NEW EDITION AVAILABLE NOVEMBER, 2019 The stories in The Eve of St Eligius - 22 of them in 76,000 words - may be described in a shorthand way as `dark' but this belies their variety in terms of darkness, location, time setting, length and other ways. For example, the opener entitled Guardian, a story of an encounter a few months after WWII, could only be described as dark, but Yellow Eyes, the fourth story, although donning the traditional clothing of many stories of the supernatural, wears it in an optimistic (and, I hope, original) way. Some of the other stories do a similar thing. The First and Last Letter, based on actual events in the Smalls Lighthouse off the Pembrokeshire coast at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries, is told in just a few pages, though that didn't prevent it from forming the key part of an opera libretto. This opera, For Those in Peril, was produced in Illinois in 2018. In contrast, three of the stories are of novella length. You may think this is appropriate in at least the instance of Contract of One Thousand, where the protagonist has a lifespan of 239 years. There are no Dracula castles here but you will find some unusual centrepieces for the stories: an ashtray in Memento, a modern car in Safety First, a decommissioned GPO telephone box in Waxlow and Lilac, and so on. If you're looking for something different, this is the place to look.

Beneath California's scenic landscape lies a strange and dark side, full of spine-tingling tales and frightful imagery. Creepy California: Strange and Gothic Tales from the Golden State explores the disturbing and macabre stories of unexplained deaths, intentional live burials, true crimes, and ghosts who haunt the Pacific Coast. This spooky collection includes the extraordinarily odd, like the account of a coroner, who "borrowed" the stylish clothes of one dead man and even sold the corpse's head to a doctor for scientific research, and the paranormal, like the tale of a haunted, two-story house in San Francisco that was moved across town in an effort to dislodge its ghostly tenants. The attempt failed, and the San Francisco Chronicle commented that "the neighborhood has been kept in a constant dread and torment by unearthly groans, mysterious lights, and agonized shrieks emanating from their dread habitation." An intriguing and frightful look at the disturbing side of the state, Creepy California promises to send chills down your spine and keep you looking over your shoulder.

Would you tell someone if you had seen a ghost? A dilemma that has faced many people becomes magnified when your professional reputation is at stake. Credible Witness is a collection of compelling accounts from members of the police family who have witnessed or have intimate knowledge of unexplained incidents. When the world of policing and the paranormal collide, even the most hardened sceptic might have to think again. However much we think we know about the world around us, perhaps we don't know everything.

With entries that range from specific works to authors, folklore, and popular culture (including music, film, television, urban legend, and gaming), this book provides a single-volume resource on all things ghostly in the United States and in other countries. The concept of ghosts has been an ongoing and universal element in human culture as far back as recorded history can document. In more modern popular culture and entertainment, ghosts are a popular mainstay-from A Christmas Carol and Casper the Friendly Ghost to The Amityville Horror, Ghostbusters, Poltergeist, The Sixth Sense, and Ghost Whisperer. This book comprehensively examines ghost and spirit phenomena in all its incarnations to provide readers with a holistic perspective on the subject. It presents insightful information about the contribution of a specific work or author to establish or further the evolution of ghost lore, rather than concentrating solely on the film, literature, music, or folklore itself. The book focuses on ghosts in western culture but also provides information about spirit phenomena and lore in international settings, as many of the trends in popular culture dealing with ghosts and spirits are informed by authors and filmmakers from Germany, Japan, Korea, and the United Kingdom. The writers and editors are experts and scholars in the field and enthusiastic fans of ghost lore, ghost films, ghost hunting, and urban legends, resulting in entries that are informative and engaging-and make this the most complete and current resource on ghost and spirit lore available. Provides accessible, interesting, and fun-to-read information authored by expert researchers and coedited by scholars who are experts on the topic of ghosts across human culture Presents analytical discussions of the figure of the ghost in each work that will be beneficial to students in film studies, English, or other classes tasked with writing an essay on the horror genre or ghost films and books Explores how the idea of the ghost implies belief in there being more to human existence than the physical body and is intrinsically connected to the concept of the afterlife-and how these concepts often coexisted uneasily with beliefs regarding afterlife in religious theologies

Pull up a chair or gather round the campfire and get ready for creepy tales of ghostly hauntings, eerie happenings, and other strange occurrences under the New Orleans skies. Whether read around the campfire on a dark and stormy night or from the backseat of the family van on the way to grandma's, this is a collection to treasure.

"In the top corner of the window a pale, milky-white wisp is rising almost to the top of our ten-foot ceiling.... I am startled but not afraid.... Mostly, I am engrossed; I have never seen anything like this before (or since) and it fascinates me." Dennis Waskul writes these lines-about his first-hand experience with the supernatural-in the introduction to his beguiling book Ghostly Encounters. Based on two years of fieldwork and interviews with 71 midwestern Americans, the Waskuls' book is a reflexive ethnography that examines how people experience ghosts and hauntings in everyday life. The authors explore how uncanny happenings become ghosts, and the reasons people struggle with or against a will to believe. They present the variety and character of hauntings and ghostly encounters, outcomes of people telling haunted legends, and the nested consequences of ghostly experiences. Through these stories, Ghostly Encounters seeks to understand the persistence of uncanny experiences and beliefs in ghosts in an age of reason, science, education, and technology-as well as how those beliefs and experiences both reflect and serve important social and cultural functions.

Washington, DC can make a legitimate claim to being the most haunted city in America. With its rich history and the parade of passionate, colorful characters that have walked its streets over the past two centuries, it's amazing the district doesn't have more ghosts than it already does. Haunted Washington, DC, a collection of stories of ghosts, mysteries, and paranormal happenings in the nation's capital, will leave readers delightfully frightened.

A study of the production, circulation and consumption of English ghost stories during the Age of Reason. This work examines a variety of mediums: ballads and chapbooks, newspapers, sermons, medical treatises and scientific journals, novels and plays. It relates the telling of ghost stories to changes associated with the Enlightenment.

In this volume the emphasis shifts from Fighter command and USAAF to the RAF and the RCAF and the Bomber airfields of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, together with a few examples from Northern England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Here we find Bomber command at its most active, and from where it suffered most of the losses, and indeed where some of the most haunted airfields in Britain are to be found. Here we find famous names like East Kirkby, Scampton, and Coningsby, where the Battle of Britain Flight is now based. The RAF Bomber Command Memorial lists 55,573 names, a Bomber Command crew member had a worse chance of survival than an infantry officer in World War I Old Bomber airfields are lonely atmospheric places, and anyone who has visited a Second World War control tower on a bomber airfield wil perhaps have experienced the sadness that seems permeates the place, or the sense of waiting or of loss, or the strange coupling of a coldness on a warm day with the feeling of not being alone there This volume details researched accounts, personal communications from witnesses and my own investigations on what are probably the most haunted of our airfields

Cursed in New York invites you to read about the misfortunes of others, and thank your lucky stars that none of these things are happening to you! These legendary tales are collected from across New York State, from the eastern reaches of Long Island to the gorges of Niagara Falls. In some cases, a curse led people to ruin and other curses actually drove people to take their own lives. With numbers and coincidental events, it's hard to argue that no malevolent force was involved. What did any of these people do to deserve their fates? They bought a property where a murder had taken place, constructed a building on the site of an ancient burial ground, purchased a gem stolen from an east Indian temple, or intruded on a spirit in a cave. Some of these people knew that their actions could bring the wrath of evil down upon them, but most made an innocent misstep. Some of these stories will be regionally well known. Others are nearly forgotten. All are cursed.

Are phantoms "alive" and walking the streets of Tinseltown and beyond? Hollywood. Film capital of the world. Haunted Hollywood brings together twenty-five stories that capture both the spirit-and the spirits-of Tinseltown. These tales concern historic landmarks, theaters, watering holes, hotels, and houses that are haunted by movie stars, television personalities, and other celebrities. You will be shivering in your seat as you read about all these and more: * Film siren Jean Harlow died at only twenty-six, but many believe she's still "living" in her old home outside Beverly Hills. * Elke Sommer, the German-born actress and artist, is convinced a ghost saved her life by waking her after her house caught fire. Who's to say? * John Wayne has ridden off into the Final Sunset, but he apparently misses his private yacht. He's been known to come aboard from time to time. . .

Paracoustics: Paranormal Acoustics From the chain-rattling ghost of Pliny's first century Athens to things that go bump in the night and 21st century electronic voice phenomena sound has always fascinated paranormal researchers.This unique book examines that fascination and presents a selection of the leading research in paranormal acoustics together with an in-depth review of the equipment and techniques that are used by researchers and investigators.It explores the physics and the psychology of sound and its association with the paranormal. Contributed chapters by leading experts in Infrasound, electronic voice phenomenon (EVP), seance tapping and other ghostly sounds encourage a multidisciplinary approach to the subject.

Paracoustics: Paranormal Acoustics From the chain-rattling ghost of Pliny's first century Athens to things that go bump in the night and 21st century electronic voice phenomena sound has always fascinated paranormal researchers.This unique book examines that fascination and presents a selection of the leading research in paranormal acoustics together with an in-depth review of the equipment and techniques that are used by researchers and investigators.It explores the physics and the psychology of sound and its association with the paranormal. Contributed chapters by leading experts in Infrasound, electronic voice phenomenon (EVP), seance tapping and other ghostly sounds encourage a multidisciplinary approach to the subject.

More than a million people live in the city of San Jose, and its ghosts reside right alongside the population. These contemporary stories are the result of an extensive quest for ghostly phenomena taking place from one end of the city to the other. Whether it's a haunted house on Stockton Avenue, the ghost begging for a police officer to find his murderer outside the Japanese Tea Garden, or the ghost in overalls and a cowboy hat at Tres Gringos, on Second Street, the haunts of San Jose will make you shiver as you walk the streets! Now you, too, can visit with these spirits, at your own risk!

Nestled amidst the windswept moorlands of the South Pennines, Halifax has always had a wild reputation: `From Hell, Hull and Halifax, good Lord deliver us' ran the `Beggars' Litany'. But was it just a grisly fate at the hands of the Halifax Gibbet, England's last guillotine, that they feared? From historical boggarts to modern poltergeists, the region teems with intruders from beyond the veil: they stalk the gritstone crags and the austere chapels, the tumbledown mills and the ancient taverns. Haunted Halifax & District explores the manifestations and territory of these unquiet spirits, all in the light of the area's colourful history and wider folkloric context. Including such highlights as the spectre of Emily Bronte and a headless coachman with two two headless horses, it will intrigue visitors and residents alike.