Beastie: A Forgotten Gef? Did Gef the Talking Mongoose have a contemporaneous Scottish cousin: the Tarves Beastie? Join us as we unearth a neglected 1930s poltergeist case from Aberdeenshire, and explore the startling correlations between this obscure haunting and that of the Isle of Man's charismatic man-weasel. Wednesday the 9th of April 7.30 pm Downstairs in The Royal Oak,1 Infirmary St, Edinburgh EH1 1LT, £1 entry

ALT Next EdFortSoc : Wednesday 12th March The next meeting of the Edinburgh Fortean Society will be Ann Jones talking on: Into the Goblin Universe: Ted Holiday’s Tales of the Unexplained How did the angling correspondent of the Western Mail find himself helping an Anglican priest perform an exorcism of the Loch Ness monster? Join us as we trace Ted Holiday’s extraordinary Fortean journey encountering ghosts, ley lines, UFOs and lake monsters as he tries to unravel the paranormal mysteries of the Phantom Menagerie and unlock the sinister secrets of the Goblin Universe. Wednesday 12th March The Royal Oak 1 Infirmary Street Edinburgh 7.30pm, £1

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ALT Next EdFortSoc : 12th Feb, 7.30pm The next meeting of the Edinburgh Fortean Society Shadows of the Past: Ghosts and Timeslips Author Graeme Milne will share accounts from his personal files where eyewitnesses have been unwitting participants in past events. From the tragic replay of a theatre engulfed in flames to a step bck in time to wartime Aberdeen, many of the accounts were told directly to the author in person. Wednesday the 12th of February 7.30 pm Downstairs in The Royal Oak,1 Infirmary St, Edinburgh EH1 1LT, £1 entry