Victorian Fright Night - any interest?

MrMojoRisin

Would anyone be up for something like this held in one of Ireland’s allegedly most haunted buildings this summer? It would purely be for the purposes of fun and theatricality – no poker-faced ‘quests’ to uncover evidence of the paranormal’s existence. But it wouldn’t be a bad idea to film and/or record the night aurally anyway.

So... I’m just seeing if there would be a sufficient and sizeable number of people who would be up for one of these nights?

Obviously a reasonable fee would be required from each participant (nothing exceeding €50 at best) to cover the cost of using the venue and the other overheads (food, beverages, and any equipment or writing material, etc). Attending the event in costume – in the guise of the person’s favourite spooky character/celeb/freak – could be optional, but not a necessity.

Theosophy (a doctrine of religious philosophy and mysticism)/spiritualism really took off and flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries – the Victorian era. While Harry Houdini did a fantastic job of debunking most of the era’s evidently fraudulent so-called mediums, some of the occult-themed methods have endured, mostly for entertainment’s sake. So, a typical ‘Victorian Fright Night’ would comprise the following...

· 12-15 participants on the night.

· A seance, with the only source of light being a low red light, and some other props like a trumpet being present.

The conducting of a seance is de rigeur in keeping with the Victorian theme. Now, seances are something with which some people are comfortable, and others not terribly so. I suppose the seance would be the most central feature of the night, so any willing participants should not include those of a nervous disposition and/or the kind who are partial to executing mischievous practical jokes at others’ expense.

Other activities (as a general overview) on the night could be:

· A pre-emptive warm-up, where everyone sits around for a light meal and (non-alcoholic) drinks. There could be a table quiz at this point, with questions posed being related to all-things-paranormal. Questions along the lines of: ‘What was the name of the movie character with the disfigured face and red-and-black-striped jumper who stalked teenagers in their dreams?’ ‘Which one of these is a flamboyant, Dublin-based psychic medium? Eddie Stobart, or Eddie Christian?’ ‘Name the bloke (first name only) in the couple in the movie ‘Paranormal Activity’, etc.

There would be a modest prize for the winning team. The meal and the quiz would get the ball rolling and set the fun-orientated precedent.

· Table tipping. See if a spirit feels like moving the table, with all participants gathered round it and hopefully not moving the damn table themselves. In keeping with that issue, perhaps the table should be heavy.

· Pendulum dowsing. Using a clear quartz crystal, the asker uses it as a tool (a left or right swing of the pendulum indicate ‘yes’ or ‘no’) to communicate with whatever might be in the room.

· A murder mystery ‘Who Dunnit?’ game.

· Automatic writing and drawing. People do their very best to ‘tune in’ to what’s around them – the ghosts?! – and just write or draw whatever comes into their heads.

· Telepathy experiments. Something along the lines of one person drawing or writing something in a separate room while the rest of the group try to duplicate it. Then the results are compared.

· Mirror scrying (a form of divination that pre-dates Victorian times, I know). Gazing into a mirror for a while and seeing if anything sensical shows up.

I can’t think of any other activities right now, but people are free to add stuff, or to refine what I’ve proposed. I think something like this would be a good laugh anyway.

Riamfada

Id love to go along to this. I can also organise a good location with all the facilities needed for the night. PM if your interested.

Ruth KPS

Depending on the date, it sounds like something I might go along to.

MrMojoRisin

Saturday, August 7th 2010

Ruth KPS wrote: »

Depending on the date, it sounds like something I might go along to.

Great. Well, I was saying to Grimes that sometime around mid-late July would be good, though it depends on the venue's availability for a booking as well.

MrMojoRisin

Saturday, August 7th 2010

Right, can anyone else on the forum (regular poster or not, or lurker) who would genuinely like to attend the fright night please openly state their interest on here?

Thanks.

Ruth KPS

Well I am interested once the date doesn't clash with our investigation that we have planned for Late July. Also I know another member of the team is interested, he does not use boards, so once were free on that date, we are interested.

Riamfada

I vote for a date poll!