GHOST HUNTING FOR FUN AND ... ?

John Fraser. Ghost Hunting: A Survivor's Guide. The History Press, 2010

The author is vice-chair (investigations) of The Ghost Club (that faction of the old Ghost Club which allows non-toffs to join) and a member of the Spontaneous Cases Committee of the Society for Psychical Research. His book on ghost hunting does not go into the detailed minutiae of equipment that A Beginner's Guide to Paranormal Investigation reviewed by John Rimmer does, but perhaps provides a broader overview.

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BLACK DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN

David Waldron and Christopher Reeve. Shock! The Black Dog of Bungay. Hidden Publishing, 2010

A valuable study in the origins of folklore, this book by an Australian academic and a local historian from the town, traces the genesis and evolution of the legend of the Black Dog. The legend originated with a violent thunderstorm in Bungay and the neighbouring town of Blythburgh on the 4th August 1577.

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A CONSPIRACY OF CONFUSION

Guy Patton. Masters of Deception; Murder and Intrigue in the World of Occult Politics. Adventures Unlimited Press. 2009. 

When the saga of Rennes-le-Chateau was first made public, in 1956, it was simply said that in 1891 the village priest, Bérenger Sauniere, had found a hoard of buried treasure, along with the exciting suggestion that there might be more gold waiting to be discovered in the vicinity.
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BACK TO THE GOLDEN AGE

Maurizio Verga. When the Saucers Came to Earth: The Story of Italian UFO Landings During the 'Golden Age' of Flying Saucers. Edizione UPIAR, 2007.

It has taken a good while to get hold of this book but the wait has been worth it. [But is now readily available to readers through the Amazon links below this review] At one level this is a collection of Italian UFO landing cases from 1912 to the end of 1954, at another it is a fascinating journey into cultural history.
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MONDAY, MONDAY

I thought I'd brighten up a dull Monday morning with this picture! Read the terribly serious articles by our friends Kentaro Mori and Martin Kottmeyer which go with it HERE.

MAGONIA 19, MAY 1985

Magonia 19 featured a cover montage showing a scary looking character at a London tube station, to illustrate Mick Goss's article, 'The Maniac on the Platform', a review of rumours and urban legends, prompted by Mick overhearing a conversation about a series of deadly encounters on tube stations, where innocent passengers were pushed in front of oncoming trains by a madman - a veritable maniac.
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HISTORY'S MYSTERIES

Brian Haughton. History’s Mysteries: People, Places and Oddities Lost in the Sands of Time. New Page Books, 2010. 

This book gives straightforward accounts of a variety of historical puzzles, from prehistoric times to the eighteenth century from a conventional historical perspective. Some of these are artefacts or events which are often misinterpreted, in some cases deliberately so for political or religious motives.
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OUR FRIENDS FROM THE NORTH

It was a pleasure last week to meet Clas Svahn and Hakon Blomqvist from the Swedish AFU organisation, on their latest trip to England collecting donations for their important UFO and fortean archive in Stockholm.

This is probably the largest and best organised collection of such material in the world, and amazingly it is partly subsidised by the Swedish government, who pay for three people to help organise the collection as part of the government's 'Phase Three' programme which provides paid staff for voluntary community and cultural organisations in a 'workfare' scheme. Maybe someone should suggest this to our new government (whoever they may be)!

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