OGOM Project

The Undying Allure of the Stage Vampire: Cynthia Erivo’s Dracula Cynthia Erivo’s performance in Dracula is currently inspiring a lot of debate in the media due to its gender flipped agenda (round up of reviews here). Cynthia plays both The Count and his female victims. The production, adapted and directed by Kip Williams, is aiming to show that Stoker’s bloodsucking vampire is created by desire and the force of psychic repression. It’s showing at The Noel Coward Theatre until May 2026.  I was interviewed for the Theatre Programme by journalist Marianka Swain. This feature, available to all theatre goers, can be found here as a PDF entitled…

The Undying Allure of the Stage Vampire: Cynthia Erivo’s Dracula

Cynthia Erivo’s performance in Dracula is currently inspiring a lot of debate in the media due to its gender flipped agenda (round up of reviews here). Cynthia plays both The Count and his female victims. The production, adapted and…

CFPs and Events: Monsters, Victorians, Osgood Perkins, Cottingley Fairies, fairy tales, folklore

CFP: Monster Media Conference 2026 University of Edinburgh, 18-19 June 2026 (in person and on line) Deadline: 15 March 2026 This conference aims to explore the relationship between monsters and the…

The Government must reveal all details of Peter Mandelson’s links to Palantir - Foxglove Sign the petition for an urgent investigation into Peter Mandelson's dealings with Palantir. Did he use his position as UK Ambassador to benefit the US spy tech firm?

I just signed a petition calling for an urgent investigation into Peter Mandelson's dealings with Palantir. Did he use his position as UK Ambassador to benefit the US spy tech firm? Sign now: www.foxglove.org.uk/campaigns/ma...

Be my Valentine (even while you’re rotting in your grave) ‘Is he a ghoul or a vampire?’ I mused. I had read of such hideous incarnate demons’ (Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, Ch. 34) Edmund Dulac, ‘“Come in! Come in”, he sobbed’, from Wuthering Heights (1922) Like many others, I suspect, I’ve just started rereading Wuthering Heights. And I’m frequently seeing the admonition that too many of those who love this psychological novel of extreme love, saturated with the Gothic, are simply reading it wrongly. The novel, it is said, is not the classic romantic tale such readers think it is; Heathcliff and Catherine are monsters whose relationship is full of violence, narcissism, and abuse, and not the ideal love between the sexes people mistake it for.

Be my Valentine (even while you’re rotting in your grave)

‘Is he a ghoul or a vampire?’ I mused. I had read of such hideous incarnate demons’ (Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights, Ch. 34) Edmund Dulac, ‘“Come in! Come in”, he sobbed’, from Wuthering Heights (1922) Like many others, I suspect, I’ve…

Research Funding for PhD students starting in October 2026 OGOM's first vampire conference 2010 Calling all prospective PhD students; the University of Hertfordshire has a new funding call open for applicants!! These studentships come to us via the AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award scheme, a major new funding scheme from the Arts and Humanities Research Council. We will offer the equivalent of three full-time fully funded PhD studentships each year for the next five years. Applicants can work in any arts and humanities disciplines. We'd strongly encourage applicants for projects on any aspect of the gothic and/or folklore; we have supervisory expertise and capacity in these areas).

Research Funding for PhD students starting in October 2026

OGOM's first vampire conference 2010 Calling all prospective PhD students; the University of Hertfordshire has a new funding call open for applicants!! These studentships come to us via the AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award scheme, a major new…

A message of thanks from the Buffyverse

I just wanted to share this video as its not everyday that you receive a personal message from James Marsters or Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer!! Huge thanks to Daisy Butcher for arranging this. Between joy and surprise, I was speechless! What a…

One of the earliest references to St Bridget’s Cross speaks of its power to protect the house and its occupants from fire, as recalled in the burlesque poem Hesperi-Neso-Graphia (1735 ed., p. 8)

#imbolc #stbrigidsday #brigid #folclore #fire

Celebrate the Spirit of St Brigid at Ireland’s Festival of Spring St Brigid’s Day (1 February) echoes Imbolc and in the Irish Christian calendar marks the arrival of spring.

St Brigid’s Day (1 Feb) echoes Imbolc and the Irish Christian calendar of the arrival of spring. St Brigid known for her work with poor and also respected as a feminist and environmentalist.But her story is entwined with much older figure. Brigid #Folklore www.tourismireland.com/trade/news/a...

🚨 Ends Midnight Tonight! 🚨

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James Marsters for Dr Sam George From Daisy. Connect with your favorite stars.

Fab gift for Sam!

So excited and to have received this special message of thanks via the Buffyverse, engineered by my PhD student Daisy who will graduate in February. A moving tribute but also something all vampire fans and students of the #gothic can enjoy! #Buffy

www.cameo.com/recipient/69...

STAGING FAIRYLAND British popular theatre from mid C19th onwards was inspired by fairyland. #Fairies became fixtures of pantomime, burlesque, musical extravaganza & Romantic ballet. Favourite stage fairies down the years: Vivien Leigh & Anna Pavlova🖤

SATURDAY is the best day of the week for staking #VAMPIRES in European lore. #Saturday is the time that vampires must sleep in their graves or tombs and thus they can be found and dispatched; persons born on a Saturday are said to possess powers against the undead.

CULT OF PAN Household objects can be wonderfully folkloric; Wonderful Victorian bronze cigar lighter and wrought iron door knocker in celebration of goat god Pan!

VICTORIAN VAMPIRE BATS Dracula (1897) as bat scaling the walls of his castle (Constable Book Covers, 1901, 1916); a large #Vampire Bat in flight from Hooker’s Illustrated Natural History 1864; 1866 Vampire Bat, British Library, showing these gothic connections #Baturday

THE DEAD
Snow was falling upon every part of the lonely churchyard where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns.

WINTER Mistletoe is said to provide #fairies with shelter from frosts but the fae don't seem to feel the cold much when compared to woodland animals. This is seen in Winter Frolic by Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) & Fairies in the Snow by John Anster Fitzgerald (1819-1906) #FolkloreSunday

FAIRY TRANSPORT A crowned fairy king is seated on a hedgehog carriage which is drawn by a young girl holding a giant daisy, accompanied by dancing fairies. This remarkable painting is by Charles Altamont Doyle 1832-1893, father of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle #FolkloreSunday

Christmas greetings from OGOM 2025 Sam and I and all the OGOM team wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice and holidays, and a fabulous, magical New Year!! Watch out for OGOM events, news of our reseach and publications, and the CFP for our Sea Changes mermaids and selkies publications in the next couple of months,

Christmas greetings from OGOM 2025

Sam and I and all the OGOM team wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Solstice and holidays, and a fabulous, magical New Year!! Watch out for OGOM events, news of our reseach and publications, and the CFP for our Sea Changes mermaids and selkies publications in the…

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What to Read to Understand Vampires

Friend of OGOM, Sir Chris Frayling, has put together three books that he believes will help readers to understand vampires, drawing on his earlier idea of vampire archetypes.…

https://www.opengravesopenminds.com/ogom-news/what-to-read-to-understand-vampires/

New Frankenstein poem by Souhardya Roy

Mary Shelley's annotations to the 1818 edition of Frankenstein owned by the Morgan Library and Museum I am teaching my undergraduate module Romantic Origins and Gothic Afterlives this semester and Frankenstein week is coming up next. One of the things we are…

Events & CFPs: Mermaids, vampires, folkore, fairy tales, Gothic, Romanticism, Victorian, science * Some deadlines, e.g. for CFPs, are very close! Sea Changes conference videos The Sea Changes conference at the British Library, September 2026 The videos of the online day of our September 2025 conference, Sea Changes: The fairytale Gothic of mermaids, selkies, and enchanted hybrids of ocean and river are now available on line along with the conference pack, which is full of supplementary material including PDFs of the specially designed brochure and poster. It is now visible on the drop-down menu for the conference. There is also a great…

Events & CFPs: Mermaids, vampires, folkore, fairy tales, Gothic, Romanticism, Victorian, science

* Some deadlines, e.g. for CFPs, are very close! Sea Changes conference videos The Sea Changes conference at the British Library, September 2026 The videos of the online day of our September 2025…

OGOM PhD Success

Congratulations to OGOM Doctoral Student Shabnam Ahsan @thebrownbronte who has passed her PhD Viva. I was Shabnam's primary supervisor. Her thesis 'Strange Creatures: National Identity and the Representation of the Other in British Fairy-tale Collections, 1878-Present’ is an…

PictCon2 A Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention for everyone who reads, writes and watches.

We are a mere 8 members away from our target of 50 by Monday (when I pay the deposit). PictCon2: A Scottish sf & fantasy convention about sf and fantasy in Scotland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 17th October 2026, Perth, with Guest of honour, editor & writer, Neil Williamson. Tickets at: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pictcon2-t...

Neil Williamson always has something interesting and perceptive to say, this alone would be reason enough to go to PictCon2.

Neil Williamson Neil Williamson is a multiple award shortlisted writer, editor and musician from Glasgow. His books include The Moon King, Queen Of Clouds and Charlie Says. He writes and records music as The Disap…

Announcing #PictCon2 17th October 2026, Perth, Scotland. Guest of Honour, Neil Williamson neilwilliamson.blog/about/ Ticketing is open at Eventbrite. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1794793438...

Will Monkeys Become Britain's New Big Cats? A rational look at the looming risk of loose primates in post-licensing Britain

BLOG: Will Monkeys Become Britain's New Big Cats? A rational look at the looming risk of loose primates in post-licensing Britain as 2026 brings changes to the law... #Cryptozoology #BritishLaw #Cryptids

www.theghostgeek.com/p/will-monke...

Older than Dracula: in search of the English vampire New research is uncovering medieval legends about the undead in Britain.

Sam George, Older than Dracula: in search of the English vampire theconversation.com/older-than-d...

#HALLOWEEN As the veil grows thinner between our world & the spirit world & the witching hour approaches I'd like share my photos of the most uncanny landscape I know. This spookiness is entirely real. Cross Stone Graveyard in Yorkshire is unsettling & sublime #31daysofHalloween

SPOOKY READING Don't forget to browse the MUP
Spooky reading List for #31daysofHalloween and access the intros to all three of our @OGOMProject books for FREE

Open Graves, Open Minds: Halloween Newsletter 2025 Welcome to the Open Graves Open Minds Newsletter for October. We’re delighted to bring you our news and activities for the 2025 spooky season. We are trying out a new way of publishing the newslett…

OGOM HALLOWEEN NEWSLETTER www.opengravesopenminds.com/newsletter/o...