Demons, Revenants and Nightmares: Fear and Dreaming in the Middle Ages

How did people dream in the past? Do other cultures and time periods have different types of nightmares? Join Dr Bill MacLehose for a discussion of the dark side of the medieval world of dreams, to explore the ways fear entered people’s dreams in the middle ages. Bill will look closely at the history of the medical condition called the incubus, in which sufferers awoke unable to move and often imagined that they were being attacked by a demon or other creature. Night terrors of various sorts appear often in medieval sources, and allow us to delve into the dark corners of social, religious and political life, as ghosts and devils disturbed the dreams of kings and commoners.

Doors will open at 6:30 PM. The talk will begin at 7:00 PM.This talk is part of the Old Operating Theatre’s ‘Fear’ Series. 

Tickets: £12.00.

*Access is through a 52-step spiral staircase. Please visit the theatre’s Visiting Us page for further details on access.