On Wednesday 18th September PubSci is excited to welcome writer, folklorist, and celebrated skeptic Deborah Hyde to talk about A Natural History of Vampires.
Peter Cushing as Hammer House of Horror’s Count Dracula
We know Halloween is next month, but PubSci is beating the rush by getting our spook on early this year with a September Special looking at the natural history of vampires.
Long before charming-but-terrifying vampires fuelled the plot of numerous Hammer Horror films, even before FW Murnau made the groundbreaking Nosferatu in 1922, itself inspired by Bram Stoker’s Dracula, the idea of the vampire has fascinated Western Europe since the early 1700s.
But this tradition was a real part of Eastern European lives for centuries before that. On Wednesday 18th September PubSci welcomes folklorist, writer and skeptic, Deborah Hyde, to take us through the natural history of vampires.
The vampire archetype has been taken up by art of all kinds, as both fascinated and scandalised Victorian society, but what is the reality behind the tales of the predatory, living dead, and how did belief in vampires make its way to nineteenth century New England?
Could there be some truth behind vampire myths…? Science, even? Come to PubSci to find out.
Book now – only the brave will learn the answers!
PubSci is delighted to welcome Deborah to our spooky September special.
More information below
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A gentleman fleeing a vampiric winged seductress.
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Join us upstairs at the Old King’s Head, near London Bridge tube. Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. Talks run for ~45 minutes and are followed by a Q&A session. The Old King’s Head has a happy hour before 7pm, and the kitchen serves excellent pub grub.
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About the speaker
CSICon 2018: ‘Interview with the Vampire Expert’
Deborah Hyde is a writer, folklorist and cultural anthropologist. She was editor of the ‘Skeptic Magazine’ for ten years and is an elected fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Enquiry.
She writes and lectures extensively about superstition, cryptozoology, religion and belief in the paranormal, with special regard to the folklore, psychology and sociology behind these phenomena.
Deborah has appeared on TV and at conferences as an expert on Vampires and the sociology of supernatural beliefs, and is one of the resident experts on the BBC podcast and live-tour ‘Uncanny’ where she offers a rational, historical perspective on peculiar events.
PubSci is delighted to welcome Deborah to talk about A Natural History of Vampires.
Count Orlok in F.W. Murnau’s 1922 “Nosferatu”
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We aim to keep PubSci accessible for all, although it is unsuitable for under 18s as we meet in the function room of a pub. Regrettably, there is no wheelchair access.
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We used to meet on the first Wednesday of the month but PubSci is now on the third Wednesday. Join us upstairs at the Old King’s Head near London Bridge Underground (Borough High Street east side exit) every month apart from December for a regular dose of Sipping, Supping & Science.
Address:
The Old King’s Head (upstairs room)
King’s Head Yard
45-49 Borough High Street
London SE1 1NA
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