First Quarter 2024 Spooky Reading!

Although April is already more than halfway over, I wanted to take a step back and share with everyone all the paranormal non-fiction books I’ve read during the first quarter of 2024! I’m an avid reader, and a huge bibliophile, concentrating on the collection of paranormal non-fiction from all genres (as well as West Virginia/Appalachia History) for my personal library. Continued education and life-long learning as it pertains to the paranormal field is a passion of mine, and it’s important to me that I read up on the subject from a variety of viewpoints. So…here’s a look at what I’ve been reading so far this year. Out of 26 total books I read between January 1 and March 31, eleven were paranormal non-fiction titles. 

1. They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers, by Gray Barker. Anything by West Virginia’s most controversial Ufologist/Documenter of Fortean Events is a must-read for me. And although those featured in this book are pretty controversial themselves, and may or may not be full of it…it’s an interesting look into civilian ufo researchers and research groups of the 1950′s. I think the general idea you’re suppose to take away is that the government already knows what UFOs are…and they aren’t being piloted by extraterrestrial friends from outer space.

2. Ghosts in Solid Form, by Gambier Bolton. This book takes a look at a series of experiments and investigation into what ghosts are and whether they exist, spanning over a seven year period at the turn of the last century. As dated as this volume is, there are still some interesting concepts and even some investigation protocol that still seem relevant today.

3. Ghosts of Kent, by Peter Underwood. Peter Underwood is such a prolific writer and archivist of so, so many English ghosts and hauntings. This particular volume goes over haunted locations in Kent, some with personal stories attached, and others with just a re-telling of popular tale. You can’t go wrong with a Peter Underwood book, and I’ve nearly crossed all of them off my list. 

4. Edgar Cayce on Past Lives, by D.M. Hoover. Edgar Cayce, known as the Sleeping Prophet was known for two kinds of readings…one where he diagnosed illnesses and other current problems in his clients, and another where he took a look further back into the past lives. This book is a case study of some of those cases, including several of the select-few (18, I believe) of people he regressed whose souls had evolved to the point where they did not need to come back after this current lifetime. 

5. The Most Terrifying Places on Earth, by Conrad Bauer. Bauer releases quite a few free and low cost ebooks about different paranormal topics. While short, these books are usually well-written and interesting. They’re a great glimpse into the topic at hand, and I usually get a few ideas for blogs from them…they’re just not super memorable when you read as much as I do, since they just go over a high number of cases with just snippets of information.

6. The Most Bizarre Paranormal and Ghost Stories, by Henry Bennett. Again, this was another free ebook, giving little doses of information on a variety of cases. I don’t remember a ton, but it certainly wasn’t a bad book. 

7. Werewolf Stories, by Nick Redfern. This book is set up like an encyclopedia of all things werewolf, dogman, and shape-shifting in general. I purchased it as a research tool for my work last year with the Louisiana rougarou, but after picking out the relevant information for that case, I decided to go ahead and read it cover to cover. If this is a topic you’re interested in, I definitely recommend!

8. Project Blue Book, by Charles River Editors. This publisher releases a lot of ‘short histories’ in ebook form. This one on Project Blue Book was a great introduction/summary of the former UFO investigation project. 

9. Dark Folk Tales From the Philippine Countryside, by Louis Bulaong. This was another free ebook I picked up on Amazon. It was a delightful collection of Philippine ghosts, hauntings, and legends. Although fairly short, there were quite a few really interesting stories in here. It’s a nice little introduction to the folklore of that country.

10. Spooky Science, by John Grant. I highly recommend this book! Written from a skeptical, but fair point of view, Spooky Science goes through the history of paranormal research, beginning with the investigations of mediums and psychics during the Spiritualist movement. Lots of good information and good advice for those studying parapsychology and/or the paranormal field.

11. Scotland UFO Disclosure Volume 8, by Brian Caldwell. I wrapped up the quarter with another free ebook on UFOs. This one only had a few different cases, but was pretty interesting and well-written, nonetheless. I didn’t realize that there were enough UFO cases in Scotland to merit a multi-volume set, but I’ll gladly download other editions if I come across them for free as well.