New Books and Media

From the publisher's website:

Bruce Siegel was a longtime denier of all things paranormal or spiritual, and a passionate one. Then something extraordinary happened. He noticed that many of his nightly dreams were coming true. The predicted events were odd, even bizarre, and happened quickly-often just minutes after awakening.

Reluctant to believe what he was seeing, Siegel conducted an experiment that would ultimately span years and involve hundreds of dreams. The result: fully one in four have proven to be precognitive, anticipating future events with striking precision.

A skeptic no longer, the author explains why, for decades, he failed to take the clues within his dreams seriously, and shows why and how you may be doing the same. To prove his point, he helps you carry out your own dream explorations.

Siegel is particularly interested in the larger meaning of his experiment. He says:

The true gift here is the surprising-and surprisingly friendly-universe such dreams suggest. This more expansive reality is the real subject of my book. By validating psychic ability, dreams like mine shatter the myth that we are purely physical beings, fixed in time and space within a mechanical universe. Clearly, we are more.

Scientific experiment, spiritual odyssey, and how-to manual rolled into one, Dreaming The Future is a remarkable addition to the literature on the paranormal.

Bruce Siegel lives, writes, and dreams in Southern California, where he is also known as a pianist and music educator. His passion is exploring the larger meaning of psychic ability-what it says about who and what we really are. Follow his blog at http://brucesiegel.net; contact him at [email protected].

From the publisher's website: Most of us have heard stories of these unusual phenomena, as told by millions of people throughout history and across cultures. Or perhaps we have experienced them ourselves, and we are still grappling with their validity in a world of empirical science and psychiatry that deems anything unseen or spiritual as impossible, weird, or even disturbed. The stigma surrounding the paranormal prevents us from exploring the possibility that there are, perhaps, events that occur outside the realm of human comprehension, inoculating us against the lessons and spiritual significance these events might hold. As an experienced psychiatrist, Dr. Manuel Matas is very familiar with the science of the human brain—as well as the possibilities that exist beyond the known borders of consciousness. He has never been a classic rationalist, as he himself has experienced phenomena that defy logic and the explanations of Western medicine. In The Borders of Normal, Dr. Matas reveals just how accepted (and studied) many of these phenomena are, providing a compelling overview of influential thinkers who have, over the years, recognized events and experiences that fall outside the realm of current scientific thought. As a proponent of a nuanced, respectful approach that lies between belief and scepticism, Dr. Matas helps us to view paranormal experiences as normal and indeed endemic to the human species, for it is in this space of the unknown that we may learn more about ourselves, each other, and the bodies and worlds that we inhabit.

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

From the publisher's website: The science of DNA has a problem; the book of instructions for life is nowhere to be found. This book suggests that DNA is all passcodes, accepting only the correct instructions to build anything from a fish to an elephant. Information flows from the species and family to build a body and mind, creating instinctive knowledge and behaviour with a control system. That same system occasionally allows information flow from mind to mind, which we call telepathy. This revelation answers unsolved questions relating to heredity, evolution and psychic experiences; making sense of life and consciousness.

About Richard Alabone:

Richard has been studying psychic experiences for more than 60 years, and is a member of the Society for Psychical Research, and the Scientific and Medical Network in the U.K. He is retired from a career as a research and development engineer on radar and television equipment, and also spent nine years as a Civil Service technical manager. During 40 broadcasts, entitled Paranormal is Normal; he spoke to many interesting people who explained the psychic side of life.

From the publisher's website: This book explores the phenomenon of second sight in nineteenth-century literature and culture. Second sight is a form of prophetic vision associated with the folklore of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Described in Gaelic as the An-da-shealladh or ‘the two sights’, those in possession of this extraordinary power are said to foresee future events like the death of neighbour, the arrival of strangers into the community, the success or failure of a fishing trip. From the late seventeenth century onwards, rumours of this strange faculty attracted the attention of numerous scientists, travel writers, antiquarians, poets and artists. Focusing on the nineteenth century, this book examines second sight in relation to mesmerism and phrenology, modern spiritualism and anthropology, romance literature and folklorism and finally, psychical research and Celtic mysticism. Tracing the migration of a supposedly ‘Scottish’ tradition through various sites of nineteenth-century popular culture, it explores questions of nationhood and identity alongside those posed by supernatural phenomena.

Further information at the publisher's website: Palgrave Macmillan.

From the publisher's website:

IF YOU LIKE YOUR UFO LITERATURE TO CONFIRM WHAT YOU ALREADY ‘KNOW,’ THIS IS NOT THE BOOK FOR YOU!

The UFO field has produced thousands of dedicated researchers over the years, and reams of literature; but to what end? What can we claim to know conclusively today about the underlying nature of UFO phenomena that we didn’t know in the late-1940s? UFO study has always suffered from major organizational and methodological problems. It has also become dangerously self-referential.

If ever we are to further our understanding of the UFO enigma, we must fundamentally reframe our debate. We must wipe the board clean and fill it with new ideas, new theories, even new language. We must be willing to start from scratch when the field stagnates. We must be critical, sober, and free of dogma—ready to rinse away the residue of our own beliefs.

UFOs: Reframing the Debate is a collection of original essays exploring alternative perspectives on UFOs and how we might more usefully study the phenomenon in the 21st Century. The book brings together some of the most progressive and iconoclastic thinkers in the field for an incisive deconstruction of current popular ideas. Critical but constructive, this challenging volume represents a range of differing (even conflicting) alternative viewpoints on UFOs and related phenomena.

UFOs: Reframing the Debate is a cold, hard, slap in the face for ‘UFOlogy,’ a call to break away from established ideas, approaches, and practices, and to boldly tread a new path in quest of understanding what may very well be the greatest mystery of all.

For more information, including a sample chapter, visit White Crow Books

Review by Chris Jensen Romer

Review by Tom Ruffles

For this book, the editors have collected (and in many cases translated) more than 40 of Hoebens’ most significant or characteristic writings, about half of which were never published in English before. Partly based on the so-called “Hoebens File”, they have also added editorial introductions and comments to elucidate the contexts in which these papers were written and to explicate their lasting relevance. Therefore, the book is more than a commemoration of an important author – it provides valuable insights into the history of parapsychology and its skeptical reflections and repercussions.

From the author: This book is set in 5 parts and the author goes into detail about the many and varied psychic experiences and his interaction with spirits over a 20 year period:

Part One: provides details of the author’s early life in New Zealand, and details Raymond’s experience of being shot in the side of the head at Raurimu in February 1997 and the massacre of six others. As a result of this, the author’s life underwent a dramatic spiritual change.

Parts Two and Three: provide details of more than 300 psychic experiences occurring over the period from February 1997 to March 2013, most of which were varied and provided by spirits for him to write about.

Part Four: analyses these experiences and considers them more from the point of view of the life of our spirit self and that of spririts. These are also studied in association with the findings from research in the psychic field, and the operation of the brain.

Part Five: provides details on our spiritual rights in contrast to the rights which humans presently have – being associated more with out material needs. it provides details on where mankind fits into life elsewhere in the greater universe, and how we need to change the path we are on in order to ensure our survival, and out ultimate place in the next realm.

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the publisher's website: This is a powerful and inspirational story about a young baseball prodigy who, at the age of two, began sharing vivid memories of being a baseball player in the 1920s and ’30s. Christian Haupt described historical facts about Lou Gehrig that he could not have possibly known at the time.

Distraught by their son's uncanny revelations, his parents embarked on a sacred journey of discovery that shook their beliefs to the core and forever changed their views on life and death. The Boy Who Knew Too Much delves into the mystery of life and will inspire even the greatest skeptics to consider the possibility that love never dies.

Review by Dieter Hassler

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the author's website: Rapping on the walls. Mysterious rains of stones. Furniture moving around by itself. Phantom voices. Unexplained fires. Invisible assaults. The symptoms of poltergeist activity are well known, but what is a poltergeist, really? Is it some type of demon, or an angry spirit whose only mission is to cause mischief and destruction? Is it the unconscious energy of a troubled living person, somehow affecting the environment from a distance? Or could it all be simply fraud or misidentification? In this comprehensive book, well over one hundred cases of poltergeist activity, from the first century to the present day, are summarized and examined. All the best-known cases are presented, from Borley Rectory to the Bell Witch, from the Great Amherst Mystery to Gef the Talking Mongoose, from Rosenheim to Tina Resch, from Enfield to the Entity. A large selection of fascinating and lesser-known accounts from all over the world are also included, and all contain testimony of the most eerie and extraordinary events. The Unseen Hand is the ultimate, one-stop shop for readers interested in poltergeist disturbances throughout history and the theories behind what causes them.

Jenny Ashford is a horror and paranormal writer. Her books include three paranormal nonfiction books: House of Fire and Whispers: Investigating the Seattle Demon House, and The Rochdale Poltergeist (both with parapsychologist Steve Mera), and The Mammoth Mountain Poltergeist (with poltergeist focus Tom Ross). She has also written three horror novels: Red Menace, Bellwether, and The Five Poisons; two short story collections, Hopeful Monsters and The Associated Villainies; and a graphic novel, The Tenebrist. Her horror blog, Goddess of Hellfire, contains writing news, short stories and articles, and her reviews and opinions on horror films and books. She also co-hosts a podcast with Tom Ross called 13 O’Clock, on which they discuss various paranormal topics, true crime, and unexplained mysteries. Find her online at www.jennyashford.com or at goddessofhellfire.com, and listen to 13 O’Clock on the Project Entertainment Network, or on YouTube at 13OClockPodcast.

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the publisher's website: A look at the eerier side of Glasgow and its immediate environs. Find out about "The Clatter" and the unearthly users of the local railways. Discover which part of Glasgow has the densest poltergeist population, the ghosts that walk Glasgow University and the body snatching past of the city's other High Education institutes. How did two young girls rock Paisley and Pollok with accusations of witchcraft and what are the Clydeside origins of America's leading haunted ship? Glasgow and it's immediate environs might be best known as an industrial powerhouse, and a hotbed of red politics, but spookiness bubbles not too far beneath the surface.