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Post by dem bones on Nov 9, 2008 12:48:15 GMT
Peter Haining - The Mammoth Book of True Hauntings (Robinson, 2008) photo Tony O'Reilly/ Fortean Picture Library: Cover design: JoeRoberts.co.uk Foreword: I Am A Researcher Of The Supernatural
A Century Of Hauntings: A Chronology from 1900-2000 The Ghost Hunters: Fifty Authentic Supernatural Experiences Phantoms In The Sky: Ghostly Pilots, Aircraft And Haunted Airfields Encounters With The Unknown: Eyewitness Stories By Journalists Haunted Stars: Show Business And The Supernatural Supernatural Tales: True Ghost Stories By Famous Authors Phantom Lovers: Sexual Encounters With Ghosts What Are Ghosts? The Theories Of The Experts The A-Z Of Ghosts: Phantoms Of The World
Bibliography Research Organisations AcknowledgementsBack cover blurb: Surprisingly, the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have turned out to be the most extraordinary periods in the history of supernatural encounters - with more mysterious accounts of ghosts being reported from all over the world than during any previous era.
This giant survey from the acclaimed investigator, the late Peter Haining, years in the making and now posthumously published for the first time, documents the full spectrum of credible hauntings during the last hundred years or so. It encompasses over 100 first-hand accounts of poltergeists and phantoms, ghostly pilots and haunted airfields, seduction spirits and sexual encounters with ghostly entities - and much more. Also included are the notes of famous ghost hunters such as Hans Holzer, Harry Price, and Susy Smith; and some fascinating analysis by notable experts on what ghosts really are.How appropriate that, as we approach November 19th and the first anniversary of his untimely death, the legendary Peter Haining should return from the grave with a collection of True Hauntings. Experts will doubtless be mortified that Peter has exhumed several of these 'true' accounts from such reliable resources as The News Of The World and The Sunday People, but he's also ransacked his library to good effect for accounts from (perhaps!) more credible authorities, several old Vault friends among them: Dennis Wheatley (on the true life incident at boarding school which inspired his big seller, The Haunting Of Toby Jugg), Arthur Machen (versus a Poltergeist infestation), Barbara Cartland, James Herbert, Robert Thurston Hopkins, Fred Archer, Elliott O'Donnell, Peter Underwood and medium to the stars Doris Stokes. Predictably, the NOTW is the source for much of the Phantom Lovers: Sexual Encounters With Ghosts section which reads for the most part like a series of plot-outlines for Benny Hill sketches as the country's struggling pubs are besieged by randy Royalists, Peeping Toms, Phantom Bottom-pinchers - the whole gamut of sex pests from beyond the grave. Typical of these "Grinning Ghouls", the spectre in the changing room of The Disco Bar, Newcastle who so put the willies up go-go dancer Maggie in 1974, and an incorrigible old rascal who conducted his reign of terror in The Knights Lodge Inn near Corby during the 'eighties. "I've seen him and he's a big robust chap - a cavalier who carries an ostrich feather. He uses the feather to lift the ladies' skirts and tickle them - he must have been a real Casanova when he was alive" deadpans a handy 'Psychic Investigator', Jean Cooksley. The vast majority of these encounters feature male spooks mithering Miss GB contestants and dolly birds, although The Sun (who else?) can provide a "scantily clad" (what else?) female phantom who steals the discarded clothing of courting couples should they frolic in her Hertfordshire field. Spectre smitten, pop chanteuse Lynsey de Paul: Her Eurovision Song Contest hopes hit "Rock Bottom" in spooky circumstances! As those of us who've been terrified out of our wits by The Weekend Book of Ghosts & Horror will know to our cost, saccharine-coated songstress Lynsey de Paul is arguably the most haunted women in the history of pop and here we learn of another chilling episode in her troubled career - the case of the haunted headphones that so disrupted the fabled Rock Bottom sessions. Another haunted celebrity is William Shatner - and not just by his inspired incursion into the music world, The Transformed Man. Here he recalls his brush with death on a motorcycling tour where it could well have been all up for him had it not been for the intervention of a phantom biker. I've only had the book a day and, doubtless, will have some more woeful comment to make as I progress, but it's proving a most diverting read. One to file alongside his outrageous but scandalously entertaining 'non-fiction' accounts of The Legend & Bizarre Crimes of Spring-Heeled Jack and The Mystery & Horrible Murders of Sweeney Todd!
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Post by mattofthespurs on Nov 9, 2008 13:49:04 GMT
Fun book. I read it in a couple of days. Nice and easy to dip into.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 10, 2008 7:40:16 GMT
I like that in the introduction he touches upon his early days in journalism and names checks The West Essex Gazette. His first published book, Devil Worship In Britain, began life as a series of articles on modern witchcraft for a local rag and I've been hoping to dig these up at some point as, if they're anything like the final product, the word 'sensationalist' seems inadequate! The purists don't like it (and he appals many bibliophiles), but maybe that early training is what makes his books so easy to read. He was a populist first, interested in selling his books - although I'm sure any critical acclaim was welcome - and, when it came to the 'non-fiction', well, Peter was never one to shy from *ahem* adapting the 'facts' to suit his theories if they made for a more entertaining story.
I wonder if he left an unpublished autobiography among his papers. Now that would be some read ...
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Post by dem bones on Dec 16, 2010 18:35:24 GMT
He once ruled the bookshelves, but on spotting a copy of Mammoth True Hauntings in the public library earlier, it was the first time I've found a Peter Haining title lurking among their "Celebrity" Cookery Book dominated wares for about 300 years. As Matt mentions, even at 500+ pages, it's not in the least heavy going as much of the information is relayed in bite-size snippets. No surprises that the crushingly brief and very tame chapter on Phantom Lovers: Sexual Encounters With Ghosts shows visible traces of having been well thumbed. Honestly, some people!
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Post by dem bones on Nov 5, 2020 18:29:13 GMT
Extract from the introduction to Mammoth Book of True HauntingsPeter Haining – Ghosts: The Illustrated History (Treasure Press, 1987: originally Sidgwick & Jackson, 1974) Talking of Ghosts Homage to the Spirits of the Dead Poltergeists and Magicians Phantom Drummers and Ghostly Warnings The Cock Lane Ghost and Commonsense Ghost Shows, Phantom Ships and the Birth of Spiritualism Spirit Photographs – Real or Fake? Ghostly Phenomena Today Blurb: Over the years there have been a great many books about ghosts. But not until this work has anyone attempted to trace their history in pictures.
In this fascinating book, Peter Haining has brought together the best pictures from over 2,000 years of man's obsession with the supernatural. Beginning with the earliest clay-tablet sketches of the spirits of the dead, he traces the ghost's place through the rampant superstition of the Middle Ages, to the dawning of real research at the turn of this century. Mr Haining also brings together a wide range of astonishing recent photographs from around the world.
Whether you are a believer or a sceptic, this haunting investigation into the world of ghosts will disturb and captivate you.
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Post by ripper on Nov 6, 2020 13:25:16 GMT
As Dem said, it's a shame that Haining's books are now getting thin on the ground in libraries. Like his other volumes, I thought that True Hauntings was rather entertaining, but would agree that it is a good book to dip into. If I was looking for a serious study of hauntings, I would look elsewhere, but Haining did a good job here of giving the reader enough information to whet the appetite without making the text dry as some more serious works can be.
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Post by Swampirella on Nov 6, 2020 14:07:38 GMT
As Dem said, it's a shame that Haining's books are now getting thin on the ground in libraries. Like his other volumes, I thought that True Hauntings was rather entertaining, but would agree that it is a good book to dip into. If I was looking for a serious study of hauntings, I would look elsewhere, but Haining did a good job here of giving the reader enough information to whet the appetite without making the text dry as some more serious works can be. No regrets here for having bought a copy about 10 years ago. The only Haining book I have, so far at least.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 6, 2020 19:38:26 GMT
If I was looking for a serious study of hauntings, I would look elsewhere Do you have any strong recommendations, Rip (or anyone else)? Currently re-reading this for first time since late 'eighties when I loaned it several times from Cubitt Town Library. Nothing yet to surpass his 'Thora Hird and the Monkey jacket' contribution to Haining's aforementioned True Hauntings, but we live in hope. Fred Archer - Ghosts, Witches and Murder (W. H. Allen, 1972) Jacket photograph: Bob Marchant Introduction
Scene of the Crime Witnesses to Murder Skulls and (very) Cross Bones Warnings of the Dead Spirits of Revenge Henpecked by a Ghost Not Dead, but Deadly Mediums and Mayhem The Joker is Wild No Ghoul like an Old Ghoul Proof of the Pudding Whose Finger on the Trigger? Land of Look Behind Blurb: Mankind, for thousands of years, in civilised and in primitive societies alike, has lived in awe of ghosts and witchcraft. The author places these deep-lying, well-nigh universal fears into perspective by revealing the worst that can happen to anyone who meets a malignant ghost. or incurs the enmity of a witch.
Can a ghost really kill ? Or a witch‘s spell bring death? in providing answers to such unusual questions as these, the author presents an extraordinary variety of attested and dramatic psychic experiences. mainly dealing with murder.
Here are no run-of-the-mill phantoms, nor amateur witches casting hopeful spells, but the violent ones, the ruffians, the mixed-up personalities of a grim shadow world — ghosts who did not rest until they had brought their killers to justice: ghosts who gave dire warning that death was at hand; murderous ghosts without apparent motive; and witches who had their own special methods of murder.
And lastly the author examines a trend of today that exploits some of the most dangerous elements of ancient witchcraft. Fred Archer is an authority on psychical research and crime. ln this book, he again breaks new ground. Instead of an orderly psychic world co-operating in crime detection, he shows the rude impact of disorderly ghosts beyond all law. The result is a 'thriller' in which the events will often terrify and baffle the reader, as they did the people closely involved. An exploration of the psychic underworld, in fact!
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Post by Swampirella on Nov 6, 2020 20:12:45 GMT
If I was looking for a serious study of hauntings, I would look elsewhere, No regrets here for having bought a copy about 10 years ago. The only Haining book I have, so far at least. I should have asked who your picks are for "a serious study of hauntings". Although some might say they're not serious enough, I feel you can't go wrong with vintage ghost-hunters such as Peter Underwood, Andrew Green or Joan Forman. I think they succeed in walking the fine line between overly dry & serious & overly sensational.
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Post by ripper on Nov 7, 2020 11:55:39 GMT
By 'serious' I really mean that they look at accounts of ghosts with much more rigour than would usually be found in books that just reproduce sightings with no attempt to interviewing witnesses, travel to the location to see if there is a natural explanation to what was reported to have been seen/heard/felt.
The Society for Psychical Research, founded in 1882, is perhaps the most well-known organisation that investigates reports of ghosts in a rigorous manner, so I suppose it is unsurprising that their members feature high on my list of 'serious' studies.....
Anything by Andrew Mackenzie is worth a read, and I particularly recommend Apparitions and Ghosts, Hauntings and Apparitions, and The Seen and the Unseen. Mackenzie gives comprehensive accounts of the Chelternham Haunting with more recent sightings and the Versailles case.
Tony Cornell and Alan Gauld wrote a very good book about poltergeists called appropriately enough Poltergeists, highly recommended, in which they attempt a statistical analysis.
Alan Gauld also included several interesting chapters on apparitions in his excellent Mediumship and Survival.
Sir Ernest Bennett's Apparitions and Haunted Houses is an important source for older reports, though it is unclear how much background investigation he did--many of his accounts are from appeals on BBC radio in the 1930s, so he was at least in contact with witnesses.
Myers, Gurney and Podmore produced Phantasms of the Living, a landmark study, in 1886, in 2 volumes. Again, many classic cases reported.
Myers collection of essays was published as Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death in 2 volumes, and is another important work, while Podmore wrote Telepathic Hullucinations: the New View of Ghosts, presenting a view popular at the time.
G.N.M. Tyrrell wrote Apparitions, a classic study, in 1953 from a lecture he gave in 1942, and is important for the theory he presented; this is really a must-read for students of psychical research.
Professor Hornell Hart and others presented a paper on Six Theories about Apparitions in the SPR Proceedings that is well worth a read, though can be a little heavy going in places.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 7, 2020 18:23:52 GMT
Sir Ernest Bennett's Apparitions and Haunted Houses is an important source for older reports, though it is unclear how much background investigation he did--many of his accounts are from appeals on BBC radio in the 1930s, so he was at least in contact with witnesses. Many thanks for that, Rip. The only one I have is Apparitions and Haunted Houses, got it for 10p (!) from the withdrawn book shelf in Aldgate Library (RIP). Robert Aickman cites it as brilliant but unfinishable (or words to that effect) in a Fontana Ghost Book introduction, and he's not wrong. I've a few "heavy going" titles, but my preference is for the more commercial works. Haining's True Hauntings is among my most-revisited books, period. Other enduring true/'true' ghost picks include Elliott O'Donnell's Great Ghost Stories and Ghost Hunters; Harry Price's Poltergeist: Tales of the Supernatural; J. A. Brooks Ghosts of London: The East End, City and North; Marc Alexander's Haunted Houses You May Visit; Aiden Chamber's charming Haunted Houses; and Richard Whittington-Egan's Weekend Ghost Books. Am also a fan of Paul Finch's multiple short, sharp non-fiction/ 'non fiction' contributions to the Terror Tales series. Am not ashamed to admit that my ideal ghost book would be a compilation of the most lurid press and magazine clippings. I can feel a Vault Haunted Library thread coming on - except we can't call it that. There's only one Haunted Library around here.
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Post by Swampirella on Nov 8, 2020 0:30:29 GMT
By 'serious' I really mean that they look at accounts of ghosts with much more rigour than would usually be found in books that just reproduce sightings with no attempt to interviewing witnesses, travel to the location to see if there is a natural explanation to what was reported to have been seen/heard/felt. The Society for Psychical Research, founded in 1882, is perhaps the most well-known organisation that investigates reports of ghosts in a rigorous manner, so I suppose it is unsurprising that their members feature high on my list of 'serious' studies..... Anything by Andrew Mackenzie is worth a read, and I particularly recommend Apparitions and Ghosts, Hauntings and Apparitions, and The Seen and the Unseen. Mackenzie gives comprehensive accounts of the Chelternham Haunting with more recent sightings and the Versailles case. Tony Cornell and Alan Gauld wrote a very good book about poltergeists called appropriately enough Poltergeists, highly recommended, in which they attempt a statistical analysis. Alan Gauld also included several interesting chapters on apparitions in his excellent Mediumship and Survival. Sir Ernest Bennett's Apparitions and Haunted Houses is an important source for older reports, though it is unclear how much background investigation he did--many of his accounts are from appeals on BBC radio in the 1930s, so he was at least in contact with witnesses. Myers, Gurney and Podmore produced Phantasms of the Living, a landmark study, in 1886, in 2 volumes. Again, many classic cases reported. Myers collection of essays was published as Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death in 2 volumes, and is another important work, while Podmore wrote Telepathic Hullucinations: the New View of Ghosts, presenting a view popular at the time. G.N.M. Tyrrell wrote Apparitions, a classic study, in 1953 from a lecture he gave in 1942, and is important for the theory he presented; this is really a must-read for students of psychical research. Professor Hornell Hart and others presented a paper on Six Theories about Apparitions in the SPR Proceedings that is well worth a read, though can be a little heavy going in places. Thanks for your advice and recommendations! I'm familiar with most of the authors you mentioned except Gauld and Bennett. While growing up I read whatever I could find on the subject, which included MacKenzie, excerpts from Phantasms of the Living & other pre-1900 cases. I don't have the patience to read those heavy types of books these days, to be honest. I bought a copy of the Tyrell book within the last 10yrs at a church sale & found it so dry I stopped after a few pages & gave it away again.
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Post by ripper on Nov 8, 2020 11:14:49 GMT
Sir Ernest Bennett's Apparitions and Haunted Houses is an important source for older reports, though it is unclear how much background investigation he did--many of his accounts are from appeals on BBC radio in the 1930s, so he was at least in contact with witnesses. Many thanks for that, Rip. The only one I have is Apparitions and Haunted Houses, got it for 10p (!) from the withdrawn book shelf in Aldgate Library (RIP). Robert Aickman cites it as brilliant but unfinishable (or words to that effect) in a Fontana Ghost Book introduction, and he's not wrong. I've a few "heavy going" titles, but my preference is for the more commercial works. Haining's True Hauntings is among my most-revisited books, period. Other enduring true/'true' ghost picks include Elliott O'Donnell's Great Ghost Stories and Ghost Hunters; Harry Price's Poltergeist: Tales of the Supernatural; J. A. Brooks Ghosts of London: The East End, City and North; Marc Alexander's Haunted Houses You May Visit; Aiden Chamber's charming Haunted Houses; and Richard Whittington-Egan's Weekend Ghost Books. Am also a fan of Paul Finch's multiple short, sharp non-fiction/ 'non fiction' contributions to the Terror Tales series. Am not ashamed to admit that my ideal ghost book would be a compilation of the most lurid press and magazine clippings. I can feel a Vault Haunted Library thread coming on - except we can't call it that. There's only one Haunted Library around here. I have to confess a liking for the late Peter Underwoods seemingly neverendingg series of books. Most are a collection of locations and the events associated with them. I am not sure how rigorous he was in his investigations but at least Underwood seemed to visit a fair few places and include eyewitness accounts, which is more than a lot of writers do. Elliott O'Donnell produced highly entertaining books but I am sceptical about exactly how much was exaggerated or made up. His accounts are just too dramatic when compared to the best-evidenced ones from authors like MacKenzie. Having said that, O'Donnell probably never set out to write books with high evidential standards, just to produce entertaining ones that sold well, which he did for many years. Agree completely about Paul Finch's non-fiction bits in his Terror Tales series.
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Post by ripper on Nov 8, 2020 11:45:11 GMT
By 'serious' I really mean that they look at accounts of ghosts with much more rigour than would usually be found in books that just reproduce sightings with no attempt to interviewing witnesses, travel to the location to see if there is a natural explanation to what was reported to have been seen/heard/felt. The Society for Psychical Research, founded in 1882, is perhaps the most well-known organisation that investigates reports of ghosts in a rigorous manner, so I suppose it is unsurprising that their members feature high on my list of 'serious' studies..... Anything by Andrew Mackenzie is worth a read, and I particularly recommend Apparitions and Ghosts, Hauntings and Apparitions, and The Seen and the Unseen. Mackenzie gives comprehensive accounts of the Chelternham Haunting with more recent sightings and the Versailles case. Tony Cornell and Alan Gauld wrote a very good book about poltergeists called appropriately enough Poltergeists, highly recommended, in which they attempt a statistical analysis. Alan Gauld also included several interesting chapters on apparitions in his excellent Mediumship and Survival. Sir Ernest Bennett's Apparitions and Haunted Houses is an important source for older reports, though it is unclear how much background investigation he did--many of his accounts are from appeals on BBC radio in the 1930s, so he was at least in contact with witnesses. Myers, Gurney and Podmore produced Phantasms of the Living, a landmark study, in 1886, in 2 volumes. Again, many classic cases reported. Myers collection of essays was published as Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death in 2 volumes, and is another important work, while Podmore wrote Telepathic Hullucinations: the New View of Ghosts, presenting a view popular at the time. G.N.M. Tyrrell wrote Apparitions, a classic study, in 1953 from a lecture he gave in 1942, and is important for the theory he presented; this is really a must-read for students of psychical research. Professor Hornell Hart and others presented a paper on Six Theories about Apparitions in the SPR Proceedings that is well worth a read, though can be a little heavy going in places. Thanks for your advice and recommendations! I'm familiar with most of the authors you mentioned except Gauld and Bennett. While growing up I read whatever I could find on the subject, which included MacKenzie, excerpts from Phantasms of the Living & other pre-1900 cases. I don't have the patience to read those heavy types of books these days, to be honest. I bought a copy of the Tyrell book within the last 10yrs at a church sale & found it so dry I stopped after a few pages & gave it away again. Gauld's Mediumship and Survival was published in 1982 to mark the centenary of the founding of the SPR, as was MacKenzie's Hauntings and Apparitions. Yes, many of the more serious books can be dry, the Tyrrell one being a case in point. To be fair to the author, it was based on a lecture he gave (Myers' memorial lecture if I remember correctly) in 1942, to an audience of SPR members and others with an interest in parapsychology; so his audience and consequently readership of the book was quite a step away from, say, that for one by Peter Underwood. I agree that it is heavy going. I have read it several times and found myself re-reading many passages in an effort to grasp what he was trying to convey. I listened to a lecture by Andrew MacKenzie in which he said that he, too, had to go over some remarks of Tyrrell in order to understand them. Six Theories about Apparitions in SPR Proceedings 50 is, in my opinion, even more difficult to grasp, but, of course, the concepts that are being discussed are quite complex. Going back to MacKenzie and his Hauntings and Apparitions, the first couple of chapters are a decent summary on how the thinking about ghosts has developed over the years and worth a read.
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Post by Swampirella on Nov 8, 2020 12:44:58 GMT
Gauld's Mediumship and Survival was published in 1982 to mark the centenary of the founding of the SPR, as was MacKenzie's Hauntings and Apparitions. Yes, many of the more serious books can be dry, the Tyrrell one being a case in point. To be fair to the author, it was based on a lecture he gave (Myers' memorial lecture if I remember correctly) in 1942, to an audience of SPR members and others with an interest in parapsychology; so his audience and consequently readership of the book was quite a step away from, say, that for one by Peter Underwood. I agree that it is heavy going. I have read it several times and found myself re-reading many passages in an effort to grasp what he was trying to convey. I listened to a lecture by Andrew MacKenzie in which he said that he, too, had to go over some remarks of Tyrrell in order to understand them. Six Theories about Apparitions in SPR Proceedings 50 is, in my opinion, even more difficult to grasp, but, of course, the concepts that are being discussed are quite complex. Going back to MacKenzie and his Hauntings and Apparitions, the first couple of chapters are a decent summary on how the thinking about ghosts has developed over the years and worth a read. I have to say that the SPR is at least easy to "follow" on social media....
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