OGOM would like to invite all their followers to join them for seasonal events and spooky reading during October. We’re excited to announce the following activities:
Event: Fear in the Fens Film Festival
Date: Saturday, 25 October.
Venue: Alive Corn Exchange, King’s Lynn.
Speaker: Sam George, Associate Professor, University of Hertfordshire, Co-Convener of the Open Graves, Open Minds Project.
Talk: ‘Becoming Wolf: The English Eerie and History of the UK Werewolf’, Saturday, 25 October, 3.00 pm
Tickets: The above talk will be followed by a showing of An American Werewolf in London and Carry on Screaming (included in the ticket price). You can purchase tickets via Fear in the Fens. This event is close to selling out so be quick if you can make it to Kings Lynn for some retro horror!!
Event: Vampiric Origins & Gothic Afterlives: John Polidori and St Pancras Old Church
Virtual Tour and Online Seminar.
Date: Sat 24th January, 2.30-3.30 pm. Booking is open for this and we want to launch it for Halloween but the tour itself will take place In January and be part of an ongoing project that begins in 2026.
Speaker: Associate Professor Sam George, University of Hertfordshire, Co-Convenor, Open Graves, Open Minds Project.
Description: Vampire expert, Associate Professor Sam George, delves into the origins of the first vampire tale in English, John Polidori’s The Vampyre (1816) and takes you on a virtual tour of his unsettled resting place in St Pancras Old Church. Attendees will share in the untold story of his gothic afterlife and glimpse into OGOM research for the accompanying book on Polidori.
Publication: Sam George and Bill Hughes, The Legacy of John Polidori: The Romantic Vampire and its Progeny
Related media: Sam George on BBC Radio 4, In Our time: Polidori’s The Vampyre; The Conversation: Vampire’s Rebirth
Booking: via TicketPass 10.00 (or 8.00 concessions for students or the unwaged) Event:
Event: Spooky Stories at the Being Human Festival
Date: 9 November, 14.00.
Venue: Lee House (Sopwell Nunnery), Cottonmill Lane, St Albans
AL1 2BY
Description: Professional storyteller Olivia Armstrong will reimagine tales of fairies, werewolves and the Green Lady of Hertfordshire for a family audience. These original stories have been inspired by the research of academics Dr Sam George, Dr Kaja Franck and Dr Ceri Houlbrook.
Tickets: This event: Spooky Stories, Being Human Festival is free but tickets need to be booked via Being Human Festival Spooky Stories.
Related Media: Sam George, Fairies Weren’t Always Cute (they used to drink human blood and kidnap children).
Publication: Forthcoming co-edited book: Sam George and Bill Hughes, Gothic Encounters with Enchantment and the Fairy Realm in Literature and Culture (MUP 2026)
Halloween Reading
Dr Sam George’s article, ‘The Vampire’s Lost Reflection’ will appear in the October issue of Hellebore Magazine. This publication has been described as ‘The most erudite journal on the current scene to deal with Paganism, magic and folklore in the realms of modern history, fiction and popular culture’ (Ronald Hutton).
In the upcoming ‘Mirror’ issue, Sam George argues that the folklore of reflections, portraits and shadows, influenced two of the greatest Gothic novels of the 19th century: Bram Stoker’s Dracula and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Orders: Hellebore Magazine, ‘The Mirror’, no. 14 (2025) available to order here
Spooky Reading List: Manchester University Press have produced a Spooky Seasonal Reading List featuring Open Graves, Open Minds, Vampires and the Undead from the Enlightenment to the Present Day; In the Company of Wolves: Werewolves, Wolves and Wild Children; The Legacy of John Polidori: The Romantic Vampire and Its Progeny and much more. Do have a look and follow @GothicMUP for all their wonderful offers!!
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