Dark Secrets: The Esoteric Exhibition
Currently in a few more days of horror. Last night, I went to Dark Secrets: The Esoteric Exhibition at Waterloo Vaults - sounded too interesting to miss! Someone I knew from The Hideout was going too, but earlier - he said he'd wait for me. I booked with Fever, and handily enough they sent me a reminder email just beforehand, complete with QR code.
Someone was busy overnight..
Oh Lordy, what has happened to the buses?! There are two buses I can catch from home straight to Waterloo - one is the infamous #188 - and neither was coming last night! Oh, the display said they were coming.. Google Maps said they were coming.. and then the old trick of the ETA getting later and later.. until they were going to be too late to get me there in time. So I decided the most sensible thing to do was to catch the #47 - which, amazingly, was coming - it wasn't going to Waterloo, but it was going to London Bridge, and I could catch the Jubilee Line from there to Waterloo! Just as well that was as far as I wanted to go on it - I'd no sooner got on than the destination was changed.. the driver said something, indistinctly, which I didn't hear, but we could all guess.. sure enough, it terminated at London Bridge Station.
And when I did finally get to Waterloo, I couldn't quite remember how to get to The Vaults, it's been so long! Walked there via York Road - and I was glad I did, because I discovered a couple of restaurants - and a bar - in a side street, currently only accessible from that entrance to Leake Street; the other side is currently blocked off for building works. And it turns out they've only just opened.. just as well, we could do with more cheap eating options around Waterloo! Anyway, I'd forgotten all about the Leake Street sign as well.. and that The Vaults are all the way at the other end. I was a few minutes late for my scheduled entry - doesn't matter, they're open till 9.30 on Fridays and Saturdays. There's a bag check, they have WiFi, and the usher told me that I could go to the toilet now if I needed, beside the entrance, or there was one further in. As I entered, I messaged my companion for the evening to let him know I was there. At last.
As you go in, it's worthwhile taking note of the list of exhibits.. there are 27 rooms!
And boy, do they start well, with a giant statue of Pazuzu!
Turns out he got a bad rep in The Exorcist - his main function actually seems to be to protect the home, as shown by his raised hand. There's plenty of explanatory text around - also QR codes, which you can use to access audioguides. I didn't bother with those - and was to be glad I hadn't.. this exhibition is 27 rooms long - good advice is not to linger too long, if you want to see everything! Oh, and quite a good horrific soundtrack plays throughout.
Here's another old friend:
Known as the Baphomet, it's another protective demon.. according to the blurb. Of course, it's also the symbol for the Church of Satan..
Next, I came to the room about druidry, and a rather cool poster about Celtic deities!
They have items in display cases - but this is a visually striking exhibition, with large displays too; for example, they have examples of standing stones, carved with patterns and ogham:
Beside this information piece about the banshee, they have a life-size model of her - dressed in white! Doesn't seem right, really..
They even have skeletons of the sídhe:
and a "unicorn horn":
Oh cool - a vampire corpse, with a scythe around its neck, so if it reanimates, as it rises, it'll decapitate itself!
One of the rooms has a terribly interesting collection of masks:
(The one on the left was apparently a punishment for liars/gossipers, with an exaggerated tongue to represent lying, and exaggerated ears to represent listening to things the person shouldn't. The mask on the right is the one worn by "The Man in the Iron Mask"..)
And of course there were some more familiar ones, such as that worn by plague doctors, and the Italian bauta:
I met my companion in the company of Baron Samedi:
Appropriately, there's an adjacent voodoo altar:
Jeez, never knew Screamin' Jay Hawkins was into voodoo!
And so, on to the Satanism room:
And ooh, an actual dybbuk box! Used for capturing dybbuks.
The stages of possession. Interestingly, I came across these recently in the book chosen for this month by our book club at work, Come Closer, whose subject is demonic possession:
Ah, the witchcraft room:
They even have copies of the Malleus Maleficarium, the "Witches' Hammer":
There's a room about the Knights Templar:
We saw the mysterious Sator Square, which spells out an ambiguous phrase in Latin, readable l-r, r-l and vertically. Heavens, seems it was the inspiration for the film Tenet!
There was a lot about freemasonry. I never realised so many royals were members! Not the present king though, he wasn't interested - and not the late Elizabeth II, women aren't allowed:
They do have some cool accessories:
And there's a good reproduction of a masonic lodge!
Of course, the Nazis were interested in that kind of thing:
Although come on, it's really pushing it to include Zombie, by the Cranberries, in this selection!
Aleister Crowley showed up! in his iconic pose:
The Ark of the Covenant:
They cover all sides here - they display the conditions required for something to be classified as a miracle:
There's a cool list of superstitions from around the world:
There's even a room about superstition in sport! Here are boxing gloves with magical symbols inscribed on them. The pair on the right has been filled with magical powder:
Ah, and then you come to what is apparently the largest collection of cursed dolls! These.. whisper:
This painting is apparently cursed, and is supposed to break your camera if you photograph it. Well, so far so good:
And here's a whole cabinet of the cursed dolls. Oh look, no glass in the right-hand pane.. they can go walkies in the middle of the night..
And so to astrology, and scrying - here's a nice crystal ball:
There's a big section on Tarot cards - my particular set is at the bottom in this display!
Nice, full-size displays let us examine each individually:
An ouija table - now that's handy! This room is somewhat interactive:
There was a room about reanimation:
and a television turned to static made us wonder whether we were meant to port to another dimension through it:
Around here, there was an esoteric multiple-choice quiz - between the two of us, I won. :-) There was some gruesome evidence of animal experiments, such as this two-headed fox:
..and a room about ritual murder, which I'll spare you the details of. One doll must be more cursed than the rest - she gets a room on her own! The walls are papered with index cards, and pens are provided so you can write any messages that she communicates with you telepathically:
Then there was a room with things like a scale that was used to weigh the soul - by weighing a person before, and just after, death. The final room has VR headsets showing two shows on loop - the show restarts when you put on the headset. One is about the Temple of Solomon, and how it gave rise to freemasonry - the other, mediaeval torture.
A small giftshop has a small, but interesting, range of merchandise - mugs, necklaces, really thick exhibition catalogues.. and a guy standing by the adjacent door lets you back onto Leake Street. I couldn't believe it was nearly 9.30 by that stage - sod the 90-minute estimate on the website, I'd been there nearly three hours, and hadn't even listened to the audioguides! This is a seriously good exhibition - I'd say essential viewing if you have an interest in the area. Currently booking to the 3rd of January. And we were just in time to hit Nando's before they closed - in that side street I hadn't known existed! All in all, an excellent night - I got some shopping in too, and wouldn't you know it, my bus actually came in good time. Again, I was too tired to blog last night..
Today, storytelling from the Crick Crack Club! Ben Haggarty and Sarah-Liisa Wilkinson are performing Stories in the Dark at the Richmond Lending Library. Sold out now, I believe. I've booked the Buenos Aires steakhouse for afterwards.
Tomorrow, back with The Hideout for Good Boy - a horror film from the perspective of a dog just trying to protect its master! Happening in Cineworld Leicester Square - details announced on Tuesday - and I'm eating in Bella Italia beforehand, of course, then meeting the group at Victory House.
Next, a couple of plays. On Monday, back with Up in the Cheap Seats for Lifers, a prison drama at Southwark Playhouse - was delighted I still had credit on my PAYG subscription with them.
On Tuesday, heading to Blessings at Riverside Studios - a play about a staunchly religious family in the 60s, with change in the offing. Damnit, I saw it was on CT, checked to see whether full-price tickets were more expensive, which they were - and accidentally booked one of those instead!
Wednesday is our work social - we're headed to Boom Battle Bar, which has, em, axe throwing.. among other things. Augmented reality features. Well, I missed it at Shocktober..
On Thursday, I'm back with the London Classical Music and Theatre Group for The Cardinall's Musick, performing a choral concert at St. Martin in the Fields.
On Friday, The Hideout persuaded me to go to Ti West's X trilogy - Pearl, X, and MaXXXine - at the Prince Charles. Never seen any of them before. Lord knows when I'll have time to eat..
And next Saturday, meeting James for our monthly get-together at The Phoenix - it's the only weekend he can, and he prefers Saturday. Ivan can't make it - Martin provisional as of yet.
Comments
Post a Comment