The History of Folk Horror & Hauntology

From lost futures to forgotten histories, explore how folk horror and hauntology reveal the past’s lingering presence. Followed by Q&A. Hauntology begins with a simple but unsettling idea: some histories and lost futures refuse to disappear. They linger as cultural echoes, shaping how we experience places, memories, and traditions. Folk horror gives these eerie historical traces narrative form, revealing how the past continues to unsettle the present through landscapes, ritual, and inherited anxieties. Join Prof Robert Edgar as he explores hauntology’s origins and its connection to folk horror. Drawing on thinkers such as Derrida and Mark Fisher, he examines why contemporary culture remains fascinated by memory, lost futures, and the feeling that the past is not finished with us. Doors open at 7pm, talk starts at 7:30 - come down early to grab a good seat! Follow us on IG @seedtalks Speaker Bio: Prof Robert Edgar is Professor of Writing and Popular Culture in the York Centre for Writing at York St John University, UK. He is one of the series editors of Bloomsbury Academic, Spectres, Hauntings and Horrors.