Fortean London's October meeting falls on Halloween so they’ve put a haunting night together.

Ghost artist Sarah Sparkes speaks on Poltergeists as hecklers, folklore expert Paul Cowdell discusses and sings ghostly folk songs, storyteller Olivia Armstrong tells haunted tales.

 Paul Cowdell: Ghost Songs

Traditional songs are full of folklore about ghosts. They tell you why people become ghosts, what ghosts look like, what the living have to do to allow the dead to rest in peace. Paul, a folklore expert on ghosts and a fine singer, will be talking about ghostlore in and around traditional songs, and singing some of them. Expect tragedy, revenge, violence, romance and a woman mistaken for a bird.

Mario Lautier Vella – Like Home

In 2009, artist Mario Lautier Vella discovered his home was haunted. Strange events prompted further investigation, resulting in new artwork that explores ideas around sensing and collaborating with the invisible as well as the uncanny domestic space.

Olivia Armstrong: Haunted Stories

Olivia is a London-based storyteller, telling traditional folktales, wonder tales, legends and myths from around the world.

Sarah Sparkes: Poltergeists: The Disembodies Heckler

"The malicious tricks played by the poltergeist are as well known as the low level of his intelligence and the fatuity of his communications" Karl Jung

A Heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes. Hecklers are often known to shout disparaging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set pieces with the intent of disturbing performers or participants. Poltergeists disrupt routine and order in a domestic arena with insulting retorts, the use of domestic objects as missiles and the occasional possession of a family member. The Poltergeist subvert the control dynamics within the family, with poltergeist agent becoming the intermediary of alleged outside forces; unpleasant behavior is rewarded with notoriety, the unseen and the taboo become visible and beguilingly charismatic. At their most successful the agent will come under the scrutiny of so-called experts; titillating a much wider, even global, public audience via extensive media coverage. Drawing on a number of case studies this presentation will put the case for poltergeists as 'disembodied hecklers'.

Each London Fortean Society evening begins with the Fortmanteau: our monthly summary of strange news stories.