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Mysteries of the Unknown is a series of books about the paranormal, published by Time-Life Books from 1987 through 1991. Each book focused on a different topic, such as ghosts, UFOs, psychic powers and dreams. Book titles included The UFO Phenomenon, Witches and Witchcraft, Hauntings, and more. [1] The idea for the series was conceived following the popularity of the publisher's previous Enchanted World book series. [2] The Mysteries of the Unknown series used scientific aspects for credibility of its theories. The books broke the sales record for the company. [3]
Time-Life published a companion series, Collector's Library of the Unknown, from 1991 through 1993.
There were 33 volumes in the series:
Time-Life's Mysteries of the Unknown commercials would air during prime time through broadcast and cable television networks such as TNN, Nick at Nite, MTV, VH-1, and TNT.
The first commercial advertising Mysteries of the Unknown aired in September 1987; the voice-over narration started with "Chicago: a man is about to board a routine flight and suddenly he pauses, and walks away. An hour later the plane goes down in flames. It's dismissed as chance." [4] One- and two-minute versions of this commercial were aired.
A second commercial aired in September 1988; the voice-over narration began with: "How can you explain it? A woman in Wisconsin is doing the dishes, while suddenly she has a feeling that her daughter has been just been in an accident. She gets a desperate phone call and finds out her feeling has just become true. How can you explain that various people around the world – who had never met before – had encounters with beings from outer space and their descriptions of the creature match almost exactly [sketch art of grey aliens appear on screen during this narration]? That's why Time-Life Books presents a remarkable new series, Mysteries of the Unknown, which takes a clear and comprehensive look at our own untapped capabilities. Maybe no one can explain these things but they can no longer be ignored. How can you explain this? Four men enter a ring of trees and without warning one is grabbed by an unseen force, lifted five feet in the air, and suspended for thirty seconds." Images of Stonehenge and a picture of bloody hands on a window are shown.
In 1989, actress Julianne Moore appeared in a Mysteries of the Unknown commercial explaining out-of-body experiences. The narration describes her waking up in the middle of the night with the feeling of something cold on her shoulder, only to find that she was affixed to the ceiling, looking down at her own body from above. [5]
On New Year's Day of 1990, Time-Life aired another commercial for Mysteries of the Unknown in conjunction with TV Guide .[ citation needed ]
In German folklore and ghostlore, a poltergeist is a type of ghost or spirit that is responsible for physical disturbances, such as loud noises and objects being moved or destroyed. Most claims or fictional descriptions of poltergeists show them as being capable of pinching, biting, hitting, and tripping people. They are also depicted as capable of the movement or levitation of objects such as furniture and cutlery, or noises such as knocking on doors. Foul smells are also associated with poltergeist occurrences, as well as spontaneous fires and different electrical issues such as flickering lights.
The Enfield poltergeist was a claim of supernatural activity at 284 Green Street, a council house in Brimsdown, Enfield, London, England, between 1977 and 1979. The alleged poltergeist activity centred on sisters Janet, aged 11, and Margaret Hodgson, aged 13.
History's Greatest Mysteries is an American documentary television series that aired on the History Channel.
The Book of the Damned was the first published nonfiction work by American author Charles Fort. Concerning various types of anomalous phenomena including UFOs, strange falls of both organic and inorganic materials from the sky, odd weather patterns, the possible existence of creatures generally believed to be mythological, disappearances of people, and many other phenomena, the book is considered to be the first of the specific topic of anomalistics.
Mystery Hunters is a Canadian documentary television series aimed at a young audience. It aired on YTV in Canada and on Discovery Kids and MeTV in the United States. It was also dubbed in Japanese and aired in Japan on NHK.
Paranormal television is a genre of reality television that purports to document factual investigations of the paranormal rather than fictional representations seen in traditional narrative films and TV. Over the years, the genre has grown to be a staple of television and even changed the programming focus of networks like the History Channel and the Travel Channel. By highlighting beliefs in topics ranging from Bigfoot to aliens, paranormal television continues to elevate popular interest in the paranormal.
Proof Positive is a paranormal investigation reality television show broadcast by the SciFi Channel beginning on October 6, 2004, through December 8, 2004. It was shown as part of the "SciFi Wednesday" evening schedule line up in the United States along with other reality television programs as Scare Tactics and Ghost Hunters. Proof Positive ran for ten episodes.
Joe Nickell is an American skeptic and investigator of the paranormal.
Sightings is an American paranormal and news television show that first aired in the 1990s. The show began on October 17, 1991, as a special titled The UFO Report: Sightings. It was followed by the follow-up reports, Ghost Report and the Psychic Experience. The creator and supervising producer of the initial episode, produced by Paramount for Fox TV, was Linda Moulton Howe. One of her episodes was A Strange Harvest, about the worldwide animal-mutilation mystery linked to extraterrestrial beings.
Jenny Randles is a British author and former director of investigations with the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA), serving in that role from 1982 through to 1994.
Hans Holzer was an Austrian-American author and parapsychologist. He wrote more than 120 books on supernatural and occult subjects for the popular market as well as several plays, musicals, films, and documentaries, and hosted a television show, Ghost Hunter.
Nicholas Redfern is a British best-selling author, journalist, cryptozoologist and ufologist.
Ghost hunting is the process of investigating locations that are purportedly haunted by ghosts. Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect evidence supporting the existence of paranormal activity.
Truth or Scare is an American television series on the Discovery Kids network. The show aired from October 25, 2001, to January 1, 2003. It was hosted by Michelle Trachtenberg in a style similar to Maila Nurmi as horror host "Vampira" and Cassandra Peterson as horror host "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark." The series first aired on Discovery Kids as a part of the network's Scary Saturday Night Sleepover lineup. After the series ended, reruns of the show aired on The Hub until October 29, 2012.
The Unexplained: Mysteries of Mind, Space, & Time was a popular partwork magazine published by Orbis Publishing in the United Kingdom, between 1980 and 1983. It ran to 156 issues, with issue 157 being an index to the collection, and dealt with the paranormal and mysteries such as UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, ghosts, spontaneous human combustion, the Cottingley Fairies, ancient knowledge, sea monsters, the Yeti, weird coincidences, stone circles, contact with the dead, and notable historical characters linked to the occult. The magazine was published as a journal, with page numbering continuing from one edition to the next. When the magazine ceased publication, a refund was offered if the consumer returned the covers.
Secrets & Mysteries is a television series which originally aired in syndication from 1988 to 1989. It was hosted by Irish actor Edward Mulhare and dealt with topics of a paranormal nature, as well as mysterious historical events. It was similar to the 1970s/1980s series In Search of....
Northern Mysteries is a docudrama-style television program that retells some of the stranger events in Canadian history, dealing with ghosts, paranormal events, lost treasures and bizarre murders. Hosted by Kenneth Welsh each episode usually tackles two events or subjects, by discussing with journalists, the police and eyewitnesses a complete account of what happened, as well as re-enacting the events for entertainment purposes.
Nandor Fodor was a British and American parapsychologist, psychoanalyst, author and journalist of Hungarian origin.
The interdimensional hypothesis is a proposal that unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings are the result of experiencing other "dimensions" that coexist separately alongside our own in contrast with either the extraterrestrial hypothesis that suggests UFO sightings are caused by visitations from outside the Earth or the psychosocial hypothesis that argues UFO sightings are best explained as psychological or social phenomenon.
Rosemary Ellen Guiley was an American writer on topics related to spirituality, the occult, and the paranormal. She was also a radio show host, a certified hypnotist, a board director of the "National Museum of Mysteries and Research" and the "Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial Encounters", and a "Lifetime Achievement Award" winner from the Upper Peninsula Paranormal Research Society, Michigan. She has written more than 49 books, including ten encyclopedias.