Profs and Pints Baltimore

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Dead Men Tell Tales,” an examination of what happens to our bodies after we die and the stories our corpses then tell, with Rhys Williams, forensic anthropologist and assistant professor in forensic science at Loyola University Maryland.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://profsandpints.ticketleap.com/corpse/ .]

Ever wondered what happens after an unidentified body has been found in the woods and police have been summoned? Have you been curious about what can be discovered through the inspection and autopsy of decayed human remains?

You can get answers to even your grisliest questions when Profs and Pints brings forensic anthropologist Rhys Williams to Baltimore’s Guilford Hall. A specialist in burial location and digital imaging, Dr. Williams has worked with international forensic and archaeological teams to find and analyze both crime evidence and artifacts bound for museums. The Grim Reaper himself would be impressed by his knowledge of death scenes and what happens to our bodies when we die.

(This talk will feature topics and images some viewers may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.)

Dr. Williams will start by giving you a crash course on human decomposition, discussing the factors that determine how a body decomposes and at what speed.

You’ll learn how temperature and insect life play a big role—the warmer the environment, the more insects and the faster the rate of decay. How a body progresses through the stages of bloating, decay, and skeletonization also involves many other environmental and personal factors, though. They include the clothing on the body, rainfall, the presence of scavengers, soil pH, and microbiology. Whether a body is buried, and at what depth, determines how these factors come into play.

You’ll also learn how once a body has decomposed the exposed bones tell their own story, holding vast amounts of information revealing who the deceased once was. Examining the form, function, morphology and development of bone sheds light on sex, age, stature, and a wealth of medical and cultural history.

Dr. Williams will discuss how the analytical methods he describes can be applied to a body found in the woods, an archaeological burial, a mass grave, or in the process of identifying disaster victims.

As a class exercise, we’ll examine a forensic case together, looking at methods used in constructing the biological profile of an unidentified body. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5. Talk begins at 6:30.)

Image: A mummified corpse in the crypt of the parish church of St. Thomas am Blasenstein in Austria. (Photo by Otto Normalverbraucher / Wikimedia Commons.)

Image: A mummified corpse in the crypt of the parish church of St. Thomas am Blasenstein in Austria. (Photo by Otto Normalverbraucher / Wikimedia Commons.)

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Macabre Poe,” a look at Edgar Allan Poe’s most gruesome and horrifying works and what inspired them, with Amy Branam Armiento, professor of English at Frostburg State University, immediate past president of the Poe Studies Association, and editor of two books on the acclaimed American author.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://profsandpints.ticketleap.com/pendulum/ .]

Stephen King has said that he and other horror writers are all “the children of Poe,” a reference to how they’re unable to escape his shadow. Although Edgar Allan Poe penned works in a long list of genres, including fantasy, detective fiction, and poetry, his most prominent legacy is as the master of the macabre. Over the nearly two centuries since Poe lived, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Pit and the Pendulum,” “The Cask of Amontillado,” and “The Masque of the Red Death” have haunted millions of readers.

Who, exactly, was Poe? Why does he remain as one of the United States’ best-known writers at home and abroad? Why do his works continue to resonate with readers more than 150 years after they were published?

Come hear such questions tackled by Amy Branam Armiento, a leading Poe scholar who edited More Than Love: The Enduring Fascination with Edgar Allan Poe, co-edited Poe and Women: Recognition and Revision, and formerly served as president of an international organization that supports the scholarly and informal exchange of information on Poe’s life, works, times, and influence.

Professor Armiento will look at which people and events influenced Poe’s literary works. His troubled life included the slow deaths of his mother, brother, foster mother, and wife, as well as a problematic relationship with alcohol and a difficult relationship with his foster father. All shaped his relationship with death, horror, and the unknown.

She'll also look at how Poe’s horror tales laid the groundwork for the characters, circumstances, and other conventions of horror stories. We’ll explore how Poe shattered literary conventions of his own time by embracing lurid descriptions of violence, especially violence perpetrated between family members and loved ones. You’ll learn how Poe adapted conventions of the fairy tale to create his memorable, haunting tales, an aspect of his work that is hidden in plain sight.

The presentation will also include examples of evocative artwork used to illustrate editions of Poe's works. Get ready to feel chills down your spine. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 4. Talk begins at 4:30. Attendees may arrive any time after 3 pm.)

Image: Poe as depicted in a modern retouched version of a daguerreotype by Mathew Benjamin Brady. (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.)

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Japanese Ghosts and Goblins,” a spooky evening of introduction to the spirits of Japanese folklore, with Michele M. Mason, associate professor of Japanese cultural studies at the University of Maryland, College Park.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://profsandpints.ticketleap.com/kappa/ .]

Japan has an impressive pantheon of frightful ghosts, goblins, shapeshifters, and tricksters. These strange and scary creatures trace back many centuries, hail from all parts of the country, and pop up at the center of cautionary tales, moral injunctions, and entertainment. And now, thanks to Profs and Pints, you have a chance to get to know them.

Be on hand as Dr. Michele Mason, a scholar of Japanese culture, discusses such frightening figures of the imagination in an image-rich talk drawing from literature, art, manga, and film.

She’ll discuss how the all-encompassing term yōkai contains a multitude of creepy and crazy creatures that have scared children and adults alike. Among them are innumerable bizarre animals, bewitching spirits, and peculiar priests.

Some are downright adorable, but don’t let looks deceive you. The racoon dog (tanuki) might be very cute, but its power to possess humans should give you pause.

Professor Mason will discuss the many versions of the vengeful spirits (onryō), and the kappa—a water creature who has a penchant for sucking the mythical ‘anus ball’ out of humans. (Yikes!)

You’ll learn how individual yōkai can function as a litmus test for the central social and cultural anxieties and assumptions of different historical eras, and thus offer valuable historical and social insights into Japan over time. You’ll see various renderings of yōkai —from 17th century hand scrolls and wood-block prints to modern day manga and horror films—that illustrate how Japan’s many fascinating and provocative ghosts have a lasting hold on our imagination even today.

You might end up wondering if you sense yōkai around you in the autumn breeze. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5. Talk begins at 6:30.)

Image: A yūrei, or “faint spirit,” from a Japanese handscroll depicting supernatural creatures. (Brigham Young University / Wikimedia Commons.)

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Meet the Monster,” an exploration of monsters and monstrosity in legend, literature, and our own minds, with Larissa “Kat” Tracy, visiting faculty at University of Maryland, Baltimore County and former professor of medieval literature.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://profsandpints.ticketleap.com/mash/ .]

Throughout history human minds have given rise to monsters as representations of our worst fears. In literature, monsters also have served a much broader purpose, as devices used in social or political commentary to cry out against corruption, inequality, and political and scientific despotism.

Spend a thoughtful evening getting to know things that go bump in the night with Dr. Kat Tracy, a scholar of all things saucy and nasty and the vice president of an academic society devoted to the study of medieval monsters and cryptozoology.

Taking us on a journey through time, she’ll help us get to know some of the earliest human-form monsters in world literature and culture. We’ll will look at the monstrous figures in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Dante’s Inferno, and Old Norse sagas, as well as at werewolf narratives from France, vampire tales from around the world, and ancient Greek myths.

We’ll trace the evolution of monsters in literature through the advent of the Gothic horror novel, and we’ll look at what monsters have come to represent in cultural festivals such as Diá de los Meurtos and Halloween, which brings monsters to our front doors.

Dr. Tracy will tackle questions such as: What makes a monster? How do monsters reflect our fears and our desires? Why are we so drawn to some monsters, like vampires, that we even find them sexy? (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Doors open at 5. Talk begins at 6:30.)

Image: A colored etching of a “Peruvian harpy” dating to the 1700s. (Public Domain / Wellcome Collection.)