A Sleigh-Riding Ghost Hunter and a Final Proof Copy

I figured the Ghost Hunter Hall of Fame needed an American, and a fellow named Walter Franklin Prince (1863-1934) seems to qualify. In early 1922, after a freezing sleigh ride to a rural farmhouse in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, Prince investigated a purported poltergeist there. A week or so later, some newspapers credited him with having found a solution to the mystery. However, the report he submitted to the American Society for Psychical Research reveals that he only offered a few theories on what was really going on. And he did not rule out supernatural causes.

Prince is now officially inducted into the Hall of Fame, and my findings regarding his handling of the Antigonish case — along with some relevant newspaper clippings — can be found on a page titled “Walter Prince: On the Peninsula of the Poltergeists.”

Feel free to read that now, but come back in about a week. If all goes well, I’ll have exciting news about The Victorian Ghost Hunter’s Casebook. I’m currently giving the final proof copy a careful going-over, so you can probably guess what that news will be.

Prince is not in the Casebook. 1922 is a couple of decades too late for the Victorian period, after all, and while the term “Victorian” is sometimes extended beyond the realm of Victoria, the dozen cases covered in the book are all British, except one Irish haunting from the 1870s. Ireland had yet to achieve independence from Britain at the time, though, so I figured it qualifies as a “Victorian” ghost hunt. That said, I end the book with an Appendix presenting two more ghost-hunting chronicles set in the United States during the mid-1800s, both just as weird and spooky and interesting as those on the other side of the Atlantic.

You can read a description of the Casebook here or by clicking on the cover above. As I not-too-slyly suggest, it should be available for purchase in roughly a week.

— Tim