Poltergeist

By Henry Price

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1859580661
• ISBN13: 9781859580660
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: SENATE PUB.
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 0.89 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Esoterica

If you enjoy scaring yourself silly, this is the book for you! The author, Harry Price, sets out to convince the world of the reality of poltergeists, & tries his darndest to sound logical & scientific in his approach to the subject. Some of the stories are obvious fillers which are not treated seriously, like those abt the alleged "haunted" houses in London. However, most of the rest, especially the story about the Borley rectory hauntings are hair-raisingly scary. Price is most convincing when he simply narrates the "evidence," as opposed to trying to weigh & draw conclusions from them. This is because Price's arguments are poorly constructed, and Price relies on antiquated class snobbery to shore up the credibility of his witnesses. For example, Price has to mention that the family who got insurance money to cover some of the damages from a poltergeist are "ofcourse upper middle class and cultured," and he notes for the benefit of the reader that it is "a professional man" who sent him a report about that particular case. Price really seems to believe that people of a high enough income bracket & certain background are incapable of an ulterior motive. When Price has to rely on a witness from a lower socio-economic background, he condescendingly describes the man as "a good old sort." This sort of fossilized approach to class initially made me think the book was written in the 1800's. As I read on, much to my surprise, Price was writing this book in the mid 1940's. Price's class snobbery & his obsequeous deference toward prominent persons, such as a barrister who once reviewed one of Price's books, is off-putting. However, they are interesting as obvious signs of Price's insecurities about his own position in society. I was intrigued enough from reading his book to google him, & it turns out that Price was a social climber from a poor working-class background who lied about his own antecedents after marrying an heiress. Altogether this book is a fascinating read for the weird & scary tales it offers, and the interesting glimpses of a complicated man who collected them.