Loyd Auerbach sent me an excellent note on resources for free public domain paranormal books. It was such a great note that I asked his permission to repost it here. Thanks Loyd!
—
Jim,
Here’s info on the free ebooks.
There are literally hundreds of free ebook versions of books and journals having to do with the paranormal from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many have also been converted to the ereader formats used by Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook — both have free ereader software for your PC or Mac, as well as apps for iPhones and Android phones.
One of the best sites to find these for your computer in more generic formats is the Internet Archive, archive.org — that’s where I originally downloaded the titles (hundreds!)
In general, you can find them also by going to Google Books, books.google.com
But here’s the catch: they have not all been tagged for the subjects in the best manner, so searching can be a bit weird.
Search on the following terms, some of which will bring up titles with these words, some with tagged items. Note that some of these terms will bring up texts in other languages and also some unrelated books — especially the term “ghost”. As you find these, other terms will also occur to you.
psychical
spiritualist
ghosthunter
apparition
haunting
ghost
spirit photography
spiritism
spiritualism
seance
psychic
psychometry
haunted house
occult
For a good start, try these author searches:
Frank Podmore
Oliver Lodge
William Crookes
James Hyslop
Cesare Lombroso
Frederick Myers
Catherine Crowe
Hereward Carrington
William Barrett
James Coates
William Denton
John Arthur Hill
Elliott O’Donnell
Amy E. Tanner
Daniel Dunglas Home
Look especially for the following:
Proceedings and Journals of the Society for Psychical Research and the American Society for Psychical Research
Phantasms of the Living
Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death
Apparitions and Thought Transference
After Death, What?
The Night Side of Nature
FYI: I purchased a Nook several months ago, and now have a library of over 300 (and growing) of these books available on my Nook, PC and Droid phone. Some even deal with spirit photography and include the photos.
Loyd Auerbach
