From shimmering specters to mysterious tricks, Varla Ventura's Paranormal Parlor includes original supernatural tales, classic ghost stories, legends, hauntings, séances, superstitions, and death customs. This book showcases a chilling collection of startling ghost stories as told to the author as well as legendary ghosts and haunted locations and an overview of the paranormal parlor games that rose to popularity in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. It also includes hidden history such as the story of Mark Twain's ghost, and the quiet horror writings of the architect who started the Gothic Revival movement (Ralph Adams Cram).
An exploration of the different tenants of Fairyland from around the world—hobgoblins, sprites, bogeys, pixies, goblins, bonga, duende, elves, and more. While it’s true that fairy folk love a good garden and take great pleasure in a tulip, there are dozens of beasties who fall under the fairy domain that are not quite as delightful as the quintessential flower fairy. This book is an exploration of the many things that go bump in the night near the fairy mound. Along with an exploration of folklore and historical literature, readers will delight in fairy tales that demonstrate everything from striking a bargain with a fairy to staving off changelings to laughing with the dwarves. Included are fairy tales and myths from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia plus classic stories by Thomas Crofton Croker, Joseph Jacobs, Clara Stroebe, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Yei Theodora Ozaki, and others on goblins, trolls, gnomes, pookas, changelings, banshees, and more! Chapters include: A Fear of Little Men: Elves, Trolls, Leprechauns, Tree Spirits, Brownies, Coblyns, Dwarves, Goblins, Bonga, Trolls and Other Fairy Folk of Glen, Forests and Hearth The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: Changelings and Other Greedy Kidnappers of the Fairy Kingdom I’m Not Drunk, It’s Just My Pooka: Tales of the Trickster Fairy and Its Wild Counterpart Is That All There Is? Fairies Who Give, or The Barter System Whoops, There It Is: How to Enter the Fairy Kingdom (or How Not To) If you think fairies are merely delicate beings who follow you about on gossamer wings, consider yourself warned! The kingdom of the fairy is one of vengeance, thievery, trickery, and wild creatures.
From enchanted animals to bizarre rock-and-roll stories, discover hundreds of far-out facts guaranteed to give your trivia game a whole new twist. Did you know duck dander is hallucinogenic? Or that Katherine Hepburn had a phobia of dirty hair? Have you ever wondered about the Magical Skull of Doom or contemplated the mysterious Transylvanian Tablets? The Book of the Bizarre is a veritable treasure trove of startling and stranger-than-fiction trivia that spans history, continents, even worlds. Never before have so many truly frightful facts been gathered together in one place. Teeming with the strange, the shocking, and the downright fantastic, The Book of the Bizarre’s thirteen chapters include: Something Wicked: Mysterious Objects & Haunted Homes, Tender Murderers and Malevolent Males: Killingly Good Tales of Terror, and Morbid Writers and Tortured Artists: From Edgar Allan Poe to Vincent Van Gogh. Terrifying topics range from Corpses on Campus to Strange Rock and Roll Stories to Medical Maladies, Conspiracy Theories, Superstitions, Hexes, and even UFOs. The Book of the Bizarre is designed for the depraved, outlandish enough for the eccentric, and freaky enough for even the hardest trivia nut.
The author of The Book of the Bizarre presents an enchanting collection of classic mermaid stories and historical anecdotes from around the world. From Homer's Odyssey to Pirates of the Caribbean, mermaids have fascinated popular culture for centuries. Varla Ventura explores the wealth of literature about these mythical creatures in this charming anthology. This volume includes turn of the century tales of merfolk from Bret Harte, T. Crofton Croker, and W.B. Yeats, along with tantalizing trivia, facts, first-hand accounts, and speculations about mermaids in popular culture. In these pages, you will discover: · Many people today believe that early explorer sightings of mermaids were actually manatees. · The legendary pirate Blackbeard was afraid of his crew being lured into a watery grave by mermaids, so he ordered his ships to avoid areas where they were said to be. · Since 2009, the town of Kiryat Yam, Israel, has offered a prize of $1 million dollars to anyone who can prove the mermaid off their coast is real. The prize remains unclaimed.
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. Perhaps the most feared creature in Irish fairy lore, the Banshee is the ghostly, female apparition whose shriek portents the demise of a loved one. Elliot O'Donnell explores the terrifying Banshee-equivalents of cultures around the world-- from the Highland Castles of Scotland to the seaside villages of Italy-- and his tales of these creatures make the Irish Banshee look like nothing more than a cherubic Christmas-caroler.
The lusty vampire, the sympathetic werewolf, the tragic banshee are just a few of the dark and frightening creatures you'll discover in Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires, and Other Creatures of the Night. Huffington Post Weird News columnist and author Varla Ventura takes readers on a wild ride through the shadowy hills of rural Ireland, the dark German forests, and along abandoned farms and country roads across the world to discover some of the most frightening and freaktacular tales, tidbits, and encounters with all those beasties that go bump in the night. Along with classic pieces from Bram Stoker, Elliot O'Donnell, Sabine BaringGould, William Butler Yeats and many others, Ventura includes: • Famous vampires you may not know • The identity of the author of the first English vampire novel (and his relationship to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein) • Excerpts from the first psychic vampire novel ever written • Stories of 19th century werewolf hunters • Why banshees are the most feared of supernatural creatures
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. This humorous ghost story centers around a photograph of an eerie hotel that seems to come to life when anyone looks upon it. Rife with a colloquial expressions from late 1800's New England, learn how a dying widow was slighted by unfaithful ghosts of years gone by.
Varla Ventura, Coast to Coast favorite, Weird News blogger on Huffington Post, and author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces Weiser Books’ new Collection of forgotten occult classics. Paranormal Parlor is an eerie assemblage of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s sixth sense for tales of the weird and unusual. In the 1859 Christmas edition of his regular publication, All Year Round, Charles Dickens solicited his favorite authors to take up residence in his Haunted House. With an introductory story by Dickens (The Mortals in the House) each author writes from the point of view of the ghost residing in a room. On the Twelfth Night of Christmas, a night believed to hold supernatural powers, the ghost begin to speak. Adelaide Anne Procter, who was Queen Victoria’s favorite poet, delivers the tale of “The Ghost in the Picture Room” entirely in rhyming verse. Wilkie Collins, a lifelong friend of Dickens and a well known author and playwright, delights with his nautical story of “The Ghost in the Cupboard Room.” And Elizabeth Gaskell, in the longest of the stories in the collection, paints a vivid portrait of the ghost of a judge in “The Ghost in the Garden Room.” For any lover of Dickens, Gaskell, or even just a good ghost story, this unique collection will warm the heart and chill the bones.
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. For fairy tale lovers and fans of TV shows like Grimm and Once Upon a Time and movies like Mirror, Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman, here is a collection of stories thick with dark woods, poison apples, wicked queens, curses, blessings, huntsmen, true love, crystal coffins, and helpless beauties, largely from Andrew Lang's bestselling Victorian series of color fairy books.
Varla Ventura, Coast to Coast favorite, Weird News blogger on Huffington Post, and author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces Weiser Books’ new Collection of forgotten occult classics. Paranormal Parlor is an eerie assemblage of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s sixth sense for tales of the weird and unusual. A 1909 publication that debates the genuine vs. the charlatans when it comes to parlor tricks and the real psychic phenomena. From an author renowned for his work on spiritualism, Christian Science, and the psychical world.
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. Master horror writer Montague Rhodes James sets a gruesome scene when a beloved uncle goes missing and a prophetic dream and the seemingly innocent puppets of a Punch and Judy show reveal a sinister and bloody truth behind his disappearance.
From shimmering specters to mysterious tricks, Varla Ventura's Paranormal Parlor includes original supernatural tales, classic ghost stories, legends, hauntings, séances, superstitions, and death customs. This book showcases a chilling collection of startling ghost stories as told to the author as well as legendary ghosts and haunted locations and an overview of the paranormal parlor games that rose to popularity in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. It also includes hidden history such as the story of Mark Twain's ghost, and the quiet horror writings of the architect who started the Gothic Revival movement (Ralph Adams Cram).
The latest addition to the best-selling Wild Women series, Wild Women Talk About Love is like having a heart-to-heart with 200 of your closest friends. Loquacious ladies of every stripe unleash their wicked wit in this humorous and enlightening compilation and tell it like it is. Chapters include "Love Is Fabulous," "Love Is a Pain," "Love Lost," "Are Men Really Necessary" and cover sex, personal ads, blind dates, break ups, weddings, and the prerequisites for the perfect kiss. Sidebars include "Size Matters," and "Weepiest Romantic Movies Ever." Wait, there's more--true tales about wild women of yore that entertain as much as they enlighten. From Lily Tomlin to Dorothy Allison, Elizabeth Taylor to Annie Dillard, there's no shortage of sass, sarcasm, or sizzle. Find out, once and for all, what women talk about when they talk about love.
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. In dark Baudelairean tradition, Théophile Gautier weaves his characteristic Romantic prose into this disturbing 1836 tale of a devout priest lured victim by the wiles of beautiful and enigmatic Clarimonde.
Presents portraits of real and fictional role models for women, from sports, science, politics, and entertainment, including Dian Fossey, Aretha Franklin, Joan Baez, Anita Hill, and Agent Dana Scully
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. Birth rituals, marriage ceremonies, funeral rites, holiday traditions, and enduring superstitions of Welsh folkore are all documented with detail and a fervent love for the people and the immortal spirits of Wales. Written by William Wirt Sikes in 1880, this magnificent collection of old customs is sure to enchant and enliven anyone's virtual bookshelf.
Harry Houdini made performance magic popular in every Victorian household with his amazing acts of escape, illusion, and magic. His talents gave rise to a wave of parlor magic and publications that offered "tricks of the trade." Throughout the early part of the 20th century, adults and children alike were eager to learn the slight of hand and simple tricks to astound their living room audiences. Written during the Depression Era, Water Wizardry offers readers a chance to enchant using everyday household items. In this fantastic 1922 book we learn trickery with soup, eggs, playing cards, hat pins, water glasses, bowls of rice, milk, even waste paper! So step right up and learn the secrets of The Obedient Cork or The Vanishing Glass of Water. Astonish your friends, relatives, and neighbors with these amazing acts of conjure and cunning!
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. The most revered of all mythical beings, the Unicorn, dashes across the pages of this collection of fiction and folklore from such notable authors as Odell Shepperd and selections from works such as Unicorns: A Mythological Investigation.
The lusty vampire, the sympathetic werewolf, the tragic banshee are just a few of the dark and frightening creatures you'll discover in Banshees, Werewolves, Vampires, and Other Creatures of the Night. Huffington Post Weird News columnist and author Varla Ventura takes readers on a wild ride through the shadowy hills of rural Ireland, the dark German forests, and along abandoned farms and country roads across the world to discover some of the most frightening and freaktacular tales, tidbits, and encounters with all those beasties that go bump in the night. Along with classic pieces from Bram Stoker, Elliot O'Donnell, Sabine BaringGould, William Butler Yeats and many others, Ventura includes: • Famous vampires you may not know • The identity of the author of the first English vampire novel (and his relationship to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein) • Excerpts from the first psychic vampire novel ever written • Stories of 19th century werewolf hunters • Why banshees are the most feared of supernatural creatures
An exploration of the different tenants of Fairyland from around the world—hobgoblins, sprites, bogeys, pixies, goblins, bonga, duende, elves, and more. While it’s true that fairy folk love a good garden and take great pleasure in a tulip, there are dozens of beasties who fall under the fairy domain that are not quite as delightful as the quintessential flower fairy. This book is an exploration of the many things that go bump in the night near the fairy mound. Along with an exploration of folklore and historical literature, readers will delight in fairy tales that demonstrate everything from striking a bargain with a fairy to staving off changelings to laughing with the dwarves. Included are fairy tales and myths from Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Scandinavia plus classic stories by Thomas Crofton Croker, Joseph Jacobs, Clara Stroebe, the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Yei Theodora Ozaki, and others on goblins, trolls, gnomes, pookas, changelings, banshees, and more! Chapters include: A Fear of Little Men: Elves, Trolls, Leprechauns, Tree Spirits, Brownies, Coblyns, Dwarves, Goblins, Bonga, Trolls and Other Fairy Folk of Glen, Forests and Hearth The Hand That Rocks the Cradle: Changelings and Other Greedy Kidnappers of the Fairy Kingdom I’m Not Drunk, It’s Just My Pooka: Tales of the Trickster Fairy and Its Wild Counterpart Is That All There Is? Fairies Who Give, or The Barter System Whoops, There It Is: How to Enter the Fairy Kingdom (or How Not To) If you think fairies are merely delicate beings who follow you about on gossamer wings, consider yourself warned! The kingdom of the fairy is one of vengeance, thievery, trickery, and wild creatures.
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. The warrior's sword and the village heroes are no match for the ogres and goblins that gnash their teeth and wreck havoc in early 20th century Japan.
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. Historian and U.S. Ambassador to Wales during the Victorian era William Wirt Sikes brings us another startling collection of lore from the fairy kingdom. Enchanted monoliths,wells full of milk, caves of treasure protected by crows (if you're lucky) or dragons (if you're not) and the lightening magic of the goblins of electricity are but a few of the unique stories in this collection.
After being diagnosed with a life-threatening tumor at the age of 22 Leonora Piper sought out the services of a known healer and medium that was reputed to be able to instill psychic abilities in his patrons. During her first session with this medium she went into a trance and thus began a long and interesting career in the psychic arts. Though she claimed psychic experiences were common to her, even in childhood, her session with the medium resulted in her ability to channel such diverse entities as a French doctor, Abraham Lincoln, a young Italian maid, and Johann Sebastian Bach, Mrs. Piper and the Society for Psychical Research is the story of this corseted maven and the Society for Psychical Research’s exhaustive fifteen year investigation into her supernatural powers.
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. Don't walk into that churchyard or a schoolhouse without a hardhat! There are more than just the usual hazards of daily life in rural Wales that could bring you harm. There are murderous bells afoot!
Varla Ventura, Coast to Coast favorite, Weird News blogger on Huffington Post, and author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces Weiser Books’ new Collection of forgotten occult classics. Paranormal Parlor is an eerie assemblage of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s sixth sense for tales of the weird and unusual. One of the leading investigators and psychic sleuths of the Roaring 20s takes a high-society approach to the truth behind occult powers and mentalism.
Varla Ventura, fan favorite on Huffington Post’s Weird News, frequent guest on Coast to Coast, and bestselling author of The Book of the Bizarre and Beyond Bizarre, introduces a new Weiser Books Collection of forgotten crypto-classics. Magical Creatures is a hair-raising herd of affordable digital editions, curated with Varla’s affectionate and unerring eye for the fantastic. We are all werewolves. Or at least, according to supernatural expert Sabine Baring-Gould, we are all capable of becoming werewolves. Written in 1868, this selection from Baring-Gould's massive tome on werewolves will have you locking the doors and looking over your shoulder. Into the mirror.
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