Swiss Reformer Ludwig Lavater (son-in-law of Henry Bullinger) penned the classic Protestant work on the phenomenon of ghosts and spirits.
With copious references to Scripture, the church fathers, and historians ancient and medieval, Lavater carefully showed that ghosts and spirits are not the departed souls of the dead, but rather, are often the deceptive work of demons.
Lavater also challenges many points of superstition that carry on in our day, such as the use of holy water and the Ave Maria prayer to ward off evil spirits. He also demonstrates how monks and friars would falsify miracles to trick the naive and the simple.
Now, for the first time since 1596, Robert Harrison's translation of this work has been annotated with modern, standardized spelling, Scripture references have been corrected, and side notes have been reworked as section headings or placed into the main text.