Investigating the Paranormal [Paperback]

Tony Cornell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2002

Tony Cornell has opened his case files and shared the fruits of his more than 50 years of labor and expertise in ghost, hauntings and mediumship research, in Investigating the Paranormal. Cornell’s magnum opus not only provides a glimpse into a life’s work in psychical research and parapsychology but also serves as a guide to field methodology for today’s paranormal investigators. From reports of a ghost inhabiting a college dormitory, to a poltergeist with an affinity for fine antiques, the author shares detailed episodes of an extraordinary career.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is, quite simply, the finest book available on investigating ghosts...I cannot recommend it too strongly." -- Fortean Times, October 2002

Cornell ... knows his stuff. ...[Investigating the Paranormal is] the perfect textbook (without the dry presentation) for conducting psychical research. -- Anomalist.com

This is a great book for anyone who wants to have a better understanding of the unexplained. -- Bestreviews.com, November 2002

About the Author

Award-winning author and world-renowned authority on psychical research and psychical phenomena Dr. Tony Cornell is the vice chairman and a council member of the Society for Psychical Research, UK, and is also an active member of the CUSPR - Cambridge University Society for Psychical Research. Starting out as a ghost-sceptic, an experience in India provoked a 180 degree turn around and he has devoted his life to investigating claims of psychical phenomena ever since.

Product Details

• Paperback: 430 pages
• Publisher: Parapsychology Foundation Inc (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0912328983
• ISBN-13: 978-0912328980
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,919,692 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Careful Investigations = Highly Compelling Book, August 9, 2002

By 

Dan Finley (Federal Way, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Investigating the Paranormal (Paperback)

Investigations of ghost and poltergeist stories are always interesting and spooky, but often times their "hokeyness" can undermine their legitimacy. However, in Tony Cornell's latest book, Investigating the Paranormal, so-called paranormal phenomena is approached in a conservative fashion, making the source -Tony Cornell himself - more believable, resulting in a much more compelling (and unsettling!) book.

Being a skeptic of paranormal phenomena, I started reading Investigating the Paranormal for something fun and different. Once I started, I could not put the book down. Each chapter presents a different one of his cases, whether it was an alleged haunting, poltergeist or other paranormal phenomena. Cornell begins by presenting all the facts, including a description of each recorded incident, who saw or heard the incident, what time, etc. One never knows his exact opinion while he's reporting, because he presents the information in a very factual, non-biased fashion. To me, this built everything up and created suspense - almost every case was at least somewhat believable in my mind. I couldn't put the book down because I had to get to the end of the chapter to find out his conclusion. Was there really a spiritual presence?

I recommend this book to anyone who holds even a slight interest in supernatural occurrences or beings. If nothing else, Cornell illustrates how psychic investigations can be legitimate, systematic and scientific, even though they're often ignored by traditional science.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A correction, October 22, 2006

By 

J. D. Cornell "JC" (Cambridge, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Investigating the Paranormal (Paperback)

For the benefit of one or two readers who have clearly not understood comments made by the author regarding miniature nuns in a photograph on page 141 of Cornell's book. I would like to point out that the author clearly questions the validity of these photographs, comparing them with the comments made by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on fairy pictures. Tony Cornell has never claimed that any photograph that he has been shown has a paranormal explanation as examination of these usually shows them to be flawed.
I would like to refer readers to paragraph one at the top of page 142 "I asked the film manufacturers to examine the negatives, but they found nothing wrong with them, no double exposure or tampering." In this section Cornell emphasizes "No normal explanation has as yet been found for this photograph, it remains an unexplained mystery." It should be clear to readers that Cornell simply encourages an open mind on the subject as is evident in the closing sentence on page 152.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent, Unflappable Tony Cornell!, May 25, 2003

By 

M. Hori "Jesse Glass" (Urayasu, Chiba Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Investigating the Paranormal (Paperback)

When I picked this book up, I noticed something oddly familiar about the picture on the back. Then a memory flashed of an enjoyable evening I spent curled up on the couch next to my mother back in 1964. We were watching an incredible, British-made T.V. special on ghosts that included an odd light moving about in a sealed castle room and the taped singing of what appeared to be ghostly monks. I broke open the book--and there it was! Mr. Cornell was featured in this show.

This is by far one of the most intelligently written books that I have encountered on this subject. Mr. Cornell presents the evidence for many spontaneous cases and proceeds to give an admirably even-handed analysis. His cases stretch back over 55 years of research, and they run the gamut from obvious hoaxes to real puzzlers.

There were a few draw-backs, however. After such a splendid show of intelligence, Mr. Cornell calls it all into question by including a photograph of miniature nuns and Indians (also tiny) engaged in lilliputian activities in tall grass close to a group of young girls. When I saw the picture I immediately thought of the Kottingly fairies, and I dropped my head in my hands and groaned gustily through half-clenched teeth when I read Mr. Cornell's attestation of probable authenticity! Shades of Conan-Doyle! The chapter on ghosts and animals was also a bit of a throw-away.

All in all, though, this book is a must-have for serious researchers. Tony Cornell shows us all how it should be done in almost every case.

If I were investigating an out-break of rampant, disembodied [pick your enigmatic action] and wished to choose my dream team, Tony Cornell would be my go-to man. A Michael Jordan of a researcher, and totally unflappable in the witching hours to be sure!