Spirits Abound

So as I get back into the swing of reading and researching the paranormal, there are a few things that I have come across the past few years that have kept me entertained as I finished school and started working full-time. Most of these are podcasts--both non-fiction and narrative based--but there are a few narrative YouTube channels that I have stumbled across that are pretty entertaining.

Podcasts: I subscribe to these through the Podcast app on my phone, but I will include a link to their website if possible. These are in no specific order, though I will separate the fiction from the non-fiction. Hit the keep reading for more (this may be a really long post!)

Later edit: This post will contain all the non-fiction podcasts I have come across lately. I will put the fiction podcasts and YouTube channels in a later post.

Non-fiction:

Blurry Photos - this is a supernatural based podcast created by two freaking amazing comedians, Dave Stecco and David Flora. The description from their website pretty much hits the nail on the head: “From cryptozoology and the paranormal to conspiracy theories and the unexplained, Blurry Photos will help educate and entertain you in a decently informational and whimsical way.” It might help to start with episodes on information you are familiar with/like in the archives to acquaint yourself to their comedic stylings, and then make your way through the rest. They have been pretty consistent throughout their tenure, so you can’t go wrong picking up an episode from any time frame.

Last Podcast on the Left - this is another comedy based podcast that covers a variety of information including, serials killers, cults, supernatural events, conspiracy theories, or just weird events in human history. This podcast is put together by Marcus Parks, Ben Kissel, and Henry Zebrowski, and for the most part I find it highly informative (cult episodes are my favorite) and incredibly funny. To be perfectly honest, I do occasionally have to step away from this podcast, as there are times where I question the comedic integrity of the group (though especially Zebrowski), as it borders, and sometimes oversteps that line of offense (specifically regarding Christianity) and racism (The Charles Ng episodes are an example of this). I have not personally made it through all of their episodes, though I have checked out their first episodes, and they’ve held pretty much the same style and sound quality throughout.

My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. This is probably one of the more well-known podcasts out there -- and for good reason too! While the research aspect seems a bit lazy (you could probably find the same information verbatim on Murderpedia), it’s the comedic camaraderie between Karen and Georgia (and Steven!!) that really make this podcast worthwhile. All of their episode types are premium quality--the minisodes and live recordings are just as good as the regularly recorded shows. You can start with any of their episodes and be set for a good, informative time.

Anything Ghost: If you are in the mood to just hear some good “true” ghost stories, this is the podcast for you. While you can only access the 10 most recent episodes (the rest of the archive, which is over 10 years of material is available for a one time fee), this is a well produced, and highly entertaining podcast. Episodes are long, and all of the stories are user-generated. Some are narrated by the Wahl, others by the users themselves, but Wahl adds creepy music and effects underneath all stories, to make for an overall great time.

Ghosts: A Natural History: 500 Years of Searching for Proof by Roger Clarke

ISBN: 978-1250053572 Price: Hardback: $19.88 Ebook: $11.04

From Amazon: "Taking us through the key hauntings that have obsessed the world, from the true events that inspired Henry James's classic The Turn of the Screw right up to the present day, Roger Clarke unfolds a story of class conflict, charlatans, and true believers. The cast list includes royalty and prime ministers, Samuel Johnson, John Wesley, Harry Houdini, and Adolf Hitler. The chapters cover everything from religious beliefs to modern developments in neuroscience, the medicine of ghosts, and the technology of ghost-hunting. There are haunted WWI submarines, houses so blighted by phantoms they are demolished, a seventeenth-century Ghost Hunter General, and the emergence of the Victorian flash mob, where hundreds would stand outside rumored sites all night waiting to catch sight of a dead face at a window."

An Introduction to the Psychology of the Paranormal Belief and Experience by Tony Jinks ISBN: 978-0786465446 Paperback: $33.25 Etextbook: $14.74

From Amazon: "When someone admits to a strange experience, such as witnessing an unidentified flying object, having telepathic hunches, or seeing angels or ghosts, listeners usually explain it away as mistaken perception, intoxication, ignorance, or even mental illness. Though these unsympathetic psychology-based explanations remain the most popular responses to claims of the supernatural, those who use them often have little understanding of what such dismissive "solutions" actually entail. This study offers a balanced and accessible analysis of various explanations for the paranormal. By providing insight into how these theories are applied, or misapplied, to inquiry into the paranormal, it clarifies the relationship between the field of psychology and the supernatural."

Early Modern Supernatural: The Dark Side of European Culture, 1400-1700 by Jane P. Davidson  ISBN: 978-0313393433 Price: Hardback:$ 57

Davidson, Jane P. (2012). Early Modern Supernatural: The Dark Side of European Culture, 1400-1700. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.

From Amazon: "The dark side of early modern European culture could be deemed equal in historical significance to Christianity based on the hundreds of books that were printed about the topic between 1400 and 1700. Famous writers and artists like William Shakespeare and Albrecht Dürer depicted the dark side in their work, and some of the first printed books in Europe were about witches. The pervasive representation of these monsters and apparitions in period literature, folklore, and art clearly reflects their power to inspire fear and superstition, but also demonstrates how integral they were to early modern European culture.

This unique book addresses topics of the supernatural within the context of the early modern period in Europe, covering "mythical" entities such as devils, witches, ghosts, poltergeists, and werewolves in detail and examining how they fit in with the emerging new scientific method of the time. This unique combination of cultural studies for the period is ideal for undergraduate students and general readers."

What's really cool about this book is that it collects quotes from historical documents that provide clear evidence of the cultural mindset, as well as includes prints and artworks of the subject matter.  

Witches' Sabbath. P. de L'Ancre, Tableau de l'Inconstance des Mauvis et Demons. Paris, Nicolas Buon, 1613.

The Haunted: A Social History of Ghosts by Owen Davies

ISBN: 978-0230237100           Price: Hardback: $45.34; Paperback: $ 17.73

Davies, Owen. (2009). The Haunted; A Social History of Ghosts. New York, NY: Pelgrave Macmillion.  

From Amazon: "The Haunted is the first truly comprehensive social history of ghosts. Using fascinating and entertaining examples, Davies places the history of ghosts within their wider social and cultural context and examines why a belief in ghosts continues to be vibrant, socially relevant and historically illuminating."

Place: North America --Native American: Chippewa/Ojibawe

Ghost of a little girl, usually frail with grey-skin.  She brings disease (respiratory  illness) to children by casting her shadow over them. Lives on mountaintops and comes down into valleys at night to revel, drawn in by human activity.  In some legends, Acheri will enter a settlement during a harvest or festival to sing and dance, or play the drums and those who hear her will fall sick. 

Place: Ancient Egypt

Ka

A person's spirit double created at their birth that they joined upon death.  Depicted in art as upraised arms, the Ka inhabits the mummified corpse, or in its destruction statues in the tomb.  Living individuals leave provisions for the Ka and if the offerings were insufficient, the Ka would be forced to wander as a ghost eating and drinking whatever it could find. 

Wooden Ka statue of Awybre Hor

Ba

The personality and unique soul of a person. Depicted as a falcon with the head of a human, the Ba is an after-death consciousness state that rises to look over the body. It moves between the world of the living and the realm of the dead, returning to the tomb with the setting of the sun.

This site is created to be an archive of the manifestations of ghosts and spirits recorded throughout the world.  

A variety of information will be included here:

Examples of psychical manifestations--pictures and videos of ghosts, spirits, apparitions, haunted houses, etc 

Types of cultural manifestations--ghost folklore from across the continents

Place: France (Celtic Brittany)

Other Names: L'Ankou

--Ankou on La Roche-Maurice, Finistère

The Ankou serves as a soul collector.  Personified either as a tall, haggard figure with long white hair whose face is covered by a large brimmed hat, or a skeleton with a revolving (all-seeing) head, the Ankou drives a spectral cart accompanied by two figures on foot, and stops by the house of a person about to die. There he either knocks on the door, or wails--announcing his presence to the living.  Sometimes the apparition enters the house and takes away the dead, who is placed in the cart by the Ankou's ghostly companions.  To see the face of an Ankou means that you are dead.  

An Ankou is the last person to die in a parish during the year, and in the following year serves as king of the dead, collecting the souls of those who die in his parish. Every parish has its own individual Ankou.

Another term for the Ankou is "Oberour ar Maro", or "Henchman of Death" which refers to the Ankou as a graveyard watcher, protecting the souls of the dead on his land.  

An old Irish proverb states that "when the Ankou comes, he will not go away empty."

Place: Japan

Bakechochin Chōchin-obake 提灯お化け

Type of Tsukumogami (old tool spirit)--poltergeist spirit that inhabits old tools.  

The Bakechochin is a paper lantern ghost containing the earthbound spirit of an individual who died in a hate state. Bakechochin appear as hanging lanterns with eyes and a long, protruding tongue.  Beliefs are varied as to whether the bakechochin are angry spirits who attack people who make the mistake of lighting their lantern, or mischievous ghosts merely looking for a good scare.