New Books and Media

From the publisher's website: Tapping into a growing interest in American culture with the occult and new spiritualism, this book is the first scholarly work devoted entirely to the unique place of Ouija in American culture. On the one hand, Ouija has at different moments in history pointed to a deep fascination and openness with the supernatural in the American psyche. On the other hand, Ouija resides squarely outside of orthodox religious belief, and, as we shall see, garners suspicion and even outright rejection from various Christian traditions especially. Thus this cardboard doorway to the supernatural continues to reflect some of the most interesting paradoxes in American life. Bringing together an international team of scholars, this book shows that what qualifies as religious remains an open question, and how Americans continue to grapple with what practices lie within and without the traditions they inherit and pass on.

Further information at the publisher's website: Routledge.

Review by Nemo C. Mörck.

From the publisher's website: The phenomenon of near-death experiences (NDEs) has fascinated humanity for centuries but remains famously difficult to define and study. This book presents a unique source, integrating historical, clinical, psychological, and neuroscientific approaches toward a modern scientific understanding of NDEs. Featuring exciting clinical and experimental details about processes in dying brains, it examines the physiological and psychological underpinnings of this extraordinary phenomenon. Chapters offer science-based accounts of NDEs as a natural part of the human condition informed by our biology and the remarkable capacities of the brain. By proposing that the origin of NDEs can be found in the physiology-dependent mental processes of the experiencer as expressed in altered states of consciousness, this book provides up-to-date insights for psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and philosophers alike.

Further information at the publisher's website: Cambridge University Press.

From the publisher's website: In the summer of 1998, FBI agent Bob Hilland reluctantly picked up the phone to call the famous psychic John Edward. Bob didn’t expect much from the call, but he was working on an unsolvable cold case and had nowhere else to turn. What Bob never imagined was that the call would lead to a shattering of all his preconceived notions, a huge break in the cold case, and an unlikely crime-solving partnership that spanned twenty-five years. As Bob and John took on more cases together, they slowly learned how to rely on each other and trust their skills, ultimately finding not only justice for the crimes they solved, but resolution and healing in their own lives. Centering on the investigation of the gruesome John Smith murders that rocked the nation, Chasing Evil is a heart-stopping story of murder, justice, and finding help in unexpected places.

Further information at the publisher's website: St. Martin's Essentials.

From the back cover: A gripping narrative that uses the case files of Tony Cornell and the Society for Physical Research to examine our interactions and obsessions with all things paranormal. Tony Cornell spent his life probing the very edges of reality. A member of the UK’s Society for Psychical Research (SPR), Cornell’s role as an investigator of so-called “spontaneous cases” saw him returning time and again to the unsettling spaces that exist just on the periphery of our ordered, tidy, and rational lives, and which we all do our best to ignore: Ghosts. Spirits. Premonitions. Psychic powers. Glimpses of other worlds that throw into question everything we take for granted about life, death, and material existence itself.

Review by Nemo C. Mörck.

From the publisher's website: During the 19th and early 20th centuries, ghost hoaxes (dressing in a white sheet or a more elaborate costume) and scaring people were rife but seldom studied or written about. These hoaxes frequently led to impromptu ghost hunts by hundreds, sometimes thousands of often drunk vigilantes (and hysterical panics) as rumours of the supposed ghosts would spread round the community. Many of these ghost scares occurred during the Christmas and New Year periods, and this book explores twelve little-known episodes.

Further information at the publisher's website: 6th Books.

From the publisher's website: On a Sunday evening, Mr. and Mrs. MacConnell of Arizona received a phone call from a long-lost friend who told them she had just been transferred to a nursing home near them. The conversation lasted 30 minutes. However, when they tried to return her call several days later, they were told she had died that previous Sunday morning—hours before their conversation. After a troubling dream about a childhood friend, a New Jersey woman named Marie D’Alessio decided to call her, and they chatted for some time. When Marie tried to call her again several days later, she was informed that her friend had died a full six months earlier. Intrigued by such incidents, D. Scott Rogo and Raymond Bayless, two seasoned parapsychologists, delved into this intriguing phenomenon. Their balanced and objective work revealed that such phone calls might be more common than believed. The authors examined various cases, such as messages received through phones, tapes, and other electrical devices, suggesting that the dead may be seeking a reliable method of inter-dimensional communication.

Further information at the publisher's website: White Crow Books.

Phone Calls From the Dead was first published in 1979.

From the publisher's website: Zahllose Legenden ranken sich um den berühmt-berüchtigten Wiener Illusionisten Erik Jan Hanussen, bürgerlich Hermann Steinschneider. In den 1920er Jahren erlangte er mit öffentlichen Vorführungen seiner „Experimente“ größte Popularität in Europa, Asien und den USA. Zu Beginn der 1930er Jahre unterhielt er dann in Berlin freundschaftliche Geschäftsbeziehungen zu hohen Naziführern und betrieb bei seinen Veranstaltungen begeistert Werbung für das aufkommende „Dritte Reich“, in dem er sich eine einflußreiche Position erhoffte. Durch die Aktivitäten seines ehemaligen Assistenten, des Zionisten Erich Juhn sowie Denunziationen seitens der kommunistischen Presse wurde die jüdische Abstammung Hanussens öffentlich und seine Person damit für die Nazis kompromittierend ...

Further information at the publisher's website: tredition.

From the publisher's website: Everything You Need to Conduct Professional and Science-Based Field Studies. Richard Palmisano and Peter J. Roe, the founder and the assistant director of The Searcher Group—Canada's oldest and most reputable paranormal research team—present a comprehensive and progressive guide to ghost investigation. Whether you're a novice or part of an established team, you'll be ready for the next level of serious research. Featuring groundbreaking theory and strategies to look at old problems in new ways, this book is essential to conducting professional paranormal investigations. Palmisano and Roe teach how to assemble your team; plan what to do before, during, and after your investigations; use the right equipment; and much more. The result of over four decades of trial, error, and firsthand encounters, this must-have manual is designed to unite the paranormal research community and resume true advancements in the field. We already know ghosts exist. Are you and your team ready to dig deeper?

Further information at the publisher's website: Llewellyn.

From the publisher's website: Telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and telekinesis: these attributes of the paranormal mind are widely dismissed as nonsense, but what can an exploration of such pseudoscientific phenomena tell us about accepted scientific and cultural thought? In Parascientific Revolutions, Derek Lee traces the evolution of psi epistemologies across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries to uncover how these ideas have migrated into scientific fields such as quantum physics and neurology, as well as diverse literary genres including science fiction, ethnic literature, and even government training manuals.

Further information at the publisher's website: University of Minnesota Press.

From the publisher's website: ‘I know what I heard and saw’. It is 1650 and something is very wrong in your house. Pots and pans are flying through the air. Invisible hands are pelting your family with stones. Doors slam shut on their own, and strange knockings echo through the walls at all hours. Your neighbours whisper about demons, your servants flee in terror, and you don't know where to turn. Welcome to the world of the early modern poltergeist. While tales of witches and witchcraft have been closely scrutinized by scholars, the mischievous spirits that tormented ordinary households have remained largely overlooked. This groundbreaking study brings brings together and examines twenty-seven extraordinary cases from 1591 to 1718, drawn from contemporary accounts, and retold as vivid 'Relations' in the style of seventeenth-century demonologies.

Further information at the publisher's website: Hobnob Press.

From the publisher's website: The north-east of England – Durham, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and Teesside – has witnessed many grisly and tragic events over the centuries and it is no surprise that it is one of the most haunted parts of the country. In Ghosts of the North East paranormal investigator Rob Kirkup examines some of the region’s most interesting ghostly stories. Newcastle’s Norman Castle Keep has many such tales, the best known of which is of the ‘Poppy Girl’ who haunts a condemned cell. Durham Castle has many ghostly legends and further afield in Northumberland, Chillingham Castle is infamous as the haunt of the torturer John Sage, who would maim, torture and kill Scottish prisoners within the twelfth-century fortress. These tales of hauntings and other paranormal experiences in the North East are accompanied by illustrations of places featured in the text. They will fascinate all those interested in the story of ghosts in this region of England as well as those who wish to know more about its history.

Further information at the publisher's website: Amberley Publishing,

From the publisher's website: A compendium of rare cross-cultural and historical accounts of extrasensory perception Taking readers on a cross-cultural voyage through extrasensory experiences, the author documents and contextualizes these mysterious phenomena. Daniel shares accounts from ancient Greek myth, traditional North and South American, African, and Polynesian stories. He considers unexplained ESP-related happenings, including bilocation, the ability to locate lost items, and early knowledge of one’s own death.

Further information at the publisher's website: Destiny Books.