Strange Central

 

I don't think I've ever been to Conway Hall and had a bad time. This London venue, tucked into a corner of an urban garden, seems to attract really interesting events; see the links at the bottom for other examples. This latest offering was no exception. Strange Days was a one-day conference organized by the London Fortean Society, of whose previous meetings I've often attended, for example see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2020/01/a-skeptics-guide-to-aliens.html. I was accompanied by my good friends, comrades and space brothers Colin Woolford and Miles Johnston, although Miles was fashionably late as usual, like a bride before a wedding. The conference was held in the main hall and most of the seats were full. A friendly lady called Chandra came up and introduced herself. She is a HPANWO-reader whom I had never met before and it was really good to do. We had some great discussions. The list of speakers was very interesting and opened with Dr David Clarke. He told the story of his investigation into the Calvine UFO photo. I have covered the details myself here: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/06/would-real-kevin-russell-please-stand-up.html and: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2023/04/ufo-disclosure-2023-senate-debrief-and.html and: https://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.com/2022/08/programme-474-podcast-another-typical.html. 

Later on I got the chance to talk to Dr Clarke face-to-face and raised the points I do in my own coverage. Surely if the object really did levitate silently into the air then that is one of the five observables; the implication being that maybe this is something of extraterrestrial manufacture. Dr Clarke replied that we don't know if it really manoeuvred like that because we heard it second hand from Craig Lindsay. Did the two cooks actually say that? Also the engine noise of the Harriers would have drowned out any noise the object made, so maybe it was not really silent. It might have been an endopter drone with internal rotors that are invisible from the angle it was photographed from. This is speculation on his part, in fact he is bordering on the clown's day off fallacy; but then it is also speculation by me. Until we get more information there's no way to tell. Clearly Dr Clarke is biased by his general disbelief in aliens; and I am biased by my opposite belief. The next speaker, Dominic Chorney, talked about treasures of the occult. He is an antiquarian who has a collection of old coins and some of them are strange in design with no obvious issuing bank. Could they be tokens used by occultists? He displayed one very interesting specimen from Japan that depicts some strange and scary creature that looks like a werewolf or ogre. It is in fact probably a snow macaque, a species of monkey from Hokkaido, one of the Japanese islands. The rim of the coin has the island's name on it. What stuck me is that snow macaques were the species studied by Lyall Watson when he came up with his "hundredth monkey" theory, see: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2011/08/lyall-watson.html. 

There was another coin from fifteenth century Germany with a Bigfoot like creature on it, a "woodwose". It is possible coins like this were used as a talisman by the superstitious rather than for financial exchange. In one case, its owner had driven a hole through it, probably so they could hang it round their neck on a string. It makes me wonder where they got the idea for the creature depicted, long before mass media. Darren Naish is a pop scientist who researches the fossil record and ancient extinct animals. He gave an interesting talk about aquatic reptiles and archaeocetes, ancient creatures from the whale family. Unlike most of his peers, Darren has an open mind about cryptozoology. He often associates with the CFZ. There is a rumour that he is one of the witnesses of the Cornish Owlman, although if this is true he has never admitted it. In the definitive book on the subject, Jonathan Downes' The Owlman and Others, this witness is anonymous and nicknamed "Gavin". Jamie Lewis and Andrew Bartlett are social scientists who did a dialogue about what they call "bigfooters", people who believe in Bigfoot and try to find it in the wild. They say they have no public opinions about whether Bigfoot exists or not, but in the course of their address they came across as very skeptical. They made a lot of the points disbelievers do: Where are the bones? Where is the DNA? etc. There are comprehensive rebuttals to these points that I have previously detailed, see below. They mention the Minnesota Iceman and repeat the standard explanation that is it a hoax. Not so in my view. See here for my position on these points and many other similar ones: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2022/11/cryptozoology-portal.html. 

Lewis and Bartlett's central study is about the people who are enthusiastic about Bigfoot and their psychology. I don't have a problem with such scholarship, but it does tend to come in a package with the foundational tacit subtext that what their subjects believe in is a cultural phenomenon based on a falsehood, see here for another example: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2018/09/prof-karen-douglas-at-greenwich-sitp.html. Next up was Mark Pilkington, somebody I'm very familiar with and I got to speak to him briefly. I've researched his work closely and look forward to his new book. He has adapted the thesis he applied in Mirage Men to the modern post-2017 world. How is today's Trumpian political class using "UFOria" for its own nefarious psychological warfare strategy? Good question, but I don't see any reason, from what Mark presented, to discount my suspicion that maybe we're being subjected to some kind of elaborate double-bluff. Has Mark considered this possibility?, see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2023/05/mark-pilkington-at-bases-2023.html. Finally there was a three-person panel on ghost hunting with Alice Vernon, Ben Machell and Sarah Sparkes. Alice and Ben are authors whose books look really interesting. There was a merch stall at the back of the room, as I expected, but I really shouldn't buy any more books until I've read the hundred or so I've bought so far and not yet picked up. The three talk about their own favourite investigators from the golden age of psychical research, the late 19th century to the 1950's. Sarah loves Harry Price, a classic character who has come to my attention too, mostly through my research into Helen Duncan. Alice's favourite is Molly Goldney. I was familiar with that name because she was Price's assistant in the famous 1930 backstreet experiments with Helen. I learned a lot from Alice's information because she has read Molly's private letters. It turns out Molly had a very low opinion of Price and was far closer to one of his main rivals than Harry would have liked. Alice said that Price forced Molly to do the internal body search on Helen against her will and Helen's. From what I gather, from talking to Maggie Hahn and other sources, Helen wanted and demanded this precaution. She even did it at her private performances. Helen was desperate to prove herself to be a real manifestation medium and was far more transparent than most of her peers, see: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2020/02/helen-duncan-portal.html. 

Ben's chosen expert was Tony Cornell, a very cautious and rational figure who was often featured in the media. Unfortunately I was hampered by my usual drowsiness. This seems inescapable when I'm sitting in a warm and comfortable auditorium, especially if I had to get up early to be there; which I did. I had to catch the coach to get to London on time. I tried to doze quietly and unobtrusively, keeping one ear alert so I could hear the speakers' words in my stupor. There were about two hundred people there and I looked for others that I knew. I recognized a few by sight rather than name; but somebody I identified easily was Deborah Hyde, also known as "Jourdemayne" the "skeptic witch". She has come up before on HPANWO several times, for example see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2013/11/consciousness-beyond-individual.html. During the lunch break and afterwards we went to the Penderel's Oak pub on nearby High Holborn. I'm pleased to say it is now a Wetherspoons. It was a trip down Memory Lane for me because London Skeptics in the Pub used to meet in the basement bar there, for examples see: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/skeptics-portal.html. I wondered if Deborah would join us for the same nostalgic reasons, but she did not. Source: https://forteanlondon.blogspot.com/2026/02/strange-central-2026-mysteries-monsters.html. Colin, Miles, Chandra and another woman we met called Beersheba, had a great time sharing a few drinks and dinner. Another friend, Rhiannon, was watching at home on the live coverage, and the two of us shared our running thoughts during the proceedings. I finally headed home at about 8 PM. As I've often said, the social side of the conference scene is really the best part. In a way, the speakers are just an excuse for us to get together. Times spent at conferences are very precious to me and I look forward to the next one. I truly enjoyed the day. Many thanks to all the speakers, organizers and delegates for Strange Days. Hope there will be another one soon.

See here for more information: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2024/06/conspiracy-theory-and-culture.html.
And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2011/09/british-humanist-association-conspiracy.html.