Paranormal People The Famous, the Infamous, and the Supernatural

From channeling to reincarnation to spontaneous human combustion, the range of psychic abilities and paranormal experiences claimed by people today is greater than ever before. Do these accounts have any basis in truth? This and other questions come under intense scrutiny in this complete profile of those who profess to have encountered the uncanny. Setting the stage is a history of alleged paranormal goings-on and investigations into the supernatural -- including the story of "Philip", an "artificial ghost" created by the Toronto Society for Psychical Research. After providing this made-up character with an entire biography, the Society's members tried to "materialize" him through seances. (They never succeeded.) Consider possible scientific explanations, such as hysteria, for unexplainable events, as well as beliefs in the afterlife and links between our world and the spirit world. Meet mysterious people such as religious medium Emanuel Swedenborg; cult figure and Satanist Aleister Crowley; Arnold Paole, who professed to have survived vampire attacks; and Andrew Crosse, supposedly the inspiration for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Examine the case of Mafia de Jesus, a Spanish nun in the 1600s who experienced trances, hallucinations, and religious ecstacies: the work of God...or multiple personality disorder due to parental abuse? Whatever you believe, these paranormal people and their stories will fascinate and intrigue you!