Deborah Hyde

Early life

Deborah Hyde's interest in the supernatural stems from her childhood and she attributes it to "having spent too much time with mad aunties". While other girls are usually interested in fairies and angels, she has always been fascinated by "dark stuff". She started out believing, but that changed with her discovering 'The Black Arts' by occult writer Richard Cavendish, which made her apply a more analytic approach to these phenomena.

Career outside of skepticism

For years she was in the business of distributing collectibles, during which time she spent a few years in New York City. That period was followed in the '90s by her activities as a makeup and creature effects coordinator and production manager for film and TV. This is also her current occupation (mainly in set-construction).

Contributions to the film industry

Deborah Hyde has contributed to several motion pictures as a staff member and coordinator in the makeup department (responsible for prosthetics and creature effects on the horror films Doghouse and 1408, makeup effects coordinator for the drama On a Clear Day), and has also worked as an actress in Doghouse (the barmaid) and The Brothers Grimm (Corpse Queen). She even contributed to Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone as a tendril of the magical strangling Devil’s Snare plant. In 2013 she was the producer of the short film "Wisdom", in which she also gave her voice to one of the characters.

Career as a skeptic

She started to research and write about belief in the supernatural in the '90s and has been blogging about these topics under the name "Jourdemayne" since 2009. Her website is operated under the same name, borrowed from an educated 15th century woman, who was also known by the name "Witch of Eye" and eventually burnt for witchcraft in Smithfield, London in 1441. The persona was chosen because "she was sought by many for her knowledge of dark matters" and that appears to be a common theme between them.

Throughout her blogposts and talks Deborah Hyde follows an investigative, understanding approach to the interconnectedness of folklore, belief systems, fear from the unknown and natural phenomena. In her public appearances and writings, the following supernatural phenomena have been covered extensively:

Public appearances across the UK

She has been invited to speak at several different events including Skeptics in the Pub gatherings all across the UK (Winchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Wycombe, Manchester, Greenwich, etc.) as well as the international skeptics convention "QED - Question, Explore, Discover" in Manchester, where she is a regular speaker.

Hyde has spoken twice at the "Skeptics on the Fringe" in Edinburgh with two of her lectures, "Interview With a Vampire Expert" and "The Natural History of the European Werewolf", both of which were received well with the skeptical audience.

International appearances

Deborah Hyde's talks at international conventions outside the UK have so far been given mostly in the US, including a post-Halloween public lecture on "The Natural History of the European Werewolf" for the New York City Skeptics and an appearance with the same talk at Skepticon-5 in Springfield.

She has also been invited to the Ratio Forum for Popular Science in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2013 where she gave a talk on Vampires and attended a panel discussion along with Susan Blackmore.

Hyde will deliver a presentation about the The Restless Ghost of Wrocław at the 17th European Skeptics Congress (September 22nd to 24th) at the University of Wrocław, Wrocław Poland.

Involvement in the Enfield Poltergeist case

In 2011, Deborah Hyde was asked to take part in a discussion on "This Morning" on ITV1 as an expert, representing the skeptical viewpoint about the famous Enfield Poltergeist case from 1977. Janet Hodgson, who had been a child at the time of the case, deeply affected by the happenings, also made a rare appearance on the show, along with Guy Lyon Playfair, both of whom were deeply insulted by the rationalistic comments Hyde made during the discussion, resulting in Lyon Playfair writing a post on his blog about it. This situation eventually led her to write about the case and its background, along with a general explanation through several examples about why people fabricate malevolent figures to fear.

Other activities as a skeptic

She was co-convenor of Westminster Skeptics and now acts as a speaker liaison of Soho Skeptics, an independent think tank involving several organisations, writers, film-makers, podcasters to promote talks, panel discussions and other events in the London area.

Managing Editor of The Skeptic

In 2011 she was appointed Managing Editor of "The Skeptic", a UK magazine promoting science and critical thinking, succeeding Lindsay Kallis and many renowned skeptics who had been editors in the past, including Chris French and founder of the magazine Wendy M. Grossman. The first issue of the magazine under her era was Volume 23 Issue 2 in 2011.

As Editor-in-Chief, she has been working with an international advisory board of experts from many different fields, some of whom are globally recognised scientists, science educators and science enthusiasts, like Susan Blackmore, Stephen Fry, Derren Brown, Brian Cox, Richard Dawkins, Edzard Ernst, Robin Ince, PZ Myers, Phil Plait, Massimo Polidoro, Simon Singh, James Randi and Richard Wiseman.

The Ockham Awards

In 2012, Deborah Hyde came up with the idea of a prize that could be given to those with serious achievements within different fields of skeptical activism in order to provide recognition to people investing large amounts of work in promoting science and skepticism. Starting that year, the Ockham Awards Ceremony has been an annual event at "QED - Question, Explore, Discover". The prize is officially awarded by The Skeptic magazine in several categories, agreed upon by a committee featuring renowned skeptics (Prof. Chris French, Prof. Richard Wiseman, Wendy Grossman, Jon Ronson and Simon Singh).

Personal life

Deborah Hyde lives in the United Kingdom, in West London.