A Fortean encounter with a Merman

This Thursday (31st May), Ross MacFarlane (Research Engagement Officer, Wellcome Library) and Paolo Viscardi (Curator, Horniman Museum) will again sink beneath the waters to explore the murky worlds of mermen and mermaids.

They’ll be speaking at the monthly meeting of the London Fortean Society (from 8pm, The Bell, 50 Middlesex Street, London, E1). Their talk will be structured around specimens collected by Henry Wellcome, with details of recent research into their construction and provenance carried out at the Horniman and Buxton Museums. They’ll discuss the origins and evolution of mermaids and the fakery, misidentification and publicity that has shaped our understanding of these fascinating, if fishy, fabrications.

More information is available from the London Fortean Society website.