By Jo Knowsley

THERE was no evidence of vampires in the lecture theatre. No sign of aliens at the bar. But in the foyer of the University of London Institute of Education yesterday one man was convinced he had "smelled" an angel.

Most of the 1,500 people who attended the third annual "Unconvention" of Fortean Times, the magazine which delves into the paranormal, the unexplained and things that go bump in the night, wanted to believe in something.

And there were plenty of people to help them do it. David Heppell, a curator at the Royal Museum of Scotland, spoke on recent reports of modern mermaids. Nick Pope, a former UFO investigator for the Ministry of Defence, himself a new believer, was content to preach to the converted.

Downstairs, Dr Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, a researcher into paranormal activity, was conducting Victorian-style seances. "We're not trying to help people get in touch with the dead," he explained. "But we are interested in the phenomena of seances; what does occur and what those who take part believe has occurred are often very different."

There were lectures on the Evolution of the Vampire, the theme at the two-day event; discussions of footage showing the autopsies of aliens; and a debate on What Are Ghosts? Inevitably there was a hall full of products to go with them.

David Lomax, the man who smelled an angel, is a minister of Greenhill New Church in Barnet, Herts. He said he had encountered the presence last year. He has now researched a book on the subject and says his life has been "different" ever since.

But Samantha Hamilton, 23, of Hertfordshire, who has an animal science degree, was interested in vampires. "I find them fascinating and erotic," she said. "Does that sound strange? My mother thinks so."

Marina White, 50, of London, who is compelled by the night skies and her search for UFOs, went so far as to divorce her husband because he did not share her interests.

"I'd be out looking for UFOs and studying the stars and he only wanted to sit and drink," she said. "I think that's perfectly reasonable grounds for divorce."

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