Geoff Holder is the author of more than a dozen books on everything mysterious, paranormal, strange, gothic and grotesque. His books are an authoritative mix of extensive historical study combined with diligent field research. They are often geographically-based, with titles such as The Guide to Mysterious Glasgow and The Guide to the Mysterious Lake District.
Holder is primarily interested in 'forteana' – the world of the odd, the curious, the wondrous, the allegedly paranormal – and its fractious and informing relationship with the so-called mundane world. What do people do when they have too much undirected time on their hands? They do weird stuff, from collecting strange objects to inventing religions. The natural world is also full of marvels and curiosities; while most monsters live in our heads, some are real. Did folk magic, curses and witchcraft ever work? And what is going on when people encounter aliens, demons, fairies, ghosts or the Blessed Virgin Mary?
Submitted by Sean Williams on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 09:18
This year's Egyptological Colloquium, held in the British Museum's fantastic BP Lecture Theatre, was roundly applauded as a great success. No fewer than eighteen gifted minds took to the lectern, as a glut of opinions, theories, excavations and discoveries were explored to a large audience's enthralment. Some of the speeches were incredibly specialist; others not so. But what is certain is that the past week has seen some of the most compelling and intriguing axioms on one of Ancient Egypt's greatest pieces of iconography, the Book of the Dead. From colours to kingdoms, magic bricks to evil demons; the colloquium had it all in abundance. And Heritage Key is on hand to give you all the best of the event's ideas from the bleeding edge of Egyptology.
Highlighted Quote:
Studies on the Book of the Dead appear to be enjoying a modern renaissance, with its future looking as bright as ever.
This plaque depicts Pazuzu, an evil wind demon, and was probably used to ward off the demon, Lamashtu, as well as a wealth of westward diseases. In this plaque and elsewhere, Pazuzu was portrayed as a terrifying creature with the face of a lion, human torso, goat horns, snake-headed phallus, scorpion's tale, and bird talons.
