My personal summary of the UnCon?
Spring Heeled Jack I really enjoyed Mike Dash's talk and the panel. They really gave the feeling that some process was being made into understanding what was lay at the bottom of this mysterious figure's reported appearances. Although, as discussion in the bar area showed later, there's still lots of possible explanations left to speculate upon.
The Woman In Black Theo Paijman's talk may suffered slightly coming so quickly after Mike Dash's talk on
Spring Heeled Jack, too. There are similarities. The acoustics were not great, Theo mumbled slightly and though his accent is by no means heavy, it was enough to make his talk sightly hard to follow. The exposition of different reports of sightings and encounters with the phenomenon and Theo's hesitation to offer any hard and fast explanations, or theories, were classically Fortean, but that also makes Fort's books, occasionally, hard to follow, as well. I did catch something of Theo's excitement at discovering such a comparatively little known phenomenon, by using the internet as a search tool. Definitely a sense of a work in progress.
I'm very glad that I stayed for the question & answer session, at the end, because Theo obviously knows this subject very well. Theo could have made more of how little known this phenomenon is and its obvious similarities to, 'Spring Heeled Jack'. Although, he did this, later, on the SHJ panel discussion.
Toads in the Hole and Animal Rains This was also a talk in the classical Fortean mold. Jan Bonderson drew attention to the similarities between the two phenomena and should how orthodox science has treated them both, through history, with differing outcomes, as animal rains became more accepted in the mainstream and entombed toads fell in and out of favour.
Psychedelia Forteana Andy Roberts talk on the use of LSD and hallucinogenics and of their impact on British Society, in the 1950's and 60's. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Roberts' point, that the use of these drugs had fundamentally changed how many people view the World and reality, from something fixed and definite, to something socially constructed and at least partially, illusory, was well made.
I bought the book, as this is an area of cultural history that I'm particularly interested in. Although, there could have been a bit more about British popular literature and politics of the period, Andy Roberts, himself was good enough to point out to me, that his publishers had made constraints on the hardback edition, he actually hoped to expand on these in the paperback.
Spirit Photography This was an expanded version of a similar talk that Gordon Rutter gave, at the
Not the UnCovention in Edinburgh, last year. It was a jolly good talk, with slides last year and I thoroughly enjoyed this new and updated version, too.
Folklorists and and Forteans: Friends, or Foes Paul Screeton's talk, thanks to, bad acoustics, being a bit mumbled and Screeton apparently lacking confidence, was a bit hard to follow, but interesting for me. I'd never heard of '
ostention' either. The apparent dichotomy, between folklore as narrative and Fortean phenomena as folklore, is bound to suffer from miscible boundaries, at times.
Peculiar Entertainments: Speciality Acts in Victorian and Edwardian Fairgrounds and Variety Theatres Vanessa Toulmin's talk, with slides and moving pictures, managed to be quite as mind blowing as when some of those acts first performed.
Especially the whole bit with the contortionist! :shock:
Out of the Cabinet: A Burlesque of the Victorian Seance Kittie Klaw's Burlesque troupe put on a good show, I thought. I couldn't quite work out if the risqué and off-colour songs were actual period pieces, or not. The dancers and costumes were really quite charming (as Doctor Watson might have said).
Definitely, something to been seen by gaslight and limelight, though.
Great Stuff! I can hardly wait until next year! :yeay: