London Month of the Dead - Death by Fairies

DEATH BY FAIRIES The Riddle of Norah Fornario with Clive Bloom on Tuesday the 20th October 2026 at 7:00 pm On a bleak November morning in 1929, the body of an occultist was discovered on a remote hillside on the Hebridean island of Iona. Norah Fornario, who practised under the magical name Mac Tyler, had travelled there in search of the Sidhe, the fairy beings of Celtic tradition, and is believed to have died during a solitary magical ritual. Her mysterious death has inspired speculation ever since, but the true story is stranger than fiction. Drawing on original research, this fascinating talk reconstructs the forgotten life of one of Britain’s most enigmatic occult figures. Following Fornario’s journey through the worlds of Dion Fortune, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Fairy Investigation Society and the emerging mystical culture of Glastonbury, it uncovers an extraordinary chapter in the history of twentieth-century magic, and the remarkable story of the only known person believed to have died during a magical ceremony. Tickets £12.50 including a 20% donation to Nunhead Cemetery. Please click here to purchase. Clive Bloom Described by The Times as “a polymath”, Clive Bloom is Emeritus Professor of English and American Studies at Middlesex University, bestselling author and publisher. A frequent contributor to television, radio and the national press, his books include Violent London: 2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts, Restless Revolutionaries, Gothic Horror and Terror Within, establishing him as one of Britain’s leading historians of popular culture, crime and the Gothic.

DEATH BY FAIRIES
The Riddle of Norah Fornario with Clive Bloom
on Tuesday the 20th October 2026 at 7:00 pm

On a bleak November morning in 1929, the body of an occultist was discovered on a remote hillside on the Hebridean island of Iona. Norah Fornario, who practised under the magical name Mac Tyler, had travelled there in search of the Sidhe, the fairy beings of Celtic tradition, and is believed to have died during a solitary magical ritual. Her mysterious death has inspired speculation ever since, but the true story is stranger than fiction.

Drawing on original research, this fascinating talk reconstructs the forgotten life of one of Britain’s most enigmatic occult figures. Following Fornario’s journey through the worlds of Dion Fortune, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Fairy Investigation Society and the emerging mystical culture of Glastonbury, it uncovers an extraordinary chapter in the history of twentieth-century magic, and the remarkable story of the only known person believed to have died during a magical ceremony.

Tickets £12.50 including a 20% donation to Nunhead Cemetery. Please click here to purchase.

Clive Bloom
Described by The Times as “a polymath”, Clive Bloom is Emeritus Professor of English and American Studies at Middlesex University, bestselling author and publisher. A frequent contributor to television, radio and the national press, his books include Violent London: 2000 Years of Riots, Rebels and Revolts, Restless Revolutionaries, Gothic Horror and Terror Within, establishing him as one of Britain’s leading historians of popular culture, crime and the Gothic.