Weird Weekend 2010

The Dorsetarian

Sherborne Folklore and Ghosts
Folklore, Customs and Ghost Stories in Sherborneby Elisabeth Bletsoe Sherborne is a small market town in north-west Dorset; formerly a Saxon burgh. It evolved through the cloth, gloving and silk industries and boasts two castles, a Benedictine Abbey and the renowned public school for boys established since Edward VI. The town is embedded in varied countryside united by scarps of Jurassic ...

Well Dressing and Sacred Water
Well Dressing and Sacred Waterby Chris Tripp Water Worship - The Filly Loo Ceremony around the village pond, Ashmore. Water is the foundation of all life on Earth. Our bodies are mostly made up of it. A human being can survive many days without food in a hostile environment, but deprived of water for a much shorter period of time and our bodies quickly start to malfunc...

Folklore of William Barnes
The Folk-Lore of William BarnesBy John Symonds Udal I have been asked to write a short paper or article on "Dorsetshire Folk-Lore" for our "Year Book." But I feel some difficulty in doing so, for two reasons; first, because it is impossible in such a limited space to give any fair idea of what the folk-lore of the Dorset people consists; and, secondly, because I am myself just...

Some Dorset Superstitions
Some Dorset Superstitions By Hermann Lea In employing the term superstition, it is in the sense defined by Franz v. Schonthan : — Zwar nicht wissen — aber glauben Heisst ganz richtig — Aberglauben. (Not to know, but to believe; what else is it, strictly speaking, but superstition?) It is natural, no doubt, that superstition should decrease in the s...

Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy - A Dorset Novelist and Poet Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy was born on 2nd June, 1840, at Higher Bockhampton, a hamlet in the parish of Stinsford, some two and half miles east of Dorchester. The author's grandfather, Thomas Hardy (the first), settled in Bockhampton in 1801, in a house which his father had built for him. By trade he was a master mason but hi...

Easter Customs and Traditions
Easter Customs and Traditions By Robert Newland 'Easter Tide’ is the most important festival of the Christian year, symbolising the ‘Redemption of Man’ and the confirming of the fundamental belief in ‘Life Everlasting’. Easter holy week begins with ‘Palm Sunday’, which commemorates the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem before his tri...

Cerne Abbas
Cerne AbbasA Brief History of the Village with Local Legendsby Anon. Amid the rolling, grassy hills of the picturesque Dorset hinterland nestles a perfect gem of typical English villages - Cerne Abbas.Cerne, by its very geographical situation, might eventually have competed with Dorchester for the honour of being the county town, but all who love the unspoiled English countryside would not have...

Fossil Folklore
Sea Dragons, Fairy Loaves& Serpents of StoneFables & Fossils of Lyme Regis by Dr. Karl P.N. Shuker Dr. Karl Shuker and life-size megalodon jaws,Lyme Fossil Shop, Lyme Regis In July 2010, I visited Lyme Regis on Dorset’s south coast, a relatively small town but one that is to fossil enthusiasts what Hay-on-Wye on the Welsh-English border is to book love...

Skulls in Folklore
Skullsby Sabine Baring-Gould. In medieval churches, castles, and mansions where there is a parapet rising from the wall and obscuring a portion of the roof, this parapet is supported at intervals by corbels, that usually represent heads of either men or beasts, very frequently grotesque. These corbels are not of any great structural importance, though they add to architectural decoration. T...

Ghosts and Hauntings
Ghosts and Things that go Bump in the Night by David Kingston. The word Ghost is described in the Oxford dictionary as, "a person's spirit appearing after his or her death." But then what about the reports of horses galloping down the lanes on a dark night and other such apparitions? Why do certain countries, houses and places appear to have more than there fair share of Ghosts?Great Britai...

Weird Weekend 2010

From the 13th to the 16th of August this year, the sleepy North Devon village of Woolsery is to play host to the largest gathering of monster and mystery researchers in the world. Having run unbroken for eleven years, the convention attracts speakers and visitors from all over the world and showcases the findings of strange phenomena investigators. Cryptozoologists, parapsychologists, ufologists, and folklorists are descending on Woolfardisworthy Community Centre to share their findings and insights. Unlike other events, the Weird Weekend will also include workshops giving tips to budding paranormal investigators, and even a programme of special events for children. The Weird Weekend is the only fortean conference in the world that is truly a family event, although those veterans of previous events should be reassured that it is still as anarchically silly as ever! The event is raising money for the Centre for Fortean Zoology, the world’s only full time, professional cryptozoological organisation.

Speakers confirmed are:

Michael Williams and Ruby Lang: Australian Mystery Cats

Dr. Lars Thomas: Identifying hair samples

Lionel Beer: Treacle Mines

Neil Arnold: The Mysteries of Bluebell Hill

Carl Portman: On the trail of the Australian whistling spider

Ronan Coghlan: The Holy Grail

Jonathan and Corinna Downes: Texas Blue Dogs

Glen Vaudrey: The Waterhorse

Gary Cunningham and Ronan Coghlan: Mystery Animals of Ireland

Sam Shearon: Redwoods Bigfoot

Matthew Williams: Crop Circles

Andy Roberts: The Berwyn Mountain UFO crash

Richard Freeman: Sumatra 2009 Expedition Report

Dr. Mike Dash: The Monster of Glamis

Max Blake: Singular species

Some more special guests to be announced

But there is far more to the Weird Weekend than just talks. Mike Dash will be introducing Nick Flintoff's award winning short film about the `Great Devon Mystery`, When in February 1855 the villagers of East Devon awoke to discover a 100 mile trail of cloven bipedal footprints in the snow. Whatever made the prints had travelled through fields, gardens, over high walls, over rooftops and approached front doors. They became known as one of Devon's Greatest Mysteries.

-Matt Sayce will be introducing a new short film about the Owlman of Mawnan

- Film director Sheridan Thayer who will be presenting excerpts from his new documentary on the late actor, playwright and forteanist - Ken Campbell.

- Nick and Kara Wadham will be doing the animal handling for the first time. They will have a display of their animals from Yeovil, Bugfest.

- Artist Sam Shearon; will be exhibiting their monster related artwork.

Venue: Woolsery Sports and Community Hall

View this map on Multimap.com
Get directions on Multimap.com

Tickets: £25 in advance for all three days, kids under 16 free. Click here to buy tickets online

For more details and ticket information visit the Weird Weekend website at

www.weirdweekend.org

or alternatively telephone Jonathan or Corinna - 01237 43141