admin
August 22, 2021
WORDS & PICTURES: Gareth E. Rees
LOCATION: A street near you
The smooth metal surfaces of Britain’s streetlights are a prime canvas for graffiti, coded messages and promotional stickers. Spread out at regular intervals in densely populated urban areas and illuminated at night, they are an ideal medium for conspiracy theorists, artists, musicians and local kids expressing their latest beef.
If we broaden the definition of ‘occult’ to include its original meaning, “clandestine, hidden, secret”, then lampposts can be viewed as an unofficial channel of covert ‘dark’ communication. Often these messages are creepy, weird and horrific.
Take this one below, daubed in the number of the beast. The same person repeated this across all of the lampposts in this one road in Hastings, a notorious hub for occultists and the town in which Crowley died (and allegedly cursed).
Or this one, referencing the ‘killer clown’, John Wayne Gacy who murdered 33 young men and boys in Chicago during the 1970s.
Meanwhile in Bristol – They Live!
This one is truly sinister- a plastic bottle stuffed with crow feathers. What does it mean? Who is this for?
Below, you’ll see a slightly sparkling punk band sharing space with a Bill Gates Covid vaccine conspiracy theory (technically a traffic light not a lamppost, but you get my drift).
More conspiracy!
Owls are a common symbol of wisdom, knowledge and intelligence…
The demon approaches…
I think the subliminal message here is DO take drugs. Drugs are great.
Decaying skull, consumed by rust.
The black cat with demonic red eyes HATES Nazis and so should we all. FIGHT BACK!
For more of my weird trips through everyday urban spaces, check out my book UNOFFICIAL BRITAIN; JOURNEYS THROUGH UNEXPECTED PLACES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gareth E. Rees is author of Unofficial Britain (Elliott & Thompson, 2020) Car Park Life (Influx Press 2019), The Stone Tide (Influx Press, 2018) and Marshland (Influx Press, 2013).
