Apparitions, Hauntings & Poltergeists Text Resources Thread

Courtesy of Nemo C. Mörck's Twitter page - Londonist has an longish article by Deborah Nash about the Ghost Club, with contributions from its chairman Alan Murdie and others:
https://londonist.com/london/secret/ghos...visit-join

Courtesy of the SPR website - here is a new book by S. D. Tucker entitled "Blithe Spirits: A History of the Poltergeist," arguing that the poltergeist is a "disguised form" of the universal "Trickster-god" figure:
https://www.amberley-books.com/blithe-spirits.html

Courtesy of the SPR Facebook page - here's a review at "The Spooky Isles" website of John Fraser's forthcoming book entitled "Poltergeist!"
https://www.spookyisles.com/john-fraser-...st-review/

[Laird]

Nick Redfern over on Mysterious Universe speculates in A 19th Century Monster That Is Still With Us that the monstrous “Guardian” (essentially, a tulpa) created by Mary Heath back in the 19th century to protect an ancient artifact at Ranton Abbey (more correctly: the Augustinian Priory) is one and the same as the spectral “Man-Monkey” creature that has been seen since 1879 on a nearby, and infamous, haunted bridge on the Shropshire Union Canal, England.

[Laird]

Courtesy of the SPR Twitter account:

The Kindle edition of "The Ghosts of Borley: Annals of the Haunted Rectory" is free on Friday, 3 April 2020 (although it looks to me to be free already). I am not sure whether this is a UK-only deal or whether it applies elsewhere/everywhere.

[Laird]

Tim Prasil has briefly reviewed Paranormal Wales by Tim Rees over on the SPR's website:

https://www.spr.ac.uk/book-review/parano...-mark-rees

He seems to appreciate it well enough as providing a compilation for the casual reader of "better remembered hauntings and supernatural stories still in circulation", but does note that too often in the body of the book sources are not referenced and instead the author "uses phrases such as “it is said” instead of clear indications of when or by whom “it” was said".

The SPR has a review by Chris Jensen Romer of "The Bothell Hell House: Poltergeist of Washington State" (2nd edition) by Keith Linder, which was published early last year:
https://www.spr.ac.uk/book-review/bothel...ith-linder

Evidently many people consider this case to be a hoax, and the book was written by one of the two people who lived in the house and allegedly experienced the phenomena. Romer writes that while he was assessing the book "I was repeatedly approached by very different individuals who encouraged me to give up, to protect my reputation, to not further a ‘known hoax’ and to avoid the case." But he continued to read the book, and in fact was contacted by the author and discussed the case (though not the book or the review) with him at length.
 
Essentially, Romer's conclusion seems to be that psychical researchers are prejudiced against the case and have been remiss in not investigating it. He writes that "it would be entirely possible for a dedicated team to track down perhaps a score of people named in this book, and ask them to confirm or deny what is said about their experiences at the house." In fact, given that he himself is in contact with the author, who has already sent him "voluminous quantities of information," I doubt that it would even require a dedicated team to do that. But it does make it sound as though he is dependent almost entirely on the author's own claims (though he does mention a positive report by Steve Mera and Don Phillips [Philips]).

I can't help thinking it's a bit unfair to criticise other people for not devoting time to investigating something they find unbelievable, given the limited resources available. I suppose we all have different "boggle thresholds," and it's a decision everyone has to make for him/herself.

Courtesy of the SPR website - here is a new book by S. D. Tucker entitled "Blithe Spirits: A History of the Poltergeist," arguing that the poltergeist is a "disguised form" of the universal "Trickster-god" figure:
https://www.amberley-books.com/blithe-spirits.html

I came here to post a link to this book but see Chris beat me to it! I wish he would post here again!

Finished reading this last week, great book which associates poltergeist phenomena within the "trickster archetype" framework. If you enjoyed the most magnificent classic "Trickster and the Paranormal", then this is probably a must read too. A little less philosophically intense than Hansen's book, or Lewis Hyde's "Trickster makes this World" (thanks to Sci for pointing that one out!), it is nonetheless a very entertaining and thought provoking read.

My one small gripe would be with the author Tucker's obvious tilt towards populist right-wing politics, which in itself I felt were unnecessary intrusions into an otherwise lovely read. More worrisome is his slight insinuation the trickster archetype is somehow more aligned with right wing populist leaders and politics than those who have beenmarginalised and persecuted for centuries. I find this to be a gross misunderstanding of the "trickster archetype" at it's deepest level.....and furthermore (imo obviously!), whilst political leaders can perhaps be unwitting puppets of such an archetypal mischief making archetype (who isn't?!), I think it is obvious the "Trickster" transcends the entire political structure and process, and it is absurd to suggest the Trickster represents right wing ideology as opposed to left wing....I think that misses the point of the concept entirely myself, and is rather simply a reflection of one person's individual bias and prejudice......but to each their own!

PS - it's probably also already mentioned in the thread - probably by Chris! - but the closest to a "Bible" of poltergeist books is probably this absolute essential book on the subject:

Poltergeists - Amazon UK 

[i]Poltergeists[/i] was first published in 1979 and rapidly established itself as a leading work on the topic. It has been frequently referred to as [i]groundbreaking[/i] and a [i]classic of[/i] the genre.
 Illustrative cases from all over the world are presented, dating from the sixteenth century to the late twentieth. Included are destructive cases, [i]fantastical[/i] cases, poltergeist assaults, phenomena that are allegedly brought about by a witch or a demon, and others which appear to be the handiwork of a deceased human being.
 Most cases are sourced from contemporary notes or diaries, often little known or unknown but nevertheless fascinating, with many translated from non-English language sources.
 The book includes a computer analysis of the leading characteristics of hundreds of cases of poltergeists and hauntings, and offers tentative conclusions as to the natural 'clusters' into which the cases fall.
 [i]Poltergeists[/i] is essential reading for anyone who is interested in parapsychology and the paranormal.