The "improbably named" Susy Smith (see below) brings her considerable talents to bear and shows us an entire WORLD OF THE STRANGE! It's ESP, astrology, poltergeists and more psychic debris in this vintage explainer text.
I'm not sure what copy writer decided that Susy Smith was an improbable name but bless 'em anyways! Smith aims to educate with her writing, laying out the promising field of psychical studies circa 1963. There's a newfangled term called "parapsychology" which covers all the bases, showing us just how long ago this book was written.
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| Susy Smith looking lovely as usual |
Smith opens with some startling poltergeist activity, as an illustration that even in this modern space age there are things lurking beyond our ken. It even happens in "matter-of-fact Dallas!" A brief history of Spiritualism follows, and while Smith's honesty is never in doubt, her credulity sometime stretches a mite too far. For example, the Fox sisters and their confession to fakery - Smith wants to believe so badly that she tries to wriggle around this, basically saying that the sisters didn't know any better than to falsely claim fraud. Smith even speaks to this desire of hers to believe in the unknown, and it is refreshingly candid in a genre where authors often strike a pose as supremely neutral arbiters. Rolling into the 20th century we find J.B. Rhine, his ESP cards, and the Society for Psychical Research, and a survey of today's witches. Smith would later fill an entire book with modern witchcraft in 1970. Smith also covers psychical pioneer Dr. Nandor Fodor, and superstar seer Eileen J. Garrett. Garrett's sessions channelling the captain of airship R101, which crashed spectacularly in 1930, are summarized in a naive manner by Smith - despite the author's claims to the contrary, it turns out Garrett did follow the construction of R101, and was savvy to the technical terms she supposedly channelled from flight lieutenant Herbert Carmichael Irwin. C'est la vie.
Above, a 1970 reprint cover. Out of left field who should wander by but the abominable snowmen! According to Ivan T. Sanderson, they could be extant relic hominids. Oh yeah, and Sanderson disclaims the term "abominable snowmen" altogether in favor of yeti, almas, and Sasquatch. Smith thinks it's just too cromulent a phrase to pass up, even if its etymology is flat busted. Astrology gets a chapter, as do vampires and ghosts. Smith notes that "real" ghosts are rarely the shrieking specters shaking chains that they appear as in other genre fare. Some are downright lovely, like Ocean Born Mary! Astral projection and levitation make for some light reading before Smith presents some do-it-yourself ESP experimenters and a return of the poltergeists. Smith specializes in slice-of-life Americana by way of the weird, with housewives and blue collar Joes across the country brushing up against the other side. Right before the last page Smith drops in the well worn case of Patience Worth, before finishing with another sensible statement as to the possibility of the paranormal. She's also kind enough to give us a fantastic bibliography, not something to be taken for granted. Thanks Susy!
Table of contents:
1. Nearer Than You Think (5)
2. Dreams Do Come True (13)
3. The Weird Sisters (28)
4. Fact or Fiction (41)
5. They Hitch Their Wagons to the Stars (54)
6. The First Men in Orbit (66)
7. Traveling Without a Ticket (78)
8. Miracles Do Happen (85)
9. Hocus-Pocus (94)
10. And Shall Man Live Again? (102)
11. Things That Go Bump in the Night (117)
12. Invisible Juvenile Delinquents (130)
13. The Unexplained Residuum (139)
14. Do-It-Yourself Phenomena (147)
Pyramid Books, 1963
She sounds nice.
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