The Ghost Hunters Return (The Ghost Hunters Club Book 2)

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The Woman in Black by Susan Hill 3. Bryan Goodreads Author 4. The Benson Experiment in Terror, 2. Coast to Coast Paranormal Investigation: A Ghost Story by David L. The Dark Man The Graveyard: The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson 3. Poltergeist by James Kahn 4. Proof by Aaron Crabill Goodreads Author 4. James Goodreads Author 3. Place of the Bear by Riyan Daniel Littlefield liked it 3. Hawk Goodreads Author 4. The Supernaturals by David L. Tryst by Elswyth Thane 4. Ghost Hunters by Terry Jane Austin 3. Giving Up the Ghosts: Nevermore Supernatural, 1 by Keith R.

DeCandido Goodreads Author 3. The Journey Back by Carolyn Bennett 4. Help For The Haunted: The Ghost and Mrs. Copperman Goodreads Author 4. Wood Goodreads Author 4. Inside Job by Connie Willis 3. Restless Spirits Spirits, 1 by Jordan L. Hawk Goodreads Author 3. Ghostbusters by Larry Milne really liked it 4. The Newbie Kyrie Carter: Supernatural Sleuth, 1 by Leta Hawk 4. School Spirits Kyrie Carter: Supernatural Sleuth, 2 by Leta P. Sep 24, Laura rated it it was amazing Shelves: Ok, it took me forever to read this book because it was so chocked full of information.

I recommend this to anyone who wants to think deeply. If y Ok, it took me forever to read this book because it was so chocked full of information. Many of the authors I read include paranormal elements, or the "woo-woo" factor if you will, since that is the current fashion. This book explains so much about the very real war between religious thought, scientific process, and those of us; who in the famous words of Rodney King ask plainitively, "Can't we all just get along? Better risk loss of truth than chance of error. James argued that the pursuit of truth, even when it might seem illogical by the rules of science, was always worth the risk.

Another great quote pg by W James: Myers acceptance of the complexity of the cosmic environment, "although we may be mistaken in much of the detail, in a general way, at least we become plausible. He thought it a mistake to dismiss ideas of history simply because they didn't fit current scientific methodolgy. Mar 24, Caroline rated it really liked it Shelves: The Victorian era was probably the high-point of belief in spiritualism - who doesn't picture all those fine gentleman and corseted ladies participating in seances, dabbling with Ouija boards, tilting tables and automatic writing?

It's probably no coincidence that this peak in belief coincided with the rise of science as we understand it - perhaps this emerging insistence that the universe could be codified and classified and explained also gave rise to some kind of reaction against it, this bel The Victorian era was probably the high-point of belief in spiritualism - who doesn't picture all those fine gentleman and corseted ladies participating in seances, dabbling with Ouija boards, tilting tables and automatic writing?

It's probably no coincidence that this peak in belief coincided with the rise of science as we understand it - perhaps this emerging insistence that the universe could be codified and classified and explained also gave rise to some kind of reaction against it, this belief that there were some things beyond explanation? The individuals explored in this book combined those two beliefs in one - they believed in both science and spiritualism; they believed that the former could explain the latter, and that an ordered, rational universe didn't necessarily preclude the existence of the immortal soul and life after death.

Probably at no point in history, before or likely to come, were so many eminent and respected men of science involved in the hunt for ghosts, telepathy, telekinesis, mediums, spirit communications, ectoplasm. Professors, authors, knights of the realms, Nobel prize-winners, men like William James, Sir Oliver Lodge, Charles Richet - these were no cranks or credulous fools.

This book will not convert the skeptics or shake believers. There is enough evidence, enough inexplicable occurrences, to make even the most rational reader have a few doubts - and the author herself admits that she came to this book as a woman of science and went away It may not change anyone's mind, but I found this a fascinating read, of a time when science was just as certain it had all the answers as it is now. And yet the questions still remain Mar 22, Andrea Dowd rated it did not like it. I had high hopes for this book but when it takes me more than a week of reading to get pages into it, the author has not done their job or engaging me as a reader.

The story of William James really should have been the story of the British start of the Psycical Research Society since a majority of Blum's story took place there. She combined the significant physical, scientific, and research-based science progress in with the search for the paranormal. Combine all that backlog of historical s I had high hopes for this book but when it takes me more than a week of reading to get pages into it, the author has not done their job or engaging me as a reader.

Combine all that backlog of historical scientific breakthroughs with ghost stories, mediums, charlatans and too much hopping back and forth between major scientist and you have a very boring and difficult to follow book. If the book gets better as it goes along, I would be very impressed by the person who finished it. Sep 20, Martha rated it really liked it. Richardson does not shy away from James's lifelong interest in what I will call Spiritualism but it is only a part of William James's extraordinary career.

However, Blum's book is dedicated to the subject and William James is just one of many eminent scientists who belonged to psychic organizations and studied and challenged and puzzled over psychics. The book goes on a bit too long, but there are some intriguing stories here and Blum treats the subject with respect - which surprised me. I kept waiting for her to say something like" wasting their energy" but she doesn't. Her afterword explains this.

Mar 13, Chris rated it really liked it. This was a bit of a tedious read, the author doesn't really use any enthusiasm while describing the life and work of these scientists. It wasn't a bad book though I suspect the reason has more to do with subject matter and less to do with the authors ability. All of the researchers and their opposition were so compellingly interesting that I found myself reading on even though it felt as if the story were being read to me by a monotone character like Ben Stein.

I'll give it a 4 out of 5 but the This was a bit of a tedious read, the author doesn't really use any enthusiasm while describing the life and work of these scientists. I'll give it a 4 out of 5 but the author is not one I'd look for in the future. Nov 17, Sonia Gensler rated it it was amazing. This non-fiction book focuses on Harvard psychology professor William James and his interactions with various 19th century scientists and philosphers who tried to document legitimate paranormal activity.

Anyone interested in Victorian scholars, 19th century Spiritualism, or studies of the paranormal should check this one out. Jun 04, Rebecca rated it liked it. This fascinating and hard-to-put down volume although I was a bit unnerved while reading it at night follows several scientists who spent much of the 19th century and a bit of the 20th trying to reveal whether there was a scientific basis for many supernatural phenomena, including telepathy, telekinesis, communication with spirits, and haunted houses. In the process, they debunk many fraudulent claims including Madame Blatavsky and the Fox sisters , but they can't quite explain away all the This fascinating and hard-to-put down volume although I was a bit unnerved while reading it at night follows several scientists who spent much of the 19th century and a bit of the 20th trying to reveal whether there was a scientific basis for many supernatural phenomena, including telepathy, telekinesis, communication with spirits, and haunted houses.

In the process, they debunk many fraudulent claims including Madame Blatavsky and the Fox sisters , but they can't quite explain away all the reports they collect. As they repeatedly test remarkable mediums and hear overwhelming reports of ghostly warnings of loved one's deaths, these scientists become more convinced than ever that in the vast ocean of fakers, some events truly are supernatural in origin. But they face growing suspicion and ridicule from their fellow scientists and anger from spiritualists who find those they've put on pedestals tumbling down one after another.

My major problem with the book is the conclusion. It doesn't really conclude! As the original scientists in William James circle die off, the book simply draws to a close. But the real excitement of the book is their research, and the questions which it poses -- which have yet to be satisfied. Thus, you find yourself a bit at a loss, without a nice feeling of "fini" at the end of the book. I think that structuring the book differently might have alleviated this problem. For example, had the book followed fewer people, focusing more on their narratives, it might have felt more "over" when the people at the center of the story die.

Or having the final chapter or two follow more recent follow-up studies on the same topic. I think the book is appropriate for anyone over 14, so long as they don't get creeped out easily. It's rather clean and might stimulate some interesting conversations. I think, actually, a lot of teenagers who are often curious about supernatural phenomena will enjoy the details in the book about how to tell the difference between a fraud and someone who is either the real-deal or less-obviously playing their audience.

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Together the couple practiced how they would hold Eusapia down during seances. But she had been married to a traveling conjuror and would be caught in trickery countless times. Members of the Society for Psychical Research wanted to be sure. But above all, they wanted to believe. If Eusapia was exposed, they would find someone with more impressive powers. Blum, a professor of science journalism at the University of Wisconsin, begins in America in the middle of the 19th century.

In , the Fox sisters, a pair of teenage girls from upstate New York, demonstrated their skill at eliciting information from spirits at P. The spiritualist newspapers, of which there were many, claimed two million believers. Table-tilting and spirit-writing were all the rage. He was particularly taken with Daniel Dunglas Home, whose powers, according to astonished witnesses, included the ability to levitate, float out of a window and then float back in.

Home, who became one of the best-known mediums in Europe, also floated into high society, marrying a goddaughter of the czar, with the novelist Alexandre Dumas as his best man. Most of the scientific establishment, on both sides of the Atlantic, disagreed — often vehemently, as in the case of the scientist and lecturer T.

But a smattering of eminent scientists remained open-minded or even joined the cause. Wallace brought the chemist William Crookes, future president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, into the fold. Crookes was the discoverer of thallium — a toxic element that some skeptics alleged had adversely affected his mind — and his work on cathode rays played a role in the discovery of the electron. Even mediums complained of the fraud that was rife in their trade.

So in , Sidgwick and his friends formed the Society for Psychical Research with the earnest intention of investigating supernatural claims. Sidgwick, the son of a clergyman, had abandoned Christianity but feared the moral effects of the decline of religion. All three men accepted the dominion of modern science; their aim was to imitate its methods and provide rigorous, empirical evidence of a spiritual realm. It also seized the interest of William James, who served as president of the British society for two years and was involved with the short-lived American version.

James is not the main focus of this book. Although he never quite accepted that life after death had been proved, James was soon convinced that Mrs. Piper who died in , at 93 knew things she could only have discovered by supernatural means. Like many other investigators, James was prepared to rest his case solely on her startling abilities.

May 13, Joanna rated it it was ok.

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Deborah Blum has managed to take fascinating subject matter and turn it into a messy slog of a book. This thing takes serious work to get through. The structure makes it so that you are continually introduced to a rotating cast of characters and frequently jumping between them. I couldn't keep anyone straight after a while so it was hard to stay invested. I was also disappointed that the book did not include any information about research that has been done since this main group over a hundred y Deborah Blum has managed to take fascinating subject matter and turn it into a messy slog of a book.

I was also disappointed that the book did not include any information about research that has been done since this main group over a hundred years ago Even if you are interested in this subject I'd steer clear of this one. Nov 02, Ross Blocher rated it really liked it. The title "Ghost Hunters" doesn't do this book justice, as it brings to mind the modern crop of sloppy so-called investigators who scare themselves for television audiences. This book is hardier stuff, chronicling scientists of the late s and early s, many with stellar credentials and accomplishments in mainstream fields, who sought to apply rigorous investigation to the practice of mediumship.

The subtitle provides a better synopsis: Even so, this is not a book solely focused on the famous philosopher and psychologist, and he is only one player in a large cast of characters. The narrative covers an important span in history for those, like myself, who are interested in paranormal phenomena and the question of whether or not those phenomena are real.

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As I've had some experience in the field, it is fascinating to read this account of the earliest critical investigations into spiritualists and mediums. Blum sets the stage well, describing the rise of spiritualism there is plenty here about the Fox sisters, the Davenport brothers, Madame Blavatsky, et al. The stage is set for a clash between empiricism and occultism. Even the co-discoverer of Natural Selection, Alfred Russel Wallace, plays a role as a champion of the supernatural. As the book's timeline progresses, Blum reminds us frequently of the new inventions that come with each year, further cementing scientific primacy in the intellectual community.

The rest of the scientific community was eager to distance itself from them, and was uncomfortable when reputable figures like Wallace and James not to mention other central figures like Charles Richet, Frederic Myers, William Crookes, and Oliver Lodge gave time and credence to these embarrassing pursuits. Their work was not made easier by psychics, the vast majority of whom were readily exposed as frauds.

Indeed, the SPR and ASPR spent much time debunking paid and performance mediums in hopes of gaining credibility for the rare individuals worthy of closer attention. These "white crows" if you seek to prove that not all crows are black, you only need discover one white crow were hard to come by. Even promising figures such as the Italian Eusapia Palladino, featured prominently in the book, would be caught regularly in outright fraud, but at other times produce effects of levitation, ectoplasm, light and sensation that stymied investigators were powerless to explain.

The real star medium of the book is Leonora Piper, a demure figure who claimed not to understand the source of her powers. She would slip into a trance and give readings, often in the assumed voice of a dead French man Dr. Phinuit , or perhaps a deceased scientist. Sometimes her readings were too vague or factually incorrect, and Phinuit had no record of ever having lived nor can he speak very good French.

The researchers were quick to write these shortcomings off, for when Piper had a successful reading, it was alarmingly successful, with details there was no way she could have known. Indeed, the researchers paid private detectives to follow her around, and observed strict protocols in bringing subjects unannounced and unintroduced. They would try to throw off Piper with fake names, but she'd still produce amazing details. For decades, Richard Hodgson and other investigators poked and prodded her during her trances, took her to Europe and back, and continually asked her to provide readings for little or no money.

Perhaps, they hypothesized, she was simply reading minds, but whatever she was doing the researchers were convinced they had the real deal. There are stories in this book that are really hard to discount, and one can hardly blame the researchers for taking them seriously. In fact, I think their investigations were entirely reasonable given the circumstances. All I can say is that I wish I had been there to witness some of these readings and seances in person, and to see this evidence that sounds so incredibly compelling.

It definitely makes one think, and if these results were not trickery - indeed they would say something very significant about the existence of psychic phenomena. I just wonder where these skills are today, and if there are any white crows left to investigate. It's not a perfect book. Deborah Blum is a great writer "The Poisoner's Handbook" is a favorite of mine , and she's clearly done a huge amount of research on this topic, but this is a page turner by no means.

I'd usually get through about five pages and feel I needed a break to digest all the information. There are times where she could have left out asides that do little other than slow the pace. There's also a vast stable of characters, with new figures being introduced constantly, even into the final pages of the book. They pop in and out of the narrative, and one is sent scrambling each time to remember where we heard his name before. Highly recommended for those interested in the topic - others will not be convinced to persist unto the end. Dec 17, Bob Nolin rated it really liked it Shelves: An excellent and thorough account of the psychical investigations of James and his coterie.

As others have noted, a simple bibliography is lacking, or even just a "suggested for further reading" list. Mar 23, Cory rated it liked it. This was surprisingly interesting, considering a lot of it dealt with religion and philosophy and other rather erudite topics.

List of Ghost Hunters episodes - Wikipedia

It said some interesting things, though, about the intersection of science and faith, and the disservice that each group scientists and religious followers does each other and their own group by not keeping an open mind. Sep 18, Christine Howard rated it liked it Shelves: An interesting book about James and others in the late 's with their search for an afterlife. Nov 23, Salty Swift rated it liked it. A history of ghost hunters This will certainly appeal to hardcore history buffs.

Nov 03, Tarafa rated it did not like it. Narrations that lead you nowhere. Ghost Hunters tells an interesting story about the first decades of the Society for Psychical Research in the late 19th and early 20th century. Blum's descriptions of the various members, their experiences and relationships are very absorbing, and I found myself as engaged with her characters, William James, Henry Sidgewick, Edmund Gurney, Richard Hodges, and others as I am when reading a novel. Though most of her subjects led lives as professional scientists and academics, Blum concentrates on Ghost Hunters tells an interesting story about the first decades of the Society for Psychical Research in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Though most of her subjects led lives as professional scientists and academics, Blum concentrates on their quest to discover scientifically acceptable evidence of psychic phenomena, particularly the knowledge and manifestations displayed by spirit mediums. Though the society investigated other phenomena such as divining rods and ghosts, these potentially interesting topics are largely ignored in favor of investigations that point to some sort of communication with the dead through mediums.

Thus, the feats of the famous early medium Daniel Dunglas Home are given as largely amazing and unexplained, therefore possibly genuine, manifestations of psychic powers. On the other hand, the activities of Madame Blavatsky and her Theosophists are dismissed entirely after an early expose by Hodges of her fraudulent practices. Italian medium Eusapia Palladino is both exposed committing fraud and shown producing genuinely inexplicable manifestations, depending on which group of investigators are on the case in any particular instance.

Unlike skeptics like Ruth Brandon The Spiritualists: The Passion For The Occult In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries who look for possible non-supernatural explanations for the incidents she describes, or believers like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Edge of the Unkown , The Coming of the Fairies who seem prepared to accept as genuine any psychic manifestation that is not unequivocally and openly a fraud, Blum does not try to place the unexplained within any sort of explanatory framework.

Scientists such as John Tyndall who considered any investigation of psychic phenomena to be a waste of scientific resources are portrayed very unsympathetically, while researchers like William Crookes who accepted some obvious frauds as genuine mediums are treated in a more understanding manner; though she expresses no definitive opinions on the subject Blum seems more inclined to accept the extraordinary claims of mediums than to insist on the definitive proof that such claims demand.

Jun 22, T Fool rated it liked it Shelves: The whole of this comes through intertwining experience of two sets of figures. The first is comprised of scientists and philosophers who, over decades, overlap in joint work.

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In a thrill-seeking age like ours, such activity is the stuff of cable television shows and New Age The whole of this comes through intertwining experience of two sets of figures. In a thrill-seeking age like ours, such activity is the stuff of cable television shows and New Age bookstores. In an age of psychology and social liberation like ours, contacting the dead seems at most a metaphor for overcoming social and sexual repression, a relic of Victorian stiffness. The late 19th Century Western world was also one when scientific progress itself assumed a kind of propriety.

The scientific establishment, so evidently fruitful in providing technical advances, took on a swagger. Having proven its methodology so much more relevant than mythic explanation, it tended to patronize — if not mock — all but its own as superstition. Some scientists felt uncomfortable with this attitude. If scientific methodology was to continue to serve as well as it had to date, then it could be applied to any potential study: To have concluded that material explanations represented all relevant explanation was arrogance.

The scientists and philosophers who chose to ask this question from a serious scientific point of view are the protagonists of this book, most notably William James, but others also involved in the American and British branches of the Society For Psychical Research. Not flakes — these were skeptics. Skeptics not just in regard to the parlor-fakery of performing frauds, but in regard to overinflated claims made by a rigid Establishment fearful of losing an ideological hold over a world unstably accustomed to accepting reality in strictly material terms.

The social and professional contention evident in the lives of those profiled in this book surrounds us, as well and as much. The real focus is on whether there are open minds. Oct 26, Nick rated it really liked it Shelves: Ghost Hunters… tells the story of the spiritualist movement at the end of the nineteenth century, especially as it relates to the American philosopher William James.

Deborah Blum focuses on the American branch of the British Society of Psychical Research for the first two thirds of the book. Although James was instrumental in founding this organization, he is strangely absent from most of its business; not until he goes to England to visit his brother, novelist Henry, is he asked to head up the Ghost Hunters… tells the story of the spiritualist movement at the end of the nineteenth century, especially as it relates to the American philosopher William James.

Although James was instrumental in founding this organization, he is strangely absent from most of its business; not until he goes to England to visit his brother, novelist Henry, is he asked to head up the original British Society, and thus does he become involved in a big way. Thus, a reader might be disappointed that the story does not parallel the development of American Pragmatic philosophy by William James with the story of the spiritualists. But the unusual and unique aspects of spirituality inherent in the British and American movements is detailed wonderfully, and makes up for any oversight of this in the first two thirds of the book.

The philosophy students who pioneered the study of these occult events in America are a varied and strange lot — Henry and Nora Sidgwick, the college administrators who headed up the American society, their friend, the very troubled Edmund Gurney and his high-society wife Kate, the fastidious Australian philosophy student Richard Hodgson, who came to spearhead the study of telepathy and its relation to communication with the spirit world. Deborah Blum is a science journalist and she tells the story in a very matter of fact way.

This makes for slow reading, as the information presented is so dense with historical accuracy. Jul 03, Jan rated it really liked it Shelves: Blum's book is a history of the beginning of the scientific study of the paranormal - ghosts, life after death, mediums, etc, etc. In many ways, I feel that this book is more of what Mary Roach's book Spook should have been like. It lacks the vaguely mocking, skeptical tone of Roach's book, instead sticking to the facts without making any judgments about what the facts mean. Although William James is mentioned in the title, I felt throughout the book that he actually had relatively little to do with it.

I wonder if he was listed in the title because today he remains the most well-known of the gentlemen and ladies! The point of psychical research was to actually use the scientific method to either prove or disprove the existence of such things as ghosts and an afterlife. You would think that such research would be met with enthusiasm, at least by the scientific community, but it was not. Despised by the religious leaders of the day and mocked by "real" scientists, the work was met with little support, and so never really got off the ground in the way that it should have.

It's interesting to note that many of the scientists involved in the work continued to work on "real" projects. Many were prize winners of their day. One invented the cathode ray tube. Another was instrumental in work on the transatlantic telegraph. And yet their research on the paranormal was met with guffaws and disdain by other scientists, which was not only a real shame, but grew increasingly frustrating over the course of the book. In fact, I would have to say that that was the biggest flaw of the book. I realize that it's what these men faced, but it grew increasingly tedious to read about that over and over again.

Okay, I get it, the other scientists thought they were crackpots, let's move on! But there is that small percentage left, that 3 percent, that they were never able to disprove. And some of it is truly fascinating, defying easy explanation I'm personally unconvinced that it proves an afterlife, but it at least proves that the human mind is far more capable than we think it is. It's interesting to think about.

I wish that this field would be met with more acceptance.

‘Ghost Hunters’ Returns For A Final Season On SyFy

That is an exceptionally descriptive subtitle. This book tales the true tale of a group of scientists led to an extent by William James who chose to study what they call psychical activity. Psychical research in this setting means the study of mediums, psychics, telepathic activity, etc. These scientists were legitimate researchers from many fields William James wrote one of the first textb The subtitle on this book is "William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death".

These scientists were legitimate researchers from many fields William James wrote one of the first textbooks on psychology and a few of these scientist eventually won Nobel prize awards in their respective areas. They made a serious attempt at analyzing what we now refer to as the paranormal. The backdrop for the primary story is the late 's and early 's, a time when science had begun its counter attack against religion which had been stifling science for eons. Atheism and Agnosticism had begun to become prominent in the scientific community.