New Books and Media

From the publisher's website: One of the last criminal trials using the 1735 Witchcraft Act was, improbably, in London in 1944. The accused was Helen Duncan, a middle-aged Scotswoman. This is her extraordinary story. Helen Duncan - known since childhood as 'Hellish Nell', for her uncontainable nature - was one of the most popular mediums of the twentieth century, holding seances around the country where she was believed to manifest the spirits of the dead.

Further information at the publisher's website: Penguin

From the publisher's website: The early nineteenth century witnessed the birth of psychiatry, a new medical science that fundamentally changed how mental illness was labelled and understood. Troubled by Faith explores how psychiatrists not only thought they were agents of modernity but that they could also explain the occult mysteries of the past. They bristled with confidence that, in an era of unprecedented change, unlocking the secrets of the mind was essential to an ordered and progressive society. And a progressive society was one that did not believe in witches, ghosts, and fairies, and did not exhibit excited religious emotions and divine communications. Through examining the extensive psychiatric literature from Europe and America, Troubled by Faith charts how once widely-held popular beliefs were pathologized, and how this fundamentally impacted on the notion of criminal and legal responsibility. In the second half of the book, we listen to the voices of asylum patients as recorded in case books. The asylum was an extraordinary cultural space where under one roof prophets, messiahs, the bewitched, and the haunted mixed, and people wrestled with angels, devils, imps, and witches. It was a place filled with talk of infernal machines and sinister electrical forces. Whether seriously ill and deluded, or sane and lucid in their beliefs and imaginings, patients’ experiences were, nevertheless, reflective of a society being transformed by technology and yet still rooted in the supernatural.

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

From the publisher's website: Wales is a land with a vast wealth of ghost stories, including fantastical animals, flickering death omens and unseen things that go bump in the night. Whether these tales are based on true events, or are the creations of active imaginations, is known only to those who have experienced them – but what is certain is that their power to delight and scare us remains undimmed to this day.

From the publisher's website: Into the Uncanny is the story of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things and want to make sense of them. Each one is a brand-new case never shared before; modern day, real-life ghost stories that will make your blood run cold. It is also a journey of self-discovery, as Danny explores what the paranormal means to us and the exciting and terrifying prospect that we are not alone. From poltergeists and apparitions, to UFOs and messages from beyond the grave, Into The Uncanny is a thrilling, adrenaline-filled supernatural adventure. Whether you're Team Believer or Team Sceptic, all you need is an open mind and a bit of courage. So, are you ready to investigate?

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

Review by Fred Andersson. 

From the publisher's website: Terminal lucidity is a relatively common but poorly understood phenomenon. Near the end of life, many people--including those who have suffered brain injuries or strokes, or have been silenced by mental illness or deep dementia--experience what seems a miraculous return. They regain their clarity and energy, are able to talk with families and caregivers, recall their lives and often appear to be aware of their nearing death.

In this remarkable book, cognitive scientist and Director of the Viktor Frankl Institute Dr. Alexander Batthyány offers the first major account of terminal lucidity, utilizing hundreds of case studies and his research in the related field of near-death studies to explore the mind, the body, the nature of consciousness, and what the living can learn from those who are crossing the border from life to death.

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

From the back cover: Weirdly Queer is a narrative examination of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer sexual minorities found throughout the long history of fringe research into unexplained phenomena. From the foundations of the Society for Psychical Research and sexually-charged Spiritualist mediums to lesbian alien abductee reports, sodomizing cryptids, and queer Hippie witches, the truly queer stories of our puzzling, profound, and amazing world have hidden in plain view, waiting to be retold. This trailblazing journey uncovers a world where genders stretch beyond the confines of biology and the real monsters are buried in the closets of humankind’s darker side.

From the publisher's website: This large-scale international investigation into spontaneous After-Death Communications (ADCs) reveals the circumstances, nature and consequences of these beautiful and consoling experiences. You will discover the powerful beneficial impact of these deeply meaningful contacts, allegedly initiated by the deceased towards their loved ones.

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

Review by Gregory M. Westlake

From the publisher's website: In the year 1900, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was at the height of his success as a qualified doctor, keen sportsman, writer of historical novels, champion of the oppressed and, most notably, the creator of that honourable, fearless, and eminently sensible master-detective Sherlock Holmes.

Every new Holmes story was greeted with great anticipation and confidence in the knowledge that, however complex the crime, the supremely intelligent and logical detective would solve it. But in 1916 Conan Doyle surprised his readers by declaring that he believed in spiritualism. And when, in 1922, Doyle published a book in which he professed to believe in fairies, his devotees were nonplussed. How could the creator of the inexorably logical Sherlock Holmes claim to believe in something as vague, esoteric, and unproven as the paranormal?

In this fascinating study of the life of the creator of one of the greatest detectives of all time, Dr Andrew Norman traces the origin of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s strange beliefs. Can it be that Doyle’s alcoholic father holds the key to the unanswered questions about his son? What was Doyle’s involvement in the notorious ‘Cottingley Fairies’ affair?

By delving into medical records and the writings of Doyle himself, Dr Norman unravels a mystery as exciting as any of the cases embarked upon by the great Sherlock Holmes!

Further information at the publisher's website: White Owl.

This is a reprint of Arthur Conan Doyle: Beyond Sherlock Holmes

From the publisher's website: Historically, children’s inexplicable experiences -- from telepathy and conversing with deceased relatives to out-of-body- or near-death experiences, and more -- have been theorised through traditional scientific lenses that may not have the explanatory power to account for such experiences. In Children’s Unexplained Experiences in a Post Materialist World, Donna Thomas shares research that she and other scholars, past and present, have conducted with children and young people across the world.

Further information at the publisher's website: Essentia Books

Review by Athena A. Drewes.

From the publisher's website: Following Robert A. Charman’s previous book Telepathy, Clairvoyance, and Precognition, The Psi Mind in Action explores the extraordinary powers of the human mind in interacting with the physical world in the form of hands-on and distant healing, psychokinesis, poltergeist activity, clairvoyant map dowsing and more.

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

Review by Robert McLuhan.

From the publisher's website: The Great War haunted the British Empire. Shell shocked soldiers relived the war's trauma through waking nightmares consisting of mutilated and grotesque figures. Modernist writers released memoirs condemning the war as a profane and disenchanting experience. Yet British and Dominion soldiers and their families also read prophecies about the coming new millennium, experimented with séances, and claimed to see the ghosts of their loved ones in dreams and in photographs. On the battlefields, they had premonitions and attributed their survival to angelic, psychic, or spiritual forces. For many, the war was an enchanting experience that offered proof of another world and the transcendental properties of the mind. Between 1914 and 1939, an array of ghosts lived in the minds of British subjects as they navigated the shocking toll that death in modern war exerted in their communities.

Further information at the publisher's website: Manchester University Press