Download or read book A Natural History of Ghosts written by Roger Clarke and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A natural history of the supernatural from Roger Clarke, lifelong investigator into England's creepiest real-life ghost stories 'Is there anybody out there?' No matter how rationally we order our lives, few of us are completely immune to the suggestion of the uncanny and the fear of the dark. The subject of whether ghosts exist has fascinated some of the finest minds in history and it remains a subject of overwhelming interest today. This is the first comprehensive, authoritative and readable history of the evolution of the ghost in the west, examining as every good natural history should, the behaviour of the subject in its preferred environment: the stories we tell each other. What explains sightings of ghosts? Why do they fascinate us? What exactly did the haunted see? What did they believe? And what proof is there? Taking us through the key hauntings that have obsessed the world from the poltergeist of Cock Lane through the true events that inspired The Turn of the Screw and the dark events of Borley Rectory right up to the present day, Roger Clarke unfolds a story of class conflict, charlatans and true believers. His surprising castlist ranges from Samuel Johnson to John Wesley, and from Harry Houdini to Adolf Hitler. Inspired by a childhood spent in two haunted houses, Roger Clarke has spent much of his life trying to see a ghost. Written as grippingly as the best ghost fiction, A Natural History of Ghosts takes us on an unforgettable hunt through the most haunted places of the last five hundred years and our longing to believe.
Download or read book Ghosts written by Lisa Morton and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2015-09-15 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From that cheerful puff of smoke known as Casper to the hunkiest potter living or dead, Sam Wheat, there is probably no more iconic entity in supernatural history than the ghost. And these are just recent examples. From the earliest writings such as the Epic of Gilgamesh to today’s ghost-hunting reality TV shows, ghosts have chilled the air of nearly every era and every culture in human history. In this book, Lisa Morton uses her scholarly prowess—more powerful than any proton pack—to wrangle together history’s most enduring ghosts into an entertaining and comprehensive look at what otherwise seems to always evade our eyes. Tracing the ghost’s constantly shifting contours, Morton asks the most direct question—What exactly is a ghost?—and examines related entities such as poltergeists, wraiths, and revenants. She asks how a ghost is related to a soul, and she outlines all the different kinds of ghosts there are. To do so, she visits the spirits of the classical world, including the five-part Egyptian soul and the first haunted-house, conceived in the Roman playwright Plautus’s comedy, Mostellaria. She confronts us with the frightening phantoms of the Middle Ages—who could incinerate priests and devour children—and reminds us of the nineteenth-century rise of Spiritualism, a religion essentially devoted to ghosts. She visits with the Indian bhuta and goes to the Hungry Ghost Festival in China, and of course she spends time in Mexico, where ghosts have a particularly strong grip on belief and culture. Along the way she gathers the ectoplasmic residues seeping from books and film reels, from the Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto to the 2007 blockbuster Paranormal Activity, from the stories of Ann Radcliffe to those of Stephen King. Wide-ranging, informative, and slicked with over fifty unearthly images, Ghosts is an entertaining read of a cultural phenomenon that will delight anyone, whether they believe in ghosts or not.
Download or read book Ghosts written by Roger Clarke and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice A comprehensive, authoritative and readable history of the evolution of the ghost in the west, examining the behavior of the subject in its preferred environment: the stories we tell each other. "Roger Clarke tells this [the story that inspired Henry James' The Turn of the Screw] and many other gloriously weird stories with real verve, and also a kind of narrative authority that tends to constrain the skeptical voice within... [An] erudite and richly entertaining book." —New York Times Book Review No matter how rationally we order our lives, few of us are completely immune to the suggestion of the uncanny and the fear of the dark. What explains sightings of ghosts? Why do they fascinate us? What exactly do those who have been haunted see? What did they believe? And what proof is there? Taking us through the key hauntings that have obsessed the world, from the true events that inspired Henry James's classic The Turn of the Screw right up to the present day, Roger Clarke unfolds a story of class conflict, charlatans, and true believers. The cast list includes royalty and prime ministers, Samuel Johnson, John Wesley, Harry Houdini, and Adolf Hitler. The chapters cover everything from religious beliefs to modern developments in neuroscience, the medicine of ghosts, and the technology of ghosthunting. There are haunted WWI submarines, houses so blighted by phantoms they are demolished, a seventeenth-century Ghost Hunter General, and the emergence of the Victorian flash mob, where hundreds would stand outside rumored sites all night waiting to catch sight of a dead face at a window. Written as grippingly as the best ghost fiction, A Natural History of Ghosts takes us on an unforgettable hunt through the most haunted places of the last five hundred years and our longing to believe.
Download or read book An Illustrated History of Ghosts written by Adam Allsuch Boardman and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2022-09-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From haunted ranches to epic maritime legends of the 19th century, devour stories of our world's oldest hauntings and unexplainable phenomena in hair-raising accounts of the afterlife. Get to the heart of the unexplainable in Adam’s third addition to the “llustrated History” series filled with private seances and ectoplasm to spiritual mediums and spirit photography galore. Fans of conspiracy and strange phenomena will transport themselves across the centuries through diagrammatic illustrations paired with well-researched facts about exorcism, mediums, ghost photos, talking boards, and connections to after life. Whether you are a ghost fanatic or simply piqued by curiosity, you'll get a robust deep dive into the experiences of paranormal occurrences, alternative explanations for these occurrences, and our culture's fascination with them. Prepare to embark on a strange journey that allows skeptical inquiry, or perhaps the possibility of believing in the afterlife!
Download or read book Illustrated Ghost Stories written by and published by . This book was released on 2015-10-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling collection of ghost stories, brought to life with atmospheric illustrations.
Download or read book Ghosts written by Seymour Simon and published by StarWalk Kids Media. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether or not you believe in ghosts, you'll be spellbound by these nine supposedly true tales from the spirit world. Captivating creatures include the Horror of Berkeley Square, a demon that literally scares people to death, and White House specters of former presidents and first ladies. Suitable for readers of all ages. Narrated by Anthony Call (Star Trek, The Twilight Zone).
Download or read book A History of Ghosts written by Peter H. Aykroyd and published by Rodale Books. This book was released on 2009-09-29 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Aykroyd spent his childhood watching his family's parlor séances through the crack of a basement door. Here, for the first time, Aykroyd tells the strange and delightful story that inspired his son, Dan, to make the mega-hit, Ghostbusters. Part history, part family legend, A History of Ghosts starts in 1848 in upstate New York, where the spiritualist craze first began. Aykroyd introduces the reader to notable mediums while telling the story of the development of spiritualism, interweaving a personal history marked by a fascination with ghosts and spirits with the larger narrative about the role the paranormal has played in our culture. Such legendary figures as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini appear and vanish. Everyone loves a good ghost story. Successful TV shows such as Medium and Ghost Hunters are proof that our national obsession with ghosts is here to stay. Millions of Americans believe in the paranormal—and even skeptics have heard a bump in the night and suspected it might be something supernatural.
Download or read book Ghosts written by Sonia Goldie and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In words and pictures, ghosts set the record straight about--ghosts.
Download or read book Ghosts of Manhattan written by Dr. Philip Schoenberg and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2009-09-30 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ghosts abound in Manhattan, and with the aid of Dr. Philip Ernest Schoenberg's extensive guide, you can still hobnob with cultural icons such as Dorothy Parker and Sherwood Anderson or glimpse Harry Houdini's ghost, who is said to haunt the legendary McSorley's. Even the spirits of America's most illustrious leaders, such as George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt, are said to roam Manhattan. This compendium of haunted locales, based on Dr. Schoenberg's own Ghosts of New York Walking Tours, spans the island, from Alexander Hamilton's grave at Trinity Church to the White Horse Tavern, Dylan Thomas's favorite watering hole. Rediscover a city filled with the howls of long-dead slaves in the African Burial Ground and disembodied voices ringing through the Belasco Theatre. Brimming with ghost-hunting tips and spooky lore, this guide is guaranteed to raise hairs.
Download or read book Ghosts written by Peter Haining and published by Bounty Books. This book was released on 1988-02-01 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collects and comments on drawings, paintings, engravings, and sometimes convincing photographs of ghosts and other apparitional figures
Download or read book Ghosts in the House written by Kazuno Kohara and published by Perfection Learning. This book was released on 2010-07-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tired of living in a haunted house, a young witch captures, washes, and turns her pesky ghosts into curtains, table linens, and bedding.
Download or read book Among the Ghosts written by Amber Benson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-09-06 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While spending the summer at The New Newbridge Academy where she will soon begin sixth grade, Noleen finds strange things happening and discovers the special talent her aunts saw in her when she was a motherless infant.
Download or read book The Ghosts of Berlin written by Brian Ladd and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this compelling work, Brian Ladd examines the ongoing conflicts radiating from the remarkable fusion of architecture, history, and national identity in Berlin. Ladd surveys the urban landscape, excavating its ruins, contemplating its buildings and memorials, and carefully deconstructing the public debates and political controversies emerging from its past. "Written in a clear and elegant style, The Ghosts of Berlin is not just another colorless architectural history of the German capital. . . . Mr. Ladd's book is a superb guide to this process of urban self-definition, both past and present."—Katharina Thote, Wall Street Journal "If a book can have the power to change a public debate, then The Ghosts of Berlin is such a book. Among the many new books about Berlin that I have read, Brian Ladd's is certainly the most impressive. . . . Ladd's approach also owes its success to the fact that he is a good storyteller. His history of Berlin's architectural successes and failures reads entertainingly like a detective novel."—Peter Schneider, New Republic "[Ladd's] well-written and well-illustrated book amounts to a brief history of the city as well as a guide to its landscape."—Anthony Grafton, New York Review of Books
Download or read book The First Ghosts written by Irving Finkel and published by Hodder & Stoughton. This book was released on 2021-11-11 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'It's enthralling stuff, mixing the scholarly with the accessible and placing storytelling right at the heart of the human experience.' - History Revealed 'A fascinating journey' - Yorkshire Post 'Marvellous...Finkel is an expert in Mesopotamian cultures at the British Museum, and is one of the most clever, and nicest, of people it has ever been my pleasure to encounter...A fascinating journey' - The Scotsman There are few things more in common across cultures than the belief in ghosts. Ghosts inhabit something of the very essence of what it is to be human. Whether we personally 'believe' or not, we are all aware of ghosts and the rich mythologies and rituals surrounding them. They have inspired, fascinated and frightened us for centuries - yet most of us are only familiar with the vengeful apparitions of Shakespeare, or the ghastly spectres haunting the pages of 19th century gothic literature. But their origins are much, much older... The First Ghosts: Most Ancient of Legacies takes us back to the very beginning. A world-renowned authority on cuneiform, the form of writing on clay tablets which dates back to 3400BC, Irving Finkel has embarked upon an ancient ghost hunt, scouring these tablets to unlock the secrets of the Sumerians, Babylonians and Assyrians to breathe new life into the first ghost stories ever written. In The First Ghosts, he uncovers an extraordinarily rich seam of ancient spirit wisdom which has remained hidden for nearly 4000 years, covering practical details of how to live with ghosts, how to get rid of them and bring them back, and how to avoid becoming one, as well as exploring more philosophical questions: what are ghosts, why does the idea of them remain so powerful despite the lack of concrete evidence, and what do they tell us about being human?
Download or read book The Random House Book of Ghost Stories written by Susan Hill and published by Random House Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 1991 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventeen ghost stories from England are cozy or comic rather than spooky.
Download or read book The Ghost written by Susan Owens and published by Tate. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ghosts are woven into the very fabric of British life. Their enduring popularity in literature, art, folklore and film attests to their continuing power to fascinate, terrify and inspire. Our conceptions of ghosts - the fears that they provoke, the forms they take - personifies our shared past, reminding us of the layers of history beneath our feet and of old stories and timeless terrors that refuse to be erased. In this broad cultural history, Susan Owens reveals what these spirits and apparitions can tell us about our culture and about ourselves, and explores how ghosts have inhabited a wide range of roles from medieval times to the present day. A dazzling range of artists are featured, including William Blake, Henry Fuseli, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais, Paul Nash and Jeremy Deller, alongside writers such as John Donne, William Shakespeare, Samuel Pepys, Daniel Defoe, Mary Shelley, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, Hilary Mantel and Sarah Waters.
