New Books and Media

From the back cover: Ethel Post Parrish led a roller-coaster life, of police raids, undercover journalists, accusations of fraud, court cases over leases, and legacies. Four-times married. Ethel was a perfectionist who expected a high standard, earned respect, and was accepted in the best Spiritualist circles. An enterprising, business-like woman and founder of Camp Silver Belle. The Camp witnessed a Golden Age of American mediumship. Arthur Ford, Frank Decker, Clifford Bias, Maina Tafe, and Lula Taber; Ethel knew and employed them all at Silver Belle.America’s most versatile psychic. Ethel Post Parrish has waited since 1958 for a biography worthy of her stature. America’s leading medium of the 1930/50s. Much admired, envied, and ridiculed in her lifetime, Ethel’s sensational materialization seances featured spirits of different sexes, ages, races, and cultures. With numerous spirits visible in ruby light, Ethel’s famous Indian guide Silver Belle presided over the séances with a “tinkling laugh.” Ethel Post Parrish: Mediumship in America, breaks new ground in 20th Century US Spiritualist studies. The first of a series of books planned in this subject area. American Spiritualism witnessed tremendous expansion between the wars, and this book illustrates and quantifies that growth. The only account of America’s premier influential medium is set in the movement in which lived and shaped. Tough, loving, loyal Ethel had charisma. A uniquely talented medium and above all, a remarkably successful woman.

Review by Brian C. Wilson.

From the back cover: For over fifty years, the Reverend Dorothy Graff Flexer demonstrated the unique gift of Trumpet Mediumship. The voices of the departed and Master Teachers were heard again in the mortal world. Dorothy and her husband, Doctor Russell Flexer, devoted their lives to the spiritual community that they founded and which still flourishes at Sarasota, Florida. Trained by Ethel Post Parrish at Camp Silver Belle, Dorothy became a noted teacher and medium associated with the camp for 28 years. The Flexers had a vision of how the study of mediumship, Christian teaching, and spiritual texts could enrich the life of the individual. Every week the members could experience demonstrations of extraordinary mediumistic phenomena. The vision of Reverend Dorothy and Dr. Russell was of a new religion, “Metaphysical Christianity,” which would appeal to reason and understanding ...

From the publisher's website: There are few factual books written about poltergeist phenomena, John's Fraser's Poltergeist! A New Investigation Into Destructive Haunting fills that void, advancing and updating Colin Wilson's work Poltergeist!, this study's namesake from over 38 years ago. Fraser takes readers on a journey from the Borley Rectory to the Isle of Man, and grounds his readers in an historical overview of 'poltergeist phenomena'. He examines where such events overlap with other paranormal investigations of 'apparitional' ghosts. What do they have in common, what do they differ? To answer this, Fraser looks to new research on paranormal events, never before published in book form. Fraser contends, perhaps controversially, that ghost sightings are and always will be ambiguous and near-impossible to prove, that only poltergeist phenomena can be empirically verified.

Review by Nemo C. Mörck.

From the publisher's website: The field of research on the paranormal has changed enormously in the last 20 years. Examining  experiences of ESP, psychokinesis, precognition, ganzfeld, dissociative states, out-of-the-body experiences, alien abductions and near-death experiences, David Marks appraises the best available evidence to date on scientific claims of the paranormal. Each chapter also provides a description of the psychological processes that are likely to contribute to these experiences, and to the high prevalence of paranormal beliefs.

Importantly, this book does not take a fixed sceptical or ‘disbelieving’ view of the phenomena but, as far as possible, offers a neutral gaze which will equip readers to make up their own minds, as well as providing them with the critical skills to defend their conclusions.

Part of the Preface is available on the author's website. 

Further information at the publisher's website: SAGE Publishing.

From the book cover: In the middle of 21st century England lies an old building that has been scarred by tragedy, suffering, and violent death. Built by prisoners of war more than two centuries ago, Bodmin Jail and the land around it have been the site of more than fifty hangings. Thieves, murderers, highwaymen and rapists all died at the end of the hangman's rope, with many of their bodies being buried within the jail grounds. it is unsurprising, then, that the jail has its ghosts. Even today, the restless spirits of those who breathed their last at Bodmin Jail still roam its hallways, lurk within its cells, and prowl the dank underground chambers. Join author Richard Estep (TV's Haunted Hospitals, Paranormal 911, and Haunted Case Files) as he and a team of fellow paranormal investigators uncover the secrets of this historic, haunted jail...

Ghostly voices have been appearing on tape recordings for decades . Known as EVP (electronic voice phenomenon), learn all you need to know about EVP like where it came from, how it works and the theories as to why these voices appear on recordings. We start by exploring the research from pioneers such as Friedrich Jurgenson & Konstantin Raudive and how EVP research has evolved throughout the years. How can you do you own recordings? What are the different recording methods and equipment you can use? What techniques and experiments can you try besides just the typical question and answer sessions? How do you review your audio? What natural causes can be mistaken for this phenomenon and what interferes with our recordings? Finally let's talk about what these voices potentially are. Could the voices be from the other side or maybe from out of this world? This is a comprehensive instructional and interactive guide suitable for anyone interested in the paranormal designed to make you think and question everything you think you know. There are even interactive worksheets to help you make this guide your own complete with your own thoughts and research. Whether you are a fan of watching your favourite television personalities walking around with a digital recorder or starting out as a paranormal investigator yourself, this will give you everything you need to know and more! If you have been out in the field for years, there are some new ideas and technical information for those wanting to take their research a little further. There is something for everyone in this guide!Written by blogger Sarah Chumacero from the popular paranormal blog Living Life In Full Spectrum and author of Stuff Paranormal Investigators Need To Know, this is a must have guide for anyone interested in the paranormal and something you will refer to time and time again!

From the publisher's website: About 30 percent of hospice patients report a “visitation” by someone who is not there, a phenomenon known in end-of-life care as a deathbed vision. These visions can be of dead friends or family members and occur on average three days before death. Strikingly, individuals from wildly diverse geographic regions and religions—from New York to Japan to Moldova to Papua New Guinea—report similar visions. Appearances of our dead during serious illness, crises, or bereavement are as old as the historical record. But in recent years, we have tended to explain them in either the fantastical terms of the supernatural or the reductive terms of neuroscience.

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

From the publisher's website: In this exploration of consciousness, after-death communication, and near-death and out-of-body experiences, Chris Hardy reveals that all beings exist simultaneously in the material dimension and in the soul hyperdimension. She offers tested methods for accessing the soul dimension and explores what can be accomplished there, including communicating with those who exist beyond our own material world.

Further information at the publisher's website: Bear & Company.

From the publisher's website: When TED, the global media platform, took down scientist Rupert Sheldrake’s lecture, “The Science Delusion,” deeming it not scientific, it ignited a fierce discussion around the globe. Bloggers, commenters, distinguished scientists, Internet trolls and even a Nobel Prize winning physicist all contributed to this once-in-a-lifetime debate. The subject? The most controversial question of all time—what is nature of reality? In Psi Wars: TED, Wikipedia and the Battle for the Internet, Craig Weiler, in journalistic fashion, demonstrates how science, the accepted arbiter of truth, is constantly being manipulated and propagandized in an effort to uphold prejudices and beliefs in the scientific community.

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

From the publisher's website: The paranormal has long been a hotly contested topic, especially in academia. Most people are entertained by the paranormal or casually read a few books they come across on the topic, perhaps assuming that these topics are nothing more than campfire fodder. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being entertained by the paranormal, but how many people know that there is a long history of academic, scientific, and credible research into topics such as extrasensory perception, hauntings, poltergeists, cryptozoological sightings, near-death experiences, and more?

Further information at the publisher's website: Rowman & Littlefield.

Review by Christopher Josiffe.

From the publisher's website: Across thousands of years, people have described one of the most astonishing of all human phenomena: the near-death experience (NDE), the subjective experience of an Afterlife, a place where we apparently survive death.The more powerful the NDE, the more profound the after effects. The ambitious reset their priorities. Atheists change their values. Doctors rethink their beliefs.But what if the after effects of an NDE were undeniable? What if someone suddenly developed the ability to produce high quality paintings of their NDE, a new-found skill that went far beyond the artistic ability they had before? And what if that same person then suddenly acquired the ability to compose classical symphonies after their NDE? And their symphonies were then premiered at sell out orchestral concerts, even though, to this day, they are unable to read or write a single note of musical notation. Wouldn't this be proof that even a cynic would have a hard time explaining?After his NDE, this is exactly what happened to David. And this is his story.

Further information at the publisher's website: O-Books.

Review by Ciaran Farrell.

From the publisher's website: The word miracle is rooted in a Sanskrit syllable smi, from which we get the English word smile. So a miracle refers to a smile induced by certain sensations of awe, beauty, and wonder. Humans have always had extraordinary experiences, often called miracles.  An account of reported miraculous phenomena, Smile of the Universe takes us beyond conventional religion and science to explore the outer reaches of human potential. Grounded in true stories and matters of fact, Michael Grosso argues for the reality of a great Mind and for the human ability to communicate with that Mind. In an age of disbelief, it presents a fact-based template for experimental spirituality and makes the case that every one of us, rightly understood, is a smile of the universe.  

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

Review by Graham Kidd.