Home › Books › Chasing the Dark: A 140-Year Investigation of Par…
Chasing the Dark: A 140-Year Investigation of Paranormal Activity
by
34/99
Critics' Rating Index
30/99
Readers' Rating Index
n/a
Scholars' Citation Index
34/99
Volume of Reviews
51/99
Volume of Reader Ratings
Sign in to add to your shelf, rate, or review this book.
About This Book
Tony Cornell spent his life probing the very edges of reality. A member of the UK's Society for Psychical Research (SPR), Cornell's role as an investigator of so-called "spontaneous cases" saw him returning time and again to the unsettling spaces that exist just on the periphery of our ordered, tidy, and rational lives, and which we all do our best to ignore: Ghosts. Spirits. Premonitions. Psychic powers. Glimpses of other worlds that throw into question everything we take for granted about life, death, and material existence itself. This is a gripping and page‑turning narrative drawing on Cornell's casefiles, which survive as a huge and uniquely untapped repository of stories reported by ordinary people, as well as correspondence between some of the great intellectuals of the 20th century--including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, and Marie Curie. By applying logical rigor to the investigation of events that could not be explained by conventional science, the SPR drew notable figures to its ranks as it gathered the most meticulous records ever compiled on hauntings, spiritual possessions, and other enduring mysteries. Award-winning journalist Ben Machell mines the extensive archives of the SPR for the first time to reveal the untold history of the secretive organization, and to understand our interactions and ceaseless fascination with the unexplained.
Reviews
"Machell's elegantly thrilling yarn encompasses the broad history of paranormal research in the UK."
"It leaves one with the impression that the thrills we experience now matter more than the facts we might eventually establish, facts that Machell sometimes lays out in a still greater rush, as if disappointed that he is obliged to explain them at all ..."
"Takes a brave and thought-provoking look at how this intuition has endured and even flourished throughout a scientific, materialist age ..."
"This engrossing work teems with fascinating history and unforgettable personalities ..."
Preview
Reader Reviews
0 reviewsSign in to write a review.
No reader reviews yet. Be the first!