THE FORTEAN AND THE FORENSIC
Online talk presented by criminal barrister Naomi Ryan, followed by a Q&A with the audience.
Speak to any lawyer and they will tell you that the law strives for objectivity and impartiality. They like to think that they are in the business of making rational and reasoned arguments and have no time for the mysterious or macabre. However, for centuries, society has believed in folklore and the supernatural, and people have even believed that ghosts, demons and witches have made them do terrible things. So when their defences blame the supernatural, the legal system has to examine the evidence. From cases involving witches during wartime to murders of alleged fairy changelings, judges and jurors have been asked to weigh up whether the supernatural really does exist.
Criminal Barrister Naomi Ryan will discuss the strange cases in which the paranormal has been subjected to the harsh forensic scrutiny of the criminal justice system, only for the law to struggle to resolve the mysteries that it has been forced to consider.