Ghost, paranormal and folklore books
Books about ghosts, folklore, witchcraft, paranormal research, dark history and the unexplained across Britain and Ireland.
1,217 books found
Aliens: The Real Story
Aliens: The Real Story examines reports of extraterrestrial beings, alleged contact experiences and accounts of abduction. Jenny Randles considers what such reports may indicate about life beyond Earth, while placing them within the wider history…
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Cover unavailableAll the Fear of the Fair: Uncanny Tales of Circus and Sideshow
All the Fear of the Fair gathers 16 uncanny stories set among circuses, fairgrounds, sideshows and other spaces of theatrical danger. The collection brings together tales of conjurers, puppeteers, beast tamers, waxworks, dummies, Ferris wheels…
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Alone at the Inn
Alone at the Inn recounts Steve Higgins’s solo, overnight investigation of the Ancient Ram Inn in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire, a building associated with longstanding reports of paranormal activity. The account follows the night’s vigils, observations and…
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Cover unavailableAn Abundance of Witches
An Abundance of Witches examines the great Scottish witch-hunt, concentrating on the intense outbreak of persecution between 1658 and 1662. P. G. Maxwell-Stuart places these events within a Scotland shaped by political upheaval, religious conviction…
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Cover unavailableAn Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology
An Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology introduces the gods, goddesses and mythic traditions associated with the Celtic world. Bob Curran considers the cultural and religious origins of these stories, presenting mythology alongside the folklore that developed…
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Cover unavailableAn Irish Folklore Treasury
An Irish Folklore Treasury brings together stories and memories drawn from the Schools’ Collection, gathered by Irish schoolchildren during the 1930s. Their accounts preserve local traditions alongside recollections of how families worked, played, worshipped and…
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Cover unavailableAn Unnatural History of Britain
An Unnatural History of Britain follows nature writer Kevin Parr across the country in search of non-native species that have established themselves in the British Isles. Its subjects include yellow-tailed scorpions, Aesculapian snakes, eagle owls,…
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Cover unavailableAncient Legends Retold: A Little Book of Robin Hood
Ancient Legends Retold: A Little Book of Robin Hood gathers five early tales and one play associated with England’s most enduring outlaw. The collection includes ‘Robin Hood and the Monk’, preserved in a manuscript dating…
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Cover unavailableAncient Legends Retold: The Legend of Pryderi
Fiona Collins retells the life of Pryderi, the only character to appear throughout all Four Branches of the Mabinogion. The Welsh legend follows him from childhood through kingship, conflict and loss, while connecting his story…
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Cover unavailableAncient Legends Retold: The Legend of Vortigern
Simon Heywood retells the legend of Vortigern, the British ruler whose story belongs to the troubled generations before Arthur. Speaking in his own voice, Vortigern looks back on a life shaped by ambition, warfare and…
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Cover unavailableAncient Legends Retold: The Seat Perilous
At the centre of these Arthurian retellings stands the Seat Perilous, the vacant chair at King Arthur’s Round Table. Reserved for the knight worthy of attaining the Grail and restoring the land, it destroys anyone…
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Cover unavailableAncient Legends, Mystic Charms and Superstitions of Ireland
Lady Wilde gathers Irish legends and traditional beliefs concerning fairies, banshees, changelings, witches, the dead and the power attributed to words. Stories include fairy music and dances, the evil eye, the Phouka, the leprechaun, the…
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Cover unavailableAncient Mysteries of Britain
Ancient Mysteries of Britain examines the sites, remains and traditions that have given Britain’s landscape its enduring air of enigma. Janet and Colin Bord discuss stone circles, standing stones, burial chambers, hillforts, earthworks, prehistoric dwellings…
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Cover unavailableAngus Folk Tales
Angus Folk Tales gathers legends from across the county, from Dundee and the Sidlaw Hills to Strathmore, the Angus glens and the coast. Erin Farley brings together stories of Caterans, Jacobite escapes, pirates, kelpies, broonies,…
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Cover unavailableAnimal Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland
Sharon Jacksties gathers 67 traditional tales from Britain and Ireland, bringing domesticated, wild and legendary animals into the foreground. The collection includes stories explaining how the hedgehog gained its spines, how pigs saved a prince…
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Cover unavailableAnimals of Ireland in Myth and Legend
Animals of Ireland in Myth and Legend gathers Irish legends in which animals carry symbolic, narrative or other traditional significance. Dáithí Ó hÓgáin presents the subject as part of Ireland’s storytelling heritage, focusing on the…
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Cover unavailableAnimals, Beasties and Monsters of Scotland
Animals, Beasties and Monsters of Scotland gathers seventeen Scottish folk tales featuring creatures both familiar and fantastical. Kelpies, the greedy trows of Orkney, the Shetland wulver and the Blue Men of the Minch appear alongside…
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Cover unavailableAnnie Chapman – Wife, Mother, Victim: The Life and Death of a Victim of Jack the Ripper
Mike Covell reconstructs Annie Chapman’s life through family history, contemporary accounts and historical records. The book follows her experiences as a wife and mother before examining her death and her place in the Whitechapel murder…
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Cover unavailableAnnisons
Annisons in Hull has served as a funeral parlour, police horse stable and photography business, on a site associated with the old North Blockhouse. Covell draws on more than a decade of research to investigate…
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Cover unavailableAntrim Folk Tales
Antrim Folk Tales gathers stories associated with County Antrim, from Irish mythological figures to local characters and supernatural traditions. Conal Cearnach is linked with Dunseverick Castle, while Deirdre of the Sorrows is remembered through Carraig…
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Cover unavailableApparitions and Ghosts: A Modern Study
Andrew MacKenzie examines reported apparitions and ghosts through the methods and questions of modern psychical research. The subject is treated as a body of testimony requiring assessment, rather than as proof of supernatural survival, with…
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Cover unavailableArgyll Folk Tales
Argyll Folk Tales brings together stories from the mainland and islands of Argyll, including Mull, Iona and Islay. Bob Pegg’s selection ranges from accounts involving wolves, wizards, revenants, selkies and mermaids to tales of fairies,…
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Cover unavailableArmagh Folk Tales
Armagh Folk Tales brings together legends, local reminiscences and traditional stories from County Armagh, moving between heroic mythology, religious lore and more recent community storytelling. Among its subjects are Conor Mac Nessa, Deirdre of the…
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Cover unavailableAround Haunted Manchester
Around Haunted Manchester gathers source material on reported hauntings, legends and myths associated with locations within Manchester’s borders. Peter Portland includes accounts of the celebrated Hannah Beswick and the Grey Lady of Birchen Bower, placing…
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Cover unavailableArthur Conan Doyle
Arthur Conan Doyle examines the tension between the creator of Sherlock Holmes and the author’s later convictions about spiritualism and fairies. Dr Andrew Norman considers how a writer associated with logic and deduction came to…
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Cover unavailableArthurian Myths and Alchemy: The Kingship of Edward IV
Jonathan Hughes examines how Edward IV’s kingship was shaped by Arthurian legend, alchemy and competing visions of royal authority. The book presents Edward as a ruler whose image could be connected with Arthur, the healing…
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Cover unavailableAt the Bottom of the Garden: A Dark History of Fairies, Hobgoblins and Other Troublesome Things
Diane Purkiss traces the darker history of fairies and related beings from ancient and medieval traditions to modern claims. The book considers how stories of goblins, hobgoblins and other troublesome figures expressed fears surrounding birth,…
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Cover unavailableAtlas of Magical Britain
Atlas of Magical Britain maps the places, legends and customs that give Britain its enduring air of enchantment. Across 16 regional maps, Janet and Colin Bord locate prehistoric camps, ghostly ruins, sites linked with Arthurian…
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Cover unavailableAtlas of Paranormal Places
Atlas of Paranormal Places surveys more than 50 locations linked to ghost stories, witchcraft, sacred traditions, unexplained events and cryptid lore. Its worldwide selection ranges from the Chase Vault in Barbados and Charleville Castle in…
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Cover unavailableBallad Tales
Ballad Tales gathers 19 prose retellings of traditional British ballads, turning narrative songs into compact folk tales. The source material ranges from Tam Lin and Thomas the Rhymer to Barbara Allen, The Grey Selkie of…
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Cover unavailableBanshees, Beasts and Brides from the Sea: Irish Tales of the Supernatural
Banshees, Beasts and Brides from the Sea gathers Irish tales centred on supernatural traditions, legendary creatures and uncanny encounters. Its subjects include the death-warning banshee, mysterious beasts and brides connected with the sea, bringing together…
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Cover unavailableBeasts, Banshees and Bogeymen
Beasts, Banshees and Bogeymen gathers Tom Slemen’s accounts of reported supernatural encounters, folklore and sinister local legends from Liverpool and its surroundings. The stories range from named apparitions and uncanny beings to tales rooted in…
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Cover unavailableBecoming Peggy: My Paranormal Journey
Becoming Peggy: My Paranormal Journey is an autobiographical account of the experiences, interests and discoveries that shaped Penny Griffiths-Morgan’s work in paranormal investigation. Rather than presenting a sequence of haunted locations, it focuses on the…
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Cover unavailableBedfordshire Folk Tales
Bedfordshire Folk Tales gathers stories rooted in the county’s history, landscapes and storytelling traditions. Its settings include dark forests, ruined castles and the green pastureland of Bedfordshire, where history and legend meet. The collection brings…
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Cover unavailableBeer and Spirits: A Guide to Haunted Pubs in the Black Country and Surrounding Area
David Taylor and Andrew Homer explore the haunted pubs of the Black Country and neighbouring areas. Their guide combines the histories of licensed premises with stories of ghostly customers, mysterious sounds and other reported experiences.…
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Cover unavailableBegotten: A Gothic Novel
After her father’s death, Alice Crofton returns to the family house to help settle his estate. Her sister Elsie, a troubled inheritance and the influence of spiritualist mediums draw her into a world of secrecy…
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Cover unavailableBehold! Shocking True Tales of Terror... and Some Other Spooky Stuff!
Rick Hale recounts the experiences that drew him into paranormal investigation, beginning with a childhood encounter at his grandmother's home. His memoir follows investigations of troubled households, reports of dark entities, visits to the Stanley…
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Cover unavailableBerkshire Folk Tales
Berkshire Folk Tales gathers stories from across the county, bringing together legends, local traditions and accounts of remarkable characters. Alongside Herne the Hunter, Wayland the Smith and the stories surrounding the Uffington White Horse are…
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Cover unavailableBeyond North Edinburgh Nightmares
John S Tantalon returns to Edinburgh’s haunted streets in this follow-up to North Edinburgh Nightmares. The collection widens the map to include Leith, Portobello, South Queensferry and other parts of the city, gathering more local…
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Cover unavailableBeyond the Body: An Investigation of Out-of-the-Body Experiences
Beyond the Body examines reported out-of-the-body experiences through psychological investigation and psychical research. Susan Blackmore considers accounts in which people seem to perceive the world from outside their physical bodies, alongside claims about astral projection…
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Cover unavailableBeyond the Occult
Beyond the Occult is Colin Wilson’s concluding study of the occult trilogy, bringing together reported evidence for paranormal abilities and expanded states of consciousness. Its opening sections consider mediums and mystics, the unconscious mind, altered…
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Cover unavailableBeyond the Witch Trials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe
This edited collection examines how witchcraft and magic persisted in European society during the Enlightenment, when intellectual and legal attitudes were changing. Its essays consider beliefs and responses among both educated authorities and ordinary communities,…
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Cover unavailableBeyond Top Secret
Beyond Top Secret examines reported UFO incidents alongside questions of military secrecy, intelligence work and national security. Timothy Good brings together accounts from Britain, the former Soviet Union, Argentina, Spain, China, Cuba and the United…
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Cover unavailableBlack Country Ghosts and Hauntings
Black Country Ghosts and Hauntings catalogues more than 150 reported haunted locations across the Black Country and surrounding parts of the West Midlands. Andrew Homer covers a broad range of sites, including houses, castles, pubs,…
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Cover unavailableBlack Dog Folklore
Black Dog Folklore examines the recurring figure of the spectral black dog in British tradition, treating reported encounters alongside the beliefs attached to them. Mark Norman considers Westcountry dog legends, protective animals, Black Shuck and…
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Cover unavailableBlood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain
Blood and Mistletoe examines how the Druids of Britain have been described, reconstructed and reinvented across roughly 2,000 years. Because little reliable evidence survives from antiquity, Ronald Hutton follows the changing meanings attached to these…
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Cover unavailableBloody British History: Buckinghamshire
Eddie Brazil digs into the darker side of Buckinghamshire’s past in this fast-moving local history of violence, disaster, rebellion and scandal. The book moves from Romans and Saxons through plague, religious persecution and the Civil…
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Cover unavailableBloody Irish: Great Irish Vampire Stories
Bloody Irish: Great Irish Vampire Stories examines vampire lore through Irish and wider Celtic traditions. Bob Curran discusses ancient beliefs about death, the importance attached to blood, and the ways older ideas were absorbed and…
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