This is a fascinating and serious investigation into one of the most persistent and perplexing mysteries of all time - do ghosts exist? From the most ancient times, people have experienced apparent contact with spirits of the dead. Some have awakened to see a ghost at their bedside or encountered a spectral figure gliding through a medieval castle. Others have seemingly communicated with spirits, like the Old Testament's Witch of Endor, the spiritualists whose darkroom seances provoked scientific controversy in the last two centuries, or today's "psychic mediums," who seem to reach the "Other Side" even under the glare of television lights. Offering numerous exciting case studies, this volume engages in serious investigation rather than breathless mystifying, Pseudoscience, folk legends, and outright hoaxes are challenged and exposed, while the historical, cultural, and scientific aspects of ghost experiences and haunting reports are carefully explored.
