The Haunted Landscape 2026: Magic, Fairies and Old Gods: In Person
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This year, The Haunted Landscape, an annual dive into magic, ghosts and folklore, entertains the Great God Pan with Professor Ronald Hutton and Sara Hannant, meets fairies new and old with Francis Young and Jo Hickey-Hall, witnesses witch trials with Marion Gibson, and walks Britain's haunted lands with Jeremy Harte and The Stone Lands Fiona Robertson.
Ronald Hutton - The Return of the Horned God
This talk examines the reason why the Horned God has become the main form of Pagan male deity in the modern West, representing the regenerative powers of nature. It traces the sudden and dramatic emergence of the ancient Greek god of the wild, Pan, as the favourite male divinity of the Victorians and the animating spirit of the English landscape.
Sara Hannant - Panic: Visions of the Horned God
Wild and exciting, the Greek god Pan induces both fear and awe; at times, he is dangerous, stirring panic and creating pandemonium. Sara Hannant will describe highlights from her magical journey which resulted in ‘Panic: Visions of the Horned God in the English Country Garden’ (Strange Attractor Press, 2026).
Francis Young - A History of European Fairy Traditions
This talk explores the possible origins of some of the less well-known fairies of Europe, from Greece and the Balkans to the Baltic and Slavic worlds, as well as France and Iberia, to show that belief in nature spirits, godlings and social supernatural beings is common to almost all European cultures and a central feature of the Continent's cultures.
Jeremy Harte - Mad, Bad or Sad? Ghost Monks and their Hidden Treasures
The Dissolution of the Monasteries filled England with ghosts and ruins. Into the sandals of the real monks – those unexciting land managers and liturgical specialists – stepped a host of cultural imposters. Saintly, fiendish, and sometimes both at the same time, they were remembered largely for the treasures they had concealed, and contracts were issued for digging up abbeys, nunneries and friaries in a frenzied search for hidden wealth.
Fiona Robertson - Stone Lands: A Journey Through Britain’s Ancient Places
Fiona Robertson, author of Stone Lands, describes some of this country's most evocative prehistoric places, where the link with the past feels especially strong, as well as sharing a few megalith-related tales of demons, ghosts, witches, and antiquarians driven to madness by their obsession with the stones.
Marion Gibson - Welcome to Witchland: Recovering the Stories of Britain's Civil War Witches
If the witchfinders came to your town, who would you have believed – and what would you have done?
In the 1640s, Britain was swept up in a brutal witch hunt. Neighbours turned on each other. Women and the poor were especially vulnerable, scapegoated by the powerful looking for someone to blame. In the resulting hysteria – which would, just a few decades later, provide a handbook for the Salem trials – hundreds of innocent people were killed.
Jo Hickey-Hall - Modern Fairy Sightings: Personal Encounters in Extraordinary Times.
The modern Western consensus is that the existence of fairies is a ridiculous, archaic notion, but a surprising amount of credible modern reports of encounters are causing an increasing number of us to reconsider.
The Modern Fairy Sightings Project provides a space for us to listen to people’s eyewitness accounts. In this talk, Jo explores what happens when people come into contact with these beings and what it tells us about our relationship with these non-material worlds at this particular juncture in humanity’s journey.
Ronald Hutton - The Return of the Horned God
This talk examines the reason why the Horned God has become the main form of Pagan male deity in the modern West, representing the regenerative powers of nature. It traces the sudden and dramatic emergence of the ancient Greek god of the wild, Pan, as the favourite male divinity of the Victorians and the animating spirit of the English landscape.
Sara Hannant - Panic: Visions of the Horned God
Wild and exciting, the Greek god Pan induces both fear and awe; at times, he is dangerous, stirring panic and creating pandemonium. Sara Hannant will describe highlights from her magical journey which resulted in ‘Panic: Visions of the Horned God in the English Country Garden’ (Strange Attractor Press, 2026).
Francis Young - A History of European Fairy Traditions
This talk explores the possible origins of some of the less well-known fairies of Europe, from Greece and the Balkans to the Baltic and Slavic worlds, as well as France and Iberia, to show that belief in nature spirits, godlings and social supernatural beings is common to almost all European cultures and a central feature of the Continent's cultures.
Jeremy Harte - Mad, Bad or Sad? Ghost Monks and their Hidden Treasures
The Dissolution of the Monasteries filled England with ghosts and ruins. Into the sandals of the real monks – those unexciting land managers and liturgical specialists – stepped a host of cultural imposters. Saintly, fiendish, and sometimes both at the same time, they were remembered largely for the treasures they had concealed, and contracts were issued for digging up abbeys, nunneries and friaries in a frenzied search for hidden wealth.
Fiona Robertson - Stone Lands: A Journey Through Britain’s Ancient Places
Fiona Robertson, author of Stone Lands, describes some of this country's most evocative prehistoric places, where the link with the past feels especially strong, as well as sharing a few megalith-related tales of demons, ghosts, witches, and antiquarians driven to madness by their obsession with the stones.
Marion Gibson - Welcome to Witchland: Recovering the Stories of Britain's Civil War Witches
If the witchfinders came to your town, who would you have believed – and what would you have done?
In the 1640s, Britain was swept up in a brutal witch hunt. Neighbours turned on each other. Women and the poor were especially vulnerable, scapegoated by the powerful looking for someone to blame. In the resulting hysteria – which would, just a few decades later, provide a handbook for the Salem trials – hundreds of innocent people were killed.
Jo Hickey-Hall - Modern Fairy Sightings: Personal Encounters in Extraordinary Times.
The modern Western consensus is that the existence of fairies is a ridiculous, archaic notion, but a surprising amount of credible modern reports of encounters are causing an increasing number of us to reconsider.
The Modern Fairy Sightings Project provides a space for us to listen to people’s eyewitness accounts. In this talk, Jo explores what happens when people come into contact with these beings and what it tells us about our relationship with these non-material worlds at this particular juncture in humanity’s journey.
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Where is it happening?
Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square,London, United Kingdom
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherLondon Fortean Society
