Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters

by H. Addington Bruce

Excerpt from Historic Ghosts and Ghost Hunters
The following pages represent in the main a discussion of certain celebrated mysteries, as viewed in the light of the discoveries set forth in the writer's earlier work "The Riddle of Personality."
That dealt, it may briefly be recalled, with the achievements of those scientists whose special endeavor it is to illumine the nature of human personality. On the one hand, it reviewed the work of the psychopathologists, or investigators of abnormal mental life; and, on the other hand, the labors of the psychical researchers, those enthusiastic and patient explorers of the seemingly supernormal in human experience. Emphasis was laid on the fact that the two lines of inquiry are more closely interrelated than is commonly supposed, and that the discoveries made in each aid in the solution of problems apparently belonging exclusively in the other.
To this phase of the subject the writer now returns.

Genres: Nonfiction

72 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1909

About the author

Henry Addington Bayley Bruce (1874–1959) was an American journalist and author, born in Toronto, Canada, and educated at Upper Canada College and Trinity College, Toronto. He was for a time on the Toronto Week, then came to the United States, was employed by the American Press Association between 1897 and 1903, and afterward contributed to many periodicals, notably The Outlook. In 1916 he resigned as staff contributor to The Outlook. In 1915 he became psychological adviser to the Associated Newspapers. Addington Bruce also wrote books. His most successful work was in American history and in popularizing modern psychology and psychical research.
(wikipedia)

Reviews

[Scull17 · Rating 3 out of 5]

In which the ghosts are cancelled.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

when a man thinks he sees a ghost, it's because of telepathy, which is real, or because someone (a woman) is vexatiously pretending to be a ghost. when a woman thinks she sees a ghost, it is because she is a hysteric, neurotic, has multiple personality disorder, or is pretending to be the ghost herself. got it!

interesting slice of history and wild to see the 1870s casually referenced as the 70s in 1908.

[Audiobook Heaven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, I listened to the audiobook version on YouTube. I will leave the link below so that everyone can enjoy it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUPZu...

[Marley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't know where I got this book, but it's the original 1908 edition. that's been sitting around for years. The author, Henry Addington Bruce, was a journalist and early populizer of psychology--and in the case of this book, a ghost skeptic.

The book consists of true ghost stories mainly from the 17-19th centuries followed by Bruce's
analysis of them; that is, what was really going and ends with two chapters on ghost hunters Dr. Dee and late 19th-early 20th century scientific and academic researchers into psychic phenomena. Bruce debunks several well-known hauntings such as "the devils of Loudon" and the visitations to Samuel Wesley (father of John and Charles) and others as being caused by ill-behaved children and teenagers in the family (girls seem prone to those things), mental illness (what today would be called multiple personality disorder or something along those lines), the subliminal self/second personality, and telepathy, the ladder which he promotes and I think pushes a bit too hard. Without knowing more details in cases such as Frederica Haugge (The Seeress of Prevorst) and Lurancy Vennum too much was going on to dismiss them into those categories. BTW, I am sure the Lurancy Vennum case was dramatized in the old TV series One Step Beyond. I can't remember what I did yesterday, but I can remember old TV shows. One case I found really interesting, which was no doubt fraudulent was that is the Cock Lane Ghost ,which drew the skeptical attention of the Duke of York, Hogarth, David Garrick, and even Oliver Goldsmith who wrote a pamphlet about it. Finally, Bruce brings up how the study of psychic phenomena has furthered the study of psychology, religion, and medicine. It's a fun read with a popular, but serious intent.

[arg/machine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting and well-written, this book, which recounts chilling real-life hauntings and then offers rational explanations for them, is in the public domain, with a free electronic copy available here.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting exploration of supernatural stuff. This turn-of-the-century book attempts to explain historical examples of ghostly phenomena with an early-20th century understanding of science and "psychical research". Heavy on the belief in mesmerism and telepathy. Interesting more from a scholarly standpoint than a spooktacular one.

[Stuart · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. The only interesting story was the one which included John Wesley, but even that one wasn't very interesting. When I found myself turning pages desperately trying to get to the next chapter or the end of the book, I knew I was done.

[Stephen Lambert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book and luckily I bought a first edition from the States with the book dating back to 1908. Various owners signatures inside.

[Sasha Saunders · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really hated it, read 16% of it on my reader, and I dont even remember the purpose behind any of it!!

[rose]

I didn't care for it