Have you ever seen a ghost? This bookazine is packed with spooks, spectres, and horrible hauntings! Discover the history of ghost beliefs from the ancient world to the present day. Find out why people believe in ghosts, and the possible scientific explanations behind haunted houses, spectral lights, scary sounds, and spooky apparitions. Explore hoaxes and horrors from some of the world’s most eerie locations, and delve into stories of the phantoms, wraiths and spirits that are thought to frequent them. Learn about the legends and folklore that surround ghost beliefs around the world, from famous figures like headless horsemen to tragic tales of the colourful and ethereal ladies that haunt woods, castles and stately homes. Plus, check out modern-day phantasms, possessions and poltergeists, and the paranormal investigators who use traditional spiritual techniques as well as today’s technology to establish whether there really are spectral presences from beyond the veil troubling homes, offices, public buildings, families and communities to this day.
WELCOME
History of Ghosts
GHOSTLORE: STUDYING GHOSTS AND APPARITIONS • Ghosts are a worldwide, if otherworldly, phenomenon that can scare or comfort – and may offer us clues about the nature of our reality
GHOSTS IN THE ANCIENT WORLD • In antiquity, ghosts were an accepted part of the natural order – given ancient notions of the afterlife their return was all too understandable
A HISTORY OF GHOSTS
THE GHOST IN THE BATHHOUSE
THE HAUNTED AGES • The coming of Christianity left people seeking an explanation for how it was souls continued to visit the Earth with such spooky regularity
THE WILD HUNT
AN OBSESSION WITH DEATH • In an age when ‘resurrection men’ might dig up your corpse for anatomical study, there were those who feared the dead were escaping their graves in less physical form
SCRATCHING FANNY OF COCK LANE
MODERN DAY GHOSTS • Despite the best efforts of sceptics to debunk ghost sightings, many people even today claim to have been visited by those who have died
THE OUIJA BOARD • It started as a game, but has been terrifying generations of teenagers ever since
GHOST FESTIVALS AROUND THE WORLD • All over the world, ghost festivals are a common and often ancient practise. They are held to venerate, celebrate and remember the dead
RADONITSA: THE DAY OF REJOICING • On Radonitsa, or the Day of Rejoicing, Orthodox Russians commemorate those who have passed away with food, gifts and ceremony
THURSDAY OF THE DEAD • On Thursday of the Dead, Arab Christians and Muslims alike share a feast to honour the souls of the departed
THE HUNGRY GHOST FESTIVAL • At the Buddhist Hungry Ghost Festival, spirits receive offerings intended to send them back to the afterlife without harming the living
SAMHAIN • Halloween may have largely replaced it, but Samhain is still one of the most important festivals in the Pagan year
THE THREE DAYS OF ALLHALLOWTIDE • Though Halloween is one of the most famous and widely celebrated holidays, it’s actually part of a three-day celebration known as Allhallowtide
DAY OF THE DEAD • Mexico’s iconic Day of the Dead, or Dia de Muertos, is renowned for its colourful and lively celebration of lost loved ones
THE GHOST DANCE • When Native Americans performed the Ghost Dance, they believed that the ritual would summon the spirits of the dead for the good of all their people
SÉANCES • Séances are widely seen as showmanship and hoaxes by many, but the origins of the practice are rooted in religion. Enter Spiritualism…
INVESTIGATING THE PARANORMAL • The paranormal has fascinated people for centuries, from bumps in the night to crackling EVPS. In the technological 21st century,...