Constance takes her grieving mother to a séance which leads to tragic consequences and a legacy that will blight her life.

SCOOTER KING UNDERSTANDS illusions. In the midst of the Roaring Twenties, he performs them behind the scenes at his mother’s séances, giving the impression that Madam King communicates with the dead. Scooter also admires Harry Houdini and can hardly wait to see the famed magician escape from his razzle-dazzle Burmese Torture Tank. But when Scooter stumbles upon a dead body in the visiting Houdini’s tank, it’s no illusion. Who could the murderer be? And did he—or she—kill the right person? As Scooter sets out to unmask the killer, the mysterious worlds of mediums, séances, and magic are revealed. No one is above suspicion, and appearances are deceiving. If Scooter doesn’t sort out the clues—and fast—he may end up as the next dead body. From the Hardcover edition.

Translated by from Yiddish by Roger H. Klein and others.

“An electrifying Victorian ghost story” from the International Horror Guild Award-winning author of The Asylum (The Seattle Times). “Sell the Hall unseen; burn it to the ground and plow the earth with salt, if you will; but never live there . . .” Constance Langton grows up in a household marked by death, her father distant, her mother in perpetual mourning for Constance’s sister, the child she lost. Desperate to coax her mother back to health, Constance takes her to a séance: perhaps she will find comfort from beyond the grave. But the meeting has tragic consequences. Constance is left alone, her only legacy a mysterious bequest that will blight her life. So begins The Séance, John Harwood’s brilliant second novel, a gripping, dark mystery set in late-Victorian England. It is a world of apparitions, of disappearances and unnatural phenomena, of betrayal and blackmail and black-hearted villains—and murder. For Constance’s bequest comes in two parts: a house and a mystery. Years before, a family disappeared at Wraxford Hall, a decaying mansion in the English countryside with a sinister reputation. Now the Hall belongs to Constance. And she must descend into the darkness at the heart of the Wraxford Mystery to find the truth, even at the cost of her life. “Harwood has written a true gothic, and invented a supremely creepy house to stage it in.”—Salon “Wilkie Collins would be proud: this is a Victorian world of mesmerism and spirits, vapours and delirium, doomed inheritances, shivery maids and spooky visitations in the night.”—Times (UK) “Perfect fare for a standard dark and stormy night.”

In the 1920s and ’30s, people gathered in darkened rooms to explore the paranormal through seances. They were motivated by grief, spiritual devotion, or a desire to be entertained. Beth A. Robertson resurrects the story of a small transnational group and their quest for objective knowledge of the supernatural, casting new light on how science, metaphysics, and the senses collided to inform gendered norms in this era. Robertson draws back the curtain to reveal a world inhabited by researchers, spirits, and spiritual mediums. Representing themselves as masters of the senses, untainted by the effeminized subjectivity of the body, psychical researchers in Canada, the UK, and the US believed that they could use machines and empirical methods to transform the seance into a laboratory of the spirits and a transnational empirical project. However, mediums and ghostly subjects could and did challenge their claims to scientific expertise and authority.

Ninth grade can be a nightmare when you don’t fit in at school, your crush chooses someone else, and your parents tell you they’re having a new baby. Abby was prepared for normal high school problems. She wasn’t prepared for a demon. Abby has always been fascinated by the paranormal, but after an ill-fated séance, she discovers not all Spirits are benign. A dark entity unleashed during the summoning sets out to destroy Abby, and within days, she loses her best friend, incurs the wrath of her parents, and becomes a prisoner in her own home. With time quickly running out, she assembles an unlikely group of helpers: the most hated guy in school, a retired psychic, and the cute clerk from her favorite bookstore. Unless the demon is defeated, Abby and her new baby brother won’t stand a chance.

American photographer Shannon Taggart (born 1977) became aware of spiritualism as a teenager when her cousin received a message from a medium that revealed details about her grandfather's death. In 2001, while working as a photojournalist, she began photographing where that message was received--Lily Dale, New York, home to the world's largest spiritualist community, proceeding to other communities in, for example, Arthur Findlay College in the UK. Taggart expected to spend one summer figuring out the tricks of the spiritualist trade. Instead, spiritualism's mysterious processes, earnest practitioners and neglected photographic history became an inspiration. Her project evolved into an 18-year journey that has taken her around the world in search of "ectoplasm"-- the elusive substance that is said to be both spiritual and material. With Séance, Taggart offers a series of haunting photographs exploring spiritualist practices in the US, England and Europe. Supported with a commentary on her experiences, a foreword by Dan Aykroyd, creator of Ghostbusters and fourth-generation spiritualist, and illustrated essays from Andreas Fischer and Tony Oursler, Séance examines spiritualism's relationship with human celebrity and its connections with technology, and concludes with the debate over ectoplasm and how spiritualism can move forward in the 21st century.

The seance started as a game, but it led to murder and terror for the people of a small east Texas community.

Connecting with your departed loved ones doesn't have to mean visiting a medium or taking a specialized course. With the proven techniques in this book, you can contact spirits anytime you wish—easily and safely in your own home. Bestselling author Raymond Buckland guides you through nearly twenty effective methods for communing with spirit, as taught in his popular workshops. No special knowledge is required. Simply follow the steps for each method to see which one works best for you. Dreamwork Table-tipping Pendulums Crystal skrying Automatic writing Tarot Runes Spirit photography Dominoes Flame messages Praise: "Buckland brings his wonderful wisdom, insight, and experience together in this comprehensive guide for personal spirit communication."—Rosemary Ellen Guiley, author of The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits

A séance is certainly not Victoria Tremaine's idea of entertainment. In fact, the whole evening left nothing but unease behind, not to mention the strange woman who came to conduct it and her warnings them of unsettled pasts. No, Victoria could happily go without experiencing anything like it again, but as a guest in the house, she cannot argue about preferences, especially as the house belongs to Fredrick Oldham's aunt, the man Victoria has been corresponding with for months after initially meeting in London.Fredrick was so lovely that it was worth traveling all the way to Toronto to discover if there could be more than friendship between them. A budding relationship to explore, along with a new city and a new country, where the weather can be as ominous as a curse in the darker months.Heat Level: Safe for the more modest.