The mystery chronicles : more real-life X-files / Joe Nickell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Nickell, Joe

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Parapsychology--Case studies.

Parapsychology.

Curiosities and wonders.

Impostors and imposture.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xvii, 360 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lexington, Ky. : University Press of Kentucky, [2004]

Summary:

Haunted houses, alien hybrids, psychic pets, and carnival oddities are just a few of the phenomena that inhabit the shadowy corners of the unexplained. After thirty years of paranormal investigation, acclaimed author and detective Joe Nickell opens his mystery files once again to reveal the truth behind supposedly inexplicable occurrences. Continuing what his popular Real Life X-Files started, Nickell's new casebook examines the Shround of Turin, the Mothman enigma, crop circles, alien abductions, and numerous other perplexing mysteries. Undaunted by fiery specters, headless saints, or weeping icons, Nickell has traveled extensively to investigate the world's greatest mysteries and con artists. He has gone undercover to illuminate the tricks of those who pretend to communicate with the dead, accompanied a Cajun guide into a Louisiana swamp in search of a fabled monster, and gained an audience with a voodoo queen. Nickell incorporates his personal experiences with other investigators' findings to explore how these intriguing myths have developed. Addressing the theoretical debate behind each case, Nickell clarifies previous speculation and uses evidence to explain phenomena that have baffled the scientific community and the general public for decades. While Nickell tackles the many theories surrounding these X-files, such as the Nazca Lines, the Amityville Horror, and the Winchester Mystery House, he does not automatically deny the possibility of the paranormal. As an investigator, Nickell employs a comprehensive approach sensitive to both the paranormalist and skeptic. Nickell's investigative skills have won him both acclaim and controversy during his long career as one of the world's foremost paranormal investigators. Using a hands-on approach and the scientific method, he now examines more than three dozen intriguing mysteries in The Mystery Chronicles.

Contents:

1 Mystery of the Nazca Lines 1

2 The Fiery Specter 10

3 The Exorcist: The Case Behind the Movie 14

4 The "Goatsucker" Attack 28

5 Undercover Among the Spirits: Investigating Camp Chesterfield 31

6 Alien Hybrid? 46

7 Image of Guadalupe: Myth-perception 51

8 Human Blowtorch 56

9 Remotely Viewed? The Charlie Jordan Case 61

10 Amityville: The Horror of It All 73

11 Sideshow! Investigating Carnival Oddities and Illusions 78

12 "Mothman"' Solved! Investigating on Site 93

13 Relics of the Headless Saint 100

14 Circular Reasoning: Crop Circles and Their "Orbs"' of Light 115

15 Zanzibar Demon 124

16 Winchester Mystery House 128

17 Voodoo in New Orleans 140

18 Secrets of the Voodoo Tomb 152

19 A Case of "SHC" Demystified 162

20 Tracking the Swamp Monsters 165

21 John Edward: Talking to the Dead? 176

22 Scandals and Follies of the "Holy Shroud" 187

23 "Pyramid Power" in Russia 200

24 Diagnosing the "Medical Intuitives" 207

25 Alien Abductions as Sleep-Related Phenomena 218

26 "Visitations": After-Death Contacts 228

27 The Sacred Cloth of Oviedo 241

28 A Typical Aries? 248

29 The Case of the Psychic Shamus: Do Psychics Really Help Solve Crimes? 252

30 The Pagan Store 258

31 Benny Hinn: Healer or Hypnotist? 261

32 Australia's Convict Ghosts 271

33 Psychic Pets and Pet Psychics 277

34 Cryptids "Down Under" 289

35 Joseph Smith: A Matter of Visions 296

36 In Search of Fisher's Ghost 304

37 Ghostly Portents in Moscow 311

38 Mystique of the Octagon Houses 315

39 Weeping Icons 324

40 Spiritualists Grave 331

41 Incredible Stories: Charles Fort and His Followers 335.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0813123186

OCLC:

53131199