Southern Illinois' ghost stories stretch from Springfield, where Abraham Lincoln's ghost relaxes in a rocking chair in his old home, to the city of Alton, where the ghost of murdered abolitionist Elijah Lovejoy roams near his monument in Alton Cemetery. While you're in Alton, you'll meet the ghost of Reverend Phillip Mercer who locks and unlocks doors at the First Unitarian Church. In downtown Decatur, you just might run into Red, the Lincoln Theater's most infamous ghost. And if you're still feeling brave, you can wander to the Cracker Factory where you can hear the whistling ghost of Sam Thames. He has a knack for moving things around at night. Get ready to come face to face with these and other Illinois ghosts.

Finalist, 2021 Bram Stoker Awards (Superior Achievement in Non-Fiction) The first collection of essays to address Satan's ubiquitous and popular appearances in film Lucifer and cinema have been intertwined since the origins of the medium. As humankind's greatest antagonist and the incarnation of pure evil, the cinematic devil embodies our own culturally specific anxieties and desires, reflecting moviegoers' collective conceptions of good and evil, right and wrong, sin and salvation. Giving the Devil His Due is the first book of its kind to examine the history and significance of Satan onscreen. This collection explores how the devil is not just one monster among many, nor is he the "prince of darkness" merely because he has repeatedly flickered across cinema screens in darkened rooms since the origins of the medium. Satan is instead a force active in our lives. Films featuring the devil, therefore, are not just flights of fancy but narratives, sometimes reinforcing, sometimes calling into question, a familiar belief system. From the inception of motion pictures in the 1890s and continuing into the twenty-first century, these essays examine what cinematic representations tell us about the art of filmmaking, the desires of the film-going public, what the cultural moments of the films reflect, and the reciprocal influence they exert. Loosely organized chronologically by film, though some chapters address more than one film, this collection studies such classic movies as Faust, Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, Angel Heart, The Witch, and The Last Temptation of Christ, as well as the appearance of the Devil in Disney animation. Guiding the contributions to this volume is the overarching idea that cinematic representations of Satan reflect not only the hypnotic powers of cinema to explore and depict the fantastic but also shifting social anxieties and desires that concern human morality and our place in the universe. Contributors: Simon Bacon, Katherine A. Fowkes, Regina Hansen, David Hauka, Russ Hunter, Barry C. Knowlton, Eloise R. Knowlton, Murray Leeder, Catherine O'Brien, R. Barton Palmer, Carl H. Sederholm, David Sterritt, J. P. Telotte, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock

In this work, the author shares the history of candle magic along with the recipes, spells, and divinations anyone can use to increase love, prosperity, luck, and abundance.

In this ground-breaking new study, Teren Sevea reveals the economic, environmental and religious significance of Islamic miracle workers (pawangs) in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Malay world. Through close textual analysis of hitherto overlooked manuscripts and personal interaction with modern pawangs readers are introduced to a universe of miracle workers that existed both in the past and in the present, uncovering connections between miracles and material life. Sevea demonstrates how societies in which the production and extraction of natural resources, as well as the uses of technology, were intertwined with the knowledge of charismatic religious figures, and locates the role of the pawangs in the spiritual economy of the Indian Ocean world, across maritime connections and Sufi networks, and on the frontier of the British Empire.

The human imagination gives rise to the most beautiful man-made structures and creations on Earth: architecture, literature, theatre, music, art, humanitarian initiatives, moon landings and space exploration, mythology, science, they all require a large dose of imagination. We all live surrounded by the results of the imagination of our peers, and the creations of our ancestors. Without imagination there is no compassion, no moral compass and no progress. But without imagination there is also no fear of death. There are no premeditated murders or terrorist attacks; these rely on the human ability to imagine, to call up images and test-drive possible scenarios in the human mind. Once we get out the magnifying glass, we discover that the imagination is a double-edged sword. All of us together, humanity as a collective, are creating very confused and mixed outcomes: world peace remains elusive, wars rage and children starve. Addictions and pollution proliferate. Medicine of the Imagination: Dwelling in Possibility examines these issues and suggests that if we are to transcend religious wars, homophobia and medical "cures" worse than the diseases we face then it that it is our moral duty to engage our imagination in service to other people.

The first A-to-Z listing of extraordinary, supernatural, paranormal, and Fortean/inexplicable phenomena on the American Great Lakes. These five majestic freshwater seasLakes Superior, Huron, Erie, Michigan and Ontariohave hosted a treasure-trove of fantastic sailors' tales, mysteries, and legends. Here abide the long-standing rumors, myths and lore about mermaids, ghost ships, lake monsters, UFOs, USOs, vortices and triangles, Flying Dutchmen, wendigos, spook lights, haunted lighthouses, headless apparitions, melancholy mist-maidens, curses, talismans, thunderbirds, and sorcerers. Presented for the traveler, folklorist, ghost-buster, skeptic, cryptozoologist, or the just plain curious.

Read Savannahs history through 58 short stories about revenge, exorcisms, graveyard parties, forgotten cemeteries, unsettled spirits, and lady pirates. See over 60 images of Savannah's lovely buildings and statues that are mentioned in the text. Learn tales of a secret tunnel once used to capture men for forced labor, superstitions that stave spirits of the dead, and unabashed sexual deviances in the most hospitable city in the South.

Who, or what, is the Green Man, and why is this medieval image so present in our precarious modern times? An encounter with a carving of the Green Man at an ancient church leads Nina Lyon on a search to track him down in all his various guises. Against a backdrop of mountains, forests, rivers and stone circles, a cult of the Green Man emerges, as Nina explores his meaning and how he came into being. Meanwhile, in the woods, from an overgrown Welsh railway line to leafy London suburbia, strange things are happening . . .

'A great storyteller' Madeline Miller, author of Circe In this powerful new collection, Charlotte Higgins foregrounds Greek mythology's most enduring heroines. Here are the myths of Heracles and Theseus, the Trojan war, Thebes and Argos and Athens. They are stories of love and desire, adventure and magic, destructive gods, helpless humans, fantastical creatures and resourceful witches. In this telling the female characters take centre stage as Athena, Helen, Circe, Penelope and others weave these stories into elaborate imagined tapestries. In Charlotte Higgins's thrilling new interpretation of these ancient stories, their tales combine to form a dazzling, sweeping epic of storytelling. With a series of original drawings by Chris Ofili.

The Crystal Bible, will help you to identify exactly the right crystal for your needs, whether for healing of 1mind, body, psyche or spirit, and will point you to useful stones for improving vitality and well-being, and for balancing the chakras. Listing over 1,200 ?symptoms?, it is a practical first-aid guide based on sound crystal healing principles that have been practised for millennia. Crystals are a gentle, non-invasive system of holistic healing with no side effects. Suitable for children and animals, crystals can also benefit the environment and your home.

Strange Ohio Monsters is the first book-length survey of unknown creatures reported from the Buckeye State throughout recorded history. The list includes hundreds of Bigfoot sightings, serpentine monsters reported from several lakes, encounters with huge birds and winged creatures resembling prehistoric reptiles, meetings with "Mothman," giant snakes and lizards, phantom kangaroos, alien mystery cats resembling tigers and African lions, and apparently thriving populations of creatures deemed officially extinct for generations. Beyond the "normal" range of unidentified creatures, modern witnesses report sightings of humanoid giants and pygmies, child-sized bipedal frogs, and lurking nocturnal predators that mutilate livestock and pets from farm country to the suburbs. Aboriginal tribes were the first to encounter such creatures, but bizarre reports continue in this second decade of the 21st century.

Explore haunted places of Montgomery County, Maryland, and its surrounding area through 53 ghostly stories: Brookeville to Gaithersburg, Poolesville, and Leesburg, Virginia; the C & O Canal to Rockville and Silver Spring; Chevy Chase and Washington, D.C. to Sandy Spring. Learn about the many ghosts, apparitions, and supernatural occurrences that can't be explained logically, including the Headless Horseman that continues to terrorize visitors to the old railroad bridge; the poltergeist that haunts the Madison House; the Tommyknocker at the Maryland Mine; and the farmer that keeps searching for his buried treasure. The history of gold mining, presidential politics, the Civil War, the burning of Washington during the War of 1812, the French and Indian War, and various important personages come to life through these mind-tingling stories. Are you brave enough to take this haunted journey back into time?

The witching hour is that time when every fibre of your being says, This is the time to do the magick, the ritual, the enchantment for what I need. It is a time for your power to mature so that you may step from the problem at hand to the success that you desire. This book includes more than one hundred recipes and formulas as well as techniques for working with powders, herbs, plants, and a variety of other materials and tools. Silver RavenWolf s enchanting language energizes the deepest parts of your mind and spirit, awaking the inner magic that transforms your intentions into changes in the world.

This book contains the first comprehensive examination of popular familiar belief in early modern Britain. It provides an in-depth analysis of the correlation between early modern British magic and tribal shamanism, examines the experiential dimension of popular magic and witchcraft in early modern Britain, and explores the links between British fairy beliefs and witch beliefs. In the hundreds of confessions relating to witchcraft and sorcery trials in early modern Britain, there are detailed descriptions of intimate working relationships between popular magical practitioners and familiar spirits of either human or animal form. Until recently historians often dismissed these descriptions as elaborate fictions created by judicial interrogators eager to find evidence of stereotypical pacts with the Devil. Although this paradigm is now routinely questioned, and most historians acknowledge that there was a folkloric component to familiar lore in the period, these beliefs, and the experiences reportedly associated with them, remain substantially unexplored. This book examines the folkloric roots of familiar lore from historical, anthropological and comparative religious perspectives.;It argues that beliefs about witches' familiars were rooted in beliefs surrounding the use of fairy familiars by beneficent magical practitioners or 'cunning folk', and corroborates this through a comparative analysis of familiar beliefs found in traditional Native American and Siberian shamanism. The author explores the experiential dimension of familiar lore by drawing parallels between early modern familiar encounters and visionary mysticism as it appears in both tribal shamanism and medieval European contemplative traditions. These perspectives challenge the reductionist view of popular magic in early modern Britain often presented by historians. It is also available in hardback, ISBN 1845190785.

The Eleusinian Mysteries were the most prestigious initiation of the ancient world. The ritual’s secrets were protected by death vows and have been speculated about for more than 4,000 years. The nine-day festival was run by a group of women called Melissae, or “bees”: married women, second only in rank to the Priestess of Athena Polias, who presided over Athens. They amassed incredible wealth, fame, and political status. Temple accounts from the period reveal that it was the priestesses’ money that paid for Greece's glorious architecture. Fees were earned for sacrifices and granting access to divinity. In return, the priestess made Greece a magnificent place to live. Oracles, diviners, soul midwives and creatrixes of innumerable festivals, these women ensured that the city-state kept favour with the goddess. They achieved that by emulating the ways of the world’s most successful matriarchal community, a bee colony. Herbal textbooks speak of a relationship between these women and the Lemon Balm herb (Melissa officinalis). Journey into the past and into the enchanting dreamscape of the hive with aromatherapist Elizabeth Ashley. A delightful odyssey for anyone interested in herbal wisdom, ancient Greek history, female empowerment, and humankind’s greatest allies, the bees.

Witchcraft and paganism exert an insistent pressure from the margins of midcentury British detective fiction. This Element investigates the appearance of witchcraft and paganism in the novels of four of the most popular female detective authors of the era: Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, Ngaio Marsh and Gladys Mitchell. The author approaches the theme of witchcraft and paganism not simply as a matter of content but as an influence which shapes the narrative and its possibilities. The 'witchy' detective novel, as the author calls it, brings together the conventions of Golden Age fiction with the images and enchantments of witchcraft and paganism to produce a hitherto unstudied mode of detective fiction in the midcentury.