Book – “A Century of Supernatural Stories” by Richard Sugg

Victorian Lady with Ostrich Feathers on her hat

Welcome back to spooky, 19th Century England.

‘Twas in the Victorian age that all manner of ghastly and ghostly things were happened upon by the innocent and the curious.

The Industrial Revolution in England (1790 to 1870) brought many economic and social upheavals to society. Where people lived and worked changed as a large migration took place from rural areas to the London factories for better wages and ?less working hours.

This era was also the age of Victorian Occultism.

Numerous Supernatural themes were explored, such as;

Magic was rediscovered.

The era saw the rise of secret societies and their secret rituals.

Spiritualist movements came into being.

People participated in mediumship and séances. Spirits made their presence felt by table rapping.

The mysticism of Egypt came to England. 
Post-mortem photography was popular--the deceased were photographed in life-like poses.

Smog from coal fires, 

shadows in the alleyways, 

and swirling mists over the streets of London

…hid the terror of Jack the Ripper.

Superstitions were rife and people could literally die from fear. 

English Author and Academic, Richard Sugg has written a book about supernatural stories from this era of history. The stories come from various newspapers sources and Richard provides commentary about the events.

If you’re interested in Poltergeists, Ghosts, Vampires, Fairies, Witches, Unnatural Animals, Magic, Corpse Magic, Apparitions, The Evil Eye, Religion, The Unexplained and the Uncategorisable, this book might have appeal.

Here’s the blurb from Amazon.com…

“Dare you enter the Labyrinth of Fear?

A man cutting his own mother as a witch; parents murdering their children as fairy changelings; villagers staking the living as vampires… Ghosts in towns, on farms, on ships; poltergeists that baffle all investigators; spectral cats, owls, dogs and sheep; a man shot dead as a ghost; an apparition which the witness falls right through; magical candles made from human fat and human hands…

Not that long ago, the world was haunted: by superstitions, imaginary terrors, and even seemingly crude hoaxes which might cause their victims to quite literally die of fear. Strange as all this is, one thing is even stranger. Some of it was probably true. Given in the original voices of nineteenth century newspaper accounts, this Century of Supernatural Stories offers us a shadowy labyrinth of terrors real and imagined. Drawing on years of research into the supernatural, Richard Sugg offers to guide readers through this Labyrinth of Fear. But be warned: those who make it through may find that the world never looks quite the same again.

Amazon book link

A Century of Supernatural Stories

Is the truth from the 19th Century stories scarier than fiction? 

Ashlyn