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Spooky News
Ghosts, folklore, dark history and horror news from across the UK and Ireland
24 news briefs
Newest firstSneem opens its storytelling and folklore festival
Sneem’s 13th International Storytelling and Folklore Festival opened on 12 November and runs until Sunday, 15 November. The County Kerry festival brings together storytellers and folklorists for a programme that includes story swaps, music and theatre, with sessions for children and adults. Find out more at Radio Kerry opens in a new tab.
Wales-set ghost drama The Witch Farm gets its first trailer
The Welsh countryside is the setting for the first trailer for The Witch Farm, Danny Robins’s BBC ghost drama starring Gabrielle Creevy and Michael Socha. The series follows a family facing unexplained disturbances in a remote farmhouse and starts on 22 November. Find out more at Digital Spy opens in a new tab.
Penarth studio releases pub-set horror game Hazard Levels
Penarth developer Wales Interactive released Hazard Levels on 12 November, bringing the horror game to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S alongside its full PC release. Players venture from a pub into other worlds to gather ingredients for an experimental brewery. Find out more at Nation.Cymru opens in a new tab.
Aberdeen to open Uncanny’s first arena tour
Aberdeen’s P&J Live will open Uncanny’s first arena tour on 22 October 2027, with presenter Danny Robins bringing the BBC paranormal series to the stage. The tour visits 15 cities across the UK and Ireland, finishing at Dublin’s 3Arena on 12 November. Find out more at Ticketmaster opens in a new tab.
Ipswich hosts witchcraft workshops at The Hold
Ipswich’s The Hold will host a day of witchcraft workshops and talks on 14 November, alongside Suffolk Archives’ exhibition on the county’s witch trials. The University of Suffolk programme includes making sound effects for Macbeth and exploring witches in British folklore and fiction. Find out more at Ipswich.co.uk opens in a new tab.
Islington stages Ghost Stories for Christmas as UK tour continues
Islington’s Old Red Lion Theatre hosted Edwyrdian Tales’ Ghost Stories for Christmas on 9 November, with the production now touring Britain. Matthew Wood performs three tales, including Algernon Blackwood’s The Wendigo and his own The Elder Son, with stops ahead in Edinburgh and Swansea. Find out more at West End Best Friend opens in a new tab.
Falmouth gallery opens interactive Owlman exhibition
Falmouth Art Gallery is hosting Myths of the Owl Creature until 28 November, an exhibition inspired by the legend of Mawnan’s Owlman. Artists Tom Milnes and Jess Pemberton and musician Seamouse use projection, sound and 3D scanning to let visitors shape the story. Find out more at CornishStuff opens in a new tab.
Monmouth’s historic Queen’s Head Hotel heads to auction
Monmouth’s Queen’s Head Hotel will go to auction on 9 December with a £150,000 guide price, Nation.Cymru reports. The 16th-century building, closed since 2023, is associated with a story of an attempted assassination of Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War. Find out more at Nation.Cymru opens in a new tab.
London-set thriller 7 Keys announces UK digital release
London-set British thriller 7 Keys will reach UK digital platforms on 16 November through Trinity Content Partners. Joy Wilkinson’s debut feature stars Emma McDonald and Billy Postlethwaite as a couple whose visits to homes unlocked by his old keys turn dangerous. Find out more at HorrorFix opens in a new tab.
Wicklow Gaol announces reopening under new operator
Wicklow Gaol will reopen on 21 November under Coredale Limited, trading as ELH Wicklow Gaol, following council refurbishment work. The initial two-year lease includes plans for tours, a reopened café, monthly markets and seasonal events, beginning with Christmas at Wicklow Gaol. Find out more at Wicklow County Council opens in a new tab.
Shannon organisers estimate 2,000-plus at first Samhain Parade
Shannon held its first Samhain Parade in the Town Park on 1 November, organised by Mná Le Chéile Women’s Shed with Lumen Street Theatre. Organiser Jean Ryan told The Clare Champion that attendance was estimated at more than 2,000 people. Find out more at The Clare Champion opens in a new tab.
Ireland’s Demon Hunter sequel announces UK digital release
Irish director Zoe Kavanagh’s Demon Hunter: Time 2 Kill will reach UK digital platforms on 9 November through Miracle Media. Niamh Hogan returns as Taryn Barker in the action horror sequel, facing a Satanic cult leader played by Lisa Wilcox and a journey to 1987. Find out more at HorrorFix opens in a new tab.
York exhibition explores Gunpowder Plotters’ possible family connections
York’s Bar Convent is presenting research into possible connections between Guy Fawkes, fellow conspirators and Margaret Clitherow’s family in its Gunpowder Plot exhibition. Special collections manager Dr Hannah Thomas draws on a historic vestment and Catholic archives, with the exhibition continuing until 5 December. Find out more at The Yorkshire Post opens in a new tab.
Wales university opens medieval manuscripts to visitors
The University of Wales Trinity Saint David will display medieval manuscripts during an open day on 18 November. Talks by former librarian Ruth Gooding will include the Monk’s Blood Manuscript, traditionally linked to a massacre that occurred centuries before the volume was written. Find out more at Nation.Cymru opens in a new tab.
Wales-set drama The Witch Farm announces BBC premiere date
Wales-set supernatural drama The Witch Farm will begin on BBC One and BBC One Wales on 22 November, TV Blighty reports. Danny Robins’ four-part series stars Michael Socha and Gabrielle Creevy as parents whose fresh start in a remote farmhouse unravels. Find out more at TV Blighty opens in a new tab.
Bury St Edmunds installs memorial to witch-trial victims
Bury St Edmunds’ Moyse’s Hall Museum has installed its first memorial to victims of the town’s witchcraft trials, naming people persecuted between 1599 and 1694. Artist Kate Jackson and carver John Williams created the permanent wooden sculpture from a damaged lime tree at Nowton Park. Find out more at West Suffolk Council opens in a new tab.
Cheshire’s Bolesworth Castle announces Forbidden Forest experience
Cheshire’s Bolesworth Castle will host Harry Potter: A Forbidden Forest Experience from 10 December, with general ticket sales opening on 3 November. The woodland trail features illuminated magical creatures, spell-casting and Aragog’s lair, plus a new golden egg and Death Eater for this year. Find out more at Time Out UK and London opens in a new tab.
Cambridge cinema announces premiere of Fenland folk horror The Shug
Cambridge’s Arts Picturehouse will screen Martin J Pickering’s British folk horror The Shug on 15 November at 1pm, ahead of its wider release next year. The locally filmed feature draws on Cambridgeshire’s Shug Monkey legend, with locations including Swavesey, Boxworth and Great Shelford. Find out more at Cambridge Independent opens in a new tab.
Salford’s Lowry announces full cast for A Christmas Carol
Salford’s Lowry has announced the full cast for the Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol, running from 11 December to 10 January. John Thomson plays Scrooge in Jack Thorne’s adaptation, with Marilyn Cutts as the Ghost of Christmas Past and four actors sharing Tiny Tim. Find out more at Salford Now opens in a new tab.
Bury St Edmunds museum opens Things that Go Bump exhibition
Bury St Edmunds’ Moyse’s Hall Museum is opening Things that Go Bump, tracing scary storytelling from prehistoric images to cinema and television. Running from 24 October to 21 February, the exhibition includes screen-used props, horror memorabilia and displays exploring vampires and children’s television. Find out more at West Suffolk Council opens in a new tab.
