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.

Step away from sunny Jersey's present day and into the sinister shadows of the past ... the island's history is filled with dark deeds and restless spirits. Collected here for the first time are stories that have endured through centuries to chill the blood. This unique anthology gathers together the most famous tales, such as the Ghost Bride and the White Lady, along with lesser-known tales, such as The Lake. Erren Michaels' and Noah Goats' skilful storytelling, along with Ryan Thomas' detailed illustrations, beautifully combine to relate these haunting tales of murder and vengeance that refuse to be forgotten.

Look into Virginia's paranormal past through the haunted plantations of its most famous residents. Journey to some of the earliest settlements of the New World at the Adam Thoroughgood House and Bacon's Castle and discover why spirits of their founders refuse to leave. Explore homes of founding fathers at Berkeley and Red Hill and learn one mysterious trait they sharethe ghosts of children. Visit sixteen more Old Dominion houses to learn why spirits linger. Tales of murder, suicide, hidden fortune, and heartbreak in Virginia will haunt you.

Hey there, demons! BuzzFeed Unsolved Supernatural has entertained viewers over the course of seven spooky seasons, covering the supernatural and otherworldly spirits, to ghosts, ghouls, unexplained paranormal activity, and everything in between. In their thrilling debut book, cohosts Shane Madej and Ryan Bergara (lovingly known as the "ghoul boys" to fans) deep-dive into dozens of haunted locations around the USA and a few abroad, including subjects from some of their most favorite and talked about episodes, as well as brand-new locations not previously seen before on their show. As they explore the history behind haunted houses, creepy graveyards, former insane asylums, abandoned buildings, and horrifying hotels, Shane and Ryan use their trademark wit and humor to dissect each terrifying tale with their most hilarious highlights and biting commentary. So hold on to your hell-bound soul, boys and ghouls-it's about to get demonic up in here.

Read 14 chilling ghost stories about reportedly true encounters with the supernatural in Mississippi. A graveyard where the dead do anything but rest peacefully, a haunted bridge that was the site of unspeakable violence, the ghost of an ancient witch who roams the dark woods-Mississippi has long been regarded as one of the most haunted states in America. This collection of ghost stories presents the freakiest, most surprising tales of the Magnolia State! Author Jeff Duke grew up in Mississippi-with a fascination for things that go bump in the night. As an adult, the professional writer spent countless hours combing the region for the strangest and scariest run-ins with the unexplained. Horror fans will delight in these 14 terrifying tales about haunted locations. They're based on reportedly true accounts, proving that Mississippi is the setting for some of the most compelling ghostly tales ever told. The short stories are ideal for quick reading, and they are sure to captivate even the most reluctant of readers. Share them with friends around a campfire, or try them alone at home-if you dare.

Paranormal investigator Ryan Dunn and his Savannah Ghost Research Society return with a new collection of investigations and ghostly hotspots in their second book on Savannah hauntings. Were people really forced into piracy at the Pirate's House? Why did Matilda Sorrel jump to her death at the Sorrel Weed House? Who is the child spirit at the Marshall House Hotel, biting people in their sleep? Why did one home require a Catholic priest to perform an exorcism? Go along with the team as they sift through historical evidence at the Georgia Historic Society, separating fact from fiction, and read about their overnight encounters. This authoritative read will take you from Savannah's earliest settlers to present day, and you may find some of those earliest settlers refusing to remain in their own time.

Fringe Rhetorics: Conspiracy Theories and the Paranormal identifies these rhetorical similarities of conspiracy theories and paranormal accounts by delving into rhetorical, psychosocial, and political science research. Identifying something as "fringe" indicates its proximal placement within accepted norms of contemporary society. Both conspiracy theories and paranormal accounts dwell on the fringes and both use surprisingly similar persuasive techniques. Using elements of the Aristotelian canon as well as Oswald's strengthening and weakening strategies, this book establishes a pattern for the analysis of fringe rhetorics. It also applies this pattern through rhetorical analyses of several documentaries and provides suggestions for countering fringe arguments.

Hauntings lurk and spirits linger in the Empire State Reader, beware! Turn these pages and enter the world of the paranormal, where ghosts and ghouls alike creep just out of sight. Author Cheri Farnsworthshines a light in the dark corners of New York and scares those spirits out of hiding in this thrilling collection. From apparitions and objects that fly off of tables at the Manhattan Bistro, to a specter that stalks Pulpit Rock in Lake Placid, there's no shortage of bone-chilling tales to keep you up at night. Around the campfire or tucked away on a dark and stormy night, this big book of ghost stories is a hauntingly good read.

Tour Rochester's haunted locations and read about a black mass at the Childtime Learning Center that knocked down the children's cubbies and dark-hooded individuals that hold rituals at Mount Hope Cemetery. Visit a spirit at Farmer's Tavern and Inn that chases away guests, and encounter moving shadow figures in the basement of the Main Street Armory. Whether you are looking for things that go bump in the night or simply want a chill down your spine, this guide will take you on a journey of the undead that you won't soon forget.

The book constitutes the final part of "Tathagata - A Divine Comedy for Our Time" where Tathagata transcends the limitations of the ego-bound world and sees himself as the Christ-Man, who embodies in himself the mystery of existence of both Man and God. The dialogues between the Christ-man and God touch upon the return of God to human life and reveal the nature of the incomprehensible existence of the Divine Being through an allegorical language, which grazes between the realm of knowledge and reason and a world which lies beyond all knowing and understanding by the human mind.If one wonders about God, whose nature of existence cannot be explained in any language known to man, this book may help to gain a closer understanding of the way the Divine may appear and act in human life.In modern time science denounces the ideas of Divinity and considers the believers of God as people with brain dysfunction. This book is a product of such a "dysfunctional brain" to whom God has spoken. These dialogues between man and God will throw new lights on the existence of Christ and Buddha, who do not exist in the physical plane but manifest through human mind, and appear in the inner realm as the presence of the Divine power which animates all creations in the universe.

This book addresses important current and historical topics in astrobiology and the search for life beyond Earth, including the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). The first section covers the plurality of worlds debate from antiquity through the nineteenth century, while section two covers the extraterrestrial life debate from the twentieth century to the present. The final section examines the societal impact of discovering life beyond Earth, including both cultural and religious dimensions. Throughout the book, authors draw links between their own chapters and those of other contributors, emphasizing the interconnections between the various strands of the history and societal impact of the search for extraterrestrial life. The chapters are all written by internationally recognized experts and are carefully edited by Douglas Vakoch, professor of clinical psychology at the California Institute of Integral Studies and Director of Interstellar Message Composition at the SETI Institute. This interdisciplinary book will benefit everybody trying to understand the meaning of astrobiology and SETI for our human society.

This book is a collection of poetry. Each were written individually at seperate times in my life. They have been put together from my earliest pieces to Amy newest symbolizing my thirty years. Some of the pieces are sad, some are happy, while others can be devastating. Regardless of the emotional rollercoaster, each one is part of my life. These writings are simply lyrics, written out emotions, thoughts and ideas representative of how I felt at a certain time in my life. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them.

The spectre of the UFO, as popularised by shows such as The X-Files, has brought an astonishing slant to the face of modern religious practice. But what motivates the fantastical and sometimes sinister beliefs of UFO worshippers? UFO Religions critically examines some of the fascinating issues surrounding UFO worship - abduction narratives, UFO-based interpretations of other religions, the growth of pseudo-sciences purporting to explain UFOs, and the responses of the core scientific community to such claims. Focusing on contemporary global UFO groups including the Raelian Movement, Heaven's Gate, Unarius and the Ansaaru Allah Community, it gives a clear profile of modern UFO controversies and beliefs.

Keep your eyes on the skies over Colorado as you embark on a whirlwind tour of modern UFO phenomena occurring in eleven locations throughout the state. From the Rocky Mountains to the Denver International Airport to a lonely and isolated UFO watchtower in the San Luis Valley, join paranormal investigator Richard Estep and other leaders in the field of Colorado ufology to uncover some of the state's most harrowing stories. Are we alone in the universe, or is there something more to these stories from the Centennial State?

Manhattan beckons people from all over the world, including the dead. Read about the ghosts of struggling artists, musicians, and painters, including Mark Twain, Sarah Bernhardt, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Tennessee Williams, and Edie Sedgwick-who still frequent the Chelsea Hotel. Meet a foul-mouthed old woman haunting First Avenue and the distressed, pacing ghost at Community Synagogue who wrings his hands. Cringe as Peter Stuyvesant's spirit shushes parishioners at Saint Mark's Church in the Bowery, his wooden leg reverberating ominous thuds through the halls! Seeghosts in flapper dresses and zoot suits, and listen to ghostly jazz in the West Village. Infamous histories of restless souls of Manhattan await you; be prepared to be scared!

Haunted Landscapes offers a fresh and innovative approach to contemporary debates about landscape and the supernatural. Landscapes are often uncanny spaces embroiled in the past; associated with absence, memory and nostalgia. Yet experiences of haunting must in some way always belong to the present: they must be felt. This collection of essays opens up new and compelling areas of debate around the concepts of haunting, affect and landscape. Landscape studies, supernatural studies, haunting and memory are all rapidly growing fields of enquiry and this book synthesises ideas from several critical approaches - spectral, affective and spatial - to provide a new route into these subjects. Examining urban and rural landscapes, haunted domestic spaces, landscapes of trauma, and borderlands, this collection of essays is designed to cross disciplines and combine seemingly disparate academic approaches under the coherent locus of landscape and haunting. Presenting a timely intervention in some of the most pressing scholarly debates of our time, Haunted Landscapes offers an attractive array of essays that cover topics from Victorian times to the present.

Vampires is a unique, lavishly illustrated work that explores the rich diversity of vampire belief and lore, ranging from countries as diverse as Japan, Sweden and Ireland, looking at their historical origins, and setting them in their cultural context.

This book offers a vision of how evolutionary life processes can be modelled. It presents a mathematical description that can be used not only for the full evolution of life on Earth from RNA to modern human societies, but also the possible evolution of life on exoplanets, thus leading to SETI, the current Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence.   The main premise underlying this mathematical theory is that the Geometric Brownian Motion (GBM) can be applied as a key stochastic process to model the evolution of life. In the resulting Evo-SETI Theory, the life of any living thing (a cell, an animal, a human, a civilization of humans, or even an ET civilization) is represented by a b-lognormal, i.e., a lognormal probability density function starting at a precise instant (b, birth) then increasing up to a peak time, then decreasing to senility time and then continuing as a straight line down to the time of death. Using this theory, Claudio Maccone arrives at remarkable hypotheses on the development of life and civilizations, the possibility of extraterrestrial life, and when computers will take over the reins from us humans (Singularity). The book develops the mathematical Evo-SETI Theory by integrating a set of articles that the author has published in various journals on Astrobiology and Astronautical Research.

Tour ghostly Orange County, California, to experience the myths, legends, and chilling tales that haunt this thriving area. Meet the ghost of Le Potager that keeps the lights on when the kitchen is closed and a phantom that inhabits an antique mirror in a residence in La Habra. Meet the ghost of a man who left his message on a telephone recorder and learn about the legends that haunt the "Happiest Place in the World"-Disneyland. Walk the streets of Fullerton to visit spirit actors at The Fox Theater. Dine with ghosts at Rutaborgze Restaurant. Orange County has plenty of haunts to quench your paranormal thirst.

UFO research in the twentieth century was a daunting enterprise, fraught with misidentifications, blurry photos, and fraud. Now, with millions of drones in our skies and superb computer graphics, the twenty-first century threatens to overwhelm ufology with insurmountable trickery and truly unidentifiable flying objects. How do we make sense of UFOs? Could a lifetime of paranormal activity be real, or is it all in your mind? Are the craft that appear in the skies really flying saucers? Have we all been abducted? And what secrets have been hidden from us? Discover new challenges to ufology and whether we will ever uncover the truth behind the UFO enigma.

Join a haunted historian as she scours dark museum dungeons, public libraries, and dusty newspaper archives to bring you 40 new supernatural tales about the Old West from the southern New Mexican Rockies to the Rockies of southern Canada. Learn about a disembodied spirit who solves an ancient murder mystery and how a phantom of the opera confesses her side of a famous ghost story. Muse about mysterious lights seen floating over the Rockies long before mankind sprouted wings and how early pioneers were abducted by ancient aliens. Take an adventure through a time warp tunnel and a trip on a terror train time machine. Meet an unflappable witness once kidnapped by a mysterious apelike creature while camping on Bishop Mountain. Relayed in a homespun style, this book also tells tales tailored to tickle your funny bone or pull at your heart strings.

Who are we? Where are we from? Why are we here? From these three questions spring the truth that will lead you on a strange and sometimes frightening journey toward awakening. This comprehensive study includes 110 interpreted images and information that is Spirit Guide-assisted, as well as from the author's own personal experiences. How can our world be so rich in its bio-diversity, its people so varied in appearance and customs? Are the Nazca Lines related to alien visitation? Are aliens, cryptids (such as the Yeti), and animal/human mutilation cases related? If so, why? The author admonishes us all to remember one thing above all else: They do not come in peace.