An exploration of contemporary trance and physical mediumship at a private spiritualist home-circle called the Bristol Spirit Lodge. Located in a garden on the outskirts of Bristol, the Lodge is a wooden shed specially constructed for the purposes of mediumship development and spirit communication. Through a combination of ethnographic observations in séances – including his own experiences of mediumship development – and interviews with spirits and their mediums, Hunter delves into a sub-urban world of trance states, ectoplasm, spirit lights and discarnate entities. Issues relating to altered states of consciousness, personhood, performance and the efficacy of ritual are examined in order to make sense of the processes by which spirits become manifest in social reality.   A large part of Manifesting Spirits is given over to a broader discussion of anthropology's evolving attitudes toward the 'paranormal' as a component of the 'life-worlds' of many people across the globe, and argues for the development of a non-reductive anthropological approach to the paranormal, and mediumship in particular. This emerging framework – referred to as 'ontological flooding' does not attempt to explain away the existence of spirits in terms of functional, cognitive or pathological theories (as most mainstream theorists tend to do), but rather embraces a processual perspective that emphasises complexity and multiple interconnected processes underlying spirit possession performances and experiences.

Maryland, with its role in the War of 1812 and the Civil War, is a ghost-hunter's dream. This handy guide divides the state into six regions, and profiles the best destinations in each. The USF Constellation boasts three ghosts, including a sailor executed for dereliction of duty; the Gridiron Club is haunted by an old woman kidnapped and murdered by her slaves; Ellicott City is considered the most haunted town in America, with an embarrassment of spooks to choose from. These are just a few of the exciting places profiled in this unusual guidebook.

What historical tragedy could possibly make a young Wallingford girl daub a wall with her own tears? What really happened to the family who encountered a UFO in Stanford-in-the-Vale?What made a Highworth Squire's ghost choose to be banished to a barrel of cider?And what does the Uffington White Horse get up to once every hundred years?The Vale of the White Horse and the beautiful countryside of South Oxfordshire is a landscape steeped in thousands of years of legends, history and mystery. Here are witches, monsters and ghosts; old legends and modern-day tales of strange encounters with the unknown. From the mildly curious to the frighteningly inexplicable, The Veiled Vale is a treasure trove of fabulous folklore and modern mysteries.

Birth: A New World Within will help you remember who you are, where your essence began and where you are headed. You will find yourself knowing what it is to have love and peace within your spirit, for it has always been there. These are some of the questions many of you have asked: What is my purpose? Where am I going? What is the next step? Why am I here? You have forgotten and it is now the time to remember. We will explain where you got stuck in your spiritual growth and where you were supposed to be. Moreover, while going through the entire chapters of this book you will know these things and will journey through the many mysteries of the past, future, and most important into the reality of your New World. We suggest you read the book from beginning to end. Then, by allowing the processes to work within your spirit you will find the peace and insight that will direct you not only in your world now, but also in the New World. Simply allow the insights throughout this book to fit into place; they are like pieces of a puzzle that will fit in time. Hold on tight, the ride has already begun. All upon the earth will be born into a New World. I, the Christ Consciousness, Jesus ask all of humanity to allow the love to flow that is waiting for you to receive.

South Carolina, one of the oldest states in the Union has a very haunting history. Here find 30 ghostly stories from the coastal, central, and Piedmont areas. Find out about the famous "Gray Man" who wanders the beaches of Pawleys Island, warning residents of oncoming danger. Hear the ruckus raised by the ghost of legendary pirate Stede Bonnet, who is still seen and heard at night near the spot of his demise. Hear the sounds of battle on the calmest of evenings in Charleston, smell the smoke and gunpowder, and feel the strong sadness where soldiers fell at Fort Sumter. Visit the Cool Springs Plantation where some ghostly parties never end. From a monster at college to ghost lights in modern buildings, and more, South Carolina is home to spirits, spooks, and all manner of unearthly beings from eras long past.

This awesome, true-life story begins with an unusual visit, by two most mysterious, yet very warm mannered, well-acknowledged catholic priests who enrolled in an astrology class I was teaching at Temple University

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN ACKERLEY PRIZE 2020 'A uniquely strange and wonderful work of literature' Philip Hoare 'An exciting new voice' Mark Cocker, author of Crow Country In his late thirties, Edward Parnell found himself trapped in the recurring nightmare of a family tragedy. For comfort, he turned to his bookshelves, back to the ghost stories that obsessed him as a boy, and to the writers through the ages who have attempted to confront what comes after death. In Ghostland, Parnell goes in search of the 'sequestered places' of the British Isles, our lonely moors, our moss-covered cemeteries, our stark shores and our folkloric woodlands. He explores how these landscapes conjured and shaped a kaleidoscopic spectrum of literature and cinema, from the ghost stories and weird fiction of M. R. James, Arthur Machen and Algernon Blackwood to the children's fantasy novels of Alan Garner and Susan Cooper; from W. G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn and Graham Swift's Waterland to the archetypal 'folk horror' film The Wicker Man... Ghostland is Parnell's moving exploration of what has haunted our writers and artists - and what is haunting him. It is a unique and elegiac meditation on grief, memory and longing, and of the redemptive power of stories and nature.

We were created on the outer edge of the universe, and powerful ancients continue to watch us from that home far away. The ancients use 100% of their brains, which enables them to perform fantastic feats no earthly creature could imagine. Many years ago, these ancient beings altered the human DNA, removing our capability to use 100% of our brains, therefore keeping us forever beneath their reign and keeping them forever safe from human attack. Despite the lessened use of our brains, the human race has developed high-tech radar devices that travel into space, searching for intelligent life. The ancients have become aware of this technology; they are now concerned that humans have advanced enough to bring war. In an effort to avoid the inevitable, the ancients are coming to Earth to destroy the human race. Extermination is eminent, until Earth connects with its "sister planet." Together, the humans must fight back against this ancient power that seeks to destroy. The Outer Edge is not merely science fiction; it is an authoritative vision of our living universe. These fictional tribulations have direct and irrefutable links to science. And so the question remains: is science fiction truly fiction at all, or does it peer into the depths of fact and foreshadow devastation yet to come? Decipher the true riddles of the universe with The Outter Edge.

An indispensable resource for students and researchers of paranormal myth and media, this horror anthology explores both popular and obscure pieces about the undead and unholy. Beginning with the author's personal reflections on frightful manifestations in media, essays interrogate the roots and representations of well-known supernatural entities. Divided into three sections, chapters contextualize ghosts, vampires and monsters firmly within American culture. The section dedicated to ghosts features the author's 2004 essay "Spectral Turn" and explores spectrality in the work of Herman Melville and Toni Morrison. In the "Vampires" section, the author considers the undead bloodsucker's relationship to antisemitism, suicide and cinema. Lastly, the third section includes pieces that explore the otherizations of monsters in films like It Follows, 2017's IT and It Comes at Night. Considerations of monstrosity in the age of global pandemics, terrorism and "stranger danger " are also addressed at length.

Good and evil/ right and wrong have been important issues in all cultures and societies during all ages. The perceptions of moral norms differ greatly depending on the environment, economic security, knowledge and information available to the citizens and the overall state of security of life of people. With social evolution the moral behavior also changes its character. The issue of moral has become more precarious during recent social changes brought by the modern consumer culture and the global communication age. The book analyses the history of social evolution and its impact on the perceptions of moral values across the globe. The main enactors in the moral arena are often the people with vested interests in economic and political power. They exploit human psychology of fear for the unknown and the natural instincts to seek security against threats from competing groups. The book reflects on these mechanisms from the perspective of science - especially biology and psychology - and arrives at a complex arena of human behavior full of contradictions and conflicts. The analysis should stimulate free thinking and inspire people to take a fresh look at the understanding of moral questions beyond the prevalent framework of economic and political interests in which values take shape. This constitutes the first part of the book where the author suggests his own way out of the maze. In the second part moral questions are projected through a spiritual perspective, which cannot be subjected to rational arguments. The book is unique in many ways which span from Kantian and Nietzschean moral world to mysticism as the foundation of moral universalism.

"Doyle's modesty of language conceals a profound tolerance of the human complexity"-John Le Carre "Every Writer owes something to Holmes." -T.S. Eliot While the controversy of Psychic Photography was gripping the early 20th Century United Kingdom, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set out to investigate the most notable cases. In The Case for Spirit Photography, he aimed to defend the validity of capturing images of spirits with a camera. The spectacle of spirit photography had become popular in the late 19th Century, but by the 1920's The Crewe Circle, an infamous English spiritualist group had become the center of a national controversy attacking spirit photography as a hoax. Doyle, a leader of the Spiritualist movement, wrote this investigation in defense of the group, and conjointly looks at other cases of supernatural incidences. As we face current public figures dismissive of empirical scientific evidence, this is a fascinating look at the intrigue of conviction. As the writer of one of fictions most colorful and abiding detectives, Doyle's deductions in The Case for Spirit Photography are enthralling. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Case is both modern and readable.

Examines each of these parameters in crucial depth and makes the argument that life forms we would recognize may be more common in our solar system than many assume. Considers exotic forms of life that would not have to rely on carbon as the basic chemical element, solar energy as the main energy source, or water as the primary solvent and the question of detecting bio- and geosignatures of such life forms, ranging from earth environments to deep space. Seeks an operational definition of life and investigate the realm of possibilities that nature offers to realize this very special state of matter. Avoids scientific jargon wherever possible to make this intrinsically interdisciplinary subject understandable to a broad range of readers.

The ghostly residents of Hollywood are not shy about talking to us from the other side, especially those who want to set the record straight about how they passed from this life into the next! During seances conducted at Hollywood locations, spirits come forth, denying accidental deaths, naming murderers, and chit-chatting for fun. Hear what Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Harry Truman, and Jim Morrison, among others, have to say from beyond. Visit haunted houses, banks, cemeteries, restaurants, and more, as you learn that spirits in Hollywood still have a thing or two to say! Includes accounts from the original "Ghost Hunter," Hans Holzer, Psychic to the Stars, Kenny Kingston, psychic medium David Wells, as well as psychics Victoria Gross and Michael J. Kouri, and paranormal investigators Richard Senate and Robert Wlodarski.

When it comes to historical mysteries, Texas offers numerous long-perplexing conundrums for readers. Several of the Lone Star state's enduring legends are associated with historical figures including Davy Crockett, Billy the Kid, John Wilkes Booth, the outlaws Sam Bass and Bill Longley, and the pirate Jean Lafitte. Lost mines and buried treasures are also a long-standing part of Texas history and lore, and the location of several of these riches has baffled searches for well over a century. Searches for these elusive treasures, represented by gold and silver ingots and coins, have ranged from Texas' mountain ranges to the prairies to the coast, and continue to this day. Texas may also have been the site of several "lost civilizations. Growing evidence suggests that Mayans, a culture long associated with southern Mexican and Central America may have established settlements in the state after having disappeared from their homeland. The Caddo Mounds spread out over a large section of southeast Texas represent what amounted of a city that was once inhabited by thousands of natives. The questions of where they came from and what became of them continue to intrigue researchers. This lively, easy-to-read book will cover these and many other mysterious happenings and will be popular with residents and tourists.

The present book by Hu Baozhu explores the subject of ghosts and spirits and attempts to map the religious landscape of ancient China. The main focus of attention is the character gui , an essential key to the understanding of spiritual beings. The author analyses the character gui in various materials - lexicons and dictionaries, excavated manuscripts and inscriptions, and received classical texts. Gui is examined from the perspective of its linguistic root, literary interpretation, ritual practices, sociopolitical implication, and cosmological thinking. In the gradual process of coming to know the otherworld in terms of ghosts and spirits, Chinese people in ancient times attempted to identify and classify these spiritual entities. In their philosophical thinking, they connected the subject of gui with the movement of the universe. Thus the belief in ghosts and spirits in ancient China appeared to be a moral standard for all, not only providing a room for individual religiosity but also implementing the purpose of family-oriented social order, the legitimization of political operations, and the understanding of the way of Heaven and Earth.

Fourteen Mind-Boggling Tales from the Badger State Was Joe Davis, Civil War veteran and Menominee Indian, really the son of Confederate president Jefferson Davis? What really happened the night that banker H. C. Mead was murdered inside the Exchange Bank of Waupaca? Did a flying saucer really land in Joe Simonton's yard, and did the aliens aboard ask for a jug of water and serve him pancakes? From pirate ships to pancakes from outer space, Myths and Mysteries of Wisconsin makes history fun and pulls back the curtain on some of the state's most fascinating and compelling stories.

From big city bites to small town tastes, feed your interdimensional demon inside with a smorgasbord of paranormal-inspired recipes with the first-ever official Ghostbusters cookbook! Who you gonna call... to eat?! Featuring more than 50 recipes inspired by the beloved Ghostbusters 1984 film and continuing into present day with Ghostbusters: Afterlife, this cookbook celebrates the bold personalities of Egon, Venkman, Zeddemore, and Stantz, along with the spooks, spectres, and ghosts that tried to transform New York City to a Babylonian dystopia. But they're not alone - they've got company with a new generation of Ghostbusters like Phoebe, Trevor, Podcast, and Lucky that saved Summerville, Oklahoma from the second coming of Gozer! In fact, it's Podcast's, well, podcast that inspires this book! Now he and Ray are combing through the Ghostbusters archives and recording new episodes to bring the group's favorite new and old foods to delicious life. With luscious full-color photography and packed with the fun and spirit of the films, Ghostbusters: The Official Cookbook is a must-have for foodies and paranormal investigative fans alike.