Hauntings and Poltergeists

James Houran is a former faculty member of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (Dept. of Psychiatry) and is currently President of 2020Skills.com (TM) at HVS International—an online assessment business for human resource screening and selection. Rense Lange is a statistician with the Illinois State Board of Education and an adjunct faculty member of the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine (Psychiatry Department).

“provides a multidisciplinary collection of articles...provocative.... All collections supporting study in this area of psychology”—Choice; “very important…essential and indispensable”—Cuadernos de Parapsicologia; “should be on the shelves of anyone with a serious interest in the topic of ghosts and poltergeists, whether the reader is a skeptic, agnostic or believer...fascinating...Editors Houran and Lange have done a good job in assembling the contributing authors into a coherent presentation of the field...a very valuable and extensive bibliography”—Australian Journal of Parapsychology; “fascinating…very good…a lot of very interesting and potentially useful information”—Morbid Curiosity; “this book presents a thoughtful, well-balanced investigation of a subject that should be of vital interest to all of us”—The Journal of Parapsychology; “meaty tome”—Fortean Times; “most interesting...readable and complete”—Baywood Reprints; “drawn together todays leading experts...required reading...an extremely useful update on the state of the science...excellent...important”—Journal of Scientific Exploration; “Sets a benchmark for the study of the supernatural in mind and culture...an admirable model to guide future scholarship of extranormal belief”—Thomas E. Bullard, Indiana University; “Destined to become a classic of parapsychological literature...highly recommended!”—Harvey J. Irwin, University of New England (Australia).

• Table of ContentsAbout the Contributors      Foreword by John Beloff      Preface      I: Sociocultural Perspectives      1. Historical Introduction: The Example of Early Modern and Nineteenth-Century England      2. An Experience-Centered Approach to Hauntings      3. The Ghost Experience in a Wider Context      4. The Sociological Investigation of Haunting Cases      5. A House That Tries to Be Haunted: Ghostly Narratives in Popular Film and Television      II: Physical and Physiological Perspectives      6. Investigations of Poltergeists and Haunts: A Review and Interpretation      7. Seeking Spirits in the Laboratory      8. Predicting the Characteristics of Haunt Phenomena from Geomagnetic Factors and Brain Sensitivity: Evidence from Field and Experimental Studies      9. From Haunted Brain to Haunted Science: A Cognitive Neuroscience View of Paranormal and Pseudoscientific Thought      10. Phantoms, Frauds, or Fantasies?      III: Psychological Perspectives      11. A New Look at Haunting and Poltergeist Phenomena: Analyzing Experiences from a Semiotic Perspective      12. Apparitions and Kindred Phenomena: Their Relevance to the Psychology of Paranormal Belief and Experience      13. Relation of Hypnosis-Specific Attitudes and Behaviors to Paranormal Beliefs and Experiences: A Technical Review      14. Ambiguous Stimuli Brought to Life: The Psychological Dynamics of Hauntings and Poltergeists      Afterword by Gertrude R. Schmeidler      Bibliography      Index