Post by Graveyardbride on Feb 28, 2021 15:16:14 GMT -5
Haunted Britain: World War I and the Supernatural
Dr. Kyle Falcon, professor of history at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada, has just signed with England’s Manchester University Press for publication of Haunted Britain, a book about spiritualism, psychical research and the legacy of World War I. “When I was looking to shop this book around, they were on my list of who I was interested in publishing with. They also run a series on war and culture, so it was a good fit,” he said.
Between 1914 and 1918, more than 900,000 men from the United Kingdom died and approximately half of them were buried in unmarked graves. “When students go to France or Belgium, one of the first things they notice is that a significant number of graves are identified as an unknown body,” the 34-year-old professor explained. In addition to those approximately 200,000 burials, the bodies of another 250,000 Brits were never recovered. “They are completely missing,” he added, “which has had a profound psychological effect on those who experienced the war – both the people at home and on the front.”
Haunted Britain includes claims by witnesses who reportedly saw the ghosts of missing World War I soldiers, as well as concerted efforts by family members and friends who attempted to contact their missing loved ones lost in action.
The idea for the book came to Falcon while he was studying at Nipissing University at North Bay, Ontario. “We were reading this memoir by a Canadian soldier, Will R. Bird, who claims that the ghost of his missing brother saved him from certain death at Vimy Ridge,” he recalled. “I found that interesting because up until then, I always associated the First World War with modern technology and science; it was the first airplane war, the first submarine war, the first tank war, so it was strange to me that there was this supernatural element, which is something I wanted to explore further.” There’s also a family link through his great-grandfather, who fought for the British in the Great War.
While researching his book, Falcon, who hails from Orillia, Ontario, traveled to Europe. “As I was researching, I discovered the British are the central hub of spiritual research movements – séances, psychic phenomenon, telepathy, Ouija boards and that sort of stuff, so there is a huge interest in this on the British Isles,” the 34-year-old professor continued.
“I’ve always loved history since I was a kid and since my undergraduate degree at Nippissing, realized this is something I wanted to do for a living, I want to research and write about the First World War,” he explained. To this end, Falcon has enjoyed the experience and process of writing a book, which he hopes is the first of many.
There is no publication date at present, but Falcon admitted he is looking forward to the day he gets to share his findings with the world.
Sources: Tyler Evans, BarrieToday, February 27, 2021; and Western University.
