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Libra Esoterica

The Psychical Researcher's Tale - The Sceptical Poltergeist

From "The New Decameron", Volume III.

by John Davys Beresford

  • First published: Date unknown
  • Language: English
  • Content type: Fiction

"The Psychical Researcher's Tale - The Sceptical Poltergeist" by J. D. Beresford is a fictional narrative likely written in the early 20th century. This book falls within the genre of supernatural fiction, exploring themes of psychical research and skepticism towards paranormal phenomena. It centers on the intersection of human understanding and the unknown, particularly addressing the complexities of communication between our world and the world beyond. The story follows a psychical researcher who becomes embroiled in the Slipperton case, a perplexing incident involving poltergeist activity that affected the lives of Edgar Slipperton and his wife. As the researcher investigates the strange occurrences in their home—ranging from misplaced items to disturbances in the night—he encounters a curious elemental spirit that challenges his understanding of reality, existence, and the nature of life after death. Through a series of dialogues, the researcher and the spirit delve into their contrasting perspectives on existence, leading to an insightful yet frustrating examination of knowledge, belief, and the limits of understanding between different planes of existence. Ultimately, the book raises profound questions about what can be known and understood, leaving characters—and readers—reflecting on their beliefs regarding life, death, and the beyond. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Ghosts, hauntings, and poltergeists and Parapsychology and psychical research.

  • Controlled discovery queries from project-gutenberg matched “poltergeist”. Retained metadata contains “poltergeist” in the title, “poltergeist” in the description, and “poltergeist” in the edition title.

    • poltergeist· via Project Gutenberg
    • poltergeist· in title
    • poltergeist· in description
    • poltergeist· in edition title
  • Controlled discovery queries from project-gutenberg matched “parapsychology”. Retained metadata contains “Psychical research” in the description and “Parapsychology” in the subject metadata.

    • parapsychology· via Project Gutenberg
    • Psychical research· in description
    • Parapsychology· in subject

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

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Editions

One edition cataloged here.

From "The New Decameron", Volume III.

Project Gutenberg electronic edition

Project Gutenberg metadata does not identify the source print edition.

2007-08-31Project GutenbergEnglishPublic domain (USA)

Subjects

3 subject headings

Identifiers & provenance

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Identifiers

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Cataloging notes

  • Original print publication date and source edition are absent from Project Gutenberg metadata.
Catalog id
project-gutenberg:22479
Edition coverage
Project gutenberg electronic edition
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