The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal contains over 90 articles by more than 50 experts on topics including the strictly paranormal (psychokinesis, channeling, levitation, astrology, phrenology, palmistry); the historical (mediums, psychic research, alchemy, Houdini); the philosophical (miracles, survival of death, reincarnation); and work on investigatory photography, statistics, the media and the Bermuda Triangle. In his foreword, Carl Sagan says, "I wish [this book] were on the shelves of every newspaper editorial desk and every television newsroom, to encourage more skeptical backbone in reporting . . . . [I]n school libraries so that children would have some counterbalance to the many paranormal and mystical claims in our society."

This collection of critical essays and investigative reports examines virtually every area of fringe science and the paranormal from a refreshingly scientific and clear-minded viewpoint. All bring to the task a determination to sift sense from nonsense and fact from fiction in an area notorious for misinformation, misperception, self-delusion, and wishful thinking.

This revised edition contains all the main paranormal topics, ranging from apparitions and zoological mysteries, to ball lightning, crop circles, ESP, poltergeists, premonitions and UFOs, as well as new information on conspiracy theories, ancient wisdom and electronic pollution. The author gives details of the main cases in each area plus up-to-the-minute events, thinking, research and experiments. It also offers a comprehensive reading list of books and publications available within each topic, and addresses of recommended research organisations around the world.

Television, the movies, and computer games fill the minds of their viewers with a daily staple of fantasy, from tales of UFO landings, haunted houses, and communication with the dead to claims of miraculous cures by gifted healers or breakthrough treatments by means of fringe medicine. The paranormal is so ubiquitous in one form of entertainment or another that many people easily lose sight of the distinction between the real and the imaginary, or they never learn to make the distinction in the first place. In this thorough review of pseudoscience and the paranormal in contemporary life, psychologist Terence Hines teaches readers how to carefully evaluate all such claims in terms of scientific evidence.Hines devotes separate chapters to psychics; life after death; parapsychology; astrology; UFOs; ancient astronauts, cosmic collisions, and the Bermuda Triangle; faith healing; and more. New to this second edition are extended sections on psychoanalysis and pseudopsychologies, especially recovered memory therapy, satanic ritual abuse, facilitated communication, and other questionable psychotherapies. There are also new chapters on alternative medicine, which is now marketed in our drug stores, and on environmental pseudoscience, with special emphasis on the evidence that certain technologies like cell phones or environmental agents like asbestos cause cancer.Finally, Hines discusses the psychological causes for belief in the paranormal despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. This valuable, highly interesting, and completely accessible analysis critiques the whole range of current paranormal claims.

Contains essays on the Bermuda Triangle, biorhythms, psychic healing, ESP, psychokinesis, etc.

Prepare to be baffled with The Big Book of Paranormal! Dive deep into urban legends, creepy hauntings, and tales of the unexplained with the Big Book of Paranormal. Featuring over 300 hair-raising, spine-chilling stories around Bigfoot, the Loch Ness, UFOs, aliens, curses, ghosts, and unsolved mysteries. Otherworldly illustrations and images bring these mystical and frightening tales to life and make the stories creep off the page. This is the perfect gift for the little ghost-hunter or paranormal enthusiast in your life!

Presents cultural, social and historical interpretations of paranormal phenomena and the people involved.

"Based on extensive research and their own unique personal experiences, the authors reveal that a significant number of Americans hold these beliefs, and that for better or worse, we undoubtedly live in a paranormal America. Readers will join the authors as they participate in psychic and palm readings, and have their auras photographed, join a Bigfoot hunt, follow a group of celebrity ghost hunters as they investigate claims of a haunted classroom, and visit a support group for alien abductees."--Provided by publisher.

The paranormal has long been a hotly contested topic, especially in academia. Most people are entertained by the paranormal or casually read a few books they come across on the topic, perhaps assuming that these topics are nothing more than campfire fodder. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with being entertained by the paranormal, but how many people know that there is a long history of academic, scientific, and credible research into topics such as extrasensory perception, hauntings, poltergeists, cryptozoological sightings, near-death experiences, and more? In Researching the Paranormal, Courtney M. Block provides an overview of paranormal research and introduces readers to an assortment of resources that seriously examine various paranormal topics. She shows readers how to think critically about paranormal sources and how to apply the components of credibility when conducting their own paranormal investigations. Highlighting the long history of serious, academic inquiry into various paranormal topics, Block provides citations to primary source documents, journal articles, helpful databases, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and books. In addition, she provides a historical overview of various paranormal phenomena such as parapsychology, cryptozoology, ufology, divination, ghosts, hauntings, and more.

--Facts, not fiction: the case for the paranormal. Changing the way we look at the universe is not an easy accomplishment, and requires a true openness to exploration and experiment. Professor Ellison suggests that most of us are conditioned by our Western science-based education to think that the universe is much simpler and "material" than it really is. He argues that we should recognize the limits of the current scientific worldview which fails to account for genuine paranormal experiences, including phenomena such as out-of-body experiences (OBE), reliably reported by thousands of people. In honestly exploring these areas, rather than denying them, he argues we could look more deeply into the real nature of human existence.