True horror

This is one of the strangest fortean investigations I have ever read. The first thing that grabs you is the striking front cover picture that seems to capture the"feeling of menace" that pervades the whole book.
The book lists the sightings of a frightening birdman which terrorises teenager in a desolate Cornish churchyard.
It soon transpires that the sightings of the Owlman were not the only strange things that were happening in Cornwall at that time. Birds were behaving like in that famous Hitchcock film, farm animals disappeared; and, in a local zoo, animals were being mysteriously mutilated overnight.
The author cleverly links the high strangeness with the works of the surrealist artists Tony Shiels and Max Ernst. The Owlman, says Jonathan Downes, is a surreal manifestation.
This book is exciting from beginning to end and is essential reading for anyone interested in the paranormal.
In my opinion, this is a very important book.

Dead Haunted

In a genre swamped with half baked ideologies and touchy feely 'mumbo jumbo', Whyman delivers in DEAD HAUNTED the easy to read 'Dummies Guide' to the world of paranormal investigation we've all been waiting for.<br /><br />Stepping away from the 'assumed knowledge'/jargon heavy trap that so many of his peers have fallen into; Whyman explains in detail the who, what, when, where, why and most importantly 'how' of paranormal investigation, managing to keep the information relevant and interesting to beginner and old hand alike.<br /><br />Whyman's narrative clearly shows the depth of his knowledge and his passion for his subject matter, not to mention a delightfully quirky sense of humour that, I admit, came as something of a surprise.<br /><br />Overall, a read worthy of shoving in the Christmas stocking with an EMF reader and a wind up torch!<br /><br />

The original fairy book

It's great to see a reissue of the greatest fairy book of them all, Robert Kirk's 1691 tome, The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns and Fairies. This amazing book--with its descriptions of second sight, of doublemen or co-walkers, and of fairy lives, customs and even past-times--has an amazing backstory attached to it too. Kirk, seventh son of a seventh son(in the Highlands, almost a guarantee of psychic powers) was a bilingual(English and Gaelic) Episcopalian pastor, working at Aberfoyle in the Trossachs area of the Highlands. The material he collected in this book comes direct from his Highland parishioners but he also compiled it for the delectation of his enlightened and curious friends in England, so the book is an eccentric mixture of the very folkoric and the proto-scientific. (Kirk also had a metaphysical reason for compiling the book--and an interesting one, given the attitude of many religious fundamentalists today to such beliefs. He felt that if people discounted or ridiculed such beliefs then it wouldn't be long before they started discounting all supernatural things, including a belief in God Himself.) Anyway, not long after the publication of the book, Kirk was found stone dead one morning at the foot of the Dun Sidh (doonshee, or fairy hill) at Aberfoyle. Though his red sandstone gravestone is in the Aberfoyle cemetery(with only a mention of his work in translating the Bible into Gaelic, and not his fairy work), it's said that his body is not in that grave but that he was spirited body and soul into the great tall Scots pine that sits at the top of the Dun Sidh, surrounded by an army of little oaks. That was because the fairies were reputedly so angry with him for divulging their secrets! Today, the site is still extraordinary, spooky--with hundreds of wishes on ribbons tied to all those little oaks, and the Scots pine standing there alone..It's easy to believe in Kirk's curious and piteous fate.<br />A must-have addition for the library of anyone interested in fairies, Highland folklore, and myth. For those who are interested, I have a piece about Kirk on my site at http://users.northnet.com.au/~smasson And for those interested in reading novels inspired by this book, the greatest is Australian writer Christopher Koch's 'The Doubleman.'

Wright's work is definitely a classic!

After reading this book, it's obvious why Wright's work has stayed in-print so long: no one else has collected so many wide and varied accounts of vampirism as he had. Some of the legends stray into the domains of ghouls and fiends, but vampire lovers should definitely have this one on their shelf.

Give it a go!

I originally bought this because the cover interested me and I thought it sounded interesting from the synopsis.<br /><br />It's actually a very easy and quite a good read. I find a lot of books like this to be quite 'Americanised' (no offence intended to anyone over the pond that might be reading this) and a bit mumbojumbo-tastic, but this one wasn't like that at all. It is very well written and doesn't contain colloqualisms all over the place.<br /><br />I already own quite a few books on the supernatural and the like, some get stuck into cupboards and onto bookshelves and left to gather dust, but this is one I'd read again. <br /><br />If you've got this far reading my review, then I'd say give it a go. You can't really go far wrong with it - it's an entertaining read and quite believable, if you already believe in the spirit world. If you don't, try it anyway. Whichever way you look at it, it's a good little book.

Magazine Content Stretched to fill a Book

Some interesting details of Schwarz's experiments with a number of mediums, notably Alison Dubois, the inspiration for the TV series, Medium.<br /><br />As with many books originating in the US, the style is a little too simplistic, with rather too much generalisation and not much meat.<br /><br />Pretty forgettable.

Vampires

Probably since the beginning of time, humans have wondered about death. Foremost in our ponderings is the key question of what happens to the dead after they pass from our world. Though our modern perception of the afterlife tends to be fairly positive with various versions of a perfect place where the good are rewarded for their behaviour, this attitude has not always been prevalent. <br /><br />In nearly every country and culture of the past, death has been a terrifying prospect. Moreover, commonly the dead have been feared as potentially harmful, full of revenge, and jealous of the living. Myths, legends, and stories worldwide repeatedly recount how the dead seek to kill and cannibalize the living in order to exact revenge or to regain their valuable life energy. <br /><br />Vampires: A Field Guide to the Creatures that Stalk the Night is a chilling must have reference for anyone who loves the mysterious horrors of the night. This book recounts shocking myths, creepy legends, and terrifying stories of vampire-like creatures from Germany, Austria, Sumeria, Babylonia, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ireland, France, Scotland, Iceland, Wales, Brazil, Malaysia, India, Albania, Romania, South Africa, the United States, and Greece. I was completely mesmerized by the accounts in this book. I will also never look at Santa Claus the same way again.

Not only interesting but practical

This book gives a personal account of how the elemental beings are trying to work actively with us to heal the Earth. It is a source book for those who are sensitive to the elemental world and who want to make a difference. You will fly through this easily read narrative that rings true all the way.

WHAT SCARED ME THE MOST ABOUT THIS BOOK WAS THE FACT THAT YOU COULD BE LIVING RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO SOMEONE

like kathleen mcconnell and never know it..<br />God knows what this book is meant to be about. McConnell spends the bigger part of the story letting us know what a great mother she is - and that`s why she was chosen to look after these `ghost children`. I was so tired of the same old same old, in that doggone drone you imagine she has -"i put my little baby in his little bed in his little room and kissed his little red topped head and covered his little body with his little blue blanket while he kicked his little legs and then i took my other little boy by his little hand and led him to his own little room..."<br />A full description of every member of the family at least ten times all the way through the book - if someone asks me in ten years time what colour hair they all had i`m sure i will remember.At one point i thought she had just lost the plot and her husband - who wasn`t even remotely interested in the `ghost children` - whoever and wherever they were - was simply humouring her. You know how you sometimes think `my god how do they get away with this stuff`..? <br />That`s how you feel after reading this book. Talk about far fetched - if she`d said she looked outside and there was a little spaceship and a hundred little spacemen in the little garden i wouldn`t have been one little bit surprised - someone got a little bit carried away i think kathleen mcconnell....<br />

Priest; Not for the faint hearted

Priest volume 1 is first in a currently ongoing series. Drawn and written by Min-Woo Hyung. The story follows Ivan Isaacs, who in life was a priest of God, but who has now been resurrected and given over his soul to the devil Belial, so that he may now use dark powers and silver bullets to defeat the evil fallen archangel Temozarela and his minions. Ivan Isaacs is a character tormented by his past, feeding him rage and the greater use of his dark powers. Set in the wild west the art also portrays a gothic edge that gives the setting a very dark and grim feeling to it. Although technically a manga, Priest uses a very different style of art to the more popular type of Japanese art. Ivan Isaacs' conflicts with his enemies are very action-packed and quite thrilling, usually resulting in a horde of zombies being hacked away at by Ivan's silver blade, or blown to pieces by a sawed-off shotgun and tommy gun. It is a relief to find a manga that is not focused on a super-cute girl and her unusually large bosom.
The storyline is very intriguing but one which is only hinted at until later novels.
This is a great graphic novel and one which I would advise to anyone, the only problem being it seems over too quickly.

Classic Book of Haunting Photography!

I would heartily recommend any lover of the supernatural and/or top-class photography to buy this book! Simon Marsden visits a plethora of UK locations where ghostly manifestations have been reported, and provides brillant atmospheric black and white snapshots to accompany the concise, but informative text.

There's more to Heaven and Earth...

This is a very nice compilation from decades of research by Brad Steiger documenting many anecdotes in different categories about entities good and bad from"the other side". Not absolute proof of course, but supporting evidence, and despite a lot of spookiness, feeling there is"another side" at all gives some comfort to a lot of us.

A very highly recomended book!

Definatly the best mind and body book I have read, giving excellent explanations and written in non complicated easy to follow way.<br />Answers many questions aiding my spiritual development to progress to a new level.

Superb volume on Werewolf Lore BUT...

The real problem with this volume is not the research (which is astounding) or the use of old English (as one can soldier through) but the use of Latin and Greek. Maybe it's just me but I did not have a classical education and am totally unable to read either language - the fact that no English translation is then given just compounds the problem for me. Otherwise an excellent source of werewolf lore.

An interesting read

Night stalks the mansion is a good read, but as other reviewer put it's not scary, just a good story, worth reading.

A Fantastic Buy

I was bought this book as a Christmas present last year after seeing it here on Amazon and putting it on my list for santa ;)<br /><br />This book is a fantastic read for anyone interested in the paranormal who thinks about the reasons why we continue to experience strange occurences the world over. The book covers M theroy and string theroy (as well as many others) and gets you thinking about the quantum world around us.<br /><br />I would reccomend this book to anyone, however it may be worthwhile reading other titles to get a good grounding on the basics of quantum physics, though saying that, the author does go into some great detail when explaining her ideas.<br /><br />A word of warning though. You may not want to read this book before you lay down to bed as it will set your mind racing thinking about the implications of the quantum world. Great read!