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
Cover unavailableThe King Arthur Conspiracy
The King Arthur Conspiracy questions the familiar image of Arthur as an English king, arguing instead that the historical figure was Arthuir mac Aedain, a Scottish prince. Simon Andrew Stirling examines early British and Gaelic…
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Cover unavailableThe Leaping Hare
The Leaping Hare examines the wild hare through natural history, rural experience, folklore and mythology. George Ewart Evans and David Thomson distinguish between the mountain hare, Irish hare and common hare, while also discussing hunting,…
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Cover unavailableThe Legend of Loftus Hall
Chris Rush turns one of Ireland's most famous haunted-house legends into a supernatural tale centred on Loftus Hall in County Wexford. The book draws on the enduring story of the mysterious visitor, the Devil and…
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Cover unavailableThe Ley Hunter's Companion
The Ley Hunter's Companion examines proposed alignments between ancient monuments, churches, hills and other features of the British landscape. Paul Devereux and Ian Thomson consider the history of ley-line theories alongside interpretations connecting these routes…
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Cover unavailableThe Little Book of Ghosts
Paul Adams gathers reported ghost stories and traditions from a broad range of settings, including haunted houses and castles, churches, roads, woods and byways. The book also considers phantom animals, royal ghosts, poltergeists and objects…
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Cover unavailableThe Little Book of the Paranormal
Rupert Matthews surveys reported paranormal phenomena including UFOs, ghosts, Bigfoot and other claims that remain outside accepted scientific explanation. Rather than concentrating on one type of encounter, the book assembles a broad selection of subjects…
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Cover unavailableThe Little Book of Welsh Landmarks
The Little Book of Welsh Landmarks brings together around 300 Welsh sites, ranging from Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) and the Wales Coast Path to castles, cathedrals, bridges, beaches and prehistoric monuments. Mark Rees covers places celebrated…
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Cover unavailableThe Little History of Storytelling
The Little History of Storytelling traces how people have used stories to shape cultures, communities and shared understanding. Dawn Nelson begins with some of the oldest known cave paintings, found on Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi,…
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Cover unavailableThe Little History of Storytelling in Cornwall
The Little History of Storytelling in Cornwall traces the county’s storytelling traditions from bardic times to the present, asking how tales developed, who carried them and why they endured. Mike O’Connor considers the settings in…
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Cover unavailableThe Lore of Ireland: An Encyclopaedia of Myth, Legend and Romance
The Lore of Ireland brings together 350 alphabetical entries on Irish myth, legend, romance, folklore, religious lore, customs and traditional belief. Its subjects range from Abán, a 6th-century saint, to weather, with entries summarising relevant…
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Cover unavailableThe Lore of Scotland: A Guide to Scottish Legends
The Lore of Scotland gathers legends, beliefs, customs and traditional stories from across the country, arranged through its regions and local landscapes. Jennifer Westwood and Sophia Kingshill include tales of heroes, bloody feuds, giants, fairies,…
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Cover unavailableThe Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends
The Lore of the Land gathers England’s legends county by county, linking stories to villages, towns, churches, roads, hills, graves and historic buildings. Its subjects range from hauntings and highwaymen to family curses, buried treasure,…
View book details →Cover unavailableThe Lore of the Land: A Guide to England's Legends, from Spring-Heeled Jack to the Witches of Warboys
The Lore of the Land surveys England’s legends county by county, bringing together stories attached to villages, towns, landmarks and historic buildings. Its subjects include hauntings, highwaymen, family curses, lovers’ leaps, buried treasure and graves…
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Cover unavailableThe Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the Twentieth Century
The Lost Ark surveys animals discovered or rediscovered by zoologists during the 20th century, bringing together species from mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and invertebrates. Karl P. N. Shuker considers how creatures once unknown to modern…
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Cover unavailableThe Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years
The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years presents diary material from 1871–1881, recording the future author’s life in Dublin before his London years. The entries touch on work, family, social encounters and the…
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Cover unavailableThe Mabinogion
The Mabinogion brings together 11 medieval Welsh tales, including the Four Branches of the Mabinogi and stories shaped by Celtic mythology, Arthurian romance and legendary history. Kings, heroes and otherworldly beings share its pages with…
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Cover unavailableThe Magic Arts in Celtic Britain
Lewis Spence’s study examines magical beliefs and practices associated with Celtic Britain, beginning with the nature of Celtic magic and the disputed origins of Druidism. It considers spells, charms and magical books, alongside the role…
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Cover unavailableThe Magic of Coin-Trees: From Religion to Recreation
The Magic of Coin-Trees: From Religion to Recreation examines trees into which coins have been ritually embedded across the British Isles. Ceri Houlbrook traces the custom through written references from the 1700s, when coin-trees served…
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Cover unavailableThe Magic of Irish Nature
The Magic of Irish Nature examines the part played by landscape, wildlife and the natural world in Irish mythology and Celtic culture. Patrick O'Sullivan brings together familiar tales, including the Salmon of Knowledge and the…
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Cover unavailableThe Magpie's Nest
The Magpie’s Nest gathers bird folk tales, riddles and rhymes from a world where birds appear in everyday places, from busy train stations and city centres to quiet woods and back gardens. The collection asks…
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Cover unavailableThe Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends
The Mammoth Book of Celtic Myths and Legends gathers stories from Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Manx and Breton traditions. Peter Berresford Ellis includes tales of gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, magical weapons, fabulous beasts…
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Cover unavailableThe Man Who Talked to the Wind
The Man Who Talked to the Wind gathers Rathlin Island folk tales reworked from recordings made by local storyteller Tommy Cecil. Preserved in the Ulster Folk Museum’s Tommy Cecil Archive, these accounts also include stories…
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Cover unavailableThe Meaning of Witchcraft
The Meaning of Witchcraft presents Gerald Gardner’s account of witchcraft as a surviving religious tradition, drawing on his stated experiences as a practising witch. He discusses the witch cult in Britain, proposed Stone Age origins,…
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Cover unavailableThe Medieval Quest for Arthur
The Medieval Quest for Arthur examines how medieval communities treated Arthurian legend as a subject for investigation, debate and political use. Robert Rouse and Cory Rushton consider the places and objects linked with the king’s…
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Cover unavailableThe Midnight Hearse, and More Ghosts
The Midnight Hearse, and More Ghosts gathers reported apparitions, legends and supernatural traditions from Britain and the wider British Isles. Elliott O'Donnell includes phantom buses, trains and an aeroplane, alongside accounts of haunted churches and…
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Cover unavailableThe Mighty Goddess
The Mighty Goddess gathers 52 myths from around the world, retold with goddesses at the centre of stories shaped by desire, love, death, destruction, transformation and rebirth. The collection travels from Alaska and Mesopotamia to…
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Cover unavailableThe Moon-Eyed People
The Moon-Eyed People brings together true tales, tall tales and folk stories linking Wales with Appalachia. Peter Stevenson considers the experiences of Welsh migrants, the Native communities already living in the region, and enslaved people…
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Cover unavailableThe Most Haunted House in England
Harry Price’s account centres on Borley Rectory in Essex, a Victorian parsonage surrounded by reports of footsteps, moving objects, phantom coach sounds and a spectral nun. The book traces the building’s history and gathers testimony…
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Cover unavailableThe Mysteries of Britain: Secret Rites and Traditions of Ancient Britain
The Mysteries of Britain examines reported secret rites, religious ideas and occult traditions associated with ancient Britain. Lewis Spence considers the cult of the dead, Celtic philosophy and the bardic material linked with Welsh traditions,…
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Cover unavailableThe Mystery Animals of the Northern Isles
Glen Vaudrey examines reports of mystery animals associated with Scotland’s Northern Isles, placing cryptozoological claims alongside local folklore and questions about what may remain undiscovered. The book considers accounts of animals known only from limited…
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Cover unavailableThe Mystery Animals of the Western Isles
The Western Isles provide the setting for accounts of sea serpents, dragons, monsters, ghostly animals and other creatures preserved in local tradition or reported by witnesses. Glen Vaudrey considers what lies behind these stories, including…
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Cover unavailableThe Mystery of Jack of Kent and the Fate of Owain Glyndwr
Alex Gibbon examines the Welsh border traditions surrounding Jack of Kent and their possible connection with Owain Glyndwr, the leader of the Welsh revolt against Henry IV. Set around Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and the Welsh Marches,…
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Cover unavailableThe Nail in the Skull and Other Victorian Urban Legends
Simon Young examines 70 urban legends associated with 19th-century Britain and the wider English-speaking world, treating them as folklore rooted in a particular historical period. The collection includes stories of buried-alive victims, child pie, sewer…
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Cover unavailableThe New Zoo: New and Rediscovered Animals of the Twentieth Century
The New Zoo surveys animals discovered or rediscovered during the 20th century, bringing together recognised species and creatures whose status remains disputed. Karl P. N. Shuker covers mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, invertebrates and other groups,…
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Cover unavailableThe Occult
Colin Wilson’s The Occult surveys occult ideas through psychology, history and accounts of paranormal experience. Its opening section considers creativity, psychic sensitivity and the possibility that the subconscious mind can access forces normally beyond conscious…
View book details →The Old Cowes Ghost Trail
The Old Cowes Ghost Trail gathers reported ghost stories and haunting traditions associated with Old Cowes, on the Isle of Wight. Its tightly local focus places the book within the island’s wider tradition of collecting…
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Cover unavailableThe Original Ghosts of the Isle of Wight
The Original Ghosts of the Isle of Wight collects reported apparitions and haunting stories gathered by local writer Gay Baldwin. Presented as first-hand accounts, the book records the island’s supernatural lore through stories attached to…
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Cover unavailableThe Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic
The Oxford Illustrated History of Witchcraft and Magic traces changing ideas about magic and witchcraft from the ancient world to the 21st century. Edited by Owen Davies, it brings together chapters on ancient and medieval…
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Cover unavailableThe Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy
Ronald Hutton surveys religious beliefs and practices in the British Isles from the Old Stone Age to the coming of Christianity. The book considers what archaeology and historical evidence can reveal about ritual, belief and…
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Cover unavailableThe Paranormal Articles
This collection gathers Mike Covell’s writing on hauntings, ghost legends, unusual animals, UFO reports and darker episodes of history. It also examines how he chooses subjects and develops articles for newspapers, magazines and blogs. Together,…
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Cover unavailableThe Paranormal Encyclopaedia
The Paranormal Encyclopaedia gathers definitions and discussions of more than 200 subjects associated with paranormal belief and investigation. Steve Higgins covers ghosts, UFOs, cryptids, psychic phenomena and parapsychology, providing an accessible reference to the terms,…
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Cover unavailableThe Paranormal Files
Cases that resist easy classification are the focus of this volume in Mike Covell’s investigation series. Subjects include witchcraft, superstition, psychic claims and the Satanic Panic, alongside an episode in which the River Hull changed…
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Cover unavailableThe Paranormal Investigator
The Paranormal Investigator recounts Danny Moss’s 15 years working in the paranormal, from his beginnings in ghost hunting to investigations that helped shape his career. Moss discusses the realities behind the public image of paranormal…
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Cover unavailableThe Paranormal Press
Covell brings together newspaper accounts of alleged ghosts and hauntings in Hull between 1800 and 2018. The transcribed reports are accompanied by historical background, family research, maps and photographs. Cases range from early haunted-house reports…
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Cover unavailableThe Paranormal Source Book
The Paranormal Source Book surveys reported paranormal phenomena and cases across a broad range of subjects, from ghosts and poltergeists to UFOs, alien abductions and crop circles. Jenny Randles also covers ESP, precognition, dreams, out-of-body…
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Cover unavailableThe Pattern Under the Plough: Aspects of the Folk-Life of East Anglia
George Ewart Evans records the customs, working habits and local language of East Anglian farming communities before mechanisation transformed rural life. Drawing on conversations with older residents of Blaxhall, Suffolk, he organises the book around…
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Cover unavailableThe Penguin Book of Ghosts
The Penguin Book of Ghosts gathers reported hauntings and ghost lore from across England, arranged county by county and place by place. Its accounts include the malevolent apparition associated with 50 Berkeley Square, the tapping…
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Cover unavailableThe Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland
The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland gathers beliefs, customs and practices from across Britain and Ireland in a detailed alphabetical reference work. Steve Roud covers ideas about luck and misfortune alongside…
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