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QUESTCON - A HISTORY
QuestCon, or the Questing Conference as it was formally known, is an institution, being one of the oldest and most established forums on revisionist history, forbidden archaeology, mysteries of time and space, altered states of consciousness and the human mind in Britain today. It allows the audience to interact with some of the subject's top author-researchers through listening to their exclusive presentations, and even being able to speak with them directly on matters of common interest. It is an opportunity which enables attendees to feel part of a much greater community that comes together once a year to discuss and exchange new information in the various fields of study to which it subscribes.
Over the years the QuestCon - which from 1986 through to 1998 was known as the Psychic Questing Conference, and the Questing Conference from 1999 to 2002 - has attracted some of the top names in the business. Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Colin Wilson, Andrew Collins, Lynn Picknett, Clive Prince, Robert Temple, Michael Carmichael, Graham Phillips, Professor Archie Roy, Michael Rice, Ian Lawton, Chris Ogilvie-Herald, 2000 AD creator Pat Mills, fantasy writer Storm Constantine and even the late great Michael Bentine have all spoken at previous conferences. Even Charlie Chuck, the character 'Uncle Peter' on 'Reeves and Mortimer', graced its stage on one occasion. Applications to deliver lectures at the event are received so frequently that many potential speakers are turned down, simply because the event's organisers believe that its audience are entitled only to the best of what's happening in any one particular year. The subject matter does not matter, so long as it is thoroughly researched and is causing waves of interest among the mysteries community. Its horizons are not fixed by any boundaries, meaning that it can equally have a presentation on an alleged alien skull alongside serious lectures on ancient Egyptian technology, archaeo-astronomy, the earth mysteries, cutting-edge anthropology and new studies in human consciousness.
At the core of QuestCon is a belief that many great thinkers who make advancements in subjects on the fringes of science and history are inspired by intuition, and this includes many of the speakers themselves, some of whom are prepared, at least among friends, to admit this fact. However, for the conference's founder, historical writer Andrew Collins, it is a matter he makes no bones about. Having worked with talented psychics, mediums and remote reviewers for over 25 years he has come to accept their importance not only in the advancement of new knowledge, but also in the way they might have inspired the rise of civilisation, religion and cosmology, going back to our earliest ancestors who must surely have been influenced by similar gifted individuals under the guise of priest-shamans. The more we can understand the human mind, and the processes of human consciousness, the more we can begin to comprehend their affect on history, and this is the long term aim of Andrew and his colleagues who strive to explore this subject more fully, both in personal research and by presenting key speakers at QuestCon eaach year.
QuestCon is no ordinary conference. It is unique, with a feeling and attitude unmatched by any other similar event in Britain, and this is reflected by the amount of people who attend annually. Always this is over 400, with a staggering 950 delegates attending the millennial event at the Institute of Education in 1999. Today the conference is held at Cecil Sharp House, home of the English Folk, Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), which itself can claim a grand heritage with past lectures and concerts by the likes of Dion Fortune, Margaret Murray, Gerald Gardner, and composer Vaughan Williams, to name but a few. QuestCon is proud to continue this tradition through into future generations.
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