BleakChesneyWold

                                              From the British Library Tales of the Weird Catherine Crowe (1790-1872)  has been called the 'first ghost hunter' or the 'first paranormal investigator'. A fluent German speaker, Mrs Crowe translated The Seeress of Provorst (1829) by prominent German scientist Justinus Kerner ( who discovered botulism and somnambulism). She was also inspired by other German scientists such as Heinrich Jung-Stilling, Karl Eschenmayer, Joseph Ennemoser, and Gotthilf Henrich von Schubert. All who were interested in the spirit world as an extension of their own research.  Mrs Crowe also wrote a series of novels published from around 1841  including,  The Story of   Lilly Dawson   ,The Adventures of Susan Hopley  or Circumstancial Evidence (  her most famous work ),   The Adventures of a Beauty...

                   Catherine Crowe (1790-1872) At the Park Gate by John Atkinson Grimshaw ( 1836-1893) painted 1878, Public domain,courtesy of  Wikimedia Commons               The Victorian era saw a massive rise in respect of deliberate communication with the Dead. Those who had passed over weren't just spectres who haunted the living, they were being invited to return. And contact with spirits had consequences. But was a seance really to blame for the 1854 breakdown of a prominent author in the mid Victorian era?  Mrs Catherine Crowe wrote a series of novels published from around 1841  including, The Story of Lilly Dawson   ,The Adventures of Susan Hopley  or Circumstancial Evidence (  her most famous work ),   The Adventures of a Beauty , Linny Lockwood.   The 'Household Words' magazine, whilst edited by Charles Dickens published three short stories ...