Hearth of Darkness

Speaker: Matt Blake

Hear the powerful true story of how journalist Matt Blake discovered his new house was once the lair of the E17 Nightstalker - a serial attacker who raped four women and murdered his final victim. The house was meant to be a refuge for him and his four-year-old daughter after a painful divorce. But unravelling the chilling secrets of the past threatened to suffocate the present.

Instinctively sceptical, Matt set out on a scientific quest to make sense of the paranormal and find peace at home. In his quest, he spoke to the Church of England’s Deliverance Ministry for advice on ‘place memories’, scientists on the theory of ‘emotional residue’, property lawyers about how they sell ‘cursed’ properties (and whether he could get his money back) and psychologists about the human brain’s ineptitude in processing the ocean of electromagnetic radiation that surrounds us – finding that the truth is much more complicated and conflicting than he’d anticipated.

Join Matt, author of Hearth of Darkness, to learn more about his quest.

Book sales

You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too.

Image credit: Nick Blake

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