Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along.

Address: Nerd Nite, the Attic, Hackney Picture House, 270 Mare St, London E8 1HE

Details: Wednesday October 21st Tickets £7.50. Early nerd tickets £6 (limited availability). Tickets available here: https://www.picturehouses.com/cinema/Hackney_Picturehouse/film/nerd-night-london

Doors open 7pm

We’ve always thought that the attic is the spookiest part of a building. Come join us to test that theory with a Halloween special at Hackney Picture House. Our speakers will cover the psychology of ghosts and hauntings, the zombie stars of the silver screen, and the history of the occult in London. All proceeds go to charity.

The psychology of ghosts and hauntings

Opinion polls repeatedly show relatively high levels of belief in ghosts even in modern Western societies. Furthermore, a sizeable minority of the population claim to have personally encountered a ghost. This talk will consider a number of factors that may lead people to claim that they have experienced a ghost even though they may not in fact have done so. Topics covered will include hoaxes, sincere misinterpretation of natural phenomena, hallucinatory experiences and pareidolia (seeing things that are not there), and the fallibility of eyewitness testimony.

Chris French is a professor of psychology and head of the anomalistic psychology research unit at Goldsmiths, University of London. What is anomalistic psychology? It is essentially the psychology of weird stuff – everything from alien abductions to zombies – but starting from the working hypothesis that such claims can best be explained in psychological, rather than parapsychological, terms.

 

Zombie stars of the silver screen

The zombie apocalypse – that vision of sluggishly moving grey swarms, cut through with veins of impossible colour and gore – has entertained movie audiences for decades, capturing imagination while chomping on brains. I will talk about the zombie in horror film, picking out shifts and variations on the theme, particularly since Romero. From biker zombies, to chatty zombies, to hopping body-parts… the ‘zombie spectrum’ has featured some lively dead.

Krista Bonello is an Assistant Lecturer in the School of Arts at the University of Kent. She has been a dedicated horror fan for as long as she can remember, and writes horror film reviews for various publications.

Magic in London

Dusty old London has had magic weaved into it from its mythical beginnings to the present day. Join me for a brief gazetteer of occult London including magical stones, a witch and her squirrel, wizards vs. an undead baker, weird scenes at the séance and neo-pagan spells on the London Underground. I will attempt to unwed history from the mythology.

Scott is the author of London Urban Legends: The Corpse on the Tube and writes irregularly on ephemeral London for Londonist. He’s the co-organiser and host of the London Fortean Society. He spends way too much time thinking about the Hackney Bear and the Peckham Ghost.

All proceeds from Nerd Nite go to charity. This month’s charity is Cake for Kids in Hackney. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/NerdNiteLondon or visiting www.london.nerdnite.com