Alice Vernon

Ghosted A social, historical and scientific exploration of ghost-hunting, and why our fascination with the paranormal is as timeless as the ghosts we hope to find.The h…

Ghosted is in Bloomsbury's Christmas sale and the hardback is currently £14 until 7th December. It even includes a recipe for ectoplasm you can shoot from your nose - a reliable way to get out of any complicated post-Christmas-dinner board game.

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...

Ghosted A social, historical and scientific exploration of ghost-hunting, and why our fascination with the paranormal is as timeless as the ghosts we hope to find.The h…

Ghosted is in Bloomsbury's Christmas sale and the hardback is currently £14 until 7th December. It even includes a recipe for ectoplasm you can shoot from your nose - a reliable way to get out of any complicated post-Christmas-dinner board game.

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/ghosted-9...

Another huge tranche of her correspondence with Eric Dingwall has just been released from embargo at Senate House Library in London - I'm really hoping to make time next year to go and look through it!

A teaser image of my article in Haunted Magazine. The headline reads: 'Ghosts, Grief and the Girl Who Wouldn't Believe'.

I'm thrilled to have an article in this month's Haunted Magazine! I wrote about my favourite ghost-hunter, Mollie Goldney, who was often in the shadow of Harry Price but who was infinitely cooler and more interesting. 👻

Out in UK shops tomorrow or you can order online from hauntedmag.com!

Scientists in Dreamland - The American Scholar What might our nightly visions mean?

I reviewed Michelle Carr's new book, Nightmare Obscura, for The American Scholar. It's a strong, optimistic look at how modern sleep science could help us battle our bad dreams.

theamericanscholar.org/scientists-i...

I'm really excited to be doing a Seed Talks lecture on 'A History of Ghost-Hunting and Why We Keep Looking' on Wednesday January 21st 2026, 7pm. It's a hybrid event, so it's online as well as taking place in-person at Arches London Bridge. 👻

Tickets and info: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-history-...

Two freshly-baked Christmas cakes - one round and one oblong - cooling on a wire rack.

Last year, a mishap with my reading of the Christmas cake recipe meant I accidentally made two cakes, and I predicted I would now be expected to make two cakes every year.

I was correct! 😂 They've turned out so well this year that I wonder if I'll be asked to make a third one...

A drawing of a sad ghost

For #PhantomFriday - a sad-looking ghost from Time Life’s book of Hauntings, from the 80s. What’s he got to be sad about, in the 80s?! Maybe he’s just watched Threads.

I'm really excited to be doing a Seed Talks lecture on 'A History of Ghost-Hunting and Why We Keep Looking' on Wednesday January 21st 2026, 7pm. It's a hybrid event, so it's online as well as taking place in-person at Arches London Bridge. 👻

Tickets and info: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-history-...

AGAINST EVERYONE WITH CONNER HABIB 307: ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GHOST HUNTING with ALICE VERNON / THE SPIRIT-ERA & ITS AFTERMATHS, PART 1 This is first episode in a series called The Spirit-Era and Its Aftermaths. Across the next few installments of AEWCH, I’ll be investigating the way the spiritual, technological, and occult flourishin

I had a brilliant chat to Conner on the Against Everyone with Conner Habib podcast about spiritualism, our need to believe in ghosts, and the ever-evolving equipment in the ghost-hunter's toolkit.

Listen here: on.soundcloud.com/IR9r4yCBcE80...

Call for Papers. A readable pdf document is accessible by clicking on the link in the post.

Call for Papers. A readable pdf document is accessible by clicking on the link in the post.

Call for Papers. A readable pdf document is accessible by clicking on the link in the post.

Call for Papers. A readable pdf document is accessible by clicking on the link in the post.

Would you ask a judge to declare a house haunted? What about suing a fortune-teller for mispredicting your future? Should the law even allow these claims?

If you write about law, believer or sceptic, you can contribute to our book on Supernatural Law: Regulating the Paranormal.
tinyurl.com/46jwmcnh

Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting and Why We Keep Looking, Part One | Guest Alice Vernon In her new book, Ghosted: A History of Ghost Hunting and Why We Keep Looking, Alice Vernon sets out to chase the one thing she isn’t even sure exists—and discovers that the search for ghosts says more...

I had a very fun chat with Carol Hughes on The Grave Talks podcast about fraudulent mediums, ectoplasm and, of course, Bev the Haunted Doll. 👻

Listen to part one here: audioboom.com/posts/880388...

After the first world war, séances boomed – and dead soldiers ‘wrote’ home Never before had death affected so many people at once, and taken so many young men in the prime of their life.

If you'd like to learn more, here's an article I wrote recently about WWI spiritualism:

theconversation.com/after-the-fi...

And here's more about Raymond:

lithub.com/the-rise-of-...

During and immediately after the First World War, people turned to spiritualism like never before to help them grieve, but also to give them a more bearable alternative image: their loved ones didn't die horribly and far from home, but were actually enjoying a peaceful and active utopian afterlife.

Yes, the Lodges may have been exploited by Gladys Leonard, and there's much about the sittings that doesn't add up, but equally we can't dismiss how it genuinely helped them process losing Raymond. After several sittings with the medium, Mrs Lodge said, 'We can face Christmas now.'

It inspired dozens of other books 'written' from dead soldiers. But I don't think it was a way of making money. Grief in WWI was so widespread that no one's loss felt special - yet everyone knew of Raymond Lodge. To publish a book from a dead soldier was to make them stand out and be remembered.

Raymond or life and death : Sir Oliver J. Lodge : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

These sittings were published in a book, 'Raymond; or Life and Death', and compiled the messages from Raymond alongside the letters he wrote from the frontlines in France. It was hugely popular, and was sent out to soldiers by their families. You can read it here: archive.org/details/raym...

Sir Oliver was a keen member of the Society for Psychical Research, and often went to séances, but mostly from a sceptical and investigative point of view. Now, he and his wife obsessively met with the medium Gladys Leonard to receive messages from Raymond from beyond the grave.

A black and white photograph of Raymond Lodge dressed in his military uniform. He has a serious expression and dark hair.

For Remembrance Sunday, I'm thinking about Raymond Lodge, as I now do ever since I learnt about him a few years ago. Raymond was the son of British physicist Sir Oliver Lodge. He died fighting in Ypres in 1915, aged 26. A few weeks later, though, he appeared to get in touch with the Lodge family...

I'm doing a reading from Night Terrors on Wednesday 10th December 7pm, hosted by DASH. It's a free online event created by artist Joanna Holland, also featuring a conversation about her project 'The Haunted' and a dance performance by Lucy Clark.

Tickets and info:

www.dasharts.org/blog/that-th...

After the first world war, séances boomed – and dead soldiers ‘wrote’ home Never before had death affected so many people at once, and taken so many young men in the prime of their life.

Never before had death affected so many people at once, and taken so many young men in the prime of their life, writes Alice Vernon. theconversation.com/after-the-fi...

This is cool - a section from my poltergeist chapter is featured on the Pittsburgh Review of Books! It is, in fact, my Dad's favourite chapter of Ghosted.

Ghosts, grief and the paranormal Podcast Episode · History Extra podcast · 27/10/2025 · 36m

You can listen to the podcast here: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/g...

When a Victorian ghost hunter investigated Britain’s most haunted house, this is what he found Showman and psychic researcher Harry Price turned Borley Rectory into a national sensation, and its infamy as a haunted house hasn’t gone away

Happy Halloween! My interview with @historyextra.bsky.social is quoted in this article about the infamous Harry Price and his Borley Rectory investigation. Mollie Goldney, his secretary and fellow ghost-hunter, deserves just as much research and discussion!

www.historyextra.com/period/victo...

After the first world war, séances boomed – and dead soldiers ‘wrote’ home Never before had death affected so many people at once, and taken so many young men in the prime of their life.

After the first world war, séances boomed – and dead soldiers ‘wrote’ home: theconversation.com/after-the-fi...

After the first world war, séances boomed – and dead soldiers ‘wrote’ home Never before had death affected so many people at once, and taken so many young men in the prime of their life.

Writing in The Conversation, Dr Alice Vernon explores how post first world war grief sparked a surge in séances — and how dead soldiers ‘wrote’ home.

🖱 tinyurl.com/4puc894m

@alicevernon10.bsky.social
#history #WW1 #spiritualism #seance

Alice Vernon: Hunt For Hauntings - October 28, 2025 Podcast Episode · The Last Show with David Cooper · 2025-10-29 · 11m

I had fun chatting with David Cooper on @lastshow.bsky.social about the thrill (and sometimes dubious morals) of ghost-hunting. You can catch up on the podcast with the link below:

podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/a...

What I’ve learned through my research and experiences is that ghost-hunting is about us, the living, more than the ghosts we try to find ✍️Alice Vernon, Aberystwyth University wp.me/p8Mk4U-17wQ

After the first world war, séances boomed – and dead soldiers ‘wrote’ home Never before had death affected so many people at once, and taken so many young men in the prime of their life.

Never before had death affected so many people at once, and taken so many young men in the prime of their life.

After the first world war, séances boomed – and dead soldiers ‘wrote’ home Never before had death affected so many people at once, and taken so many young men in the prime of their life.

I've written another article for The Conversation, this time about the popularity of séances to contact dead soldiers during and after WWI. It produced a fascinating but sad series of Spiritualist books allegedly written from men who'd died on the Front.

theconversation.com/after-the-fi...