Location, Location, Location

Two new books looking at religion, traditional beliefs and folklore in small, enclosed communities:

David Clark. Between Pulpit and Pew: Folk Religion in a North Yorkshire Fishing Village. Cambridge University Press. (10 Dec 2009)

Outside the formal teachings of the established religious institutions of many ‘advanced’ societies, there continues to exist a rich body of ‘unofficial’ or ‘folk’ religious beliefs and practices. This book provides an insight into the nature of folk religion in a small fishing village in North Yorkshire. Using a combination of sociological and historical methods, David Clark first explores the impact of an official religion - Methodism - on the village in the early nineteenth century, and its subsequent place in village life.

He goes on the describe the ways in which Methodism relates to a more diffuse set of folk beliefs and rituals, such as those surrounding birth and death, the transitions of the annual cycle and the rigours of the fishing economy. The result is a fascinating portrait of official and unofficial religion within one local community. It also makes an important contribution to scholarly debates about the significance of folk religion within the wider religious culture, and will be of considerable interest to teachers and students of the sociology and anthropology of religion, and of local history.

S. V. Peddle. Pagan Channel Islands. Robert Hale Ltd (30 Nov 2009)

Around three to five thousand years ago, an ancient people began building stone sites and monuments on the Channel Islands, creating a landscape as rich in mythology as any archaeological site in Greece or Egypt. Since early Christian times, the dolmens (stone chambers) and menhirs (single standing stones) have been reviled as the domain of witches, ghosts, and dragons. They were thought to bring bad luck and sudden death to all who came near. Yet they have also been cherished as sources of healing, female fertility, good harvests and buried treasure, as well as the dwelling place of friendly fairies. Despite the fact that these structures were seen as a threat by the Christian Church, which was determined to erase the Paganism of the past, a good number of them remain.

The superstitions surrounding the dolmens and menhirs, in particular the dire consequences said to ensue following their destruction, have preserved many of them to this day. The authors recount the terrible fates which have befallen several Channel Islanders who have dared to disturb or destroy these ancient sites. Channel Island mythology is alive and well today, and surviving in local superstition, customs, poetry, art and folklore. "The Pagan Channel Islands" uncovers and explores this mythology, and relates it to the ancient wisdom of the stones. It demonstrates that, with a little imagination and respect for our environment, we can bring the near-forgotten monsters, fairies and ghosts of our legendary past to life.

A Serious look at ETI

This title look as as though it will be a much-needed counterweight to the naivety of most speculation on extraterrestrials and ET communication.

Andrz Kukla (editor). Extraterrestrials: A Philosophical Perspective. Lexington Books,U.S. (1 Jan 2010)

The Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence, or SETI, has attracted both praise and sharp criticism from the mainstream scientific community over the years. Extraterrestrials: A Philosophical Perspective explores the important philosophical issues that are at play in this discussion.

André Kukla closely examines several of the prominent ideas surrounding the possibility of extraterrestrial life such as the vastness of the universe argument, the argument from mediocrity and the one world, one science argument while offering innovative theories of his own. Among other things, Kukla show uses Chomsky's account of language acquisition to explain why humans will never be able to communicate with extraterrestrials. Extraterrestrials offers a close and thorough treatment of extraterrestrial life that will intrigue a wide audience, especially those who are interested in the philosophy of science.

"Virtually since the birth of theorizing, theorists have been enthralled by the prospect of intelligent extraterrestrial life. And in our own day a good deal of toil and treasure is being devoted to explore the possibilities. The nature of this enterprise raises many fascinating and complex question across the whole spectrum of human knowledge about life, intelligence, and language. Kukla's book provides a penetrating and instructive conspectus of the substantial array of important issue at stake."—Nicholas Rescher, University of Pittsburgh

Marfa Lights

The 'Marfa Lights' are somthing that's been hanging around the fringes of ufology for decades. I think they turn up in some of John Keel's early books. This book, from a local publisher in Texas, looks interesting, as the researchers seem to have adopted the same long-term approach as the investigators of the light phenomenon at Hessdalen in Norway.

James Bunnell. Hunting Marfa Lights. Lacey Publishing Company (1 Dec 2009)

"This book reports the results of an eight-year investigation (2001-2009) into mysterious lights seen near Marfa, a small West Texas town. This is, to date, the only long-term, extensive study of these phenomena. Reports of unusual lights east of Marfa extend back to the 1800s. Based on data collected, the author finds that while most of the observed lights in this area can be explained, about 3 percent are truly mysterious and of unknown origin.

"In addition to frequent on-site observations and photography, the author installed three automated monitoring stations equipped with a total of nine cameras, to collect nightly video records. Included in this 311-page book are 34 firsthand accounts from eyewitnesses and over 120 illustrations and photographs. Of particular interest are compelling stories told by people, including the author, who have encountered these mysterious lights and have been astonished and amazed by the experience."

New from Anomalist

An interesting-sounding new title from Anomalist Books. http://www.anomalistbooks.com/ It will be interesting to see how it compares with Hufford's classic on the topic:

"We are pleased to announce a book that breaks new ground in our understanding of sleep paralysis experiences. That book is Dark Intrusions: An Investigation into the Paranormal Nature of Sleep Paralysis Experiences by Louis Proud, an Australian whose very personal, well-researched work will likely have a profound impact not only for what he says but the way he has said it. And we’re not the only ones singing praises to this new young author.

“Louis Proud has demonstrated with this book that he is one of the most acute commentators on the paranormal to appear in recent years,” says Colin Wilson, the author of The Occult. “It gives me immense pleasure to be allowed to introduce a writer who will, I suspect, become widely admired for his enviable brilliance and clarity.”

"David Hufford, Ph.D., author of The Terror That Comes in the Night, adds these words in his foreword to the book: “This insider’s account of his own sleep paralysis experiences, in detail, is of great value. Then for that insider to knowledgeably place the experience in the broad paranormal context is unique. It provides a badly needed view of the cultural/interpretive framework that this experience naturally suggests. Louis Proud has been bold and thoughtful in providing this.”

New Books from O-Books

Two interesting books from a publisher who is new to us, but it looks as though it is going to be well worth checking their forthcoming titles: http://www.o-books.com/obookssite/welcome

Philip Gardiner. Delusion: Aliens, Cults, Propaganda and the Manipulation of the Mind. O Books (31 Dec 2009)

Publishers' description: Are the marketing men of the world deluding us? Can we believe all that we hear and see? Or are we deluding ourselves? How many of us are truly happy? This book is the result of an awakening. It is the same awakening to the self and to the wonder of the cosmos that has driven thinking men and women for generations. It is the same awakening that has been the generative cause of the affect of religion and belief. It is the same awakening that has then caused man to revolt against the same. Delusion is a human phenomenon and it is the cause of almost every problem mankind has created. This book is an attempt to explain the processes of delusion and in so-doing we find answers to some of the biggest mysteries: Alien abduction and UFO's ghosts and the paranormal, marketing, propaganda and religious, and mind control of the masses. Is mankind ready for truth? Not only is it out there, it's been waiting for us.

Roger Straughan. A Study in Survival: Conan Doyle Solves the Final Problem, O Books (27 Nov 2009)

Publishers' description: Here is dramatic new evidence for the survival of our individual personalities after death. It is provided by an astonishing series of recent communications from a man who died in 1930 and whose mission, when alive, was to bring just such evidence to the notice of the widest possible audience - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. This 'study in survival' describes in vivid detail the intriguing twists and turns of an investigation worthy of the immortal Sherlock Holmes himself, whose legendary return from apparent death uncannily foreshadows that of his famous creator. The novel and ingenious method of communication used and the actual content of many of the messages are shown to be characteristic of Sir Arthur, reflecting many aspects of his colorful personality and action-packed life, as well as demonstrating paranormal knowledge of current affairs and major news events.

Contactees coming in from the cold?

The contactees of the 1940s and '50s have been largely written out of UFO history by the 'serious ufologists' who found their antics an embarrassment, as they attempted to interest 'real' scientists in the subject. One-man UFO industry Nick Redfern's forthcoming book looks as though it may be an attempt to redress this neglect.

Nick Redfern. Contactees: A History of Alien-Human Interaction. New Page Books (20 December 2009)

The book includes the claims of the most famous of the Contactees, including George Adamski, who asserted that in 1952 he met human-like aliens from Venus in the deserts of California and George Van Tassel, an aircraft mechanic who asserted that he too had face-to-face encounters with extraterrestrials from our own solar-system.

Chapters on the other, major Contactees of the 1950s and 1960s follow, including Daniel Fry, an employee of the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, who claimed to have had repeated encounters with human-looking aliens who took him for flights; Truman Bethurum, who is alleged to have become far more than friendly with the female Space Captain Aura Rhanes; George Hunt Williamson, who maintained that he, too, soon became the target of the Space-Brothers' activities; the elderly Maier sisters, whose mid-1950s claims of being contacted by the Space-Brothers led to secret visits from agents of the CIA; George King, who founded the now-famous Aetherius Society and who went from cab-driver to voice of the Space-Brothers practically overnight; and Sir Peter Horsley, a leading figure in the British military, who said he had face-to-face encounters with a human-looking alien.

Also investigated in the book are a detailed look at the FBI's secret surveillance files on most of the major Contactees and an examination of several of the intriguing notions that have surrounded Alien visitation cases over the years, such as Government mind-control experiments, secret propaganda plans, whether the contactees can be dismissed as 'hoaxers' and whether the UFO mystery may be the last remnants of an ancient, Earth-based society that move among us masquerading as Aliens.

Monsters: metaphorical or maybe not!

Stephen T. Asma. On Monsters: An Unnatural History of Our Worst Fears. OUP USA (January 2010)

Monsters. Real or imagined, literal or metaphorical, they have exerted a dread fascination on the human mind for many centuries. They attract and repel us, intrigue and terrify us, and in the process reveal something deeply important about the darker recesses of our collective psyche.

Stephen Asma's On Monsters is a wide-ranging cultural and conceptual history of monsters--how they have evolved over time, what functions they have served for us, and what shapes they are likely to take in the future. Asma begins with a letter from Alexander the Great in 326 B.C. detailing an encounter in India with an "enormous beast--larger than an elephantthree ominous horns on its forehead." From there the monsters come fast and furious--Behemoth and Leviathan, Gog and Magog, the leopard-bear-lion beast of Revelation, Satan and his demons, Grendel and Frankenstein, circus freaks and headless children, right up to the serial killers and terrorists of today and the post-human cyborgs of tomorrow.

Monsters embody our deepest anxieties and vulnerabilities, Asma argues, but they also symbolize the mysterious and incoherent territory just beyond the safe enclosures of rational thought. Exploring philosophical treatises, theological tracts, newspapers, pamphlets, films, scientific notebooks, and novels, Asma unpacks traditional monster stories for the clues they offer about the inner logic of an era's fears and fascinations. In doing so, he illuminates the many ways monsters have become repositories for those human qualities that must be repudiated, externalized, and defeated. Asma suggests that how we handle monsters reflects how we handle uncertainty, ambiguity, insecurity.

And in a world that is daily becoming less secure and more ambiguous, he shows how we might learn to better live with monsters--and thereby avoid becoming one.


Rosemary Ellen Guiley. The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology. Checkmark Books (15 Nov 2009)

This is the truth about demons and demonology - in more than 400 entries. The conflict between good and evil can be found in every culture, mythical tradition, and religion throughout history. In many cases, the source of evil has been personified as demons or devils, and in many belief systems, both are considered to be real entities operating outside the boundaries of the physical world to torment people or lead them astray. In some traditions demons are believed to be the direct opposite of angels, working against the forces of good and challenging them. Real or not, demons are at the heart of many fascinating beliefs and traditions, several of which are widely held today.

The Encyclopedia of Demons and Demonology explores this dark aspect of folklore and religion and the role that demons play in the modern world. This comprehensive resource presents more than 400 entries and more than 80 black-and-white photographs documenting beliefs about demons and demonology from ancient history to the present. The key topics covered include: demons in different cultural and religious traditions; demons in folklore and popular culture; exorcism and other means of confronting demons; historical cases of possession and demon activity; the history of demonology; magic and witchcraft; possession and other demonic phenomena; modern-day demonologists and exorcists; strange creatures and entities related to demons; and types of demons.