Weird Studies and the Center for Possible Minds present Weird Academia, a series of events exploring ideas that challenge the conventional boundaries of scholarship.

The occult, mysticism, hauntings, telepathy, UFOs, spirit mediumship: the study of such phenomena seldom finds a home in mainstream academia. Intellectual work on the Weird comes in conflict with unspoken and entrenched metaphysical assumptions within the academy. Consequently, serious thinking on the Weird has mostly taken place in para-academic spaces, its best thinkers intellectually sophisticated but institutionally unhoused. The purpose of Weird Academia is to consider how a conversation that flourishes in unlicensed and liminal spaces might find a foothold in academia and, at the same time, how academia might benefit from a closer walk with the Weird.

All Weird Academia events take place at Indiana University Bloomington during the last week of January, 2026. All events are free.