Encyclopedia of Ghosts & Spirits 3RD EDITION [PB,2007]

by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Contains more than 600 entries about ghosts, hauntings, related paranormal phenomenon, the people who investigate them, and the key theories about what causes them. This encyclopedia compiles research on the available theories about what causes ghosts. It also includes black-and-white photographs, and a bibliographical listing for further reading.

Genres: Paranormal, Reference, Nonfiction, Ghosts, Mythology, Occult, History

Unknown Binding

First published July 1, 1992

About the author

Rosemary Ellen Guiley is a leading expert on the paranormal, and is the author of 45+ books, including ten single-volume encyclopedias. Since 1983, she has worked full-time in the paranormal, researching, investigating and writing. She has done extensive field work investigating haunted, mysterious and sacred places, and has had numerous strange and unexplained experiences. When she is not on the paranormal road, she is working on new books and writing for TAPS Paramagazine, FATE magazine, and the Journal of Abduction-Encounter Research. Rosemary lives in New Jersey, and spend much of her time traveling the spooky byways of one of the most haunted states in America, Pennsylvania."

Reviews

[Nandakishore Mridula · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read this book in the usual meaning of "read" - I have only sampled. But it gives me enough information to rate it.

This is a book for believers (I'm not one). So if you are a skeptic, you may feel pissed off/ amused (depending on your tolerance level) about the author's naive acceptance of everything supernatural. But this book is not for the scientifically minded - in the foreword, Troy Taylor roundly rejects the scientific method.

In fall 2006, an award-winning physicist was quoted in USA Today declaring that ghosts cannot exist. They cannot walk among us, he said, because their feet would need to apply pressure on floors. They could not pass through walls because this would violate scientific laws of action and reaction. Ghosts, quite simply, cannot be real.

Interestingly, like so many scientists throughout history, this particular physicist based his ideas about ghosts on his own personal disbelief. Science demands that for something to be “real,” it must be able to be duplicated over and over again in a scientific setting. Unfortunately,
the supernatural does not really conform to the idea of repeatable experiments. We can measure, document, and record, but ghosts do not perform on command, which is what scientists demand. Ghosts cannot be trapped in the laboratory. If you drag them out of the shadows and expose them to the harsh glare of scientific “reality,” they tend to vanish.

Thanks to this, science tells us, ghosts cannot exist.

But do most people feel this way? It is unlikely that you, the reader, believe this to be the case or you would probably not have this book in your hands! Gallup Polls tell us that more than one in three Americans believe that houses can be haunted and more than 20 percent believe that
people can communicate with the dead. So if ghosts cannot exist, why do so many people believe that they can?

I will skip over the logical fallacies in the above passage (begging the question, argumentum ad populum) and come to the gist of the argument - ghosts do not need any scientific evidence to exist. Just because many people believe them to, they do.

There is also the concept of "historical evidence" - recorded claims by people who seems to have witnessed ghosts. Apparently, these people are to be taken at their word: which means one can never disprove any ghostly phenomena!

That said, for a fan of the weird and the spooky like me, this tome is a treasure-trove which one can dip into at leisure and choose a juicy morsel. It broadly details three aspects of supernatural lore - various kinds of "ghoulies and ghosties and long-leggedy beasties and things which go bump in the night"; people and movements associated with ghosts and spirituality; and historical hauntings and haunted places. I liked the third category especially - I have marked down some places in the UK as worth a visit the next time I go there.

Some stories which intrigued me:

The Bell Witch
Bachelor's Grove Cemetry
Castle Hasdeu

The list should grow as I progress further.

One star from the skeptic and five stars from the horror fan - rounds out to three stars.

[Gary · Rating 5 out of 5]

John and Anne Spencer have compiled this first volume of ghost sightings, poltergeist activity, and possible evidence of paranormal phenomena. The authors contribute contribute substantially to the debate about the existence of such phenomena and put forward scientific evidence for their own theses.
In their introduction the authors deal with 'ghost busting', the science of investigating ghosts, and suggest that the first rule of 'ghost-hunters' (no-one has yet come up with a satisfactory term for the job) is discretion and understanding their witnesses-not patronizing or dismissing them.

The Spencers have divided the encyclopedia into chapters about various types of ghostly phenomena including Ghosts and visions associated with particular places, ghosts of the famous, Haunted objects, Recordings and replays, the wicked and the cruel, ghosts with a message and Doubles, bi locations, Doppelgangers and Vardogers.
Each chapter examines the phenomenon under discussion and provides myriad accounts of ghost sightings, paranormal activity and suggestive evidence of spirits.
Some of these incidences are easier to dismiss than others.
Example abound from well-intentioned to malign spirits from the 7th century BC to 1991.It includes sightings of the various wives of Henry VIII, Abraham Lincoln in the white House, George II and John Keats.

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well first and foremost, from the entries in Rosemary Ellen Guiley’s The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits which I have chosen to read, which I have decided to check out more thoroughly (since yes indeed, meticulously perusing every single presented blurb in Guiely’s over 430 page A to Z tome would simply be taking much too long for me, so I just skipped around and sampled from each of the presented letter of the alphabet sections), I must categorically say that I really do have major trouble understanding and accepting why some reviewers have labelled Rosemary Ellen Guiley and her Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits as somehow naively accepting and believing in the existence of ghosts, the paranormal, monsters and so on and so on. For really, Rosemary Ellen Guiley (at least in my humble opinion) with Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits generally just presents the facts and the details of possessions, hauntings and the like as they appear, as they have been reported (as well as information on global folklore regarding phantoms, monsters and magical creatures) without analysis and also without her ever claiming that she herself actually believes in ghosts and somehow also expects her readers to equally believe, and not to mention that Guiley also repeatedly points out in The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits that also there is much fraud to be encountered and that many cases of supposed haunted places, possessed houses and people and in particular with regard to spirit photography have actually been elaborated hoaxes and sometimes cases of mental illness (like for example, the Amityville, Long Island poltergeists, which has definitely now been proven to have been faked).

Therefore, for me, it is actually the reviewers who think that Rosemary Ellen Guiley is an uncritical believer in the reality of ghosts and other aspects of the paranormal who should consider looking in the mirror and reconsidering, as above everything, The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits shines because it is balanced, academic in scope and that most of the longer entries are also followed by relevant bibliographic materials, by the necessary sources. And the only reason why my ranking for The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits is four and not five stars is that I am a bit disappointed that Rosemary Ellen Guiley has not included more scenarios of haunted houses from Canada (as in particular the Deane Boarding House in Calgary Alberta and the haunted former jail in Ottawa Ontario should in my opinion have been included, as well as the story of the Ghost Ship of the Northumberland Strait, since when this ship is seen, it is usually seen by many unconnected individuals for hundreds of miles).

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

A paranormal student's ultimate resource on everything para- with a nasty edge. The entries are well-written and inclusive of myth,legend and timely research. Ms. Guiley delivers facts and scary personal accounts. This is excellent resource for students of the paranormal and lovers of tales.

[DeCarabas · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this encyclopedia is certainly full of information as it is, it would benefit from being longer. It does, however, end most entries with recommendations for further reading on the subject, so it makes an ideal starting point.

[Sabrina Barnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXCELLENT bit of reference material for anyone interested in the ghostly realms. Checked this out from the library thinking, based on the cover, that it might be an enjoyable bit of cheese (I was thinking along the lines of Leonard Nemoy personally whispering "In Search Of" episodes in my ear), but this book is actually a very well-researched resource with entries on spiritualism, famous (and not so famous) psychic mediums, famous (and not so famous) hauntings, base info on names and types of spirits found throughout many different cultures, and bits about various ghost-oriented organizations. The entries, while remaining fun reads, don't take a definitive opinion on the relative truth or falsity of the stories on offer, instead presenting the facts/events as they were reported from all sources (skeptical and believer) and leaving any decisions about the meaning or verisimilitude of these records up to the reader. This book is also well-cited, providing a great list of future reads in mythology and the paranormal. Great read on spooky and weird shit.

[Theresahpir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rosemary Guiley's Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits is a must-have for anyone in the paranormal investigation/research field. From more well known topics to the completely obscure, Guiley has compiled an excellently researched and absolutely thorough compendium on all things dealing with ghosts and spirits. In fact, this book is so well researched and is such a convenient reference book that I've often seen full entries copied word for word on various websites.

Rosemary Guiley is definitely one of my favorite paranormal authors and she has a lifetime worth of experience and research that she brings to her many wonderful books on a wide variety of paranormal topics. Among her many books are several others in this encyclopedia series, which are well-worth the read! There is a lot of information packed into these encyclopedias but I'd highly recommend reading them cover to cover, no matter how long it takes.

[Jodi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference tool.

[Ingrid Stephens · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference book for all things spooky and supernatural. I think I need to own a copy of this to have on hand for research for my writing.

[Mimi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fables and stories. A pseudo reference guide. Before Harry Potter was a thing.

[Saimeghana · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am very interested about parascience and mostly recommended book for parascience

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

i finally finished it!

[Jeanie Moen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good magical source for spirits and stuff

[April Helms · Rating 4 out of 5]

This wasn't what I thought it would be- but I like it all the more for what it is. And what it is, is not just an encyclopedia of general legendary phenomenon (like brownies, ghosts, poltergeists, etc.) but an encyclopedia of major haunting incidents, "hot spots" for haunting, and even people connected to it (active members of paranormal research groups, well-known mediums and those who were the subject of paranormal phenomenon). at the end of each entry is a listing of books and further readings on that topic. It covers a huge time span, from times BCE to at least the 1990s. This is invaluable to anyone who participates in paranormal groups or those with a keen interest in the topic. The entries cover all areas of the world, but is concentrated on the United States and the British Isles.

[Gherity · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very good to read if you want a bit of information on the ghosts or haunted places that have taken place in the past. What I didn't really like was how there wasn't much information on the different types of spirits out there, such as energy vampires, or sirens. Nonetheless, this gives pretty good details on the things it does talk about, though it doesn't give too much information that it makes the book boring. All and all, it is an Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits.

[Andy Ringbloom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meet the devil and see what he can do for you.
With pictures you wish you didnt see....awesome photos...bizaar.

I enjoyed reading about "the curse of the little bastard"....its about James Dean's car and how many people it killed...spooky stuff....true story!

The genuine counterfeit

[Karma Goat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book kept me wanting to read more about the supernatural and the stories that followed the lore of the type of spirit or ghost. I would highly recommend this to anyone that had an open mind about ghosts. While I don't believe in ghosts, this book had me staying up hours reading every entry.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

anyone interested in paranormal research should have a copy of this book

[Jutta · Rating 4 out of 5]

so much good information. moster book continues

read 2010

[Nathaniel Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great reference work for those who wish to learn more about ghosts and spirits in different corners of the world.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best thing by Guiley!

[Sara Walton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely interesting and informative. Always a good reference to have in your collection.

[J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a comprehensive collection.

[Deboshree Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

very informative... a must read for those who have keen interest on supernatural....

[Prbhkrtsingh]

horror

[Donald Armfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Packed with info. I need to buy a copy of this book.