AUTHOR

Deborah Hyde

Deborah Hyde is former editor of The Skeptic and is a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. She writes and lectures about belief in the malign supernatural, with special regard to the folklore, psychology and sociology behind belief.

Paranormal

The story of the Satanic Panic is a tale of religious and cultural paranoia in America

Deborah Hyde - 28th June 2021

The Satanic Panic of the 1980s showed we don't actually need a real Satan - well-meaning, deluded and fervent people will do His work for Him.

Ghosts

The Battersea Poltergeist, and the role of the paranormal investigator

Deborah Hyde - 24th May 2021

The Battersea Poltergeist demonstrates how supposedly supernatural phenomena need attention and validation to thrive

Hilary Evans Paranormal Library

‘Startling Stories’, illustrating ‘Strangers on the Heights’ by Manly Wade Wellman

Deborah Hyde - 9th April 2021

This cover of pulp magazine 'Startling Stories' from 1944 features a reanimated cadaver - a zombie, traceable to Haitian folklore

Skepticism

Monkey Business: humans aren’t alone in recognising a good bargain

Deborah Hyde - 15th February 2021

Macaques have been observed trading tourists' possessions for food - showing humans aren't the only ones to understand good value

Ghosts

Have we seen the last of the vanishing phantom hitchhiker?

Deborah Hyde - 13th January 2021

Familiarity and caution may have killed off the story of the phantom hitchhiker, but our draw towards creepy tales will always find an outlet.

Hilary Evans Paranormal Library

‘Fisherman and Djinn’: Illustration by A Stieren in ‘Tausend und eine Nacht’

Deborah Hyde - 16th December 2020

The latest image from the Hilary Evans Paranormal Library is for all of us who are frustrated at being unable to go to a pantomime this year and shout 'BEHIND YOU' at the tops of our voices.

Conspiracy Theories