🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
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benpaites.bsky.social
🏰 Ben Paites 🏛️
@benpaites.bsky.social
3.7K followers 450 following 810 posts
Senior Curator at Colchester Museums. Mainly Roman archaeology and LGBTQ+ history. Also cat dad to Artemis and enthusiastic Gaymer. He/Him

Author of 50 LGBTQ+ Finds: https://www.amberley-books.com/50-lgbtq-finds.html

Website: https://www.ben-paites.com
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benpaites.bsky.social
I’ve sold more copies of my “50 LGBTQ+ Finds “ book in the past 6 months than my “50 Finds from Essex” book has sold in the past 8 years. 😭

Thank you everyone who has bought a copy!
A copy of the book 50 LGBTQ+ Finds. The title is in yellow with a large white 50. A green bust of a young man is in the centre bottom. The cover is dark. The author Ben Paites is written at the bottom of the cover. It sits on green fabric.
November 22, 2025 at 10:27 AM
benpaites.bsky.social
I was very excited to recommend “A Good Year” by the wonderful @polisloizou.bsky.social for the Christmas meeting of my local LGBTQ+ book club. I was so excited in fact I’ve finished it almost a month early. Highly recommended, especially if you love folklore and superstition.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

👹🎄🤰👬🇨🇾
A book on a green fabric background. The front cover has the title “A Good Year” in red at the bottom with the author name “Polis Loizou” beneath in black. The images of a devilish hand stretching from left to right, with hairy arms and long nails, is surrounded by leaves of different states of decay. A strong is tied to the index finger and forms a circle extending away from the hand and looping around to the other side. The publisher, Fairlight Moderns, is at the top with a lighthouse logo. The cover has a green border.
November 19, 2025 at 10:02 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
It’s a tough one as it’s been a good year for games. I’ve played plenty that didn’t release this year too. As of 2025 releases though, it’s either South of Midnight or AC shadows.
The poster for a game called South of midnight. A young black woman with a single braid down her back is top right, she is turned away from us but looks back over her right shoulder. Below is a bronze distaff, used in weaving. Bottom right is a tree covered in bottles and the title is in a dark font to the left of it. A red background with a Japanese Torii gate. In front is a samurai and a ninja, posed facing opposite directions. The title of the game, Assassins Creed Shadows is above in white.
November 18, 2025 at 8:22 AM
benpaites.bsky.social
Never forget that the witch persecutions of the 1500s and 1600s were a cover for several much more pervasive forms of hate that continue to this very day.

-Misogyny
-Ableism
-Antisemitism
-homophobia
-Anti-Catholicism

Image: Witches at Sabbath, from “The history of witches and wizards”, 1720.
A black and white print of four people with pointed hats and long dresses dancing in a circle with four figures who have horns and tails.
November 16, 2025 at 10:15 AM
benpaites.bsky.social
Found this supposedly Bronze Age spear in the stores today, seemingly with parts of the wooden shaft in it. I’m slightly sceptical on the date given how poorly wood survives in the ground, but isn’t it cool!
A green coloured spear with bits of wood in the shaft.
November 14, 2025 at 4:01 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Saw this on FB, not sure the original source (Reddit somewhere?), and thought of @oldenoughtosay.com. Apologies if you’ve seen this before (a thousand times).
A screenshot of a Reddit post. It shows an alligators head above the water with that appears to be a knife sticking in it. The text above reads “maybe the greatest thing I’ve ever seen on the internet. Below reads “I’m pretty sure whoever pulls the knife from the gator’s head gets to be the new king of Florida.” Below that someone has posted “excaligator”.
November 10, 2025 at 10:36 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Watching the embers fly from the bonfire @foodmuseumuk.bsky.social at the weekend made me think about the stories of fire sprites and imps that are found throughout the world in folklore. Was it these dancing, flickering lights that people once thought were mischeivous spirits?
An image of a giant bonfire, formed from a stack of wooden pallets. It is on grass with a black sky behind. The embers, thousands of small orange specks of light, float upwards from it
November 10, 2025 at 12:49 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
At Colchester Castle, there’s a temporary display about the origins of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance and the incredible work of Anna Guérin who started it all. #LestWeForget
A display showing remembrance poppies from throughout history. Mostly paper with a single large metal and ceramic poppy at the back. The backdrop appears like a sunset with orange and yellow at the top and navy below, transitioning gently. A display showing a black and white photo with men making paper puppies and on the right a book with a black and white woman and poppies decorating it. The title is The Poppy Lwdy
November 9, 2025 at 2:02 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
10 more seconds of fame last night on BBC Look East. Before you ask for what crime, I was asked to comment on the Roman burials found in Chelmsford.
A blurry image of a white man with short dark hair and a beard. The banner for BBC look East is below showing his name, Ben Paites, place of work as Colchester Museums. There’s a white BBC logo in the top left corner.
November 7, 2025 at 6:46 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
As spooky season lingers on, I’m thinking about the concept of Memento Mori (remember you will die). This ring has an incredible skeleton design on the outside, as a reminder to both the wearer and observer. Inside is an inscription for a departed loved one.
cim-web.adlibhosting.com/ais6/Details...
A gold ring with black enamel on the outside forming an image of a skeleton in the gold. Faint traces of an inscription are visible inside the band.
November 6, 2025 at 8:17 AM
benpaites.bsky.social
As it’s spooky season (Hallowe’en has gone and I can’t let go) here’s a throwback to Wicked Spirits, an exhibition I put together with the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic.

Essex had the highest rates of women executed for witchcraft throughout the 1500s and 1600s.
A display case on the right showing open books, layered on acrylic stands as if flying. A display case with a taxidermy cat, a pig skull, toads and a fake loaf of cake. It has a burnt black background and labels with white text on black. A display case with various books and printed images. In the centre is a key with a hagstone, a stone with a hole in it, attached. A display case with colourful tarot cards on the right. To the left an assortment of objects including a silver coloured tankard, a brown cylinder with tube extending from it that is a hearing aid, a photo and some black and white reproduced documents.
November 3, 2025 at 8:36 AM
benpaites.bsky.social
Happy Hallowe’en from the 人魚 (Ningyo) in the Mythical Creatures exhibition at Colchester Castle. Sculptures like these once decorated shrines in Japan and were traded with European merchants, who passed them off as “real” mermaids.

On loan from Brighton and Hove museums.
A close up of a figurine made from monkey teeth and wood. It shows the creepy looking face and long sharp fingers pointed forward with arms bent. A half fish half human looking sculpture made of wood, money teeth and fish scales. It is suspended on a metal rod and corral and shells are scattered below. It looks as if it is swimming through the display case. It has a creepy looking face, skinny arms with sharp fingers and a torso that transitions into a fish tail.
October 31, 2025 at 5:38 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Tonight at 9pm on Sky History is the final episode of Witches of Essex. I show @profaliceroberts.bsky.social and Rylan Colchester Castle’s surviving Gaol cells as they explore the horrific case of the Manningtree witch trials.

Also available to stream on Now TV and Apple TV.
A man in a white suite and a woman in a long black dress stand in a forest. He has black hair and beard, immaculately cut. She has shoulder length blonde hair and rests her right hand on the man’s shoulder. A wolf lies to the left of them and a crow is on a branch to the right. The title Witches of Essex is to the left of the scene. A man with short hair and beard, stood in front of a wood and metal jail cell. He wears a navy number with a geometric pattern of orange, brown, green and white.
October 28, 2025 at 7:39 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
My beautiful 17 year-old girl Artemis says happy spooky season on #NationalBlackCatDay
A black cat with a witches hat that has bright pink spiderweb decoration on it. She lays on a bed with jungle design duvet.
October 27, 2025 at 7:10 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Rummaging through the stores for something entirely unrelated and I found these three prints of a church in the town I grew up in! It is St Laurence Church, but clearly at some point was just referred to as Upminster Church.
Three black and white drawings on off white paper or card, two show the external view of a medieval church with a square tower. The other is the internal view of the church showing a pointed arch and an elaborately decorated partition wall beyond.
October 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
This fossil shark tooth can be found in stone somewhere in the walls of Colchester castle. Some say these inclusions are intentional, chosen by Norman builders, while others think they’re a happy accident. See if you can spot it next time you visit.
A stone wall with one of the stones containing a shiny pointed shark tooth.
October 21, 2025 at 8:33 AM
benpaites.bsky.social
Went to see the stage show of My Neighbour Totoro yesterday as a treat for the end of a very busy week. What an amazing show! I was brought to tears at moments 🥰 10000 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
A stage with a large sign for My Neighbour Totoro with a blue background and large white letters. The letters for Totoro are larger and thicker and made of fabric.
October 13, 2025 at 8:56 AM
benpaites.bsky.social
Had a wonderful time in Cardiff this week for the @museumsassociation.org conference. Met some wonderful people and hung out with some familiar faces (thanks @sachacoward.bsky.social for a great after after party each night). Fantastic insights from across UK museums too.
#Museums2025
A large cavernous hall with people milling around and talking to one another. Blue and red lights illuminate walls at the far end. A large white tall imposing building at the top of a hill with steep stairs leading up to it, running from right to left in the photo. Cardiff castle’s exterior walls lit with a blue light. They are very tall with several square towers at various points. Grass is in front with a short chain fence running along a path in the bottom left.
October 11, 2025 at 7:16 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Day 6 - Moirai
#ClassicsTober #ClassicsTober25
White chalk on black background style design. A young short girl stands to the left, a woman in the centre and older woman to the right kneeling. Each holds a spindle with thread connecting them. Below is the Greek word Moirai.
October 6, 2025 at 9:55 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
I’m speaking at the #MAConference this Wednesday. Very excited to hear the other speakers for what will be an incredible few days in Cardiff.
Who else will be there?

This was me during the Brighton conference in 2019 (Photo by Dan Vo)
@museumsassociation.org #Museums2025
A man with a rainbow cape pouting at the camera.
October 5, 2025 at 6:04 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Day 5 - Hermes Psychopompos
#ClassicTober #ClassicsTober25
An image of the god Hermes with a winged hat and a short tunic, holding a torch in his left hand and reaching out to a spirit, covered in a shroud, with his right arm. Below is the Greek for Hermes Psychompos.
October 5, 2025 at 3:32 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Day 4 - Shroud
#ClassicsTober #ClassicsTober25
A drawing like chalk on a black background. A shrouded figure with the word shroud written beneath.
October 4, 2025 at 7:22 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Serenity
October 4, 2025 at 4:59 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Gay 3 - Graiai
#ClassicsTober #ClassicsTober25
A black background with white chalk like drawing of three faces. One central with a single eye and single tooth sticking out of their lips and long hair. The figures either side are facing the central figure, with no eyes and a faint smile on their closed mouths. Below is the Greek word Graiai.
October 3, 2025 at 5:56 PM
benpaites.bsky.social
Day 2 - Thanatos
#ClassicsTober #ClassicsTober25
A ghostly figure drawing like chalk on black paper. It shows a winged skeleton with a long sword on his left hip. Below are Greek letters which read Thanatos.
October 2, 2025 at 7:57 PM