How to Build A Haunted House

What makes a house haunted? Why do some buildings conjure up a reputation for being particularly creepy, while others leave us unmoved? Barring the possibility of a looming afterlife, what are the particular features, contexts and histories that lend a building the dreaded identity of haunted house?

Caitlin Blackwell Baines tours some of the world’s most famously spine-chilling structures in search of answers. From Medieval Scotland to Enlightenment-era London; Victorian suburbs to pre-Civil War Louisiana, Blackwell-Baines, an expert in Gothic art and architecture, will explore that specific set of ingredients that captures our imaginations and contributes to our collective understanding of the eternally eerie. After all, whether a staunch sceptic or paranormal enthusiast, we all know a haunted house when we see one.

Caitlin Blackwell Baines is an art historian and author, specialising in Georgian art and architecture. Born in Toronto, she later emigrated to the UK to pursue an MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art and a PhD from the University of York in art history. Upon completing her studies, she moved to the Isle of Bute off the Western coast of Scotland, and worked as a curator at Mount Stuart, a late Victorian Gothic Revival palace. When she isn’t visiting haunted houses and recording her ghost story-themed history podcast, Haunted Homes, Caitlin is based in East Sussex. Her book, How to Build a Haunted House: The History of a Cultural Obsession, will be available to buy in person on the night.

You may also like the following events from London Fortean Society:

• Next Tuesday, 29th July, 08:00 pm, An unusually-inked artist in London
• This September, 25th September, 06:30 pm, Chasing the Dark: Encounters with the Supernatural in London
• This November, 22nd November, 10:00 am, The Haunted Landscape VII : Folklore, Ghosts, Magic, and Monsters in London

Also check out other Arts events in London.