The Goblin Universe

by Ted Holiday, Colin Wilson (Introduction)

Are paranormal events real, or are they only a figment of our imagination?

Ted Holiday addresses this issue with some startling revelations. In "The Goblin Universe" is found the world of the mind - the greater universe. This is the place of psychic phenomena, prophecies, ghosts, poltergeists, UFOs, the Men in Black, dragons, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster.

This amazing world is explored through Ted Holiday's personal experiences and his search for a unified theory of the paranormal. As Colin Wilson points out in the introduction, we must use our intuition, as Holiday did, in order to "see" into the goblin universe - the realm of unexplained illusions.

"The Goblin Universe" examines a wide range of fascination "occult" phenomena, and explores the technologies we may use to expand our native psi abilities.

In what sense is this a "real" world? Ted Holiday spent the greater part of his life investigating such things, and gained valuable first-hand experience of natural phenomena, which enabled him to develop groundbreaking ideas about what they really are.

Throughout history, mankind has been confronted by things that just do not fit with conventional notions of reality, yet scientists have completely failed to come to grips with the mass of evidence that has emerged. Here, at last, is a reasoned argument that offers a new way of thinking about phenomena - the foundations of a new science.

Genres: Paranormal, Nonfiction, Cryptozoology, Philosophy, Conspiracy Theories, Spirituality

256 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1986

Reviews

[Bill FromPA · Rating 2 out of 5]

Here’s a smorgasbord of the paranormal: ghosts, reincarnation, time travel and prophecy, fairies, alien big cats, bigfoot, yetis, the devil’s footprints, UFOs, and the Loch Ness monster, some of these based on the author’s firsthand experience. As a collection of stories of the paranormal, the book is pretty entertaining, but the author’s gullibility becomes tedious – he seems willing to accept any testimony or explanation as long as it eschews rationality.

Holiday does not believe that “creatures” such as Nessie are actual zoological specimens of uncatalogued species, but semi-material entities created by mind power employing electromagnetic “L-fields” theorized by Harold Saxton Burr. The shaping mind is occasionally that of the observer, but in many cases that of discarnate or invisible non-human entities. His ideas about the nature of these entities are not precisely defined, but he certainly thinks that a number of them are evil and capable of causing harm to humans, if not directly then through mental manipulation.

He cites several real-life human monsters from the annals of crime as examples of the evil influences of these entities: Gilles de Rais, sex offender Edward Paisnel (who the author thinks may be a reincarnation of de Rais), and poisoner Graham Young. Holiday suggests that the first two were depraved by participation in Satanic rituals, and throws a number of paranormal explanations at Young - who started on his murder spree at a very young age and continued it into adulthood - including demonic possession and being the reincarnation of a Nazi war criminal (citing his birthdate of 1947).

In the book’s climax, the author participates in an “exorcism” of Loch Ness, though beyond the author’s intuitions as to the monster’s evil nature it’s never clear exactly what Nessie has done to merit it. Nor is the purpose of the exorcism explained; though the reader is assured that it was successful, neither Holiday nor the exorcist claims that creature sightings at the site will henceforth cease. The day after the exorcism, outside the house of a friend, he encounters a “man in black” staring at him who disappears when Holiday looks away for a moment; a year later he has a heart attack at the spot, though it is not made clear whether he considers that this was caused by the MIB or the entity was simply there as a prophet of ill omen.

In the section on prophecies Holiday cites the 1971 book Premonition – a Leap into the Future by Herbert B. Greenhouse as the source of this premonition sent to “the London Central Premonitions Registry in December 1969:”

Starting with the year 1972-73, it will be a crucial year for the U.S.A. Water everywhere resulting in social upheaval, anarchy, and political confusion. The people will be looking for a new leader, but none forthcoming. A new political structure will come into being.

The author considers this “a cast-iron case for precognition” but I do not find it convincing at all, mostly because, unlike Holiday, I do not consider it particularly accurate. What use is a prophecy if its meaning isn’t clear until after the events it supposedly predicts have occurred? In a similar manner, Holiday offers the usual suspects from among Nostradamus’ quatrains, such as the “Hister” rhyme, as incredibly accurate predictions.

Yes, Ted Holiday was a fool, as becomes obvious as the book progresses. His acceptance of the existence of psychic abilities is based on the “research” of Andrija Puharich and the examples and testimony of Puharich’s protégés, fraudulent psychics Uri Geller and Ted Hurkos. In the climactic insult to the rational reader, Holiday finally exercises his skepticism in the penultimate chapter: against the “pseudoscience” of evolution!

The 42 page introduction by Colin Wilson forms an integral part of the book and provides ample warning to the attentive reader of the general lack of reason and self-awareness that is characteristic of the book as a whole. Wilson, too, gives favorable mention of Puharich and Geller, and on two consecutive pages mentions his acquaintance with two odious characters: on a poltergeist case he consults “the investigator Hans Bender” and gets a book recommendation from “another friend, Ira Einhorn”. Talk about evil entities! With the support of Himmler, Bender led research into the paranormal at “the wholly Nazified Reich University of Strasbourg” (Eric Kurlander's characterization), where some of his colleagues engaged in criminal human experimentation. Einhorn, at the time Wilson was writing, was a fugitive from US justice, wanted for the 1977 murder of his girlfriend Holly Maddux, a crime of which he was later convicted. Needless to say, Wilson mentions neither of these connections; one wonders if he was aware of either one.

[Naomi · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author's a lunatic with a poor understanding of science, but this is an entertaining read anyhow.

[Eddie Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book written by an eccentric Englishman who was obsessed with the Loch Ness Monster and who went to great pains to uncover its mystery. He developed his own theory, which was less material based and more spiritual based, positing that the monster was actually a manifestation of evil (or the dark psychic impulses of the earth) and even went so far as to enlist a priest to exorcise the loch. The book's written in a genial style and has a sense of adventurousness about it. You get the sense that the author, while fairly practical and down-to-earth, was also intent on maintaining a view of existence that allowed for far more levels of reality than are usually accepted.

[Denver Michaels · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for any paranormal and/or cryptid researcher. Like John Keel, Holiday accepts the appearance of cyptids, UFOs, ghosts, etc as fact but the phenomenon is nearly impossible for us to wrap our heads around. Holiday, like Keel, points out that creatures such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster may not be organic in nature (there is a startling lack of evidence for said creatures after decades of hunting them), but they may be something else entirely.

Well done.

[Joely · Rating 2 out of 5]

A heralded paranormal/conspiracy book that really should be left in the past. It's function today is more about propping up anti-science beliefs that over the decades since it was published have evolved into anti-vaxxers, flat-earthers, and a general distrust of what is true and real. At face value this book is an investigation into the Loch Ness monster and some other paranormal entities, but the goal of the author(s) was to make you distrust known truths in favor of imagined realities. Read it for a lark, but don't believe a word of it. (ALSO ITS VERY BORING)

[S.E. Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with Patrick Harpur's "Daimonic Reality" I think this is a MUST HAVE in any serious UFOlogist's library. In spite of it's horrible title (seriously, isn't this what editors are paid to prevent?!?) it's a fantastic book that starts with the Loch Ness monster...and how it (and other experiences) led the author to the realization that the universe itself is far different than what we think it is.

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well and engagingly written work by Fredrick Holiday of what Michael Miley terms "high weirdness". Published posthumously, a considerable contribution to the original text was made by Colin Wilson, also featured as author of its substantial introduction. Like similar works by John Keel, the stories are quite entertaining, though the attempts at explanation are unsatisfying.

[Signor Mambrino · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty much what you'd expect from an entirely serious non-fiction book titled "The Goblin Universe". A real heap of trash.

[Andy Pandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

For one, I didn't expect to see this one here. You either rate it 5 out of 5 for its sometimes terrifyingly clear-sighted look at the paranormal or 1 out of 5 for being fanciful nonsense.
But for me, UFO's as a non-physical phenomena is just revolutionary. Whatever psychic forces there are, well, they'd want to trick us, wouldn't they? They would take forms repetitively, recognizable to us in the way that tropes or memes are coming to dominate social media. Why expect to find real evidence of yeti? He may not exist or he may exist as a phantasm created by place, by ley lines, by our minds' interaction with the spirit world, if there is such a thing.
Disturbing, mad, perhaps deranged (I mean wow, the men in black stuff and the exorcism at Loch Ness is utterly hair-raising).
I don't know what to say, really. Give it a go if you can take some serious provocation. Regarding the science, I really have no idea, not being a scientist. Parts seem plausible. I am no creationist finally, but I did like the shots taken at Darwinism. Natural selection and evolution should not be dogma.

[Roberto Audiffred · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are a fan of John Keel and the "ultra-terrestrial" or "inter-dimensional" explanation of paranormal phenomena, you should read this. Ted Holiday began his writing career considering a "traditional" biological explanation to his favorite mystery, the Loch Ness Monster, only to slowly move toward a more "psychic" view, comparable to the opinions of Jacques Vallee and the aforementioned Keel, whom he refers to in several occasions in this book. "The Goblin Universe" is quite disjointed and fails as a "final solution" to its enigmas, which is why Holiday did not wish to publish it in his lifetime, but succeeds at being a highly entertaining, thought-provoking book.