FREE: Mortimer and the Witches: A History of Nineteenth-Century Fortune Tellers with Author Marie Carter, October 23.
Wednesday, October 23
7pm EDT
FREE: Participants must RSVP through this page.
Boroughs of the Dead tour guide Marie Carter will discuss her book Mortimer and the Witches: A History of Nineteenth-Century Fortune Tellers, published by Fordham University Press this year. The titular character, Mortimer Thomson, under the pseudonym of Q. K. Philander Doesticks, P.B., and in 1857 wrote a series of articles about the "witches" or rather fortune tellers, several of whom lived on Broome Street on the Lower East Side. The series of articles was published the following year in book form as The Witches of New York as an expose of the evils of fortune telling and the practice of clairvoyance. But the story of the women and of Thomson himself was more complicated than that. Carter will discuss the inspiration for her book, fortune telling practices in the nineteenth century, the struggles of working women trying to make a living, and a little of the peculiar biography of Thomson himself.
Marie Carter is a Scotland-born, New York City-based writer. She is also a tour guide, researcher, and developer with Boroughs of the Dead, a walk tour company specializing in macabre, strange, forgotten, and ghostly histories of New York City. She is the author of the books Mortimer and the Witches: A Nineteenth-Century History of Fortune Tellers, Holly's Hurricane, and The Trapeze Diaries. She has been a guest speaker on NPR and BBC Radio Lincolnshire and written about in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and other media outlets.
This event is scheduled to be hosted on Zoom. Participants will receive the event link via email on the morning of the event day. Should you encounter any issues accessing the link, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at info@arcane17.co for assistance. Additionally, we are pleased to inform our Members that a recording of this event will be available on our Patreon page.
Wednesday, October 23
7pm EDT
FREE: Participants must RSVP through this page.
Boroughs of the Dead tour guide Marie Carter will discuss her book Mortimer and the Witches: A History of Nineteenth-Century Fortune Tellers, published by Fordham University Press this year. The titular character, Mortimer Thomson, under the pseudonym of Q. K. Philander Doesticks, P.B., and in 1857 wrote a series of articles about the "witches" or rather fortune tellers, several of whom lived on Broome Street on the Lower East Side. The series of articles was published the following year in book form as The Witches of New York as an expose of the evils of fortune telling and the practice of clairvoyance. But the story of the women and of Thomson himself was more complicated than that. Carter will discuss the inspiration for her book, fortune telling practices in the nineteenth century, the struggles of working women trying to make a living, and a little of the peculiar biography of Thomson himself.
Marie Carter is a Scotland-born, New York City-based writer. She is also a tour guide, researcher, and developer with Boroughs of the Dead, a walk tour company specializing in macabre, strange, forgotten, and ghostly histories of New York City. She is the author of the books Mortimer and the Witches: A Nineteenth-Century History of Fortune Tellers, Holly's Hurricane, and The Trapeze Diaries. She has been a guest speaker on NPR and BBC Radio Lincolnshire and written about in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and other media outlets.
This event is scheduled to be hosted on Zoom. Participants will receive the event link via email on the morning of the event day. Should you encounter any issues accessing the link, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at info@arcane17.co for assistance. Additionally, we are pleased to inform our Members that a recording of this event will be available on our Patreon page.
Wednesday, October 23
7pm EDT
FREE: Participants must RSVP through this page.
Boroughs of the Dead tour guide Marie Carter will discuss her book Mortimer and the Witches: A History of Nineteenth-Century Fortune Tellers, published by Fordham University Press this year. The titular character, Mortimer Thomson, under the pseudonym of Q. K. Philander Doesticks, P.B., and in 1857 wrote a series of articles about the "witches" or rather fortune tellers, several of whom lived on Broome Street on the Lower East Side. The series of articles was published the following year in book form as The Witches of New York as an expose of the evils of fortune telling and the practice of clairvoyance. But the story of the women and of Thomson himself was more complicated than that. Carter will discuss the inspiration for her book, fortune telling practices in the nineteenth century, the struggles of working women trying to make a living, and a little of the peculiar biography of Thomson himself.
Marie Carter is a Scotland-born, New York City-based writer. She is also a tour guide, researcher, and developer with Boroughs of the Dead, a walk tour company specializing in macabre, strange, forgotten, and ghostly histories of New York City. She is the author of the books Mortimer and the Witches: A Nineteenth-Century History of Fortune Tellers, Holly's Hurricane, and The Trapeze Diaries. She has been a guest speaker on NPR and BBC Radio Lincolnshire and written about in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and other media outlets.
This event is scheduled to be hosted on Zoom. Participants will receive the event link via email on the morning of the event day. Should you encounter any issues accessing the link, please do not hesitate to reach out to us at info@arcane17.co for assistance. Additionally, we are pleased to inform our Members that a recording of this event will be available on our Patreon page.