Newcastle, the largest city in the North East, has a long and proud history stretching back to Roman and Saxon times. Its position defending the mouth of the River Tyne gave it an importance in the medieval border wars with Scotland and by the sixteenth century it controlled the coal trade from Tyneside to the rest of England. The city became an industrial powerhouse in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the legacy of civic buildings, industrial heritage and housing can still be seen throughout the city. Today the city is as well known as a cultural and commercial centre as an industrial city, and its distinctive past and present-day identity is a vital part of the city's heritage. Newcastle is steeped in the supernatural and paranormal and many places both grand and everyday have rich and complex stories to tell. In this book author Steve Watson investigates the rich supernatural heritage of this city at places such as the castle keep, the site of infamous local gaols, and the nearby Black Gate, which has seen hundreds of years of the bloody history of Newcastle; the Literary and Philosophical Society, said to be home to sixteen ghosts ranging from a Witchfinder General to a little girl; the Tyneside Theatre and Opera House where a stagehand and a performer died tragically; the City Hall; and many more. Paranormal Newcastle takes the reader into the world of ghosts and spirits in the city. These tales of haunted places, supernatural happenings and weird phenomena will delight the ghost hunters and fascinate and intrigue everybody who knows Newcastle.

An exploration of the many forms of the ancient myth of the Wild Hunt and its influence in pagan and early Christian Europe
- Recounts the myriad variations of this legend, from the Cursed Huntsman and King Herla to phantom armies and vast processions of sinners and demons
- Explains how this belief was an integral part of the pagan worldview and was thus employed by the church to spread Christian doctrine
- Reveals how the secret societies of medieval Europe reenacted these ghostly processions for soul travel and prophecies of impending death
Once upon a time a phenomenon existed in medieval Europe that continuously fueled local lore: during the long winter nights a strange and unknown troop could be heard passing outside over the land or through the air. Anyone caught by surprise in the open fields or depths of the woods would see a bizarre procession of demons, giants, hounds, ladies of the night, soldiers, and knights, some covered in blood and others carrying their heads beneath their arms. This was the Wild or Infernal Hunt, the host of the damned, the phantom army of the night--a theme that still inspires poets, writers, and painters to this day. Millennia older than Christianity, this pagan belief was employed by the church to spread their doctrine, with the shapeshifters' and giants of the pagan nightly processions becoming sinners led by demons seeking out unwary souls to add to their retinues. Myth or legend, it represents a belief that has deep roots in Europe, particularly Celtic and Scandinavian countries.
The first scholar to fully examine this myth in each of its myriad forms, Claude Lecouteux strips away the Christian gloss and shows how the Wild Hunt was an integral part of the pagan worldview and the structure of their societies. Additionally, he looks at how secret societies of medieval Europe reenacted these ghostly processions through cult rituals culminating in masquerades and carnival-like cavalcades often associated with astral doubles, visions of the afterlife, belief in multiple souls, and prophecies of impending death. He reveals how the nearly infinite variations of this myth are a still living, evolving tradition that offers us a window into the world in which our ancestors lived.