From a sequence of knocks and rattles translated by the young girls as a "voice from beyond," the Modern Spiritualism movement was born.Talking to the Dead follows the fascinating story of the two girls who were catapulted into an odd limelight after communicating with spirits that March night. Within a few years, tens of thousands of Americans were flocking to seances. An international movement followed. Yet thirty years after those first knocks, the sisters shocked the country by denying they had ever contacted spirits. Shortly after, the sisters once again changed their story and reaffirmed their belief in the spirit world. Weisberg traces not only the lives of the Fox sisters and their family (including their mysterious Svengali-like sister Leah) but also the social, religious, economic and political climates that provided the breeding ground for the movement. While this is a thorough, compelling overview of a potent time in US history, it is also an incredible ghost story.An entertaining read - a story of spirits and conjurors, skeptics and converts - Talking to the Dead is full of emotion and surprise. Yet it will also provoke questions that were being asked in the 19th century, and are still being asked today - how do we know what we know, and how secure are we in our knowledge?

    Spanning decades and continents, subjects range from the opulent Hope Diamond to the humble Busy Stoop chair.They're lurking in museums, graveyards, and private homes around the world. Their stories have inspired countless horror movies, reality TV shows, campfire tales, books, and even chain emails. They're cursed objects, and in order to unleash a wave of misfortune, all they need...is you. As a culture, we can't seem to get enough of cursed objects. But never before have the true stories of these infamous real-life items been compiled into a fascinating and chilling volume.Entries include: • Annabelle the Doll, a Raggedy Ann doll which inspired the acclaimed horror franchise The Conjuring • The Tomb of Tutankhamen, the discovery of which kicked-started media hysteria over a rumored "Curse of the Pharaohs" • The Ring of Silvianus, a Roman artifact believed to have inspired J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit • The Hope Diamond, which was owned by kings and inspired the Heart of the Ocean in James Cameron's Titanic • The Dybbuk Box, which was sold on eBay and inspired the horror film The PossessionWhether you believe in curses or not, the often tragic and always bizarre stories behind these objects will fascinate you. Many of them have intersected with some of the most notable events and people in history. But beyond Hollywood and beyond the hysteria, author J. W. Ocker suggests that cursed objects are simply objects which have been witness to great human tragedy, and thereafter operate as mechanisms for remembering and retelling those stories. Cursed Objects will be equally appealing to true believers as well as history buffs, horror fans, and anyone who loves a good spine-tingling tale.

     Add a hot vampire, a few werewolves, and a ghost or two to the mix, and that spells trouble! When she's not learning magic, she's attempting to solve crimes. Thank goodness she has the help of her knitting circle and furry friends!  This boxset includes four Hillcrest Witch Cozy Mysteries: Book #6: The Case of the Voice Spell Book #7: The Case of the Earth Spell Book #8: The Case of the Water Spell Book #9: The Case of the Air Spell

    It includes amazing true stories- a dangerous ghost friend with a hidden agenda, the hodgepodge of psychics who gathered in his mother's kitchen, ghost hunting misadventures, spirit messages, possession- along with an inspiring account of his successful battle against chemical dependancy as he learned to accept his unusual gift.

    Very Good conditions. May have soft reading marks and name of the previous owner.

    Wimbourne Books presents the first in a series of rare or out-of-print ghost stories from Victorian authors. With an introduction by author Alastair Gunn, Volume 1 in the series spans the years 1852 to 1899 and includes stories from a wide range of female authors; English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and American. Includes tales by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Charlotte Riddell, Isabella Banks and Gertrude Atherton. Readers new to this genre will discover its pleasures; the Victorian quaintness, the sometimes shocking difference in social norms, the almost comical politeness and structured etiquette, the archaic and precise language, but mostly the Victorians’ skill at stoking our fears and trepidations, our insecurities and doubts. Even if you are already an aficionado of the ghostly tale there is much within these pages to interest you. Wait until the dark of the stormy night arrives, lock the doors, shutter the windows, light the fire, sit with your back to the wall and bury yourself in the Victorian macabre. Try not to let the creaking floorboards, the distant howl of a dog, the chill breeze that caresses the candle, the shadows in the far recesses of your room, disturb your concentration.

    She was sad and translucent, present and absent at once. Strange things began to happen in the Santa Fe hotel where she was seen. Gas fireplaces turned off and on without anyone touching a switch. Vases of flowers appeared in new locations. Glasses flew off shelves. And in one second-floor suite with a canopy bed and arched windows looking out to the mountains, guests reported alarming events: blankets ripped off while they slept, the room temperature plummeting, disembodied breathing, dancing balls of light.La Posada--"place of rest"--had been a grand Santa Fe home before it was converted to a hotel. The room with the canopy bed had belonged to Julia Schuster Staab, the wife of the home's original owner. She died in 1896, nearly a century before the hauntings were first reported. In American Ghost, Hannah Nordhaus traces the life, death, and unsettled afterlife of her great-great-grandmother Julia, from her childhood in Germany to her years in the American West with her Jewish merchant husband.American Ghost is a story of pioneer women and immigrants, ghost hunters and psychics, frontier fortitude and mental illness, imagination and lore. As she traces the strands of Julia's life, Nordhaus uncovers a larger tale of how a true-life story becomes a ghost story--and how difficult it is to separate history and myth.

    His teenage friend Claire is an ace with numbers, and is always eager to help him with his homework. Max adores her, and loves when she visits him in the old house on Hollow Street. Claire can also weave a ghost story like no one else. But her favorite tale always sends chills down his spine, and hits a little too close to home...

    From her Irish great-grandpa outsmarting the death coach to her German great-great-grandma seeing a falling star each time one of her children died, these personal vignettes illuminate the mysteries of the spirit world.Spooky at times but also poignant and humorous, these stories are brought to life with vintage photographs. They include true tales of a haunted hotel, a magical bookstore, and a faceless ghost girl who haunted Annie's mother for decades. You'll explore a wide variety of odd or mystical topics, from spirit guides to astral travel, totem animals, and premonitions. Along with fascinating insights from prominent psychics, this book includes simple protection rituals and a ceremony to honor your own family in spirit.

    In 1981, Jon and Carlie Summers moved into an inherited home in rural Iowa, leaving behind their workaday lives as a lawyer and a professor in Chicago. Soon after moving in, Jon and Carlie’s lives begin a downward spiral as Carlie experiences violent dreams, possessions, hallucinations, and physical illness. Through old journals, nightmares, and personal encounters with evil, Carlie relives the history of the house, embodying its past of abuse, denial, obsession, broken lives, and death.Anatomy of a Haunting is a terrifying true story that leaves Jon dead and pushes Carlie to the brink of insanity. Through interviews and exhaustive research into the 150-year-old McPherson house, author Lee Strong delves into the history of the haunting and paints a nightmarish picture of one couple’s descent into supernatural madness.

    The perfect companion to The International Directory of Haunted Places, this revised and updated edition of Haunted Places is both a fascinating and unusual travel guide as well as an indispensable casebook for those interested in the paranormal. From buildings and parks believed to have resident ghosts and poltergeists to areas where Bigfoot or UFO sightings are most frequently reported, Haunted Places will lead you to more than 2,000 sites of paranormal activity across the United States. Organized alphabetically by state, each entry is referenced to an extensive bibliography of sources-with descriptions, addresses, phone numbers, Web sites, and travel directions provided for all locations.

    They inherit the family fortune, including the old mansion on the river in Florida. The estate called River Oaks is haunted by the ghosts of ancestors and family slaves. Sabrina, an interior designer, grew up in San Francisco. She’s the wounded sister, the one Mama tried to drown in the river. Police officer Shane Kagan runs into Sabrina the day she arrives and falls hard for the pretty blonde, but he’s uncomfortable with her psychic abilities. Sabrina loves Shane, but her visions make her terrified of losing him. In one vision, Sabrina and Shane are sitting on the porch swing when they’re old and gray. In another vision, he’s lying in a coffin. Can she convince him to find another occupation, one that doesn’t have him strapping on a gun and putting his life at risk every day?

    It tells the story of a family under siege. From the time the Dandy family moved to their "home in the country" in 1970 until they fled it in 1974, they were plagued but unexplainable and terrifying events. When they tell you ghosts can't harm you, take it with a grain of salt. Perhaps they can't affect you directly but they can sure cause incidents that can kill. The book is told in semi-diary form to keep it in (hopefully) order. If you don't believe in the paranormal, you'd better not read this book. If you want to learn something, by all means read it and learn.

    Her history is filled with plagues, wars, duels and murders...no wonder every site in Savannah has a secret past!Haunted Savannah brings you chilling tales, as experienced and told by witnesses, and authentic photos documenting the existence of energy from another dimension.

    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.