Call for Papers: Special issue of Horror Studies
Call for Papers: Special issue of Horror Studies “Paranormal TV” Helen Wheatley, in Gothic Television, argues that beginning in the early 1990s, gothic texts became particularly visible in television; like the gothic, paranormal-themed television became especially prevalent beginning in the 1990s and, again like the gothic, paranormal television has cut across genres, with particular visibility […]
Call for Papers on Paranormal Media
Call for Papers for Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Annual Conference, 2013 (Chicago) Paranormal Media Annette Hill, in Paranormal Media: Audiences, Spirits and Magic in Popular Culture, observes that in recent years, paranormal beliefs have entered the mainstream. Although the paranormal had a presence in popular culture and various media forms for centuries, […]
Call for Papers: Representations of Ghosts in Media and Popular Culture
CFP: Representations of Ghosts in Media and Popular Culture Society for Cinema and Media Studies 2013 Annual Conference Chicago, 6-10 March 2013 Deadline for submission of abstracts: 7 August 2012 Spirits and ghosts have been part of our culture for hundreds of years. On the stage of Shakespeare’s dramas and in religious rituals, in Dickens’ […]
Call for Abstracts: A “Supernatural” History of Central Europe, 1870-Present
Call for Abstracts: “A ‘Supernatural’ History of Central Europe, 1870-present” Editors: Eric Kurlander (Stetson U.) and Monica Black (U. of Tenn., Knoxville) Deadline: August 1, 2012 Despite the ostensible “disenchantment of the world” proclaimed by Max Weber at the beginning of the twentieth century, Central Europe has a rich modern history of occultism, folklore, paganism, […]
Ghost Images: Cinema of the Afterlife
Some recent research turned up a book title that I found helpful, Ghost Images: Cinema of the Afterlife by Tom Ruffles (McFarland, 2004). The back cover of the book describes Ruffles as a teacher in communication skills and film studies in the United Kingdom, but the promotional materials from the publisher indicate another interesting facet […]
Cal Cooper: Telephone Calls From the Dead
A friend and colleague recently made me aware of a BBC News report about people allegedly receiving telephone calls and text messages from a deceased friend and family member. I was intrigued by this and my friend suggested I consult the work of Cal Cooper on the phenomenon. I tracked him down via the Internet […]
Nova Religio Call for Papers: Paranormal, Religion, and Culture
Joseph Laycock has recently been given the privilege of guest editing a special issue of Nova Religio on the paranormal. In the last few years, several good books have appeared that consider so-called “paranormal” beliefs, discourses, and experiences as an object of inquiry for religion scholars. Like the category “religion,” the category “paranormal” is poorly […]
Phantom Clowns, Bogus Social Workers, and Men in Black
Paul Meehan has been the focus of interviews here previously on the subject of UFOs and the paranormal in cinema. He has also contributed his own written articles from time to time, and below you will find his latest essay touching on phantom clowns […]
Jeffrey Kripal Interview on Mutants & Mystics: Comics, Sci-Fi and the Paranormal
Jeffrey Kripal has returned to discuss his latest book addressing the esoteric and the paranormal in popular culture. In this case his new book is Mutants & Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal (University of Chicago Press, 2011). From the book’s description: In many ways, twentieth-century America was the land of superheroes and […]
TheoFantastique Podcast: Erik Davis on Modern Esoterica in Popular Culture
TheoFantastique Podcast 2.3 is available, an interview with Erik Davis, author of Nomad Codes: Adventures in Modern Esoterica (YETI/Verse Chorus Press, 2010). Davis defines “modern esoterica” in his preface as “a no-man’s land located somewhere between anthropology and mystical pulp, between the zendo and the metal club, between cultural criticism and extraordinary experience, whether psychedelic, […]
