Charlotte-Rose Millar

CALL FOR PAPERS: PERFORMING EVIL: the mediation and display of diabolic spectres, 1700-2000'. 4 & 5 June 2026, Leuven. This conference explores the tangled histories of supernatural, diabolic evil and all kinds of spectral apparitions in the last three centuries – Walter Scott’s ‘malignant and unhappy beings’. Specifically, it is interested in how and why ghosts, spirits and related apparitional phenomena were framed as diabolic, demonic or malign manifestations from the afterlife. Diabolic connotations of ghosts and spirits did meaningful cultural work. They were mobilised to discredit ghost beliefs and spiritual practices, to delegitimise competing beliefs, or to invest doctrinal arguments with occult authority. They could also function as tools of scepticism and ridicule as well as triggers of wonder, fear and religiosity. Put differently, the nexus of ghosts and evil is deeply historical. And it was often articulated through performative means: in gestures and expressions of (dis)belief, in visual and textual representations, in séance rooms, on the stage and on the page. Emerging from this nexus are theatrical spirits of evil, staged, embodied, and made legible through mediation and display. In this sense, every ghost is a theatrical ghost. Through the focus on the construction and staging of diabolic spirits, this conference aims to develop a methodological framework for studying historical forms of occultism and demonology more broadly in terms of performance.

Exploring how the relationship of spectrality and evil has shifted in shape over time and across different cultures, the conference invites contributions that can consider a wide range of historical actors – clerics, mediums, ghost-hunters, debunkers, necromancers, stage performers, eyewitnesses. This conference aims to study cultural intersections and interactions to arrive at a more granular understanding of discursive, practical and material connections between spirits and evil. At the same time this lens zooms out, making visible broader dynamics of knowledge construction in specific historical moments. How, for instance, did hauntings and possessions shape communities and audiences? How did religious or folkloric ideas about the devil inform spectral encounters? We hope to bring together historians, art historians, theatre and literary scholars, folklorists and anthropologists from every stage in their career around the above questions. We welcome 20-minute papers on topics that include but are by no means limited to: - making spectral evil visible: performance, arts, media, technologies, popular cultures - making spectral evil invisible: popular and occult knowledge circulation - performing (un)belief: practices and rhetoric, summoning and debunking on the stage (from popular stages to the lecture hall and the laboratory) - materiality of spectres: the function of bodies and objects - diabolic spirits and (intellectual, vernacular, theological, folkloric) ideas about morality, mortality and temporality - occult performance and ‘cultural scripts’ of ghost encounters (from necromancy to poltergeists) - affect and emotions: fear, grief, trauma… and hope Send abstracts (c.250 words) and bios (c.100 words) to kristof.smeyers@kuleuven.be before 21 March 2026. Please do get in touch if you have any questions.

Hi everyone, I'm organising a conference in Leuven, 4-5 June, and you're all invited*! It's called 'Performing evil: the mediation and display of diabolic spectres 1700-2000' and here is the call for papers (get in touch if you'd like a pdf!). Please share widely!

*to submit an abstract before 21/3

Very excited to see my article on ghosts in early modern London published with Urban History! And it's open access! cambridge.org/core/journal...

So excited about this - my book on ghosts will be published with this series in the not-too-distant future. Such a fabulous team to be working with!

Woman’s memoirs give fascinating insight into life in 17th-century northern England Newly reunited manuscripts by Alice Thornton show how she navigated personal crises during tumultuous events such as the civil war

Alice! Top work @hagenilda.bsky.social @cordeliabeattie.bsky.social @sharonhoward.bsky.social et al!

www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

After a mere seven years in the making, The Cultural History of Magic is finally here!!

Lecturer in History at Ulster University Searching for an academic job? Explore this Lecturer in History opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.

Historians with research interests in magic and witchcraft are especially encouraged to apply for this position covering Dr Andrew Sneddon for 12 months www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DNU353/l...

Just over two weeks to go to our ghosts 👻 in Britain and Ireland, 1500-1950 conference in Mary Immaculate College Limerick! Places available - programme and registration at www.mic.ul.ie/Ghosts-Confe...

Ghosts in Britain and Ireland Conference Join us for an exploration of ghostly tales and haunted history in Britain and Ireland at our upcoming conference!

Time is running out to register for our Ghosts in Britain and Ireland Conference!

WHEN: 26-27 June
WHERE: University of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick

We have an amazing line up - see the program and register here!

www.eventbrite.ie/e/ghosts-in-...

If the ghosts would like to take on bodily form for the occasion, I’d be very happy to welcome them.

Ghosts in Britain and Ireland Conference Join us for an exploration of ghostly tales and haunted history in Britain and Ireland at our upcoming conference!

Registration is now open for our ghost conference at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick this June! If you'd like to come along and listen to our wonderful line up of talks please sign up below - note that we are an in-person only event. www.eventbrite.ie/e/ghosts-in-...

Congratulations to all of the Thornton's Books team. I loved being part of this wonderful and fascinating project and discovering the 17th-century life wrintings of Alice Thornton. #writers #authors I highly recommend delving into this fantastic free resource.

The image is a poster for the Melbourne University Early Modern seminar series. This is available for screen reading at https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/ancient-medieval-and-early-modern-studies/seminars-reading-groups/early-modern-circle

🌟 We are delighted to announce the Early Modern Circle seminar programme for 2025 🌟

First in the line-up is the fabulous Dr Sarah Bendall (@sarahabendall.bsky.social) presenting research on her female milliners in 17th ce London 👒🎩

Students and researchers in Melbourne all welcome to attend!

Tangled Fortunes A “brilliantly researched and surprising” (Hendrik Hartog, Princeton University) history of Southern segregationists’ long war against interracial rela...

My book on interracial marriage in the Jim Crow South is out January 28!
www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/kathr...

Happy New Year fellow ghost enthusiasts! Only 8 days left to get your abstracts in for our ghost conference in Limerick this June. 🏃‍♂️ 👻

Need a calculator that works with pounds, shillings and pence? If you struggle to add, multiply and divide sums of money written in pre-decimal currency, then you are not alone – and you may wish to download the Excel calculator I’ve created for just tha…

🗃️ #C19th #Genealogy #LocalHistory
A reminder that if you need an excel calculator that works with pounds, shillings and pence, I have one you can download and use freely. Please share…
chartistancestors.blog/2023/07/12/n...

Worth sharing this starter pack again for all the Taphophiles and anyone interested in Graveyards, memorialisation or funerary practices
#TaphophileTuesday
#MementoMori
#12DaysofGraves
#Skystorians
#EarlyModern
go.bsky.app/KGLpmwp

I know, I’m sorry. They’re really designed for libraries to purchase.

It’s almost here!! Get your pre orders in now. My volume has eight wonderful essays including one from the late Jim Sharpe.

We're loving seeing the abstracts coming in for our ghost conference in June next year! Just three weeks left to get your abstracts in. 👻

Come and work on a @leverhulme.bsky.social project about the history of ‘hurt feelings’ & the law with @katieebarclay.bsky.social Alice Krzanich and me! We’re looking for a historian of medicine (or similar) for a 4 yr postdoctoral research fellow position elxw.fa.em3.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

Come join us in Melbourne!

Delighted to be part of this forum on emotions and imagination. My piece on ghosts and the spectral imagination is out now and open access. brill.com/view/journal...

Come join us, we advocate for history and historians and your membership fee allows us to continue to do that (and gives you opportunities for networking, funding, discounts, events, general kudos etc 😜) 🗃️

Don't forget to get your abstracts in for our ghost conference! We will have two keynotes: Prof. Sasha Handley (Manchester) and Dr. Shane McCorristine (Newcastle). It's going to be spooktacular!

Fellowships and Grants

A couple years ago I put together a little list of yearly fellowships and applications, mostly for early modernists. It includes deadlines, salaries, and requirements. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Are you a PhD student at a UK/Irish uni, or are you within 3 yrs of award? Did you publish your first academic journal article this year (2024)? Please consider applying for the RHS Early Career Article Prize. Nominations open Mon 2 Dec 24 and close Fri 31 Jan 25: royalhistsoc.org/prizes/royal... 🗃️

How long would your commute take in 1680? Mine would be about a day and a half.

@camunicampop.bsky.social has a brilliant tool for calculating travel times in Roman, 1680, 1830, 1911 and 2024. 🗃️
www.travelintimes.org/journey/52.2...

Oh definitely more

100 new followers in 12 hours! What just happened??