The World of Ghosts and the Supernatural Author:Richard Cavendish Both a wonderfully readable reference book and a delightfully detailed ghost-story book, this is a quintessential product of the age of "infotainment." In its geographically specific sections, brief narratives spiced with specific names, dates, and places (a rare feature of books on this subject) delineate experiences with ghosts and o... more »ther supernatural phenomena. Cavendish's narrative voice is one of neither fawning belief nor arch speculation but of neutral reportage. Some entries give the particulars of such well-known stories as those of Anne Boleyn and the other ghosts said to haunt the Tower of London. Other stories are less known, like that of Esther Cox, a young Canadian suddenly beset in 1878 by all manner of bizarre phenomena (in her case, the strange occurrences "were observed by the local doctor, clergymen, and other reputable witnesses"). Other chapters cover the topics indicated by such titles as "Sex and the Sacred" (for example, the sexual proclivities of some Hindu deities and their worshipers), "Of Royal Blood," and "From Salem to New Orleans.« less