When reading this remarkable account of a long and thorough investigation of psychic phenomena, it is important to remember that the author is a Church of England clergyman. Barham's thorough presentation of such fascinating subjects as hypnosis, psychokinesis, and non-medical healing, and his examination of such topics as Queen Victoria and Spiritualism, the attitude of the Churches to psychic phenomena, and the Shroud of Turin, give the reader a sound background on many subjects, which are, in the author's words, `strange to relate.'