New Books and Media

From the publisher’s website:

The Ultimate Collection of the Master Mentalist's Radio Broadcasts --16 tracks in all!

Joseph Dunninger (1892-1975) popularized the art of mentalism with his 1940s radio show Dunninger the Master Mentalist. You’ll see why audiences loved listening to his shows as he reads the minds of his audience and answers their questions.  A household name, Dunninger also frequently appeared as a guest star on other programs, and this CD includes four of his guest spots, including one with the great Jack Benny.

12 Dunninger the Master Mentalist radio shows.  Additional radio shows guest-starring Dunninger.  Dunninger’s readings for audiences members, more than seven hours of Dunninger broadcasts.

Mentalists and magicians alike will love this rich source of insights into mindreading for the public, showmanship, cold reading, and mentalism presentation!  The CD includes the best available copies of these impossible-to-locate albums, digitally restored for optimum audio quality.

Convenient mp3 format on CD

Review by Tom Ruffles

Synopsis: "Music, Witchcraft And The Paranormal" is a series of essays on parapsychology and psychical research with special reference to the importance of music in paganism and witchcraft. The book is excellently researched using a myriad of sources including historical and first-hand accounts, relevant publications and of course the author's own thorough investigations. Melvyn Willin, an expert on music and the paranormal or 'paramusicology', analyses the links between these fields through controlled experiments where music is used to make telepathic contact between two individuals. Spiritualists, psychics and mediums who claim their contact with dead composers allows them to write and perform music of startling similarity to the original composers' works are also scrutinised. Willin investigates too the claims of those who have heard 'ghostly' music, that is music being heard when there is no obvious sound source. Willin then discusses the place of music in pagan and witchcraft culture and ritual. Music in witchcraft before and at the start of its modern revival is examined as well as the history of witchcraft's personification in classical music.

"Music, Witchcraft and the Paranormal" concludes by bringing music in paganism up to date with details of its use in modern rituals.

From the producers: Ghosts on the Underground is a journey through the oldest Underground network in the world. One billion people a year descend 150 feet below London into the tunnels and stations of the tube without a second thought for the huge number of deaths on the network and the graves, church crypts and plague pits that the Underground has disrupted over the years. Ghosts on the Underground shows previously unheard accounts from the people who actually work on the network, who talk for the first time on camera about their unexplainable experiences. Along the way, the program explores the more unusual nooks and crannies of the network, showing the amazing old and new architecture of the world's largest Underground network, and revealing that although millions think they know the network, none of them know just how haunted the tube really is.

Review by Tom Ruffles

Synopsis: The possibility of life after death is a significant theme in cinema, in which ghosts return to the world of the living to wrap up unfinished business, console their survivors, visit lovers, and just enjoy a well-wreaked scaring. This work focuses on film depictions of survival after death, from meetings with the ghost of Elvis to AIDS-related ghosts: apparitions, hauntings, mediumship, representations of heaven, angels, near-death experiences, possession, poltergeists, and all the other ways in which the living interact with the dead on screen. The work opens with a historical perspective, which outlines the development of pre-cinematic technology for ""projecting"" phantoms, and discusses the use of these skills in early ghost cinema. English-language sound films are then examined thematically with topics ranging from the expiation of sins to ""hungry"" ghosts. Six of the most significant films, Dead of Night, A Matter of Life and Death, The Innocents, The Haunting, The Shining, and Jacob's Ladder, are given a detailed analysis. A conclusion, filmography, and bibliography follow.