We both went to see Mike Dash's Spring-Heeled Jack, an extensive investigation into what is usually thought of a Victorian phenomenon although Mike has evidence stretching as far back as 1677 and as wide as Russia and New Zealand. I think we'll be getting the book when it comes out.
Next was Theo Paijmans doing something similar for the Woman in Black. Unfortunately Theo was no Mike. He read a prepared script, it was very florid and meandering and then people started to leave, so much so that you couldn't hear what he was saying. So we left too and had a cuppa instead.
For the final lecture of the morning
Then we got into the really weird, a heating salesman from Scotland who reinvented himself as Ramses and appeared with his wife as Selket. He then moved to Lowestoft with his mother-in-law and made one of the first albums with a cover by Roger Dean.
Next was Sun Ra, a black American from Alabama who claimed to be an Egyptian spaceman from Saturn. His Arkestra stills run a convenince store in Philadelphia to support their music.
Finally there was a nod to Stockhausen who claimed late in life to have come from Sirius.
After a very nice lunch in Leon, we watched a talk called Psychedelia Forteana about the history and influence on the Fortean of LSD. It was a jolly talk including this clip of British soldiers tripping and a certain amount of talking up the benefits of getting off your head.
Finally,
One woman from the audience complained that the American burn mark circles were genuine but one of the presenters said he knew the man who had purchased the iron powder used in the hoax.
This might have worked better as a presentation because the chatting didn't really get anywhere but the subjects were interesting enough (even if I knew most of them). The Museum of Hoaxes is a good resource in this respect.