COMMENT:The author of this book has lead a double life as a prominent clergyman and as a professional magician. He has been investigating claims of psychic powers and haunted houses since the early 1930's. The book is largely an account of his investigations, carried out over a span of 50 years, and his encounters with famous mediums, psychics, and conjurers. One chapter is devoted entirely to methods of producing effects that appear to demonstrate psychic powers. Several others are devoted to apparent successes in the history of spiritualism, such as the Cross Correspondences, and his speculations about how they could have been accomplished by purely natural means.
