World Museum talk April 2010

Event: 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool talk

Join us for this talk about the City's ghosts and strange history with 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool author John Reppion.

Date: Tuesday 6 April 2010
Time: 12.30pm
Where: World Museum, William Brown Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, UK L3 8EN
Room: Treasure House Theatre
Suitable for: all visitors aged 10 years and over.
Booking: Free drop-in event, no need to book

More info at http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/events/displayevent.aspx?eventID=1281&venue=1

800 Years of Haunted Liverpool talk - CANCELLED

"Prepare for Halloween with this talk by John Reppion, author of '800 years of Haunted Liverpool'. Hear about the strange and spooky stories he came across while writing the book."

Entry is free and the talk is suitable for all ages. Begins at 12:30.

See www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/wml/visit/ for details of how to get to the museum.

Regrettably, the talk has now been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. Apologies.

Interview on BBC Merseyside Wed 3rd Dec 10pm

I will be appearing on the Linda McDermott show on Wednesday the 26th of November at around 11pm (the show starts at 10pm) [Postponed until next Wednesday, 3rd of December, 10 pm. Apologies] discussing 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool.

You can listen live online at http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/local_radio/index.shtml and the show will be available for 7 days on Listen Again after the initial broadcast.

800 Years of Haunted Liverpool featured in Liverpool.com's October edition

This month's Halloween themed issue of Liverpool.com Magazine features an article entitled "Most Haunted? - Exploring the Darker Side of Liverpool's Paranormal Industry" with interviews with Billy Roberts, Tom Slemen, Dr. Matthew Smith and more.

The magazine is available to read for free online at http://www.liverpool.com/assets/flash/mag_oct/index.htm or you can pick up a print copy (for free!) in many Liverpool City Centre shops.

Book signing and talk for Liverpool Holistic Circle, Tue Sep 9th 2008

I will be giving a talk and signing copies of 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool for the Liverpool Holistic Circle on Tuesday the 9th of September 2008.

The Liverpool Holistic Circle meets at 7.30pm every Tuesday evening at the Rosicrucian Chapter, 19, Dovedale Road, Liverpool, L18 1DN.

There is no formal membership, but to cover costs they request a donation of £3.50 per meeting attended.

UPDATE: There will be no charge for attending the talk as the event will mark the 2nd anniversary of the LHO. If you are planning on attending please contact the LHO as spaces will be limited.

Interview on City Talk FM

I will be appearing on the Roy Basnett show on Thursday the 31st of July 2008 sometime between 2 am and 6 am (don't worry, it'll be pre-recorded earlier that day) discussing 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool.

The show will be available online at
http://www.citytalk.fm/sectional.asp?id=25007
for 7 days after the broadcast.

Paranormal Magazine #27 out now

Issue #27 of the newly re-launch Paranormal Magazine arrives in shops across the UK tomorrow featuring A Ghoulish Guide to Haunted Liverpool by John Reppion.

Also in this issue, The South Sheilds Poltergeist, Tunguska - The Russian Roswell, Giant Octopuses, Exorcism in the UK, The Power of Voodoo and more.

Featuring articles from the likes of Lionel and Patricia Fanthorp, Nick Redfern, Karl Shuker and Richard Holland.

The magazine costs £3.99 and is available in W H Smith stores and all good newsagents.

Book Launch 5th July 2007

800 Years of Haunted Liverpool will be officially launched at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool on Saturday the 5th of July 2008 between 6 and 8pm. The Unity bar is fully licensed with Cains Bitter on tap.

I'll do my very best to give a short talk giving a bit of background on how the book came about and what it was like to work on. Limited edition copies of 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool will be on sale for £9.99.

If you do plan on coming, please drop me an email at haunted_liverpool@btinternet.com as places will be limited.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Image preview

The above image is by Irish artist Declan Shalvey, one of the many talented and generous people who were kind enough to help me out with art for 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool.
You can see more of Declan's work (including more images from the book) at http://dshalv.blogspot.com/

Captain Black’s Phantom at the Old Airport.

Liverpool’s John Lennon airport — formerly known as Speke airport and RAF Speke — is one of the UK's oldest operational airports. Scheduled flights began leaving from Speke in 1930 but the airport was not officially opened until a few years later. The modern site is about two miles (3.2 km) south west of the original airport which has since been converted into a business park housing a hotel, restaurant and gym amongst other things. Not long after its official opening on the 1^st of July 1933, Speke airport was the site of a great tragedy – the death of the famous Captain Thomas Campbell Black.

The old airport today.

Campbell found fame when he and his co-pilot Charles William Anderson Scott won the London to Melbourne Centenary Air Race (also known as the MacRobertson Air Race) in 1934. They completed the journey in a record seventy-one hours and were awarded the huge sum of ten thousand pounds in prize money as well as the Britannia Trophy. Black and Scott were regarded as true luminaries in their field and their names became known across the globe. In 1936 Black was preparing to enter The Schlesinger Race from England to Johannesburg, South Africa which again offered a colossal ten thousand pound first prize. He was, naturally, amongst the favourites to win but, sadly never got the chance. On the 19^th of September Captain Black was in the cockpit of his Percival Mew Gull (newly christened Miss Liverpool) preparing for take off when a Hawker Hart bomber, piloted by Officer Peter Stanley Salter, came in to land and collided with the craft. The bomber’s propeller ripped through the side of Black's cockpit and into the Captain himself. Despite all efforts, Tom Campbell Black died on the way to hospital.

The shadowy figure of a man has reportedly been sighted on numerous occasions pacing around what was once Hanger Number One, where Miss Liverpool was kept. Some claim that this apparition could be old Tom out in search of a new plane or else trapped in some kind of perpetual retread of events leading up to his death. Certainly, stories of Black’s phantom were still circulating amongst airport employees right up until the old site’s closure in the mid-1980s.

Over the years there have also been many reports of so called “phantom planes” being seen over Speke and its neighbouring districts. Although descriptions of the craft vary widely and amateur aviators flying light aircraft are doubtless the origin of many, there are those who like to think that, just maybe, Captain Tom Campbell Black has somehow managed to take to the skies once more.

The above is an abridged excerpt from 800 Years of Haunted Liverpool by John Reppion which is to be published by Tempus Publishing in summer 2008. John Reppion can be contacted about Liverpool's ghosts, hauntings and other strange occurrences at haunted_liverpool@btinternet.com.