Efram Sera-Shriar
@dreframss.bsky.social
Historian of occultism and science, Victorianist, anthropologist, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen, and bass player. Lover of classic videogames. 🎮 Views own. (https://www.eframserashriar.com)
"The Octopus" from the Moody Bible Institute Monthly, December 1925. Published a hundred years ago and still on the money... 😬
January 12, 2026 at 8:22 AM
"The Octopus" from the Moody Bible Institute Monthly, December 1925. Published a hundred years ago and still on the money... 😬
I've finished Stray. What a game! If you are looking for a great escape this holiday season, I highly recommend it. I enjoyed it so much, it is going straight into teaching.
December 19, 2025 at 9:56 AM
I've finished Stray. What a game! If you are looking for a great escape this holiday season, I highly recommend it. I enjoyed it so much, it is going straight into teaching.
After a series of delays, my article "Harry Price and the Crawley Poltergeist" has finally been published in the Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research. A big thanks to @emmamerkling.bsky.social, who originally directed me to the case and digitised the requisite archival material.
December 19, 2025 at 8:12 AM
After a series of delays, my article "Harry Price and the Crawley Poltergeist" has finally been published in the Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research. A big thanks to @emmamerkling.bsky.social, who originally directed me to the case and digitised the requisite archival material.
We won! We bloody won! Woooooooo! 🥳
December 17, 2025 at 8:15 AM
We won! We bloody won! Woooooooo! 🥳
I forgot about this advert for Pelikan's cough medicine. What a list of ingredients 😂 "The best and safest cough remedy"
December 16, 2025 at 10:10 AM
I forgot about this advert for Pelikan's cough medicine. What a list of ingredients 😂 "The best and safest cough remedy"
Aren't these woodcuts from my 1920 edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice stories delightful? It is the Red Queen being shaken into a kitten. 💕
December 12, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Aren't these woodcuts from my 1920 edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice stories delightful? It is the Red Queen being shaken into a kitten. 💕
It still blows my mind that in the 1980s we played videogame off of cassette tapes. Everything about it makes so little sense. Yet when you read about how it worked, you discover how bloody brilliant the process truly was. Also, the cover art for Ghosts n Goblins port on the Spectrum was awful!
December 9, 2025 at 1:49 PM
It still blows my mind that in the 1980s we played videogame off of cassette tapes. Everything about it makes so little sense. Yet when you read about how it worked, you discover how bloody brilliant the process truly was. Also, the cover art for Ghosts n Goblins port on the Spectrum was awful!
Still working through my chapter on Henry Slade's alleged exposure by E Ray Lankester in 1876. There are so many wonderful woodcuts from the trial, including this one from The Graphic in October of that year.
November 25, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Still working through my chapter on Henry Slade's alleged exposure by E Ray Lankester in 1876. There are so many wonderful woodcuts from the trial, including this one from The Graphic in October of that year.
I'm giving a talk tomorrow for @royalsocietypublishing.org. It's on the Japanese anthropologist Baba Tatsui who worked with E.B. Tylor on the first English-language translation of the Kojiki. Baba also wrote an amazing book on Japanese ethnographic impressions of the British in Japan in 1875.
November 17, 2025 at 2:35 PM
I'm giving a talk tomorrow for @royalsocietypublishing.org. It's on the Japanese anthropologist Baba Tatsui who worked with E.B. Tylor on the first English-language translation of the Kojiki. Baba also wrote an amazing book on Japanese ethnographic impressions of the British in Japan in 1875.
I'm spending the day writing about "The Slade Number" from the Medium and Daybreak from October 1876. The entire issue was devoted to a defence of Henry Slade who had recently been exposed by E Ray Lankester as a fake during a seance. At least that's the story according to Lankester.
November 12, 2025 at 9:14 AM
I'm spending the day writing about "The Slade Number" from the Medium and Daybreak from October 1876. The entire issue was devoted to a defence of Henry Slade who had recently been exposed by E Ray Lankester as a fake during a seance. At least that's the story according to Lankester.
Two years ago, @upittpress.bsky.social first shared with Bernie and me a mock-up of the cover for our collection, "Victorian Interdisciplinarity and the Sciences." I still love the design, which was originally suggested by @kingtekkers.bsky.social
Visit the website👇
upittpress.org/books/978082...
Visit the website👇
upittpress.org/books/978082...
November 4, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Two years ago, @upittpress.bsky.social first shared with Bernie and me a mock-up of the cover for our collection, "Victorian Interdisciplinarity and the Sciences." I still love the design, which was originally suggested by @kingtekkers.bsky.social
Visit the website👇
upittpress.org/books/978082...
Visit the website👇
upittpress.org/books/978082...
I did another interview, this time for "Tumble Science Podcast for Kids". Basically, kids ask questions to experts. My question from 6yo Lily was: Are ghosts real?
Listen here: www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/single-post/...
The producers also made this hilarious picture of me for the episode.
Listen here: www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/single-post/...
The producers also made this hilarious picture of me for the episode.
November 3, 2025 at 8:21 AM
I did another interview, this time for "Tumble Science Podcast for Kids". Basically, kids ask questions to experts. My question from 6yo Lily was: Are ghosts real?
Listen here: www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/single-post/...
The producers also made this hilarious picture of me for the episode.
Listen here: www.sciencepodcastforkids.com/single-post/...
The producers also made this hilarious picture of me for the episode.
The Blue Jays are going back to the World Series for the first time in 32 years. What a moment! Now the biggest challenge yet, defeating the Dodgers.
October 21, 2025 at 8:38 AM
The Blue Jays are going back to the World Series for the first time in 32 years. What a moment! Now the biggest challenge yet, defeating the Dodgers.
Next week, I'm doing an interview on horror games, moral panic and censorship. I've decided to talk about Atari's "Halloween" (1983). It was deemed too violent and realistic for young gamers, and might send impressionable minds down nefarious paths.
Try it here👇
www.retrogames.cz/play_1177-At...
Try it here👇
www.retrogames.cz/play_1177-At...
October 8, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Next week, I'm doing an interview on horror games, moral panic and censorship. I've decided to talk about Atari's "Halloween" (1983). It was deemed too violent and realistic for young gamers, and might send impressionable minds down nefarious paths.
Try it here👇
www.retrogames.cz/play_1177-At...
Try it here👇
www.retrogames.cz/play_1177-At...
I just got recognised by the Toronto Blue Jays as one of their top fans. 💕 I guess five decades of fandom finally paid off. Now with my fellow blue-feathered friends we wait in anticipation of game 3, where Toronto will hopefully sweep the dislikable Yankees.
October 7, 2025 at 1:29 PM
I just got recognised by the Toronto Blue Jays as one of their top fans. 💕 I guess five decades of fandom finally paid off. Now with my fellow blue-feathered friends we wait in anticipation of game 3, where Toronto will hopefully sweep the dislikable Yankees.
I'm preparing my seminar on the History Environmentalism and for the class I'm going to talk about everyone's favourite early 90s environmental champion, Captain Planet.
October 3, 2025 at 11:47 AM
I'm preparing my seminar on the History Environmentalism and for the class I'm going to talk about everyone's favourite early 90s environmental champion, Captain Planet.
There is no team in sports that I detest more than the NY Yankees. I don't just want my beloved Toronto Blue Jays to beat them in the ALDS, I want them to eviscerate the Yankees. Go Jays Go! ⚾
October 3, 2025 at 9:44 AM
There is no team in sports that I detest more than the NY Yankees. I don't just want my beloved Toronto Blue Jays to beat them in the ALDS, I want them to eviscerate the Yankees. Go Jays Go! ⚾
My beloved Toronto @bluejays.com won their first pennant in 10 years last night. Is this the year we finally make it back to the World Series? That's the dream! 🥳
September 29, 2025 at 6:35 AM
My beloved Toronto @bluejays.com won their first pennant in 10 years last night. Is this the year we finally make it back to the World Series? That's the dream! 🥳
It says a lot that after my lecture on the Scientific Revolution today, the historical figure most people wanted to chat about was John Dee and not Newton, Boyle or Bacon. I guess it was my discussion on his scrying mirror and healing crystal that grabbed their attention.
September 22, 2025 at 2:01 PM
It says a lot that after my lecture on the Scientific Revolution today, the historical figure most people wanted to chat about was John Dee and not Newton, Boyle or Bacon. I guess it was my discussion on his scrying mirror and healing crystal that grabbed their attention.
Today feels like a good day to reshare this wonderful woodcut from Punch, "Spiritualism Made Useful" (1877). It was made by George du Maurier, who was one of the periodical's more prolific artists.
September 22, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Today feels like a good day to reshare this wonderful woodcut from Punch, "Spiritualism Made Useful" (1877). It was made by George du Maurier, who was one of the periodical's more prolific artists.
True story, but over a slightly longer timeline... 😂
September 18, 2025 at 10:34 AM
True story, but over a slightly longer timeline... 😂
I spent much of today weaving a discussion about the cover of J.N Maskelyne's "Modern Spiritualism" (1876) into a chapter for my new book. If you are unfamiliar, the cover features an image of the medium Mrs. Guppy being carried by spirits across London's skyline - a feat many believed to be real.
September 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM
I spent much of today weaving a discussion about the cover of J.N Maskelyne's "Modern Spiritualism" (1876) into a chapter for my new book. If you are unfamiliar, the cover features an image of the medium Mrs. Guppy being carried by spirits across London's skyline - a feat many believed to be real.
This is a wonderful carte-de-visite of a spirit photograph featuring the fab Victorian psychic duo of Mrs Guppy and Charles Williams from around 1892. The pair, along with Frank Herne, regularly collaborated during seances, especially in the 1870s. Their main manifestations were spirit apports.
September 17, 2025 at 8:26 AM
This is a wonderful carte-de-visite of a spirit photograph featuring the fab Victorian psychic duo of Mrs Guppy and Charles Williams from around 1892. The pair, along with Frank Herne, regularly collaborated during seances, especially in the 1870s. Their main manifestations were spirit apports.