Peter Underwood

This fascinating collection reveals the dark side of Farnham's history. This idyllic town has seen murders, betrayal and great battles, and these stories remain, trapped within its walls. President of The Ghost Club for thirty-three years, Peter Underwood has been called 'a giant in psychical research', and 'the world's leading ghost-hunter'. He has personally investigated hundreds of hauntings during his career, and brings his expertise to bear on his home county in this amazing selection of tales. The author explores Farnham's castle and many manor houses, as well as inviting us into his own home and investigating the paranormal occurrences he lived with for many years.The town's pubs, castle, church, homes and shops are all included here, revealing some extraordinary encounters with the unexplained. With first-hand accounts and more than sixty photographs, this collection will enthral both residents and visitors alike.

Haunted Farnham

Haunted London

Christine Stilwell

Tom Kwanya

The emerging generation of research and academic library users expect the delivery of user-centered information services. ‘Apomediation’ refers to the supporting role librarians can give users by stepping in when users need help. Library 3.0 explores the ongoing debates on the “point oh phenomenon and its impact on service delivery in libraries. This title analyses Library 3.0 and its potential in creating intelligent libraries capable of meeting contemporary needs, and the growing role of librarians as apomediators. Library 3.0 is divided into four chapters. The first chapter introduces and places the topic in context. The second chapter considers “point oh libraries. The third chapter covers library 3.0 librarianship, while the final chapter explores ways libraries can move towards ‘3.0'. Focuses on social media in research and academic libraries Gives context to the discussion of apomediation in librarianship and information services provision Provides a balance between more traditional and more progressive approaches

Intelligent Libraries and Apomediation

Library 3.0

This guide contains over 200 accounts of ghostly happenings throughout Britain, ranging from the legendary, to real-life experiences. Every entry includes the address of a nearby hotel to assist people planning an overnight stay near a haunted site.

An Illustrated Guide to 236 Haunted Sites

The A-Z of British Ghosts

Throughout history, the practice of exorcism has been used for the purpose of driving out evil spirits and demons though to possess human beings and the places they inhabit. But there are more startling instances where exorcism has been used: to cure a trawler that seemed to be cursed; to expel demons from Bram Stoker's black 'vampire' dog' even to rid Loch Ness and the Bermuda Triangle of their evil ambience. Peter Underwood explores this frightening ritual in relation to witches, vampires and animals, while his far-flung researches have unearthed dramatic cases in Morocco, Egypt, South Africa and the United States, as well as the British Isles. Is the rite an archaic throwback, wrongly employed in cases of mental disturbance which would be better served by psychological counselling, or is evil indeed a living force which can be overcome by the power of good? Exorcism! offers some thought-provoking insights into a mysterious and powerful phenomenon.

Exorcism!

This is the autobiography of a man who has spent thirty-five years of his life covering scientific psychical research, with detailed investigations into all kinds of manifestation that might be supernatural or paranormal in origin, including spiritualism, ESP, telepathy, hauntings and other occult phenomena. Many of the true experiences from the author’s casebook are published here for the first time.

The Autobiography of a Ghost-hunter

No Common Task

This comprehensive volume on dowsing and divining - from the twig and the pendulum to motorscopes and bare hands - traces the story of these fascinating and enigmatic phenomena from its origins in the world of fairy tales and mythology to recent theories that the enigma can be explained in terms of present-day psychology. The force present in the act of dowsing and divining can be compared to the sensitivity of men and women suffering from rheumatism who feel, in advance, changes of weather. Theories that have been brought forward to explain its presence include suggestion, radiation, colour, the existence of a sixth sense, and changes in the earth's magnetic field. As there are many possible explanations there are also many types and applications of dowsing and divining: map dowsing; being eggs; radiesthesia; the diagnosis and cure of disease; locating missing persons; forces, fields and rays; and detecting thieves. The author tells of dowsers past and present: Robert Leftwich who located abandoned tunnels and other underground hazards; Major Harold Spary who dowsed for the Royal Aircraft Establishment and the Royal Engineers during World War II; William Young who charged £200 a day in 1971 for dowsing; Tom Lethbridge who investigated Viking graves on Lundy Island; Henry Gross who discovered Bermuda's first natural wells. Even today large building and contracting firms employ resident site engineers who use sophisticated sets of divining rods. The book introduces us, in lucid and readable style, to the fascinating world of dowsing and divining, and gives the reader full instructions on how to attempt to become one of this international community.

The Complete Book of Dowsing & Divining

'A dwarfish figure that resembled a monk with a gnarled and twisted face, holding out a bleeding arm from which the hand had been cut off at the wrist…’ 'He saw in the clear moonlight a massive male figure standing under a tree, dressed entirely in black…’ The ghostly little monk of Foulridge and the giant apparition from Heaton Norris are just two of the denizens of the North-West you might not care to meet on a dark, stormy evening. You would also be advised to avoid the Old Miser of Altrincham, the Timberbottom Farm Skulls, the Clayton Hall Boggart, and the Man in the Brown Pin-stripe Suit. It's certainly not a good idea to drive along the Hyde-Mottram road when the phantom lorry is about, and you should think twice before taking a taxi in Stockport - you never know who might be in the back seat with you. But for those intrepid sounds whose hearts quicken at the thought of eerie footsteps and muffled groans Peter Underwood - the President of the Ghost Club - has assembled an impressive collection of traditional legends and first-hand sightings of the white ladies, highwaymen, cavaliers, priests and nuns who form the spectral population of haunted Lancashire and Cheshire.

Ghosts of North-West England

The Murder Club

Life's A Drag! - an evocative title for a very contemporary and compelling book. While it is true that there have been forms of drag, both private and public, since earliest times, as a form of modern entertainment drag in recent years has developed into a phenomenon which is now a world-wide multi-million pound entertainment industry in itself. This penetrating study, giving an in-depth look into the world drag scene, focuses primarily upon one drag artist - the hugely-successful Danny La Rue, himself a veritable Industry of Drag and unquestionably the highest-paid performer of his type in the world. Strangely no one has previously written a book about Danny la Rue, probably because he is a very private person despite his huge public persona. To write this work, Peter Underwood, the well-established author of the highly-successful biography of Boris Karloff (and many other books on the occult and the paranormal), researched widely and interviewed nearly seventy people close to the drag star - people who have worked with Danny la Rue both on and off stage over many years. The result is this absorbing story of a unique star which intimately surveys the life and work of the Irish Danny la Rue. He started on the stage in a village hall, later joined the Navy at 17 and became in turn a window dresser, chorus boy and then left the stage to work in a shop, returning to the theatre and the chorus to become a dancer and drag artist in an all-male show (which he left because he couldn't stand it). He was eventually spotted in a small revue at London's Irving Theatre and offered his big chance in cabaret at Bond Street's Churchill Club.

Danny la Rue and the Drag Scene

Life's a Drag!

While it is true that there have been forms of drag, both private and public, since earliest times, as a form of modern entertainment drag in recent years has developed into a phenomenon which is now a world-wide multi-million pound entertainment industry in itself. This penetrating study, giving a depth background of the world drag scene is, however, primarily a book about one drag artist - the hugely-successful Danny La Rue, himself a veritable Industry of Drag and unquestionably the highest-paid performer of his type in the world. Strangely, no one has previously written a book about Danny la Rue, probably because he is a very private person despite his huge public persona. To write this work, Peter Underwood, the well-established author of the highly-successful Boris Karloff biography and other books, researched widely and interviewed nearly seventy people close to the drag star - people who have worked with Danny la Rue both on and off stage over many years. The result is this absorbing story of a unique star which intimately surveys the life and work of the Irish Danny la Rue. He started on the stage in a village hall, later joined the Navy at 17 and became in turn a window dresser, chorus boy and then left the stage to work in a shop, returning to the theatre and the chorus to become a dancer and drag artist in an all-male show (which he left because he couldn't stand it). He was eventually spotted in a small revue at London's Irving Theatre and offered his big chance in cabaret at Bond Street's Churchill Club. So began the real success story of the fabulous Danny la Rue - a succession of successes: His own exclusive night club, recordings, countless pantomime hit shows, two Royal Command Performances, his first film, his three homes, three cars, greyhounds and racehorses, his hugely successful summer seasons, television appearances and the acclamation by the Variety Club of Great Britain as 'Show Business Personality of The Year'. Surrounding the story of the inimitable Danny la Rue is a vivid examination of the Drag Scene which has projected Danny's success - how it has become a major entertainment phenomenon in top theatres, on TV, films and in pubs and clubs throughout the world. Author Underwood relevantly appraises the lure of drag, the pleasures and the pain, the hard work, the dangers and the impact of what is daily becoming an ever-growing phenomenon of the twentieth century's Permissive Age.

Danny La Rue & The Drag Scene

Life's A Drag!

The Vampire’s Bedside Companion is a riveting compendium of new facts and fiction on the ‘undying’ theme of vampirism. Here is a new theory on the genesis of Dracula (surely literature’s most compelling and macabre figure?); thoughts on allusions to vampirism in Wuthering Heights; first-hand experience of Vampires in Hampstead, London; publication for the first time of the story of a fifteenth-century Vampire Protection medallion that Montague Summers presented to the author; an account by a professor of English at Dalhousie University of a visit to ‘Castle Dracula’ in Transylvania - The Vampire’s Bedside Companion contains these and a wealth of other hitherto unpublished material on a subject that is of enduring interest: The Vampire Legend. To many people, vampires are creatures only of legend and fantasy with no reality outside the pages of books. Others, who have studied the folklore of many countries and the continuing reports of vampirism, maintain that there is extensive evidence not only that vampires once existed but that, in fact, they still do exist. In this fascinating book the author, himself an acknowledged expert on the Occult, presents true accounts of vampire infestation in England, America, Ireland, Hungary, China and France. Records of vampires and vampirism are, he claims, as old as the world and as recent as yesterday. Four new, existing and authentic vampire fictional stories by Peter Allan, Crispin Derby, Richard Howard and James Turner complete this compelling companion for dark nights, solitude and howling winds! Illustrated with my striking photographs, The Vampire’s Bedside Companion also contains original and evocative drawings by Geoffrey Bourne-Taylor. It is a must for all students of the occult and every reader of the macabre.

The Amazing World of Vampires in Fact and Fiction

The Vampire's Bedside Companion

Jack the Ripper still causes a shudder, synonymous as it is with violent murder and mutilation. But also of mystery and speculation - for the gruesome series of killings in London's East End in that horrific Autumn of 1888 have never been finally solved. The identity of the Ripper, his motives and his association have been the subject of endless discussion and speculation since Victorian times. Suspects have been as varied as a Jewish slaughter man and the Duke of Clarence. Now, marking the centenary of those terrible crimes, comes Peter Underwoods comprehensive look at all aspects of Jack the Ripper. It contains a wealth of new and previously unpublished material with a detailed look at the possible candidates and probable identity, examinations of the murder sites (then and now), the psyche of the murderer and the murdered, the alleged ghosts and spirit contacts and a survey of all writings on the Ripper and his victims - published and unpublished. This is the definitive book, with a 100 year perspective.

One Hundred Years of Mystery

Jack the Ripper

It's all here - all that you need to know to become a professional ghost hunter: how to find a ghost, what to do when you are face to face with a ghost, how to unmask a fraud and even how to make a ghost trap! For the first time Peter Underwood lets you into all the secrets that have made him the world's top ghost hunter. Now follow in his footsteps if you dare...

A Ghost Hunter’s Handbook

The Hollywood way of life has long been a potent mix of scandal, secrecy and sensation: exactly like the Hollywood way of death. . . In this unique study, Peter Underwood charts the lives, loves and deaths of thirty of Tinseltown’s most glittering stars. Many deaths were sad or senseless; some were tragic; others were the revenge of old age, while a few were the revenge of something altogether more sinister. . .

Death in Hollywood

Peter Underwood's Guide to Ghosts and Haunted Places is based on 50 years' expert study and investigation. The result is a unique exploration of the world go ghosts, apparitions and psychic phenomena which draws on a wealth of cases personally investigated by the author. Illustrated with photographs, this fascinating book examines the enormous variety of ghostly activity from both sides of the Atlantic and discusses all the available evidence. Included are chilling tales of numerous haunted places including castles, stately homes, churches, theatres, pubs, prisons, hospitals, battlefields, even trees and roads. There are bizarre cases of unexplained aerial phenomena and strange happenings surrounding inanimate objects. Also examined are stories of ghost animals and the extraordinary accounts of time-slips, cyclic ghosts and poltergeists. If you want to satisfy your curiosity about the subject or simply enjoy a riveting read, Peter Underwood's Guide to Ghosts and Haunted Places is the book for you.

Peter Underwood's Guide to Ghosts and Haunted Places

Lo studio dell’occulto ha un fascino senza fine: infatti, nonostante le spiegazioni che la scienza può dare ai misteri della terra, restano alcuni fenomeni per i quali non si è ancora trovata una risposta al di fuori dell’occulto. Questo libro offre per la prima volta una panoramica aggiornata di tutti i diversi aspetti di questo tema così complesso e affascinante, incluso un intero capitolo sui rapporti tra il sesso e i fenomeni psichici, un tema finora accuratamente evitato da tutti. Alla luce di un’esperienza pratica di venticinque anni in tutti i campi della ricerca psichica e di un profondo e costante interesse per l’occulto, Underwood cerca di rispondere a una infinità di domande di astrologia, grafologia, previsione del futuro e telepatia. Tra i molti altri temi esamina quello dei medium, ciò che avviene nelle case abitate da fantasmi e come questi fenomeni andrebbero studiati, il significato dei sogni, la storia e le pratiche moderne dei Druidi, delle streghe, e di coloro che praticano la magia nera: vere storie di fantasmi ed esperimenti che l’autore stesso ha vissuto di persona. Peter Underwood ci incoraggia ad esplorare e investigare onestamente e rettamente per una maggiore comprensione del supernaturale e delle tremende e sconosciute forze che sono dentro di noi.

Dentro l'Occulto

Peter Underwood has personally visited the historic buildings and sites of Britain, and here presents a wealth of intriguing legends and new stories of ghostly encounters from more than a hundred such throughout the United Kingdom. From Abbey House in Cambridge to Zennor in Cornwall, this is an A to Z of the haunted houses of Britain. At Bramshill in Hampshire — now a police training college — there have been so many sightings that even sceptical police officers have had to admit that the place is haunted. Beautiful Leeds Castle in Kent has a large, phantom black dog; there is an Elizabethan gentleman (seen by a Canon of the Church of England!) at Croft Castle; a Pink Lady at Coughton Court; a prancing ghost jester at Gawsworth; a spectre in green velvet at Hoghton Tower; six ghosts at East Riddlesden Hall; a headless apparition at Westwood Manor; and then there are some little-known ghosts in Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace and the Tower of London, and the strange ghosts of Chingle Hall, perhaps the most haunted house in England.

This Haunted Isle

In this fascinating account of the best-attested cases of haunting - Hampton Court, the demon drummer of Bedworth, the Wesley ghost, Glamis, Borley Rectory and many others - Britain's foremost ghost-hunter has brought to light a wealth of valuable new evidence. Using the results of his many years of research and personal investigation into ghosts and hauntings, and providing detailed plans and original photographs, Peter Underwood puts forward some exciting and startling theories which will radically change our ideas about these hauntings.

New Light on the Greatest True Ghost Stories of the World

Hauntings

There have been many books about Queen Victoria but there has never been one that has explored her 'other world' - the world of the strange and unusual, the world of death and her fascination for it, and the world of the unseen and the paranormal that she could never resist. During his research Peter Underwood gained the distinct impression that there was something of a conspiracy of silence around her interest in the paranormal. however, there is overwhelming evidence that as a fatherless and bewildered princess, as a quickly matured queen, and then as a widowed and often lonely woman, Victoria showed a considerable interest in death and its draperies. This book covers Victoria's youthful encounters with the occult; her visits to haunted properties, her friends and acquaintances with similar interests and experiences; her alleged involvement with Robert Lees, the medium; her undoubted interest in the Jack-the-Ripper murders; her obsession with omens and superstitions and her fascination with death. Not long before his death the Prince Consort told the Queen, 'We don't know in what state we shall meet again, but that we shall recognise each other and be together in eternity I am perfectly certain'. Through forty years of widowhood Queen Victoria believed utterly that this would be so.

Peter Underwood

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