New Books and Media

From the publisher's website: In this major study of near-death experiences with the newly born, babies, toddlers, and children up to age five, NDE expert P. M. H. Atwater reveals how those who experience a near-death state or other worlds at a very young age are profoundly affected for the rest of their lives, including developing psychic and intuitive abilities, higher intelligence and “wisdom beyond their years,” and a pervasive feeling of being “homesick for heaven.”

Drawing on interviews with nearly 400 childhood experiencers, both fully matured and young, Atwater explores their accounts of what it is like to be alive on the other side of death as well as what makes them different from others, complemented by a deep analysis of statistical evidence from her more than 40 years of NDE research involving more than 5,000 people. She shows how, in contrast to adult experiencers, child and infant experiencers of near-death states cannot compare “before” with “after” as adults do, because they don’t have a “before.” The world of these “forever angels” is the life continuum, a stream of consciousness that has always existed and always will. Integrating “where they once were” with “where they now are” is a lifelong challenge. The author explores how those who have a near-death experience very early in life, or even in utero, grow up “different”--sometimes geniuses, sometimes lost, yet unusually psychic and smart, all at the same time. She reveals how these experiences and their knowledge of the afterlife affect the individual in many areas, including family life, dating, health, education, and spirituality, as well as increasing the experiencer’s potential for thoughts of suicide, out-of-body experiences, and PTSD symptoms.

Examining the forever angels’ memories of the womb, birth, early childhood, and the other world, Atwater investigates the wide-awake consciousness of babies being born, the vivid recall of mature childhood near-death experiencers, and how memory of the life-continuum never fades, nor does the desire to go back.

From the publisher's website: W. T. Stead (1849–1912), newspaper editor, author, social reformer, advocate for women’s rights, peace campaigner, spiritualist, was one of the best-known public figures in late Victorian and Edwardian Britain. This a religious biography of Stead, giving particular attention to Stead’s conception of journalism, in an age of growing mass literacy, as a means to communicate religious truth and morality, and his view of the editor’s desk as a modern pulpit from which the editor could preach to a congregation of tens of thousands. The book explores how his Nonconformist Conscience and sense of divine calling infused his newspaper crusades, most famously his ‘Maiden Tribute’ campaign against child prostitution, and it considers his efforts, through forms of participatory journalism, to create a ‘union of all who love in the service of all who suffer’ and a ‘Civic Church’. The book considers his growing interest in spiritualism and the occult as he searched for the evidence of an afterlife that might draw people of an increasingly secular age back to faith. It discusses his imperialism and his belief in the English-speaking peoples of the British Empire and American Republic as God’s new chosen people for the spread of civilization, and it considers how his growing understanding of other faiths and cultures, but more especially his moral revulsion over the South African War of 1899–1902, brought him to question those beliefs. Finally, it assesses the influence of religious faith on his campaigns for world peace and the arbitration of international disputes.

From the publisher's website: A mid-19th century story of psychic drama and wonder surrounding the world-renowned spiritual mediums, The Brothers Davenport from Buffalo, New York. The author utilizes exceedingly rare source material collected over many years. N. Riley Heagerty unambiguously presents empirical evidence that will render the most negative of skeptical critics into silence. These physical mediums withstood innumerable tests throughout America and Europe, often met with hostility and rejection by bigoted and dishonest disbelievers. Yet the majority who witnessed the many wonders with their own eyes came to accept their experiences as above and beyond known laws of science and elementary human comprehension. You are now invited to witness the indisputable evidence which this highly-respected historical researcher has gathered from high and low, and experience The Brothers Davenport, who continue to stand preeminent within the hierarchy of the most powerful of physical spirit mediums.

Part two of Keith Linder’s, best seller book The Bothell Hell House, has arrived. This true story picks up where the previous book left off. Keith Linder, an IT professional from Texas now living outside Seattle Washington, feels the time is right for him to exit the home many now say is haunted. The question everyone’s asking themselves right now is what happened here? Why is this house haunted? Now that the two independent paranormal teams have substantiated Keith and Tina claims of the house being haunted Keith feels the time is right for him to move out. That should be easy right? Not necessarily. Not only is the activity showing signs of resurfacing. But one question that haunts Keith more than any other. Will the spirits follow him? Attachments – Poltergeist of Washington State has more video evidence than its predecessor. More EVPs. More unexplained audio data. More pictures of what was chasing Keith and Tina. And yes the reason why this house was behaving the way it was and the true makeup of the black wall markings are revealed in great detail in this book. The truth emerges. But at what cost to Keith?

Review by Ashley Knibb.

From the publisher's website: We are at critical moment in the history of humankind’s relationship with the Earth, and all the species that co-inhabit with us. This is a time of climate change, species loss and ecological collapse on a scale that has never been seen before. New ways of thinking will be required if we hope to overcome these global problems and develop a more harmonious relationship between the human and non-human worlds. In the spirit of creative exploration this book suggests that approaches emerging from the study of (and engagement with) the super-natural may ultimately help us to re-connect with the natural, and in so doing develop innovative approaches to confronting the eco-crisis.

Greening the Paranormal explores parallels between anomalistics (the study of the paranormal in all its guises, incorporating parapsychology, paranthropology, cryptozoology, religious studies, and so on), and ecology (the study of living systems), not just for the sake of exploring interesting intersections (of which there are many), but for the essential task of contributing towards a much broader – necessary – change of perspective concerning our relationship to the living planet. The chapters collected in this book demonstrate that we have much to learn from exploring the ecology of extraordinary experience.

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

Sarah from Living Life In Full Spectrum brings her highly popular series: Stuff Paranormal Investigators Need To Know to paperback and Ebook! Volume 1 : What the eyes see and ears hear the mind believes .... but is everything what it seems? This series takes a rational approach to paranormal investigating, offering natural explanations for common paranormal phenomena while exploring spiritual and other possibilities. What you are left with is a great reference guide for paranormal enthusiasts of all levels to compare against their own experiences. Delve into the psychology behind visual and auditory phenomenon such as pareidolia, optical illusions and how our brain processes information. This leads us to our memory and perception and how the brain interprets our experiences. This often makes us feel we are experiencing something paranormal, as do certain medical conditions and physical responses to our natural surroundings. Knowledge is power, and by educating ourselves with this information, we can eliminate different possibilities and see what we are left with. When you start delving into what we do know about the human mind, it makes us question just what it is really capable of when it comes to paranormal phenomena.

Review by Vladimir Dubaj.

From the publisher's website: From the US to Nepal, author J. Bradley Wigger travels five countries on three continents to hear children describe their invisible friends—one-hundred-year-old robins and blue dogs, dinosaurs and teapots, pretend families and shape-shifting aliens—companions springing from the deep well of childhood imagination. Drawing on these interviews, as well as a new wave of developmental research, he finds a fluid and flexible quality to the imaginative mind that is central to learning, co-operation, and paradoxically, to real-world rationality. Yet Wigger steps beyond psychological territory to explore the religious significance of the kind of mind that develops relationships with invisible beings. Alongside Cinderella the blue dog, Quack-Quack the duck, and Dino the dinosaur are angels, ancestors, spirits, and gods. What he uncovers is a profound capacity in the religious imagination to see through the surface of reality to more than meets the eye. Punctuated throughout by children's colorful drawings of their see-through interlocutors, the book is highly engaging and alternately endearing, moving, and humorous. Not just for parents or for those who work with children, Invisible Companions will appeal to anyone interested in our mind's creative and spiritual possibilities.

Review by David J. Halperin.

From the publisher's website: Single case studies have a long tradition in the field of parapsychology and anomalistics research. Naturally, thorough case studies do not usually provide hard evidence for the existence of paranormal effects. However, they demonstrate the dynamics of occurrence of such extraordinary phenomena and experiences in the living world. This volume is intended to give an overview of the methodological peculiarities of anomalistic field research. On the basis of historical and current case studies, certain specific psychosocial dynamics and problems in this interesting and challenging field of research are presented and discussed.

This book contains 15 chapters written by different authors on the subject of single case studies. Although the focus is on poltergeist cases, other fields of anomalistics are also addressed, such as the UFO topic, cryptozoology, or allegedly photographic anomalies. 

Table of contents

From the publisher's website: Signs of Reincarnation provides the first comprehensive look at the belief in reincarnation and the evidence for past lives from historical records, anthropological studies, and contemporary research. Matlock discusses various ways the evidence may be interpreted and shows that although reincarnation entails a rejection of the materialist notion that consciousness is generated by the brain, it does not require the acceptance of any radically new concepts or the abandonment of well-established findings in mainstream psychology or biology. This book offers students, scholars, and anyone interested in the possibility of reincarnation an essential grounding in beliefs, cases, and theory, while opening doors for future research into the extension of consciousness beyond our present lives. 

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

From the publisher's website: Do not buy this book if you want to read a biased account of the famous Enfield Poltergeist case from 1977 through to 1978. There are many other choices you could make which will either try to convince you of the genuineness of the phenomena produced or its fraudulent origins according to the interpretation of the authors concerned. I do not mind whether you have a wide-open mind or a totally shut one, since I shall not be trying to convince you one way or the other.

Do buy this book if you want to know what really happened! I have listened and transcribed all of the several hundred audio tapes that were made by Maurice Grosse and Guy Playfair during their investigation of the alleged poltergeist case that took place in Enfield some 40 years ago and I shall present, in chronological order, what occurred. It will then be your decision as to whether you believe the phenomena came from spirit entities; psychic forces; mistaken interpretations; hallucinations; naughty children or any other source you might wish to present. I shall strive very hard not to be influenced by what I have read, however intelligent it might be, and instead rely on my ears to describe what was happening via the tapes.

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

Review by Nemo C. Mörck.

The publication documents the survey exhibition Susan MacWilliam: Modern Experiments which toured four venues in Ireland in 2016–17. Published by F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio. Designed by Peter Maybury. Edited by Riann Coulter and Susan MacWilliam with essays and texts by Riann Coulter, Alice Corriea, Val Connor and Susan MacWilliam. 

Further information at: Susan MacWilliam.

Review by Shannon Taggart.

From the publisher's website: North Carolina is considered one of the US headquarters for ghost lights—that is, for spooky and unexplained luminous phenomenon. Nearly half of all reported ghost lights shine, blink, burn, dance, or float somewhere in the state. These ghost lights are well known in their localities. There are scary and fascinating stories associated with them, and they attract many visitors, each hoping to see a ball of fire floating over a cemetery or a jack-o’-lantern illuminating a corner of the Great Dismal Swamp or a long-dead railroad man swinging his lantern in search of his severed head.

Author Charles “Fritz” Gritzner has been chasing ghost lights for many years. A geography professor and luminous phenomenon buff, he has visited the sites, researched possible scientific explanations for the lights, and recorded the legends surrounding them. In this charming and fascinating book, he does not seek to debunk these phenomena, but to illuminate them as a part of the folk culture of North Carolina.