New Books and Media

From the publisher's website: A young man of Dublin walks past a row of streetlights at night–and they go out, one by one, as he passes.  An engineer in Woodville, Washington, is stopped by police and his car searched to find out what he's doing to their streetlights.  An Australian in the entertainment industry parks his car in a parking lot, and the light above him goes out–until the following evening when he parks in precisely the same space and the light comes on again.

And that's not all. When a guest in a restaurant in Athens, Greece, asks that the music be turned down, they refuse–whereupon she "kills" the restaurant's electricity and they eat the rest of their meal by candlelight. Other people affect traffic lights, computers, railway crossings...

This is Street Light Interference (SLI). Once considered to be folklore–something that happened to a friend of a friend–today it is recognized as a scientific enigma with implications for our knowledge of the universe, including ourselves. In this, the first full-length book on SLI, we hear from some of the hundreds of SLIders who have reported their uncanny experiences, and consider the wider implications of this fascinating phenomenon.

From the publisher’s website: Can hands-on healing can cure cancer? Skeptics say no. One man’s research — in 10 controlled, university experiments with cancer-injected mice — shows that it does. This is a self-proclaimed skeptical scientist’s story.

With The Energy Cure, Dr. William Bengston presents astonishing evidence that challenges us to totally rethink what we believe about our ability to heal. Drawing on his scientific research, incredible results, and mind-bending questions, Bengston invites us to follow him along his 35-year investigation into the mystery of hands-on healing and to discover a technique that may activate your healing abilities. Part memoir and part instruction, this provocative book explores: Bengston's paradigm-shifting experimental results and why they seem so difficult for some medical practitioners to accept - Image cycling, a unique preparation method for a hands-on-healing treatment - Why traditional Western medicine isn't always best, the value of skepticism, the strengths of energy medicine, and more.

This book has been reviewed by Robert A. Charman in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research Vol 75(3).

From the publisher's website: Most scholars dismiss research into the paranormal as pseudoscience, a frivolous pursuit for the paranoid or gullible. Even historians of religion, whose work naturally attends to events beyond the realm of empirical science, have shown scant interest in the subject. But the history of psychical phenomena, Jeffrey J. Kripal contends, is an untapped source of insight into the sacred and by tracing that history through the last two centuries of Western thought we can see its potential centrality to the critical study of religion.

Kripal grounds his study in the work of four major figures in the history of paranormal research: psychical researcher Frederic Myers; writer and humorist Charles Fort; astronomer, computer scientist, and ufologist Jacques Vallee; and philosopher and sociologist Bertrand Méheust. Through incisive analyses of these thinkers, Kripal ushers the reader into a beguiling world somewhere between fact, fiction, and fraud. The cultural history of telepathy, teleportation, and UFOs; a ghostly love story; the occult dimensions of science fiction; cold war psychic espionage; galactic colonialism; and the intimate relationship between consciousness and culture all come together in Authors of the Impossible, a dazzling and profound look at how the paranormal bridges the sacred and the scientific.

From the publisher’s website: The power of the mind has long been debated, debunked, studied for military applications, and used in science fiction. These collected case histories explore the phenomena of levitation, stigmata, inedia, paranormal activity, bilocation, fire immunity, luminosity, and the teleportation of matter. The results of more than a century of formal experimental research are discussed, as are resultant training techniques, theories, and controlled experiments used to test or bolster telekinetic abilities.
 
Pamela Rae Heath, M.D., has written widely about such topics as experiential research, place memory, the afterlife and mind-matter interaction. She is co-founder of the Paranormal Research Organization, and is also a member of the Parapsychological Association, the Society for Psychical Research and the Society for Scientific Exploration. She lives in California.

From the author: Are you aware that there was a time in Greece when scientific research was being conducted on paranormal phenomena? A time when the great majority of Greek people and scientists believed in such experiences, and there were even lessons in the subject (such as experiments in telepathy) on the National University of Greece's curriculum? Few people know about it today, and the remaining records from this era are gradually being lost due to deterioration and ignorance. This fascinating period of parapsychological research in Greece is told through the pages of this book. Testimonies, documents, old photographs, long-forgotten scientific researches and hitherto unpublished information together portray a time that was indeed very different to ours today. This Greek-language book shows a Greece that was full of remarkable research and revolutionary experiments.
 
Plaudits for the book: “A surprisingly good book about a remarkable era in Greece that most people are unaware of. A doctor from the Navy Force, a very rich backer and dozens of researchers and psychic mediums are all becoming part of a paranormal and quite unknown Greece!”  Mystery magazine.
 
“The present book brings to light a not so long ago era where Greece was equally contributing to one of the most challenging expeditions of human science.  The contribution of Angelos Tanagras is worthwhile and has to become known to the wide public in an attempt to find imitators, and as such the Greek participation to the worldwide parapsychological community to be renewed and extended. I do hope that capable people will emerge to follow Nikolaos Koumartzis in his attempt of reviving psychical research in Greece.” Dr. Marios Varvoglis, President of Institut Metapsychique International (France) and Vice President of the Parapsychological Association (USA).

From the official website: Narrated by Britains leading investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre, this award-winning documentary presents four never before seen scientific investigations into life after death.  The Scole Experiment:  For five years a group of researchers and mediums witnessed more phenomena than in any other experiment in the history of the paranormal, including recorded conversations with the dead, written messages on sealed film, video of spirit faces appearing and even spirit forms materializing. The Electronic Voice Phenomenon: Can the dead speak to the living via electronic devices like radios and tape recorders? Scientists investigating Italy's most famous medium, think so. Also famed psychic, Allison Dubois, the inspiration for the hit TV show Medium is put to the test. As our cameras roll, can she contact a leading Scole researcher who tragically died during the production of this film? These experiments may finally convince you there is life after death.

Click here for more information.

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the publisher’s website: In the New York Times bestseller, Healing Words, Dr. Dossey investigated why patients surrounded by prayer healed faster and more completely than patients who were not. Now, in The Science of Premonitions, Dossey uses cutting-edge science to make a convincing case that premonitions are real, common, and helpful. Then Dossey explores research on mindfulness and meditation to show readers how they can cultivate and take advantage of premonitions. Packed with compelling case studies and thought-provoking findings, this is a book for the skeptical mind and the believer's heart, and will be greeted warmly by "anyone who is interested in knowing about the deeper meaning of our existence."

Review by Gregory M. Westlake.

Amberley Publishing is one of the most significant producers of regional paranormal books in the country, issuing them at a prodigious rate. I’ve rounded up a few titles, but this is just a sample, and I would recommend visiting their website to see if there is one for your area, or an area you plan to visit. You can find reviews of some of the other titles on this website. Paranormal Anglesey, by Bunty Austin, 2013, ISBN 9781848683150 Paranormal Bath, by Malcolm Cadey, 2010, ISBN 9781848681767 Paranormal Eastbourne, by Janet Cameron, 2010, ISBN 9781848689961 Paranormal Leicester, by Stephen Butt, 2011, ISBN 9781848687523 Paranormal Surrey, by Marq English, 2011, ISBN 9781848688964 Haunted Wiltshire, by Sonia Smith, 2012, ISBN 9781848684027

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the publisher’s website: A twelfth century Gilbertine priory, a Chrysler car factory, a de-sanctified church and a Georgian period lavatory-just a few of the haunted localities from the case files of 1970s ghost buster Tony Broughall. Here you will find some of the most interesting and unusual of our native British ghosts, from a headless witch and a spectral plague cart through to the sinister shade of a clawed monk and the apparition of a Second World War tank. This practical guide covers over 150 notorious and lesser known hauntings of both Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire in an easy to access A-Z format and includes original accounts of paranormal investigations by one of this country's senior and highly experienced figures-perfect for practical researchers and armchair ghost hunters alike. Foreword by Peter Underwood FRSA. 
 
Tony Broughall has over forty years experience as an investigator of paranormal activity. Paul Adams is a paranormal historian and co-author of The Borley Rectory Companion (2009)

Review by Melvyn Willin

From the publisher’s website: For the first time, the best articles from "The Skeptic" in one volume. The collected writings from over 20 years of the publication, with articles by eminent academic researchers, and contributions from sceptics including Stephen Fry and Paul Daniels, and a foreword by Guardian political writer, Simon Hoggart. Why do statues weep? Did Nostradamus really predict 9/11? Is it true that we only use 10% of our brain power? Does quantum theory explain the mystery of consciousness? For 21 years, questions like these have been posed, and answered, in the pages of The Skeptic magazine, Britain’s foremost and longest-running skeptical magazine, dedicated to the pursuit of truth through reason and evidence. This collection brings together the best articles from the magazine’s archive in one myth-busting volume. It covers a wide range of topics, including psychic fraudsters and claims of psychic healing and alien abduction; near-death experiences, false memories, and much more.

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the publisher’s website: The Roman scholar Pliny the Younger was one of the first to write about ghost hunting: 2,000 years later, and the hunt still goes on. For all the thousands of hours spent by investigators in cold, dark houses, ghosts remain elusive and unproven.

This book sets out to be a practical guide to ghost hunting. Examining cases from the distant past and the present day, this book asks if it is possible to find the truth in this age-old quest. A detailed history of the three major paranormal societies is complemented by advice on which one to join, and when. If you have ever wondered how to organise your own ghost hunt, a list of essential equipment and a step-by-step guide to choosing your ideal spooky location is also included.

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the publisher’s website: With this issue, The Anomalist seeks to provide sudden jolts of illumination to spark the imagination. "Electricity of the Mind" is instant CPR for the head.

Review by Tom Ruffles