Warning: article contains an image of a dissection.
Do you feel that chill in the air?
Maybe it's because you're holding off turning on the radiator this autumn, or just maybe it's because London Month of the Dead is back.
The ghoulishly good festival of death and the arts creeps into town for the entirety of October, putting a cerebral spin on things that go bump in the night — with fascinating talks on the macabre, torchlit cemetery walks, and screenings of classic horror movies with live piano accompaniment.
No longer a little-known festival, Month of the Dead events are selling out fast — a glimpse at the website suggests around a third have already gone. Still, there's a casket-load of happenings you can still book, including:
- Butterfly taxidermy in a cemetery (1 Oct)
- The ghost stories of M. R. James, told by candlelight (2 Oct)
- Tours of cemeteries, including the burial grounds of Clerkenwell (8 Oct), the gothic revival grandeur of West Norwood (15 Oct), and the starring role of Kensal Green Cemetery in the Vincent Price movie Theatre of Blood (16 Oct)
- The Bones of the Dead, an online talk from Cat Irving, Human Remains Conservator for Surgeons' Hall, on the ossuaries — or bone banks — of Europe (11 Oct)
- A talk on Soho surgeon and anatomist Joseph Constantine Carpue — who had a dark side to his medical practice, which included an episode in which he crucified the corpse of a Chelsea pensioner (15 Oct)
- 'Aural Ectoplasm' — an eerie candlelit concert by tape loop artist Robin the Fog (22 Oct)
- An evening of stories and songs themed on Brompton Cemetery resident — and 'the ultimate femme fatale — Marchesa Casati (23 Oct)
- Silent horror film screenings with live accompaniment, including Der Golem (29 Oct) and century-old Danish film Häxan (30 Oct)
That's just the tip of the tombstone — there's oodles more going on, but as we say, events are vanishing faster than a shy ghost.
London Month of the Dead takes place across London 1-31 October.
