Welcome to my website
I am a Research Fellow in Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University where I specialise in teaching media law and investigation skills. Before I entered academia I worked as a news reporter for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. My Ph.D is in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. Since 2008 I have been working with The National Archives (TNA) as their consultant for the ongoing release of the UFO files created by Britain's Ministry of Defence. My latest book, How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth, was published in 2015.
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- Magonia Blog
- THE SUPERNATURAL IN WARTIME February 12, 2019
- SLENDERMAN - LIVING THE LEGEND February 8, 2019
- MAD ABOUT MONSTERS February 2, 2019
- THE WORLD OF SCIENCE January 22, 2019
- THE FALL AND RISE OF MODERN MAGIC January 17, 2019
- Mark Pilkington & John Lundberg – Folklore & Deception in the UFO Age
- Mirage Men in The Guardian August 18, 2014
- Mirage Men Double Disc DVD June 16, 2014
- UFOs and F-14s over Iran May 2, 2014
- We have lift off! March 27, 2014
- Mirage Men revealed by Greenwald? February 25, 2014
- Bob Sheaffer’s Bad UFOs
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- The Skeptic magazine
- Ooops! TWO errors in previous message! October 1, 2015
- October Spookiness! October 1, 2015
- Empirical Sex Talk on Dacryphilia, tonight October 1, 2015
- Little Atoms 393 – Timothy Snyder & Black Earth September 30, 2015
- Ash Pryce on "How to talk to the dead" @ Greenwich SitP, 7:30 pm, 7/10/15 September 30, 2015
- Charles Fort Institute Blog
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- Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture
- Philip Klass on the Cash-Landrum UFO case February 8, 2019
- The Cash-Landrum-McDonald UFO Incident of 1980 December 14, 2018
- Skeptoid Challenges the Cash-Landrum UFO Incident December 7, 2018
- UFOs and Alien Monsters from Outer Space October 24, 2018
- Jessie Roestenburg’s 1954 UFO Encounter and Beyond October 19, 2018
- Andrew May’s Forteana blog
- Pseudoscience and Science Fiction October 9, 2016
- Astronomical debunking October 2, 2016
- Contradiction - the All-Video Murder Mystery September 25, 2016
- Sacred Porn September 18, 2016
- Astronomical computers (old ones) September 11, 2016
- Paul Kimball’s The Other Side of Truth: Don’t believe, don’t disbelieve. Think
- Project Blue Book - A Review January 28, 2019
- Stan Friedman Retires March 13, 2018
- Halifax gets Haunted! September 29, 2017
- Haunted Extra, Vol. 1.01 - Queen's County Museum Revisited August 17, 2017
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - Remote Viewing Panel August 15, 2017
Tag Archives: crying boy
Six Months, Five Podcasts
During the past six months I have contributed to five Fortean-themed podcasts reflecting the range of my UFO and legend-related research interests. Brian J Robb who curates the monthly Sounds Peculiar round-up in the excellent Fortean Times magazine says that podcasting … Continue reading →
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Tagged Brian J Robb, crying boy, Dr Jill Tarter, Dr Seth Shostak, FOIA, folklore, Folklore Podcast, Fortean phenomena, Fortean Times, Freedom of Information, Gimlet media, John Burroughs, LBC radio, Linda Moulton Howe, Mark Norman, Ministry of Defence, Nick Margerrison, Phenomena, podcasts, Professor Jim Al Khalili, Rendlesham forest UFOs, Science Vs, Slenderman, Sounds Peculiar, The curse of the crying boy, The National Archives, UFO files, UFOs, urban legends, Wendy Zuckerman
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Happy birthday, Crying Boy!
Thirty years ago this month the British tabloids were full of stories about mysterious fires breaking out in houses across the north of England – and the only survivor was a mawkish print of a crying boy. The legend began … Continue reading →
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Tagged Big Eyes, Bragolin, crying boy, curse of the crying boy, Halloween, Kelvin McKenzie, Margaret Keane, Rotherham, Sheffield Star, South Yorkshire, Steve Punt, The Sun, Tim Burton, urban legend
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The Curse of the Crying Boy
It came from the same tabloid headline factory that produced ‘Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster‘ – and the Curse of the Crying boy continues to live online. I will presenting a paper on this quintessential urban legend at the Folklore … Continue reading →
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Tagged Benjamin Radford, Bragolin painting, Cardiff University, crying boy, curse, curse of the crying boy, Folklore Society, Freddie Starr ate my hamster, Kelvin McKenzie, Robert Bartholomew, School of Welsh, Silly Season, The Martians Have Landed!, The Sun, urban legends
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