On Sunday 30 October 1938 many Americans reportedly panicked after listening to a realistic radio play depicting a Martian invasion in New Jersey. The play was based on H.G. Wells's science fiction classic The War of the Worlds, and was broadcast by Orson Welles. Why did the script get by CBS censors? How did Welles ingeniously 'snare' listeners to other programmes? Why did newspaper editors deliberately exaggerate the scare? This event is one of the most notoriou...

This book comprehensively surveys the colorful history of mass hysteria and kindred phenomena in schools, documenting outbreaks of demonic possession during witchcraft scares, to modern incidents of collapsing bands, itching frenzies, ghost panics and mystery illnesses.Strange behaviors and illnesses in students are examined through the centuries. Possessed children went into trance states and began to bark like dogs in 16th and 17th century Holland; an epidemic of twitching, tremb...

The definitive account of a Lake Champlain legend."The lake surface was glass. My girlfriend and I were fishing from our anchored rowboat in about fifteen feet of water, facing the New York shore. 'Ron, what's that?' I turned. About thirty feet away I saw three dark humps … protruding about two feet above the surface. The humps were perhaps two or three feet apart. They didn't move. We didn't either. We watched in disbelief for about ten seconds. The humps slowly s...

This book provides an accessible overview of one particular type of social panic: that of the phantom attacker. Such panics are characterised by outbreaks of sensational claims of attacks by mysterious figures that seem to emerge from nowhere, attack their innocent human and animal victims, only to vanish without a trace. Taking the recent wave of needle-spiking reports in Europe as a starting point, this book does more than just catalogue such outbreaks historically and geographically. It...

It is one of the most extraordinary cases in the history of science: the mating calls of insects were mistaken for a “sonic weapon” that led to a major diplomatic row. Since August 2017, the world media has been absorbed in the “attack” on diplomats from the American and Canadian Embassies in Cuba. While physicians treating victims have described it as a novel and perplexing condition that involves an array of complaints including brain damage, the authors present compelling evidence that ...

This work provides an accurate, in-depth examination and scientific evaluation of the most famous hauntings in American history as depicted in popular films and television programs.Neither a debunking book nor one written for the "true believer" in the paranormal, American Hauntings objectively scrutinizes the historic evidence behind such hugely popular films as The Exorcist, The Amityville Horror, An American Haunting, The ...

A scientific detective story and a case study in the social construction of mass psychogenic illness.The authors provide dozens of examples of kindred episodes of mass hysteria throughout history, in addition to psychosomatic conditions and even the role of insects in triggering outbreaks.It is one of the most extraordinary cases in the history of science: the mating calls of insects were mistaken for a “sonic weapon” that led to a major diplomatic row. Sin...

The ultimate guide to the history, background and meaning of whether UFOs really exist, plus associated phenomena such as alien abduction, crop circles and cattle mutilations. There is also a comprehensive overview of the many conspiracy theories which surround UFOs and abductions - from the craft as secret Nazi technology to weird CIA plots. Written by a ufologist with many years in the field, this exciting and highly provocative book at times reads like a thriller. What messages do UFOs ...

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of Bellevue tells you what you need to know—before or after you read David Oshinsky's book.Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.This short summary and analysis of Bellevue includes:Historical contextChapter-by-chapter overviewsCharacter profilesDetail...

It was the drugs that made him murder. He liked to experiment with fatal dosages to see how much they could take. Fascinated with death, he had watched his mother die when he was a child. Killing his elderly lady patients sustained his endless evil urges and nourished his insatiable impulse to recreate his mother’s death...Read about the shocking medical murders of Dr Harold Shipman, along with the horrific killings of Dr Thomas Neill Cream and Dr John Bodkin Adams in this 3 in 1 T...

In 1981, I was a reporter for the New York Daily News, when I investigated three haunted houses. The most compelling case came from Dr. Karlis Osis, a well-known researcher who frequently takes on assignments from the CIA and other top-secret organizations. Osis would later help me in an article about out-of-body research, of which he is considered the world authority. Although I was skeptical of the first two cases I investigated, I found the case of Jean and Patti to be difficult to disb...

The definitive exploration of the unknown and paranormal. BORDERLANDS contains hundreds of personal accounts of strange phenomena ranging from surviving mammoths in Siberia to intelligent clouds over New Zealand, from frozen frogs to plagues of murderous manhole covers. It also examines how and why these stories are reported and what they mean. The book sets out the scientific and psychological explanations for these phenomena, while remaining accessible to the casual reader. BORDERLANDS i...