Description

The Phantom World is a book by Augustin Calmet, first published in 1746. This remarkable work explores a wide range of supernatural phenomena, including ghosts, vampires, demons, apparitions, and other unexplained occurrences, drawing from folklore, theological sources, eyewitness accounts, and historical records. Calmet, a Benedictine monk and respected scholar, approached these accounts with both curiosity and critical inquiry, attempting to separate truth from superstition in a period deeply fascinated by the occult and the unknown. The book stands as one of the earliest serious attempts to document and analyse paranormal phenomena from both a rational and theological perspective, offering modern readers a revealing window into eighteenth-century thought on the supernatural. This translation was first published in 1850.

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Demonology, angelology, and possession, Ghosts, hauntings, and poltergeists, Legendary beings and transformations, Occultism and esotericism, and Parapsychology and psychical research.

Occultism and esotericism
Retained metadata contains “occult” in the description and “supernatural” in the description.
- “occult”· in description
- “supernatural”· in description
Demonology, angelology, and possession
Retained metadata contains “demons” in the description and “Demonology” in the subject metadata.
- “demons”· in description
- “Demonology”· in subject
Ghosts, hauntings, and poltergeists
Controlled discovery queries from openlibrary matched “Apparitions”. Retained metadata contains “Apparitions” in the subtitle, “Apparitions” in the description, “Ghosts” in the description, and 2 additional metadata match(es).
- “Apparitions”· via Open Library
- “Apparitions”· in subtitle
- “Apparitions”· in description
- “Ghosts”· in description
- “Apparitions”· in subject
- “Apparitions”· in edition subtitle
Parapsychology and psychical research
Controlled discovery queries from global-grey matched “Paranormal and Mysteries”. Retained metadata contains “Paranormal and Mysteries” in the subject metadata.
- “Paranormal and Mysteries”· via Global Grey ebooks
- “Paranormal and Mysteries”· in subject
Legendary beings and transformations
Retained metadata contains “Vampires” in the description.
- “Vampires”· in description

Membership records how this book met the catalog’s discovery criteria — relevance to a tradition, not a judgment of the book’s claims.

Read & download

Free, public copies reported by our sources. Links open the source directly.

Internet Archive
Publicly readable scan; copyright status may vary by jurisdiction. Publicly accessible item; copyright status was not independently determined.
Global Grey ebooks
Global Grey describes the underlying texts in its catalog as public domain; its branding and website name remain protected, and users must assess local law.

Not yet in passage search

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Buy or borrow

Links to ISBN 0548166129; other editions may be cheaper. WorldCat shows libraries near you that hold a copy.

Editions

Open Library reports 4 editions; 2 cataloged here.

Edition	Date	Publisher	Language	ISBN	Access	Links
Global Grey ebook edition (available formats vary by title)	—	Global Grey ebooks	English	—	Public download	Global Grey ebooks (opens in a new tab) Global Grey ebooks (opens in a new tab) Global Grey ebooks (opens in a new tab) Global Grey ebooks (opens in a new tab)
or, The philosophy of spirits, apparitions, &c. Open Library record	1850	R. Bentley	English	—	Public	Open Library (opens in a new tab)