The estimable Jim Harold, host of that splendid internet radio institution known as the Paranormal Podcast, has just upped a 30-minute interview with the humble author, Jim’s first post of the New Year. Poltergeists are discussed in detail, with reference to areas such as ‘polts are demons’, ‘polts are ghosts’, ‘polts are vampires’ and such like. Yes, it’s gone polt-shaped around here.
To mark the fact that I’ve got two books on poltergeists coming out, a series of interviews with the humble if prolix author have been posted on that there YouTube.
The interviews concentrate on both the ebook What is a Poltergeist? – Understanding Poltergeist Activity and the conventional book Poltergeist Over Scotland. For the former, which will be available for download soon, I discuss the nine different theories/beliefs that have been put forward over the centuries to explain poltergeists:
These are illustrated with cases from throughout the world, including America, Europe and Asia.
When discussing Poltergeist over Scotland I talk about some of the 134 cases I’ve uncovered over the past 400 years. This is the first ever history of Scottish poltergeists.
The interview clips are being released in 16 parts over the next week or so, both on this website here and on YouTube. Collect the set!
The website machine-elves have been exceptionally industrious lately, and now all of my books are available from Amazon in one place, via a ‘streamlined shopping experience’ here. Crikey I appear to have written quite a lot of books. Just goes to show what happens when you’re having fun.
Battles. Massacres. Murders and assassinations. Beheadings and hangings. Fire and plague. Religious strife and clan enmities. Urban warfare and suicide squads. Pirates and riots. Bodysnatching and heads on spikes. Gunpowder plots. Sea battles inside Leith harbour. Witchcraft burnings on Castlehill. Breaking on the wheel. Drowning alive in a coffin in the Nor’ Loch.
Edinburgh hasn’t always been the Light in the North. Its past is a blood-splattered horrorshow of dark deeds, and on Tuesday 6 November I’ll be launching my new book The Bloody History of Scotland: Edinburgh with an illustrated talk at the famous Blackwells Bookshop on South Bridge, Edinburgh. This saunter through the sanguinary excesses of the city’s unsavoury history will cover everything from brothel creepers to the location of a cannibal’s oven – not to mention a mysterious medieval knight who turned out to be a woman.
Poltergeists. Secret mummified corpses in the Haunted Tower. Apparitions of the White Lady and other distaff spectres. Death warnings. Doppelgangers. Vortices of invisible evil.
All these subjects will be present and correct on Halloween night when I’m the guest of Abertay Historical Society at the St Andrews Preservation Trust Museum, 12 North Street, St Andrews, KY16 9PW.
The illustrated talk starts at 7.30pm and a small charge is made for non-members. Places are limited – it’s a small museum – so book a place at 01334 477629, or email curator@standrewspreservationtrust.org. Copies of Haunted St Andrews will be available for sale on the night.
‘Murder and Mayhem in the City where the Streets Ran with Blood’. Phew, you don’t get many headlines like that. That’s the introduction to a piece on my new book The Bloody History of Scotland: Edinburgh that appeared in the Daily Mail on Monday, October 22. You can read the full piece here, or by clicking on the image. The article is reproduced by kind permission of the Daily Mail and journalist Jim McBeth.
And a quick reminder that I’m giving an illustrated talk based on The Bloody History of Scotland: Edinburgh at Blackwell’s Bookshop, South Bridge, Edinburgh, on November 6. The event, which will have time for book signing, starts at 6.30 and tickets are free – details from the City of Literature website.