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The Haunting of Twentieth-Century America
In this sequel to The Haunting of America , national bestselling authors Joel Martin and William J. Birnes bring up to the present the story of how paranormal events influenced and sometimes even drove political events. In unearthing the roots of America’s fascination with the ghosts, goblins, and demons that possess our imaginations and nightmares, Martin and Birnes show how the paranormal has driven America’s political, public, and militarypolicies. The authors examine the social history of the United States through the lens of the paranormal and investigate the spiritual events that inspired momentous national UFOs that frightened the nation’s military into launching nuclear bomber squadrons toward the Soviet Union, out-of-body experiences used to gather sensitive intelligence on other countries, and even spirits summoned to communicate with living politicians. The Haunting of Twentieth-Century America is a thrilling evidencebased exploration of the often unexpected influences of the paranormal on science, medicine, law, the government, the military, psychology, theology, death and dying, spirituality, and pop culture.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published September 13, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 12, 2025
What kind of Weekly World News Batboy Bullshit is this?
First, the title has three things wrong with it. A lot of the accounts in this book either do not take place in the twentieth century, do not take place in the United States, or do not involve haunting. Instead this book is a really loose collection of historical, semi-historical, and unsubstantiated nonsense claims, all broadly presented as fact. It's not concerned with hauntings or ghosts specifically, but rather a broad sweep of alleged paranormal events, as though the authors watched 'The X-Files' and didn't understand that it was fiction.
In cases when the writers choose not to present things as straight fact, they instead make appeals to vague authority, as in this quote: "How many vampires stealthily prowl the French Quarter or other neighborhoods of New Orleans is anybody's guess. But if occult experts are to be believed then real vampires--those who crave human blood--stalk the Vieux Carre."
Or, they rely on rhetorical questions, like: "Did the devil grab Hitler or did Hitler reach out for the devil?...What about the miscreants, misfits, and thugs who surrounded the warped dictator? Did they delve into the occult and the paranormal? Might they also have been creations of some demonic force? Or were they acting out the darkest, most negative parts of their psyches? Is the relationship with Satan a psychiatric disease, a conscious or willful decision, or have some people allowed themselves to become portals for evil or negative entities?"
Ahh!!! I don't know! What's with all these questions?!
In the first few chapters I was told that Adolf Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, Joseph Smith, and Mark Twain all had psychic powers, Nazis invented time travel, and Voodoo practitioners caused Hurricane Katrina (maybe they washed away all the vampires). The frustrating thing is that there is some genuinely interesting history here, and I've enjoyed those sections, but then it dives into things that are ridiculous and easily debunked. If the book was presented as "Here are some interesting claims and anecdotes," or simply presented as a work of fiction, I'd probably enjoy it. Or if it had the ironic tongue-in-cheek style of the aforementioned Weekly World News, that would be fine. But instead it's all presented as fact, with Acknowledgments stating: "The authors also dedicate this book to the many generations of men and women whose courage and persistence, often in the face of unrelenting criticism and opposition, tell the true story of America's paranormal past." There's not a hint of skepticism anywhere. If someone somewhere has made a claim, then the claim must be true. Oof. The About the Authors section notes that Joel Martin "exposed the Amityville Horror as a hoax", which is good because hoaxes need to be exposed, but did it not occur to him that many other alleged paranormal phenomena are also hoaxes? It doesn't seem like it.
The section on Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud (not Americans) was interesting, because for the most part it was straightforward history. The same applies to the section on the Reagan administration consulting an astrologer for important events (a fact that would probably make my conservative Christian parents uncomfortable). There will be these interesting and informative sections, and then it comes to a fear-mongering and irresponsible bit like this: "However, is it plausible that the frightening voices schizophrenics hear are not hallucinatory or imaginary, but perhaps lower-level demonic entities?" Yeah, buddy. Brings to mind an video from The Onion I saw once, titled "Is the Government Spying on Paranoid Schizophrenics Enough?" Maybe people with mental health problems aren't demonized enough, better claim that they're literally demon-possessed just to make sure they don't have it too easy.
Oof.
The overarching issue is lack of clarity on what this book's purpose or claim is meant to be. If it's meant to give a cursory look at the lives of various historical figures who were interested in ESP, then the title should reflect that and the book should focus on that. If the purpose is to report on allege ghost phenomena, then the title should reflect that and the book should focus on that. The messy mishmash that the book actually is just doesn't make sense to me.
In conclusion, I remain skeptical about most of the things discussed in this book. Ghosts, reincarnation, ESP, I'm unconvinced. There are so many hoaxes and so many misunderstandings. Vampires and time travel, forget about it. Astrology, well, if looking for patterns in the stars helps somebody have a better understanding of their own life, then I have no problem with that, even if I think the idea that a constellation's correspondence to someone's birthday will literally impact their life is silly.
Maybe a better book about hauntings in America is out there somewhere. Probably.
First, the title has three things wrong with it. A lot of the accounts in this book either do not take place in the twentieth century, do not take place in the United States, or do not involve haunting. Instead this book is a really loose collection of historical, semi-historical, and unsubstantiated nonsense claims, all broadly presented as fact. It's not concerned with hauntings or ghosts specifically, but rather a broad sweep of alleged paranormal events, as though the authors watched 'The X-Files' and didn't understand that it was fiction.
In cases when the writers choose not to present things as straight fact, they instead make appeals to vague authority, as in this quote: "How many vampires stealthily prowl the French Quarter or other neighborhoods of New Orleans is anybody's guess. But if occult experts are to be believed then real vampires--those who crave human blood--stalk the Vieux Carre."
Or, they rely on rhetorical questions, like: "Did the devil grab Hitler or did Hitler reach out for the devil?...What about the miscreants, misfits, and thugs who surrounded the warped dictator? Did they delve into the occult and the paranormal? Might they also have been creations of some demonic force? Or were they acting out the darkest, most negative parts of their psyches? Is the relationship with Satan a psychiatric disease, a conscious or willful decision, or have some people allowed themselves to become portals for evil or negative entities?"
Ahh!!! I don't know! What's with all these questions?!
In the first few chapters I was told that Adolf Hitler, Abraham Lincoln, Joseph Smith, and Mark Twain all had psychic powers, Nazis invented time travel, and Voodoo practitioners caused Hurricane Katrina (maybe they washed away all the vampires). The frustrating thing is that there is some genuinely interesting history here, and I've enjoyed those sections, but then it dives into things that are ridiculous and easily debunked. If the book was presented as "Here are some interesting claims and anecdotes," or simply presented as a work of fiction, I'd probably enjoy it. Or if it had the ironic tongue-in-cheek style of the aforementioned Weekly World News, that would be fine. But instead it's all presented as fact, with Acknowledgments stating: "The authors also dedicate this book to the many generations of men and women whose courage and persistence, often in the face of unrelenting criticism and opposition, tell the true story of America's paranormal past." There's not a hint of skepticism anywhere. If someone somewhere has made a claim, then the claim must be true. Oof. The About the Authors section notes that Joel Martin "exposed the Amityville Horror as a hoax", which is good because hoaxes need to be exposed, but did it not occur to him that many other alleged paranormal phenomena are also hoaxes? It doesn't seem like it.
The section on Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud (not Americans) was interesting, because for the most part it was straightforward history. The same applies to the section on the Reagan administration consulting an astrologer for important events (a fact that would probably make my conservative Christian parents uncomfortable). There will be these interesting and informative sections, and then it comes to a fear-mongering and irresponsible bit like this: "However, is it plausible that the frightening voices schizophrenics hear are not hallucinatory or imaginary, but perhaps lower-level demonic entities?" Yeah, buddy. Brings to mind an video from The Onion I saw once, titled "Is the Government Spying on Paranoid Schizophrenics Enough?" Maybe people with mental health problems aren't demonized enough, better claim that they're literally demon-possessed just to make sure they don't have it too easy.
Oof.
The overarching issue is lack of clarity on what this book's purpose or claim is meant to be. If it's meant to give a cursory look at the lives of various historical figures who were interested in ESP, then the title should reflect that and the book should focus on that. If the purpose is to report on allege ghost phenomena, then the title should reflect that and the book should focus on that. The messy mishmash that the book actually is just doesn't make sense to me.
In conclusion, I remain skeptical about most of the things discussed in this book. Ghosts, reincarnation, ESP, I'm unconvinced. There are so many hoaxes and so many misunderstandings. Vampires and time travel, forget about it. Astrology, well, if looking for patterns in the stars helps somebody have a better understanding of their own life, then I have no problem with that, even if I think the idea that a constellation's correspondence to someone's birthday will literally impact their life is silly.
Maybe a better book about hauntings in America is out there somewhere. Probably.
May 15, 2014
What a terrible book. I'm not sure I really have the energy to compose an entire review, but after 205 pages I just couldn't take any more. I didn't really know anything about the book or the authors when I started; the cover and title just caught my eye at the library and it made its way into my checkout stack.
Unfortunately, the cover and title have very little to do with the actual subject matter of the book. It meanders from UFOs, to government conspiracy theories, to Freudian psychoanalysis and Jungian dream theory, to faith healing, psychics, and every once in awhile it stumbles upon a historic haunting. Unfortunately, considering the amount of time the authors spent talking about Abraham Lincoln and Colonial slave revolts, I am not sure the authors even know when the eponymous twentieth century took place. The long, monotonous chapter on Nazi Germany also makes me wonder about their grasp of geography.
I would not have expected this to be a serious, academic read. However, I would have assumed that it would have some interesting anecdotes, spooky stories about odd places and occurrences, profiles of some of the many colorful characters that have played a part in American history. They seemed to be on the right track with the bit on Marie Laveau, but for the most part, the narrative of this book is one unsupported theory upon another, written in circuitous, boring and grammatically horrid prose. It is easy to spend twenty minutes on the same page trying to decipher what point is being made, only to come out frustrated and still clueless. Don't waste your time.
Unfortunately, the cover and title have very little to do with the actual subject matter of the book. It meanders from UFOs, to government conspiracy theories, to Freudian psychoanalysis and Jungian dream theory, to faith healing, psychics, and every once in awhile it stumbles upon a historic haunting. Unfortunately, considering the amount of time the authors spent talking about Abraham Lincoln and Colonial slave revolts, I am not sure the authors even know when the eponymous twentieth century took place. The long, monotonous chapter on Nazi Germany also makes me wonder about their grasp of geography.
I would not have expected this to be a serious, academic read. However, I would have assumed that it would have some interesting anecdotes, spooky stories about odd places and occurrences, profiles of some of the many colorful characters that have played a part in American history. They seemed to be on the right track with the bit on Marie Laveau, but for the most part, the narrative of this book is one unsupported theory upon another, written in circuitous, boring and grammatically horrid prose. It is easy to spend twenty minutes on the same page trying to decipher what point is being made, only to come out frustrated and still clueless. Don't waste your time.
January 17, 2016
This book has a genuinely interesting premise, but is unfortunately dragged down by awkward writing and the lack of a clear focus. Contrary to the title, it is about all sorts of weird things that have happened throughout human history, some of which tied into additional weird things that happened in 20th century America. It is both too dense and too dry to be a work of popular history, but the scholarship is too poor for it to be a serious academic treatise-- not because of the subject matter (people can and do write intelligently about the paranormal all the time), but because the authors draw from lots of questionable sources and make no attempt at objectivity. There are no alleged psychics or people who claim to be telepaths, only "proven psychics" and "powerful telepaths." Why not let the readers draw their own conclusions about these claims? There were lots of interesting tidbits of information in this book, and several enjoyable chapters. However, I wasn't able to take it seriously because of the questionable scholarship, and it simply wasn't engaging enough for me to suspend disbelief.
April 2, 2012
This wasn't quite what I had expected it to be, that's all I'm going to say.
December 18, 2019
The Haunting of Twentieth-Century America is normally the type of book I hungrily eat up. Chock full of stories and history of my country, from ghosts and spirits to psychics and past lives, the novel makes a valid attempt to cover a vast amount of subjects within its pages and somewhat succeeds.
You can read Steve's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
You can read Steve's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.
June 11, 2020
It was interesting but the authors struggle to stay on topic or even figure out what their topic is. It also needed a much better editor. There were so many repetitive parts that could have been cut out. I don't need to be told the same story 5 different times. And the first third of the book was pre-20th century so the title is misleading. I'm also not a fan of authors constantly saying "in our previous book" or "in our next book." They at least seemed to do their research for the book.
June 7, 2017
It was okay, kinda boring though.
September 6, 2011
While I haven't read the predecessor to this book, I still obtained a lot of interesting information and greatly enjoyed my read. The copy I had was an uncorrected proof, so there were still a few editing errors. However, this book contained well-researched ideas and presented interesting claims for the reader to ponder. From exploring the Nazis and their ties to the occult, to psychic dreams, and even to the use of astrologists by former U.S. Presidents, this book opens the readers' minds to the idea that paranormal events occur in many aspects of life.
As a college student working on my undergraduate degree, I actually had the chance to take Parapsychology, and so was familiar with some of the stories presented in this book. However, the Parapsychology of modern times does not match its early roots as described in this book. No longer is Parapsychology setting out to prove paranormal events, but rather is used to dispute claims ranging from spirits to religion. Personally, I find this to be slightly sad, and wish that Parapsychology would go back to its roots.
Though skeptical of some things, I still believe that there are paranormal events that happen every day that cannot be explained away with science or reasoning. This book helps solidify my belief. Though dry in some parts, it is overall a very good read and I recommend it to believers and skeptics alike.
As a college student working on my undergraduate degree, I actually had the chance to take Parapsychology, and so was familiar with some of the stories presented in this book. However, the Parapsychology of modern times does not match its early roots as described in this book. No longer is Parapsychology setting out to prove paranormal events, but rather is used to dispute claims ranging from spirits to religion. Personally, I find this to be slightly sad, and wish that Parapsychology would go back to its roots.
Though skeptical of some things, I still believe that there are paranormal events that happen every day that cannot be explained away with science or reasoning. This book helps solidify my belief. Though dry in some parts, it is overall a very good read and I recommend it to believers and skeptics alike.
October 9, 2011
This book is so laughably terrible, I can't put it down. The authors's credulity is unmatched.
I somehow finished this book this morning. It didn't get any better for me. I blame myself for not doing more or better research before I bought it. The title is wildly misleading. I was hoping to read about some new (to me) ghost stories in America, and - with the exception of one chapter - what I got was a vague rambling catalog of every trendy paranormal hot topic throughout history and the world (I.e. NOT 20th century America). Atlantis, Astrology, Reincarnation, Mediums, precognitive Dreams, you name it, it's all here.
Amusing are the 40+ pages of notes, as if to make this seem a scholarly work. Some notes, reference the authors's OWN prior books, some reference conversations, or other blithely credulous works. Save your time and don't read this one. Or read it, THEN read Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World and see which one makes more sense.
I somehow finished this book this morning. It didn't get any better for me. I blame myself for not doing more or better research before I bought it. The title is wildly misleading. I was hoping to read about some new (to me) ghost stories in America, and - with the exception of one chapter - what I got was a vague rambling catalog of every trendy paranormal hot topic throughout history and the world (I.e. NOT 20th century America). Atlantis, Astrology, Reincarnation, Mediums, precognitive Dreams, you name it, it's all here.
Amusing are the 40+ pages of notes, as if to make this seem a scholarly work. Some notes, reference the authors's OWN prior books, some reference conversations, or other blithely credulous works. Save your time and don't read this one. Or read it, THEN read Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World and see which one makes more sense.
March 10, 2016
This was interesting. I saw it in the library and I wanted to know more about it. I enjoy learning about the paranormal and I love history, so this seemed like a great mix.
I really enjoyed the chapters on ghosts and psychics. Those were just utterly fascinating, first of all, to read about all the presidents and their wives who allegedly still haunt the White House. I've heard the stories before, but to have the incidents laid out in front of me? Pretty cool.
Yes, there are some chapters that really slog. The first chapter, about Nazis, was a mess. It took me forever to get through. And the last one, about Eastern religions and their effect on the 1960s was really slow as well. But most everything else in between was interesting.
I really enjoyed the chapters on ghosts and psychics. Those were just utterly fascinating, first of all, to read about all the presidents and their wives who allegedly still haunt the White House. I've heard the stories before, but to have the incidents laid out in front of me? Pretty cool.
Yes, there are some chapters that really slog. The first chapter, about Nazis, was a mess. It took me forever to get through. And the last one, about Eastern religions and their effect on the 1960s was really slow as well. But most everything else in between was interesting.
May 31, 2014
Loved the first one...this one takes itself a little too seriously! The litmus test of a great book for me: Will I read other things while reading this one? I'll finish this one, but only after I finish Galore!
August 31, 2011
Well researched, but problematic. My full review is at HorrorTalk.com.
September 10, 2011
Interesting information, but this really reads like a text book. Long and not always interesting.
October 19, 2012
A pretty comprehensive overview of the paranormal, including sections on Jung, Einstein, Cayce, and the Nazis!
Very entertaining read lots of info.
Very entertaining read lots of info.
Read
February 26, 2016Meh. Heavy on the "if only society would accept the paranormal without proof then we'd get proof... alas!" I much preferred the first volume.
May 4, 2012
I was hoping for more ghost stories and less science...
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews