James came together with two other brilliant and charismatic thinkers of the day-Richard Hodgson, a converted skeptic, and James Hyslop, a natural grandstander who would often visit mediums unannounced, a hooded mask covering his face-to form the core of the American Society for Psychical Research. They eventually merged with the British Society for Psychical Research, adding to the group the Cambridge philosopher Henry Sidgwick and his tiny, ferociously smart wife Eleanor, as well as the mythically handsome Edmund Gurney and others. While studies of ESP and ghostly visitations have occurred since the days of the society, at no other time have scientists of the caliber of James and his colleagues devoted themselves in such an ambitious and driven way for evidence of a life beyond. James and his band of brothers staked their reputations, their careers, even their sanity, on one of the most extraordinary (and entertaining) psychological quests ever undertaken, a quest that brought its followers right up against the limits of science. This riveting book is about the investigation of the ghost stories-the instances of supernatural phenomena that could not be explained away-and it is about the courage and conviction of William James and his colleagues to study science with an open mind. At the heart of the story is the ongoing tension between empiricism and spiritualism-between a way of explaining the world that is grounded in the purely tangible and a way that is grounded in a mixture of the evident and the hidden. Pulitzer Prize-winning author Deborah Blum uses her extraordinary storytelling skills and scientific insight to explore nothing less than the nexus of science and religion. It is a territory as fascinating to us now as it was to William James and his colleagues then.

    A desperate search for reunion with dead loved ones precipitated a tidal wave of self-proclaimed psychics—and, as reputable media sought stories on occult phenomena, mediums became celebrities. Against this backdrop, in 1924, the pretty wife of a distinguished Boston surgeon came to embody the raging national debate over Spiritualism, a movement devoted to communication with the dead. Reporters dubbed her the blonde Witch of Lime Street, but she was known to her followers simply as Margery. Her most vocal advocate was none other than Sherlock Holmes' creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, who believed so thoroughly in Margery's powers that he urged her to enter a controversial contest, sponsored by Scientific American and offering a large cash prize to the first medium declared authentic by its impressive five-man investigative committee.  Admired for both her exceptional charm and her dazzling effects, Margery was the best hope for the psychic practice to be empirically verified.  Her supernatural gifts beguiled four of the judges. There was only one left to convince...the acclaimed escape artist, Harry Houdini.David Jaher's extraordinary debut culminates in the showdown between Houdini, a relentless unmasker of charlatans, and Margery, the nation's most credible spirit medium. The Witch of Lime Street, the first book to capture their electric public rivalry and the competition that brought them into each other’s orbit, returns us to an oft-mythologized era to deepen our understanding of its history, all while igniting our imagination and engaging with the timeless question: Is there life after death?

    Such strange and chilling tales run the gamut of the terrifying and the bizarre and include crime victims, lost explorers, ships vanished at sea, outdoor disappearances, and supernatural mysteries that defy all explanation. Among these pages you’ll find accounts of America’s Lost Colony, history’s most famous ghost ships, famous figures who vanished into the unknown, the unknown fate of America’s first kidnapping for ransom, a vanished heiress, lighthouse keepers who impossibly disappeared, the killer who escaped the noose – permanently, the Grand Canyon adventurers who were never seen again, the Prohibition lawman’s nephew who was never found, the Ohio sorority girl who never made it home, the abducted housewife who disappeared, the Hollywood starlet who left her family behind, a missing West Point cadet, the babysitter who vanished on Halloween, the missing Texas couple who may have been Russian spies, the little boy who walked away for good in the Smoky Mountains, a missing heiress to a candy empire, a missing TV news reporter, a long distance runner whose run never ended, plus infamous vanishings of figures like Theodosia Burr, Amelia Earhart, Glenn Miller, Judge Crater, Jimmy Hoffa, and far too many more! Just remember as you turn the pages, that if these people so easily vanished from the face of the earth, then it means it could happen to anyone – perhaps even you. You may want to read this one with the lights on.

    

    Hans Holzer, the foremost authority on the subject of the paranormal and author of over 100 books, has written a bone-chilling collection of case histories of real hauntings in America. Actual experiences of seemingly inexplicable phenomena investigated by Dr. Holzer himself introduce you to strange happenings and ghostly "stay behinds" in all areas of the United States. Case after case of amazing events may well change any skeptic's outlook on the hereafter.

    This book examines oddities and raises questions about facts always taken for granted.

    The Demonologist reveals the grave religious process behind supernatural events and how it can happen to you. Over twenty years in print, here is the original uncut version of this classic text. Illustrated with photographs of phenomena in progress, every sentence in the book is true. Used as a text in seminaries and classrooms, this is one book you can't put down.

    The lure of the Island has made it the top tourist destination in the state of Michigan. However, Mackinac Island holds many secrets. These secrets come in many forms—some from beyond the grave, others passed down for hundreds of years.If you have been to Mackinac Island many times before, or you have not yet visited this gem of the Great Lakes, the stories in this book will both inform and entertain you.Inside this book you will not only find many of the Island's ghost stories, legends, and tragic tales, but also a brief history describing each location. In addition, stories from the Straits of Mackinac, including deadly shipwrecks, ghost ships, and other tragedies, are included. Last, for those unfamiliar with ghostly phenomena, you will find a chapter with a crash course introduction to the who, what, when, why, and where of ghosts.

    Cooper"... For every instance rationalized away, there is another that defies explanation...

    Here, for the first time, Aykroyd tells the strange and delightful story that inspired his son, Dan, to make the mega-hit, "Ghostbusters." Part history, part family legend, "A History of Ghosts "starts in 1848 in upstate New York, where the spiritualist craze first began. Aykroyd introduces the reader to notable mediums while telling the story of the development of spiritualism, interweaving a personal history marked by a fascination with ghosts and spirits with the larger narrative about the role the paranormal has played in our culture. Such legendary figures as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini appear and vanish.

    But what happens when she is never found? These are the true stories of thirty missing women. Fascinated by missing persons reports and cold cases for as long as she can remember, JJ Slate's debut true crime book highlights true stories of wives that have mysteriously vanished, presumably at the hands of their husbands. Countless cases like these have played out under the public spotlight, and many of them have been solved after the wife's remains have eventually been found. But some of these women remain missing years later, denying the families their right to bury their loved one. Many of these families continue the gruesome search for the remains of their daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, or mother years, even decades, later. Missing Wives, Missing Lives focuses on thirty unique cases in which the wife has never been found and the undying efforts of her family as they continue the painful search to bring her home. The book covers decades old cases, such as Jeanette Zapata, who has been missing since 1976, to more recent and widely known cases, such as Stacy Peterson, who has been missing since 2007. Keeping these women's stories alive may be the key to solving the mystery and bringing them home to their families. Someone out there knows something.

    An investigative reporter looks into 13 tales of mysterious, creepy, and unexplained events in the Buckeye State, including:• The giant, spark-emitting Loveland Frog• The bloodthirsty Melon Heads of Kirtland• The lumber-wielding Werewolf of Defiance• The Mothman of the Ohio River• The UFO that inspired "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"• and more!

    Vampires, werewolves, zombies, demons--they're simply figments of our imagination, right? After all, their existence has never been scientifically proven. But there is one giant problem with such an easy dismissal of these creepy creatures: people keep encountering them.Join occult scholar John Michael Greer for a harrowing journey into the reality of the impossible. Combining folklore, Western magical philosophy, and actual field experience, Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings is required reading for both active and armchair monster hunters. Between these covers you'll find a chilling collection of fiendish facts and folklore, including:Why true vampires are the least attractive--and most destructive--of all monsters The five different kinds of ghosts Magical origins of the werewolf legends How to survive a chimera encounter (Jersey Devil, chupacabra, Mothman) The hidden connections between faery lore and UFOs Where dragons are found today How to investigate a monster sighting Natural and ritual magic techniques for dealing with hostile monsters This 10th anniversary edition of the quintessential guide to magical beings features a new preface, new chapters on chimeras and zombies, and updates on werewolves, dragons, and the fae.

    Written by Terry Lovelace, a 64 year-old lawyer and former assistant attorney general. In 2012 a routine x-ray of my leg found an anomalous bit of metal the size of a fingernail with two tiny wires attached. What followed were horrific nightmares, spontaneous recall and intrusive thoughts surrounding a 1977 camping trip I took with a friend to Devils Den State Park in Northern Arkansas. For fear of losing my job and my standing in the legal community I've kept this secret for 40 years. But the 2012 discovery of this object, one and one-half inches deep in my thigh, initiated a flood of nightmares I could not control. My poor health and the horrific memories were the catalyst to come forward and finally disclose what happened back in 1977. My friend and I were on a two-day camping trip to photograph eagles and wildlife. Rather than stay in the campground we chose to drive deep into an isolated area and set-up our camp on a high plateau that offered a scenic view of the wilderness. Late in the evening of our first night in camp a group of three very bright stars in the western sky caught our attention. Arranged in a triangle configuration we speculated as to what it could be? We eliminated aircraft lights due to the triangle configuration. Then it moved. The three stars rotated as if on an axis and slowly ascended upward. As it rose the three points of light spread apart, each equidistant to the others. The stars grew larger and brighter. As the triangle passed over stars they would blink-out for a moment and then blink-back again as it moved over them. The area inside the triangle was black, darker than the night sky. As the points expanded they were eventually devouring entire fields of stars as it traveled higher and moved closer to our camp. It eventually halted directly over us. It was huge. A third of the sky was covered by this black triangle overhead without a single star in between the three points. It was as if someone had cut an enormous triangle out of a sky filled with a billion stars. It descended until it was about thirty feet over the floor of the meadow. The size of the object was unbelievable. Each side of the triangle was a city block in length. I estimated its height at fifty feet or more. The size of a five story office building it sat motionless above the floor of the meadow. What followed was a horrific abduction experience. We both suffered badly from burns and dehydration and were hospitalized for two nights. I was interviewed by special agents from the USAF Security Police's "OSI" or Office of Special Investigations. They mistakenly believed I had photographed the object and I was viciously interrogated by two of their special agents. They demanded my film. My home and car were searched by consent and I was hypnotized to assist my recall. It was a nightmare that left my wife and I sour on the whole UFO and the allegations surrounding our experience. I never intended to tell anyone. But the events of 2012 opened a door to memories about the abduction experience I had long forgotten and had no desire to even remember. In 2016 and in poor health I decided it was the right time to disclose everything I knew and everything we experienced. The piece of metal in my leg was the genesis of this story. There is so much more that happened.

    It seems the more our maps of the known world get filled in, the more we crave mysterious locations full of strange creatures.Enter Colin Dickey, Cultural Historian and Tour Guide of the Weird. With the same curiosity and insight that made Ghostland a hit with readers and critics, Colin looks at what all fringe beliefs have in common, explaining that today's Illuminati is yesterday's Flat Earth: the attempt to find meaning in a world stripped of wonder. Dickey visits the wacky sites of America's wildest fringe beliefs--from the famed Mount Shasta where the ancient race (or extra-terrestrials, or possibly both, depending on who you ask) called Lemurians are said to roam, to the museum containing the last remaining "evidence" of the great Kentucky Meat Shower--investigating how these theories come about, why they take hold, and why as Americans we keep inventing and re-inventing them decade after decade. The Unidentified is Colin Dickey at his best: curious, wry, brilliant in his analysis, yet eminently readable.