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The Haunting of Alma Fielding
London, 1938. In the suburbs of the city, an ordinary young housewife has become the eye in a storm of chaos. In Alma Fielding's modest home, china flies off the shelves, eggs fly through the air; stolen jewellery appears on her fingers, white mice crawl out of her handbag, beetles appear from under her gloves; in the middle of a car journey, a terrapin materialises on her lap. Nandor Fodor - a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical Research - reads of the case, and hastens to the scene of the haunting. But when Fodor starts his scrupulous investigation, he discovers that the case is even stranger than it seems. By unravelling Alma's peculiar history, he finds a different and darker type of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss - and the foreshadowing of a nation's worst fears. As the spectre of Fascism lengthens over Europe, and as Fodor's obsession with the case deepens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed. With rigour, daring and insight, the award-winning pioneer of non-fiction writing Kate Summerscale shadows Fodor's enquiry, delving into long-hidden archives to find the human story behind a very modern haunting.
368 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2020
About the author
Kate Summerscale
9 books546 followersKate Summerscale (born in 1965) is an English writer and journalist.
She won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction in 2008 with The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House and won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1998 (and was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Awards for biography) for the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, about Joe Carstairs, "fastest woman on water."
As a journalist, she worked for The Independent and The Daily Telegraph and her articles have appeared in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. She stumbled on the story for The Suspicions of Mr Whicher in an 1890s anthology of unsolved crime stories and became so fascinated that she left her post as literary editor of The Daily Telegraph to pursue her investigations. She spent a year researching the book and another year writing it.
She has also judged various literary competitions including the Booker Prize in 2001.
She won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-fiction in 2008 with The Suspicions of Mr Whicher or The Murder at Road Hill House and won a Somerset Maugham Award in 1998 (and was shortlisted for the 1997 Whitbread Awards for biography) for the bestselling The Queen of Whale Cay, about Joe Carstairs, "fastest woman on water."
As a journalist, she worked for The Independent and The Daily Telegraph and her articles have appeared in The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph. She stumbled on the story for The Suspicions of Mr Whicher in an 1890s anthology of unsolved crime stories and became so fascinated that she left her post as literary editor of The Daily Telegraph to pursue her investigations. She spent a year researching the book and another year writing it.
She has also judged various literary competitions including the Booker Prize in 2001.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 643 reviews
May 17, 2021
This is a nonfiction book so know it’s not your typical ghost story. That being said, I enjoyed it as I listened to it from the library. I loved the narrator so much that it might have just been him 😏
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
January 18, 2021
If you go into this thinking you're going to get a scary story you will be disappointed but if you're interested in the psychology of the time explaining why someone would be "haunted" this is a good book. It's a bit dry at times but I still enjoyed it. 3.5 stars
January 23, 2021
The Haunting of Alma Fielding
A True Ghost Story
by Kate Summerscale
This book was compiled into a readable format from notes and drawings from a famous researcher, Fodor, that was looking for the truth about whether there was life after death. The book contains some pictures too.
The book reads almost like a story crossed with a newspaper article. It follows Fodor and his search. It was in the late 1930's when spiritualism was spreading across Europe. WWI had finished with great lose of life along with the plague. People were just getting their bearings again and rumblings were starting there was another war possible. Death seemed everywhere. Loss was a constant theme.
People flocked to seances and there were many famous people performing them. Fodor went to investigate. He was a member of an International Research team that studied this. He was amazed by what he saw! He traveled to various events and witnessed "ghosts", ectoplasm, speaking to the dead, and more. He was convinced it was all real until a few journalists busted a few of the ones he had witnessed. He felt foolish since he was a researcher.
He then started to approach the subject with a keen eye. He revealed many deceptions and was shunned by his team because they were still all for spiritualism.
When he heard about Alma Fielding and her house, he sent an assistant there to check it out! Then he went himself!
The book logs everything that happens, inside and outside the house. At first, it sounds haunted. The researchers all think it is a poltergeist and it is Alma herself. No one thinks ghost! But as more and more information comes about, more things happen, well...then my view changes completely!
I enjoyed this book for the sociology of the time, of women, of spiritualism, and more. It was completed with notes so it doesn't flow real smooth. If the author wanted to get some of the side things in, which I am glad she did, it had to be written like this. I found all these odd stories fascinating! I won't give my opinion on what I felt was really going on in the house, I think everyone needs to read all the facts and make their own decision.
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for making it possible for me to read this book. The review is all my own opinion. I recommend this book heartily.
A True Ghost Story
by Kate Summerscale
This book was compiled into a readable format from notes and drawings from a famous researcher, Fodor, that was looking for the truth about whether there was life after death. The book contains some pictures too.
The book reads almost like a story crossed with a newspaper article. It follows Fodor and his search. It was in the late 1930's when spiritualism was spreading across Europe. WWI had finished with great lose of life along with the plague. People were just getting their bearings again and rumblings were starting there was another war possible. Death seemed everywhere. Loss was a constant theme.
People flocked to seances and there were many famous people performing them. Fodor went to investigate. He was a member of an International Research team that studied this. He was amazed by what he saw! He traveled to various events and witnessed "ghosts", ectoplasm, speaking to the dead, and more. He was convinced it was all real until a few journalists busted a few of the ones he had witnessed. He felt foolish since he was a researcher.
He then started to approach the subject with a keen eye. He revealed many deceptions and was shunned by his team because they were still all for spiritualism.
When he heard about Alma Fielding and her house, he sent an assistant there to check it out! Then he went himself!
The book logs everything that happens, inside and outside the house. At first, it sounds haunted. The researchers all think it is a poltergeist and it is Alma herself. No one thinks ghost! But as more and more information comes about, more things happen, well...then my view changes completely!
I enjoyed this book for the sociology of the time, of women, of spiritualism, and more. It was completed with notes so it doesn't flow real smooth. If the author wanted to get some of the side things in, which I am glad she did, it had to be written like this. I found all these odd stories fascinating! I won't give my opinion on what I felt was really going on in the house, I think everyone needs to read all the facts and make their own decision.
I want to thank the publisher and NetGalley for making it possible for me to read this book. The review is all my own opinion. I recommend this book heartily.
September 18, 2020
This is an account of Nandor Fodor, a Hungarian pioneer of supernatural study, and housewife Alma Fielding, who became the centre of poltergeist activity in pre-war Thornton Heath. The book begins on the 21st February, 1938, when Nandor Fodor receives a letter from the Reverend Francis Nicolle, informing him of a story he saw in the newspaper. Fodor is keen to have a ghost story that he can prove as real and heads over to interview Alma.
Alma lives with her husband, Leslie, son Donald and a lodger, George. Stories about their the goings on at their house include smashed glasses, snapped saucers, lights that went off and on, tipped furniture, broken eggs and things that appear in odd places. These stories result in a lot of publicity and Fodor is keen to investigate scientifically. However, Fodor, and the reader, are aware that poltergeists are often seen as expressions of anxiety – as either hoaxes, or kinetic energies, which are spontaneously projected by psychic individuals.
In 1938, with a country facing war, there were lots of anxiety. Interestingly, a book out later this year, “A Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany,” by Monica Black, looks at supernatural events in post-war Germany, so it is obvious that times of national crisis can cause a rise of such expressed beliefs. As Britain braced itself for war in 1938, Fodor had to consider the fact that Alma’s experiences were due to some kind of trauma – either personal or external. In other words, he found himself in the odd situation of having to find her a fraud, while hoping he could prove she was not.
I found Nandor Fodor a fascinating character. He seemed truly kind, sympathetic to Alma and to her love of attention. As time goes on, we read of the endless experiments and the book flagged a little here, I thought, as there are séances, hypnosis and Alma is searched, weighed and scrutinised. Overall, though, this was a well researched account of one intense study into events to see whether they could be considered supernatural, or whether there was a darker reason. This is a worthy addition to the Baillie Gifford longlist and deserves to be shortlisted, in my opinion. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
Alma lives with her husband, Leslie, son Donald and a lodger, George. Stories about their the goings on at their house include smashed glasses, snapped saucers, lights that went off and on, tipped furniture, broken eggs and things that appear in odd places. These stories result in a lot of publicity and Fodor is keen to investigate scientifically. However, Fodor, and the reader, are aware that poltergeists are often seen as expressions of anxiety – as either hoaxes, or kinetic energies, which are spontaneously projected by psychic individuals.
In 1938, with a country facing war, there were lots of anxiety. Interestingly, a book out later this year, “A Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany,” by Monica Black, looks at supernatural events in post-war Germany, so it is obvious that times of national crisis can cause a rise of such expressed beliefs. As Britain braced itself for war in 1938, Fodor had to consider the fact that Alma’s experiences were due to some kind of trauma – either personal or external. In other words, he found himself in the odd situation of having to find her a fraud, while hoping he could prove she was not.
I found Nandor Fodor a fascinating character. He seemed truly kind, sympathetic to Alma and to her love of attention. As time goes on, we read of the endless experiments and the book flagged a little here, I thought, as there are séances, hypnosis and Alma is searched, weighed and scrutinised. Overall, though, this was a well researched account of one intense study into events to see whether they could be considered supernatural, or whether there was a darker reason. This is a worthy addition to the Baillie Gifford longlist and deserves to be shortlisted, in my opinion. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, for review.
October 26, 2020
I must confess that I failed to enjoy this book as much as the author's The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, though that's scarcely the fault of Kate Summerscale. It is obvious she put a huge effort into researching this book and the descriptions of poltergeist phenomena were often breathtakingly amusing, especially in the early parts of the book. But the more we learn about Alma Fielding and her family, the less attractive they become. The subtitle also seems a suggestio falsi. Whether "true" modifies "ghost" or "story" makes a huge difference. But though I was disappointed, I learned a lot about pre-war English popular culture, and not just about ghosts. One aspect was how "multi-cultural" it was. Mediums channeled Indians, both of the Asian and American variety, as well as ancient Babylonians. The psychic investigator in this case ultimately became a psychoanalyst which might make us reflect on what different periods regard as superstition and science.
October 9, 2020
This was easily one of my most anticipated books of 2020. I love books about the supernatural, and I've read and enjoyed two of Kate Summerscale's previous books.
So it came to a real surprise that this one fell flat for me.
There were parts of it I enjoyed. It was interesting to learn about why seances became so popular in the early 20th century and why hauntings seemed to increase so dramatically. The different theories about the possible causes of hauntings - from the psychological to plain old sleight-of-hand - were particularly interesting.
But it all felt a bit clinical. A lot of the time it was like reading a simple listing of events and facts, without any personality or empathy to really engage the reader. I found myself a bit bored as a result, tempted to skip over some of the pages.
So it came to a real surprise that this one fell flat for me.
There were parts of it I enjoyed. It was interesting to learn about why seances became so popular in the early 20th century and why hauntings seemed to increase so dramatically. The different theories about the possible causes of hauntings - from the psychological to plain old sleight-of-hand - were particularly interesting.
But it all felt a bit clinical. A lot of the time it was like reading a simple listing of events and facts, without any personality or empathy to really engage the reader. I found myself a bit bored as a result, tempted to skip over some of the pages.
March 27, 2021
I think a lot of the cranky reviews for this one come from expecting an actual ghost story, when actually it shows how and why ghost stories exist in the first place. The author did excellent work in showing what underlies every ghost or haunting story - trauma, memory, inability to cope with psychological pain, the layering of mental conflicts and emotional wounds - among other haunting, lingering horrors that are, to me, far more frightening than the supernatural.
I didn’t find it all that dry either, actually I couldn’t wait to get back to it every evening. I guess if you don’t read a lot of nonfiction this could feel “dry”? You could do worse for a history that retells a lot of complicated, subterfuge-filled events and quite a lot of information. It manages to be entertaining and it had no shortage of lovely lines and poignant, or sometimes chilling, observations.
But sure, if you’re expecting a “true” ghost story as the subtitle promises, this won’t be it. But you know, life spoiler alert: none of them are, and this is a pretty good template for what’s going on in others. The more you know! 🌈🌟
I didn’t find it all that dry either, actually I couldn’t wait to get back to it every evening. I guess if you don’t read a lot of nonfiction this could feel “dry”? You could do worse for a history that retells a lot of complicated, subterfuge-filled events and quite a lot of information. It manages to be entertaining and it had no shortage of lovely lines and poignant, or sometimes chilling, observations.
But sure, if you’re expecting a “true” ghost story as the subtitle promises, this won’t be it. But you know, life spoiler alert: none of them are, and this is a pretty good template for what’s going on in others. The more you know! 🌈🌟
October 15, 2021
3.5 stars
November 25, 2021
The only haunting aspect of is book is the fact that people used to guzzle beef extract like people today drink soda, yuck
January 8, 2021
A tale of the human need for the other, for that experience that which is outside one's everyday. The need to believe that there is more to life than just what we are presented with. For Nandor Fodor it is the need to find proof of his belief in the afterlife while for Alma Fielding it is the need to be of interest, of use to the world beyond the daily drudgery of an inter-war Croydon Housewife.
I enjoyed the historical side of the book – a time where Institutes of Psychic studies still exist although in decline and with dwindling support from their heady days of Victorian fervour and twenty years after the end of WW1 the wounds of loss had begun to heal and so the desperate longing to commune with dead loved ones had eased.
Freud even makes a cameo appearance and the book charts, through Fodor's own realisation, the move away from seeking external explanations for disturbances to looking at inner disturbance, the way the mind can create what appears to be phenomena as a coping mechanism.
It is also a study in manipulation, with Alma and Fodor both being both the perpetrator and victim and by the end equally complicit in the events and each finally reaching a truth of sorts.
Well written and engaging it helped me see in the New Year.
I enjoyed the historical side of the book – a time where Institutes of Psychic studies still exist although in decline and with dwindling support from their heady days of Victorian fervour and twenty years after the end of WW1 the wounds of loss had begun to heal and so the desperate longing to commune with dead loved ones had eased.
Freud even makes a cameo appearance and the book charts, through Fodor's own realisation, the move away from seeking external explanations for disturbances to looking at inner disturbance, the way the mind can create what appears to be phenomena as a coping mechanism.
It is also a study in manipulation, with Alma and Fodor both being both the perpetrator and victim and by the end equally complicit in the events and each finally reaching a truth of sorts.
Well written and engaging it helped me see in the New Year.
November 14, 2020
This was more like reading a psychological report rather than a 'true ghost story'. There was no flow to the narrative and I really struggled to finish it.
October 3, 2020
My thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing U.K. for an eARC via NetGalley of ‘The Haunting of Alma Fielding: a True Ghost Story’ by Kate Summerscale in exchange for an honest review.
My thanks to also to The Pigeonhole for hosting a group read for this title. I enjoyed being able to share my thoughts and exchange comments with my fellow Pigeons as we read through the daily staves.
This is a fascinating account of a groundbreaking investigation into psychic phenomena that took place in England just prior to the outbreak of WWII.
London, 1938. Nandor Fodor, a Jewish-Hungarian refugee is the chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical Research. He reads of the case of Alma Fielding, an ordinary young housewife whose home has become the site of extraordinary events, such as crockery flying off the shelves, unusual noises and even small animals appearing out of thin air. It all suggests the presence of a poltergeist.
Fodor hastens to the scene and convinces Alma to allow him to undertake a scrupulous investigation on behalf of the Institute. As he unveils Alma’s history Fodor discovers that the case is even stranger than it first seemed. Meanwhile, the spectre of Fascism is growing in Europe.
This was a fascinating in-depth look at this landmark case. As with her 2008 ‘The Suspicions of Mr. Whitcher’, this is a work of nonfiction that reads like fiction. Summerscale is a gifted storyteller, weaving together dry reports, articles, and various sources into a tale as exciting as any fictional account of hauntings.
As I was reading an early proof copy it was missing the bibliography, index and acknowledgments, though there were headings for these. However, it is clear from reading the text that this was very well researched.
I felt that Summerscale presented the material in a very fair handed manner. I was interested in Fodor’s association with Sigmund Freud, who read his work on the Fielding case, and later career as a psychoanalyst. They important conclusions that Fodor made in this study has continued to be an major influence on the study of psychic phenomena.
In addition, in the final chapter she notes how Fodor’s work was a direct inspiration for later depictions in fiction of hauntings; notably Shirley Jackson’s powerful 1959 novel, ‘The Haunting of Hill House’. The novel and 1963 film had such a profound effect on me.
I expect that how this book will be received by individual readers will depend on how they feel about psychic phenomena. All my life I have been accepting of psychic and supernatural events, and my reception of ‘The Haunting of Alma Fielding’ is naturally influenced by this background.
However, I feel that whether one believes in the supernatural, hauntings, and ghosts or not, this book offers a great deal of food for thought. It likely will also generate lively discussion if chosen by reading groups.
My thanks to also to The Pigeonhole for hosting a group read for this title. I enjoyed being able to share my thoughts and exchange comments with my fellow Pigeons as we read through the daily staves.
This is a fascinating account of a groundbreaking investigation into psychic phenomena that took place in England just prior to the outbreak of WWII.
London, 1938. Nandor Fodor, a Jewish-Hungarian refugee is the chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical Research. He reads of the case of Alma Fielding, an ordinary young housewife whose home has become the site of extraordinary events, such as crockery flying off the shelves, unusual noises and even small animals appearing out of thin air. It all suggests the presence of a poltergeist.
Fodor hastens to the scene and convinces Alma to allow him to undertake a scrupulous investigation on behalf of the Institute. As he unveils Alma’s history Fodor discovers that the case is even stranger than it first seemed. Meanwhile, the spectre of Fascism is growing in Europe.
This was a fascinating in-depth look at this landmark case. As with her 2008 ‘The Suspicions of Mr. Whitcher’, this is a work of nonfiction that reads like fiction. Summerscale is a gifted storyteller, weaving together dry reports, articles, and various sources into a tale as exciting as any fictional account of hauntings.
As I was reading an early proof copy it was missing the bibliography, index and acknowledgments, though there were headings for these. However, it is clear from reading the text that this was very well researched.
I felt that Summerscale presented the material in a very fair handed manner. I was interested in Fodor’s association with Sigmund Freud, who read his work on the Fielding case, and later career as a psychoanalyst. They important conclusions that Fodor made in this study has continued to be an major influence on the study of psychic phenomena.
In addition, in the final chapter she notes how Fodor’s work was a direct inspiration for later depictions in fiction of hauntings; notably Shirley Jackson’s powerful 1959 novel, ‘The Haunting of Hill House’. The novel and 1963 film had such a profound effect on me.
I expect that how this book will be received by individual readers will depend on how they feel about psychic phenomena. All my life I have been accepting of psychic and supernatural events, and my reception of ‘The Haunting of Alma Fielding’ is naturally influenced by this background.
However, I feel that whether one believes in the supernatural, hauntings, and ghosts or not, this book offers a great deal of food for thought. It likely will also generate lively discussion if chosen by reading groups.
September 28, 2020
London, 1938. Alma Fielding, an ordinary young woman, begins to experience supernatural events in her suburban home.
Nander Fodor - a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical Research - begins to investigate. In doing so he discovers a different and darker type of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss - and the foreshadowing of a nation's worst fears. As the spectre of Fascism lengthens over Europe, and as Fodor's obsession with the case deepens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed.
With rigour, daring and insight, the award-winning pioneer of historical narrative non-fiction Kate Summerscale shadows Fodor's enquiry, delving into long-hidden archives to find the human story behind a very modern haunting.
Honestly I have no idea what I was expecting when I went into this one. I've never read a book by Summerscale. I saw 'haunting', I wanted a spooky vibe, I clicked request. What this lacked in spooky vibes it made up for in candidness. It's non-fiction (which I really wasn't expecting), but reads as easily as fiction. Summerscale very obviously put so much research into this, it was endlessly compelling.
The story mainly follows Fodor and his study of one woman, Alma, and her claims of being haunted by a poltergeist. It branches off frequently in order to explain more about the times, the general obsession with the supernormal, and the different hauntings and phenomena that rose to popularity, but this never feels unnecessary or particularly meandering. I found myself feeling grateful for any information thrown my way about the topic of Psychical Research; a topic I was wholly unaware even had such a popularity in those times.
Summerscale manages to flawlessly evoke the feeling of a country in flux, still recovering from one wartime period and potentially entering another. The role of women is touched upon - the transition from housewife/mother, to working woman in wartime, and back again. The way Fodor himself goes through an evolution, moulding his work to involve psychiatry as well as the psychical, is explored throughout.
The characters are not particularly likeable, but they are certainly fascinating. Their motivations are probed, picked apart, and laid bare in the name of research. This is a well-written and easily digested snapshot of one man's project, a scientific view into a typically non-scientific world, and if you're interested in historical fiction or the supernatural then I'm sure you'll love it as much as I did.
Big thanks to the author, NetGalley, and Bloomsbury for the review copy. This one's available to purchase on the 01/10/20!
Nander Fodor - a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical Research - begins to investigate. In doing so he discovers a different and darker type of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss - and the foreshadowing of a nation's worst fears. As the spectre of Fascism lengthens over Europe, and as Fodor's obsession with the case deepens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed.
With rigour, daring and insight, the award-winning pioneer of historical narrative non-fiction Kate Summerscale shadows Fodor's enquiry, delving into long-hidden archives to find the human story behind a very modern haunting.
Honestly I have no idea what I was expecting when I went into this one. I've never read a book by Summerscale. I saw 'haunting', I wanted a spooky vibe, I clicked request. What this lacked in spooky vibes it made up for in candidness. It's non-fiction (which I really wasn't expecting), but reads as easily as fiction. Summerscale very obviously put so much research into this, it was endlessly compelling.
The story mainly follows Fodor and his study of one woman, Alma, and her claims of being haunted by a poltergeist. It branches off frequently in order to explain more about the times, the general obsession with the supernormal, and the different hauntings and phenomena that rose to popularity, but this never feels unnecessary or particularly meandering. I found myself feeling grateful for any information thrown my way about the topic of Psychical Research; a topic I was wholly unaware even had such a popularity in those times.
Summerscale manages to flawlessly evoke the feeling of a country in flux, still recovering from one wartime period and potentially entering another. The role of women is touched upon - the transition from housewife/mother, to working woman in wartime, and back again. The way Fodor himself goes through an evolution, moulding his work to involve psychiatry as well as the psychical, is explored throughout.
The characters are not particularly likeable, but they are certainly fascinating. Their motivations are probed, picked apart, and laid bare in the name of research. This is a well-written and easily digested snapshot of one man's project, a scientific view into a typically non-scientific world, and if you're interested in historical fiction or the supernatural then I'm sure you'll love it as much as I did.
Big thanks to the author, NetGalley, and Bloomsbury for the review copy. This one's available to purchase on the 01/10/20!
May 13, 2021
In the late 1930s, a London housewife called Alma Fielding claimed that she and her home were being afflicted by a mischievous poltergeist: objects jumped off shelves or floated down the stairs, scratches appeared on Fielding's body and voices whispered in her ear. The events attracted the interest first of the tabloids and then of Nandor Fodor, the Hungary-born director of the International Institute for Psychical Research, one of many such pseudo-scientific institutions which flourished in the interwar period.
Kate Summerscale draws on Fodor's notes on the case and newspaper accounts to explore the Fielding case, its causes, and the contemporary political and social contexts which shaped it. Since there's no such thing as ghosts or telekinesis, of course, Alma Fielding herself had to have been causing the strange occurrences—but was she doing so consciously, unconsciously, or some mix of the two?
At this remove of time, and with Alma Fielding never providing a full explanation for what she did and why, Summerscale can't offer a definitive answer to this question. There are also times when the story feels a little flimsy, because the events described didn't last for very long and because you can't really get much narrative energy out of "but is it ghosts?" (No.) Still, this is an engaging read that explores issues of anxiety, gender, class and sexuality, and why it is that people so often and so desperately want to believe in the supernatural.
Kate Summerscale draws on Fodor's notes on the case and newspaper accounts to explore the Fielding case, its causes, and the contemporary political and social contexts which shaped it. Since there's no such thing as ghosts or telekinesis, of course, Alma Fielding herself had to have been causing the strange occurrences—but was she doing so consciously, unconsciously, or some mix of the two?
At this remove of time, and with Alma Fielding never providing a full explanation for what she did and why, Summerscale can't offer a definitive answer to this question. There are also times when the story feels a little flimsy, because the events described didn't last for very long and because you can't really get much narrative energy out of "but is it ghosts?" (No.) Still, this is an engaging read that explores issues of anxiety, gender, class and sexuality, and why it is that people so often and so desperately want to believe in the supernatural.
Read
October 4, 2021To be honest, I wanted to like this book more than I ended up liking it. The subject matter is interesting: a woman in London just before World War II who experiences upsetting visitations from a poltergeist. I like this sort of story and I expected lots of chills and thrills. While it was a fascinating read, it was also quite dry. I like non-fiction to be as good as fiction. I like to be grabbed by the throat and so involved in the story that I don't want to put it down, even if I know the ending. This book didn't do it for me. So while it was a revealing tale, it just didn't do what I think it could have done had the author managed to tell it with more immediacy.
October 24, 2020
I'm really disappointed! I've loved all of Kate Summerscale's books (and I've read them all) and I just was bored by this. I loved the start and oddly, I loved the end, but the haunted middle just dragged like a ghost's manacles. I just felt it was too 'listy'. Endless anecdotes of what Alma Fielding did or felt and not enough of the 'why'. I mean, I realise there is no 'why' (which is kinda the point) but following Fodor to the end of his days might have been far more interesting. Or even following Alma to the end of hers.
What a shame.
What a shame.
September 26, 2023
This one started slow, but then, holy cow, it became fascinating!
Kate Summerscale did a phenomenal job writing this in such an engaging way. The narration was superbly done.
I HIGHLY recommend this NONFICTION exploration and investigation into the paranormal events that surround Alma Fielding.
This is a must-read, especially if you are into paranormal/psychology/personality disorders, etc.
Solid 5 Stars
Kate Summerscale did a phenomenal job writing this in such an engaging way. The narration was superbly done.
I HIGHLY recommend this NONFICTION exploration and investigation into the paranormal events that surround Alma Fielding.
This is a must-read, especially if you are into paranormal/psychology/personality disorders, etc.
Solid 5 Stars
August 1, 2021
I honestly don't know what to say about this book. Sleazy is the word that comes to mind. I am not quite sure why an author of this caliber chose to write about what is basically tabloid material. I kept reading because I thought that surely there would come a point where I would understand why the book was written--but that point never came for me. Please do not waste your time here. There is nothing to be learned or enjoyed in these pages.
April 21, 2022
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I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free.
A fascinating true story of trauma, spiritualism, psychology, and national fear. I really enjoyed this look into the 1930's obsession with supposed hauntings, and why people were so desperate to believe in the existence of life after life at this time (and beyond). Summerscale does a great job of setting the scene, showing a nation on the verge of war and how current events influenced the interest in the paranormal.
I really enjoyed the quirky cast of characters, from Fodor, a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and devoted parapsychologist who's desperate to prove that Fielding's case is a true haunting, to Alma herself, a housewife with a dark past who may or may not be faking her experiences. Summerscale depicts their strange relationship and how they fed off of each other, with Fodor's obsession with Alma's increasingly strange case growing.
I love stories of the supernatural and The Haunting of Alma Fielding is a fascinating look at a poltergeist haunting drawn from the investigator's own notes. I'd highly recommend the audiobook for this one, the narrator does a great job.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This review is spoiler-free.
A fascinating true story of trauma, spiritualism, psychology, and national fear. I really enjoyed this look into the 1930's obsession with supposed hauntings, and why people were so desperate to believe in the existence of life after life at this time (and beyond). Summerscale does a great job of setting the scene, showing a nation on the verge of war and how current events influenced the interest in the paranormal.
I really enjoyed the quirky cast of characters, from Fodor, a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and devoted parapsychologist who's desperate to prove that Fielding's case is a true haunting, to Alma herself, a housewife with a dark past who may or may not be faking her experiences. Summerscale depicts their strange relationship and how they fed off of each other, with Fodor's obsession with Alma's increasingly strange case growing.
I love stories of the supernatural and The Haunting of Alma Fielding is a fascinating look at a poltergeist haunting drawn from the investigator's own notes. I'd highly recommend the audiobook for this one, the narrator does a great job.
October 19, 2020
This was quite a fascinating read. Written in the style of narrative non-fiction, The Haunting of Alma Fielding is a ‘true ghost story’ in the sense that it examines an investigative case from the 1930s in which a woman was haunted by a poltergeist. Using the original case notes, the author has put together a truly compelling book that explores the link between psychology and the supernatural played out against the historical backdrop of a nation gripped by fear and loss.
The investigator for this case was a man named Nandor Fodor, who, as the author puts it,
‘was entranced by the idea that individuals contained secret worlds, hidden from themselves, and that supernatural events might be stories to interpret, symbols to decode.’
This book gives a detailed background of Fodor, which aids greatly in understanding what he was trying to achieve concerning Alma Fielding. His interest in Psychical research began early in his adult life, whilst working in New York.
‘He read about spiritualism, a religion that emerged in upstate New York in the middle of the nineteenth century, and about the Society for Psychical Research, founded in England in 1882 to establish a science of the ‘supernormal’. Spiritualists held that the dead survived in another world, and could communicate with the living. Psychical researchers investigated weird experiences to find out whether they were governed by spirits or by natural laws that were not yet understood.’
By the time he moved to Britain, his interest in the field was cemented and his adopted nation proved prime pickings for ghost hunting and the study of mediums.
‘Spiritualism was big business in Britain. Three quarters of a million Britons had been killed in the Great War, and another quarter of a million in the influenza pandemic that followed. Thousands of spiritualist séance circles were established by their widows, widowers and sweethearts, mothers and fathers and children. The faith offered ‘something tremendous’, said Conan Doyle, ‘a breaking down of the walls between two worlds… a call of hope and of guidance to the human race at the time of its deepest affliction.’
I have to say I find this all utterly fascinating from an historical interest point of view. I’m not particularly superstitious myself, but in reality, some of this comes down to fear more than scepticism. Fodor’s interest lay in making connections between the supernatural and trauma, so his research and experiments dipped into psychology regularly. In fact, he consulted with Freud on Alma’s case and was pleased with himself when Freud concurred with his theories. Fodor was a bit ahead of his time though, and quite aggressive in his drive to prove his case, so the majority of his colleagues were put off by the connections he was attempting to make.
‘A ghost was the sign of an unacknowledged horror. It indicated a gap opened by trauma, an event that because it had not been assimilated must be perpetually relived. There were no words, so there was a haunting.’
~~~
‘In effect, Fodor’s psychical research had transmuted into a study of abnormal psychology; he was suggesting that supernatural power was a function of mental breakdown.’
~~~
‘Fodor had noticed that supernatural events were unusually able to communicate the splintering and contradiction of a traumatic experience.’
~~~
‘Since the 1980s, researchers in the psychology of supernatural belief have found a correlation between childhood trauma and adult experiences of paranormality. People who have been sexually abused as children are unusually likely to report supernatural events. Psychologists speculate that damaged children learn to use fantasy as a form of escape, while their desperate wish for control generates delusions of psychic power.’
Specifically on Alma Fielding, what an interesting case this was. There was evidence of both fraud and the unexplained and in essence, no one was ever really able to determine the entire truth of the matter. Fodor was certain as time went on though, that Alma had repressed abuse from childhood.
‘Alma had a strong masochistic drive, Fodor observed: she played a double role, as aggressor and victim. But then he, too, had taken a double role, as Alma’s champion and her inquisitor. In the course of the investigation, their relationship had acquired a sadomasochistic shape, admiration and desire becoming entangled with secrecy, deceit and control.’
~~~
‘In Fodor’s account, both Alma’s eerie experiences and her fraud were explained by the damage done to her in childhood. His theory made haunting consistent with psychoanalysis: not a counter-argument that suggested that some gifted individuals could make contact with another world or with their subliminal selves, but a proof of the uncanny power of repression.’
Interestingly, the author makes a connection within Alma’s case that Fodor seems to have overlooked: the loss of her child to tubercular meningitis at age one. She also miscarried twins late in pregnancy. These losses had a profound effect on her and there were clear connections between anniversaries of the deaths and supernatural incidents occurring. Alma had also had incredibly bad luck with her health and had had multiple operations under anaesthetic, including a mastectomy, and by her own accounts, each of these operations had been traumatic, along with the ongoing health issues surrounding them. Perhaps Fodor was right about the trauma connection, but barking up the wrong tree about the origin of the trauma. Again, something that no one will ever know, but it certainly was interesting reading all about it.
Thanks is extended to Bloomsbury for providing me with a copy of The Haunting of Alma Fielding for review.
The investigator for this case was a man named Nandor Fodor, who, as the author puts it,
‘was entranced by the idea that individuals contained secret worlds, hidden from themselves, and that supernatural events might be stories to interpret, symbols to decode.’
This book gives a detailed background of Fodor, which aids greatly in understanding what he was trying to achieve concerning Alma Fielding. His interest in Psychical research began early in his adult life, whilst working in New York.
‘He read about spiritualism, a religion that emerged in upstate New York in the middle of the nineteenth century, and about the Society for Psychical Research, founded in England in 1882 to establish a science of the ‘supernormal’. Spiritualists held that the dead survived in another world, and could communicate with the living. Psychical researchers investigated weird experiences to find out whether they were governed by spirits or by natural laws that were not yet understood.’
By the time he moved to Britain, his interest in the field was cemented and his adopted nation proved prime pickings for ghost hunting and the study of mediums.
‘Spiritualism was big business in Britain. Three quarters of a million Britons had been killed in the Great War, and another quarter of a million in the influenza pandemic that followed. Thousands of spiritualist séance circles were established by their widows, widowers and sweethearts, mothers and fathers and children. The faith offered ‘something tremendous’, said Conan Doyle, ‘a breaking down of the walls between two worlds… a call of hope and of guidance to the human race at the time of its deepest affliction.’
I have to say I find this all utterly fascinating from an historical interest point of view. I’m not particularly superstitious myself, but in reality, some of this comes down to fear more than scepticism. Fodor’s interest lay in making connections between the supernatural and trauma, so his research and experiments dipped into psychology regularly. In fact, he consulted with Freud on Alma’s case and was pleased with himself when Freud concurred with his theories. Fodor was a bit ahead of his time though, and quite aggressive in his drive to prove his case, so the majority of his colleagues were put off by the connections he was attempting to make.
‘A ghost was the sign of an unacknowledged horror. It indicated a gap opened by trauma, an event that because it had not been assimilated must be perpetually relived. There were no words, so there was a haunting.’
~~~
‘In effect, Fodor’s psychical research had transmuted into a study of abnormal psychology; he was suggesting that supernatural power was a function of mental breakdown.’
~~~
‘Fodor had noticed that supernatural events were unusually able to communicate the splintering and contradiction of a traumatic experience.’
~~~
‘Since the 1980s, researchers in the psychology of supernatural belief have found a correlation between childhood trauma and adult experiences of paranormality. People who have been sexually abused as children are unusually likely to report supernatural events. Psychologists speculate that damaged children learn to use fantasy as a form of escape, while their desperate wish for control generates delusions of psychic power.’
Specifically on Alma Fielding, what an interesting case this was. There was evidence of both fraud and the unexplained and in essence, no one was ever really able to determine the entire truth of the matter. Fodor was certain as time went on though, that Alma had repressed abuse from childhood.
‘Alma had a strong masochistic drive, Fodor observed: she played a double role, as aggressor and victim. But then he, too, had taken a double role, as Alma’s champion and her inquisitor. In the course of the investigation, their relationship had acquired a sadomasochistic shape, admiration and desire becoming entangled with secrecy, deceit and control.’
~~~
‘In Fodor’s account, both Alma’s eerie experiences and her fraud were explained by the damage done to her in childhood. His theory made haunting consistent with psychoanalysis: not a counter-argument that suggested that some gifted individuals could make contact with another world or with their subliminal selves, but a proof of the uncanny power of repression.’
Interestingly, the author makes a connection within Alma’s case that Fodor seems to have overlooked: the loss of her child to tubercular meningitis at age one. She also miscarried twins late in pregnancy. These losses had a profound effect on her and there were clear connections between anniversaries of the deaths and supernatural incidents occurring. Alma had also had incredibly bad luck with her health and had had multiple operations under anaesthetic, including a mastectomy, and by her own accounts, each of these operations had been traumatic, along with the ongoing health issues surrounding them. Perhaps Fodor was right about the trauma connection, but barking up the wrong tree about the origin of the trauma. Again, something that no one will ever know, but it certainly was interesting reading all about it.
Thanks is extended to Bloomsbury for providing me with a copy of The Haunting of Alma Fielding for review.
April 5, 2021
I’ve had mixed experiences with Kate Summerscale’s books so far: I loved The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, liked The Wicked Boy and gave up on Mrs Robinson’s Disgrace after a few chapters. I didn’t know what to expect from The Haunting of Alma Fielding, then, but I hoped it would be another good one!
Like Summerscale’s others, this is a non-fiction book based on a true story, in this case the story of an ordinary thirty-four-year-old woman, Alma Fielding, who becomes the centre of paranormal activity in her London home. The book follows Nandor Fodor of the International Institute for Psychical Research as he investigates Alma’s claims, desperately hoping that this time – after being disappointed by a long line of frauds – he has finally come across a genuine haunting.
At first, having witnessed for himself the smashed glasses, spinning teacups, moving furniture and broken eggs, Fodor is convinced that a poltergeist is at work in the Fielding household. The more he learns about Alma’s abilities, which include producing live animals out of thin air and transporting herself from one area of London to another, the more intrigued he becomes…until, eventually, he begins to have doubts. Is this a real paranormal phenomenon he is investigating or is Alma haunted by something very different?
I found some parts of this book fascinating. Although I was sure Alma must have been involved in some sort of elaborate hoax and that there must have been logical explanations for the things she claimed were happening to her, I didn’t know exactly what she was doing or how she was doing it. I was amazed to see the lengths Alma went to in her efforts to prove that her psychic abilities were real and the lengths Fodor and the other ghost hunters went to in their efforts to verify them. Some of the methods they used to investigate Alma’s claims were quite harmless, such as conducting word association tests, but others were intrusive and cruel, and although I didn’t like Alma it made me uncomfortable to read about the way she was treated – particularly as Fodor believed that her powers were the products of various traumas she had suffered earlier in life.
At times, Summerscale widens the scope of the book to put Alma’s story into historical context, to discuss the influence of novels and films of that period, and to look at some of the other things going on in society at that time. The ‘haunting’ and the investigation took place in 1938, when the world was on the brink of war and Summerscale suggests that people were turning to spiritualism as a distraction:
The ghosts of Britain, meanwhile, were livelier than ever. Almost a thousand people had written to the Pictorial to describe their encounters with wraiths and revenants, while other papers reported on a spirit vandalising a house in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, and on a white-draped figure seen gliding through the Hawker aircraft factory in Kingston upon Thames. The nation’s phantoms were distractions from anxiety, expressions of anxiety, symptoms of a nervous age.
However, although I found plenty of things to interest me in this book, I did have some problems with it. I felt that it became very repetitive, with endless descriptions of Alma’s various manifestations and detailed accounts of the researchers’ experiments. I thought Summerscale also devoted too much time to anecdotes about other alleged psychics and spiritualists, which didn’t really have much to do with Alma. It seemed that Alma’s story on its own wasn’t really enough to fill a whole book, so a lot of padding was needed.
I didn’t like this book as much as Mr Whicher or The Wicked Boy, but Kate Summerscale does pick intriguing topics and I’ll look forward to seeing what she writes about next.
Like Summerscale’s others, this is a non-fiction book based on a true story, in this case the story of an ordinary thirty-four-year-old woman, Alma Fielding, who becomes the centre of paranormal activity in her London home. The book follows Nandor Fodor of the International Institute for Psychical Research as he investigates Alma’s claims, desperately hoping that this time – after being disappointed by a long line of frauds – he has finally come across a genuine haunting.
At first, having witnessed for himself the smashed glasses, spinning teacups, moving furniture and broken eggs, Fodor is convinced that a poltergeist is at work in the Fielding household. The more he learns about Alma’s abilities, which include producing live animals out of thin air and transporting herself from one area of London to another, the more intrigued he becomes…until, eventually, he begins to have doubts. Is this a real paranormal phenomenon he is investigating or is Alma haunted by something very different?
I found some parts of this book fascinating. Although I was sure Alma must have been involved in some sort of elaborate hoax and that there must have been logical explanations for the things she claimed were happening to her, I didn’t know exactly what she was doing or how she was doing it. I was amazed to see the lengths Alma went to in her efforts to prove that her psychic abilities were real and the lengths Fodor and the other ghost hunters went to in their efforts to verify them. Some of the methods they used to investigate Alma’s claims were quite harmless, such as conducting word association tests, but others were intrusive and cruel, and although I didn’t like Alma it made me uncomfortable to read about the way she was treated – particularly as Fodor believed that her powers were the products of various traumas she had suffered earlier in life.
At times, Summerscale widens the scope of the book to put Alma’s story into historical context, to discuss the influence of novels and films of that period, and to look at some of the other things going on in society at that time. The ‘haunting’ and the investigation took place in 1938, when the world was on the brink of war and Summerscale suggests that people were turning to spiritualism as a distraction:
The ghosts of Britain, meanwhile, were livelier than ever. Almost a thousand people had written to the Pictorial to describe their encounters with wraiths and revenants, while other papers reported on a spirit vandalising a house in Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides, and on a white-draped figure seen gliding through the Hawker aircraft factory in Kingston upon Thames. The nation’s phantoms were distractions from anxiety, expressions of anxiety, symptoms of a nervous age.
However, although I found plenty of things to interest me in this book, I did have some problems with it. I felt that it became very repetitive, with endless descriptions of Alma’s various manifestations and detailed accounts of the researchers’ experiments. I thought Summerscale also devoted too much time to anecdotes about other alleged psychics and spiritualists, which didn’t really have much to do with Alma. It seemed that Alma’s story on its own wasn’t really enough to fill a whole book, so a lot of padding was needed.
I didn’t like this book as much as Mr Whicher or The Wicked Boy, but Kate Summerscale does pick intriguing topics and I’ll look forward to seeing what she writes about next.
June 29, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (UK & ANZ) for the arc of The Haunting of Alma Fielding by Kate Summerscale.
This is set within London in the year 1938. Within the suburbs of London there is a young housewife who has chaos around her..., In Alma's home, china ends up flying off shelves to eggs flying through thin air to stolen jewelry appearing upon on her fingers to white mice crawling out of her own handbag itself and even, beetles appearing from under her own gloves... and much more.....
Fodor is a guy who ends up starting to investigate as he is a ghost and spirit hunter... he ends up discovering in that the case is even stranger than it actually is . By him going over Alma’s history and as it unravels he ends up discovering something much much than just a haunting this includes types of trauma, alienation and even losses Fodor's obsession with the case deepens and widens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed than ever....
This was such an interesting and new type of book for me about a true ghost story if you loved the Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate you will love this.
definitely recommend
4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is set within London in the year 1938. Within the suburbs of London there is a young housewife who has chaos around her..., In Alma's home, china ends up flying off shelves to eggs flying through thin air to stolen jewelry appearing upon on her fingers to white mice crawling out of her own handbag itself and even, beetles appearing from under her own gloves... and much more.....
Fodor is a guy who ends up starting to investigate as he is a ghost and spirit hunter... he ends up discovering in that the case is even stranger than it actually is . By him going over Alma’s history and as it unravels he ends up discovering something much much than just a haunting this includes types of trauma, alienation and even losses Fodor's obsession with the case deepens and widens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed than ever....
This was such an interesting and new type of book for me about a true ghost story if you loved the Suspicions of Mr Whicher by Kate you will love this.
definitely recommend
4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐
November 12, 2020
"Lies and tricks, like ghosts, could be expressions of suffering."
Having read The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (I have The Wicked Boy to read), this haunting in 1938 suburban London sounded right up my street. The 'poltergeist' events the Fielding family experienced, focused on Alma Fielding, were humorous, verging on the sublime. I found the context and historical background interesting. However I struggled reading it, found Alma to be irritating and unrelatable and found Nandor Fodor (overly invested in investigating the haunting) distant and manipulative. Clearly well-researched and evidenced, I found the narrative style rather dry and the turn of events rather slow. Whilst the 'why' can one be answered, the endless anecdotes about 'what' happened and how Alma said she felt, were repetitive. I'm afraid it didn't engage me.
Having read The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (I have The Wicked Boy to read), this haunting in 1938 suburban London sounded right up my street. The 'poltergeist' events the Fielding family experienced, focused on Alma Fielding, were humorous, verging on the sublime. I found the context and historical background interesting. However I struggled reading it, found Alma to be irritating and unrelatable and found Nandor Fodor (overly invested in investigating the haunting) distant and manipulative. Clearly well-researched and evidenced, I found the narrative style rather dry and the turn of events rather slow. Whilst the 'why' can one be answered, the endless anecdotes about 'what' happened and how Alma said she felt, were repetitive. I'm afraid it didn't engage me.
January 20, 2021
2.5 Stars. My bad, I didn't get when it said non fiction it was going to be so informative and less the story itself. It was dry, I switched to the audiobook version and that did not help.
October 28, 2021
It's the 1930s, Europe is careering towards war and suburban housewife Alma Fielding is being plagued by poltergeist activity. A Hungarian emigre who now works as a psychical researcher takes on her case. Summerscale's superb writing brings this true story to life and almost reads like a novel. Well-researched and presented, it's an absorbing tale of the paranormal and psycho- analysis.
November 27, 2020
⇝ 3.5 stars
February 7, 2023
DNF: after attempting to power through, I realized life is too short to power through books, especially when you begin to doubt the payoff. I was intrigued by the subject matter, but just got bored very quickly. Not really sure if it was the writing style, trying to keep up with people, or what, but I just don't care that much.
November 9, 2020
Summerscale has uncovered a gem of a story - a disturbed housewife from south London, pseudo scientists, white mice, flying crockery, seances and law suits. The first two thirds are a recount of the 4 months that Alma Fielding was under study of the International Institute of Psychical Research - with its leading researcher trying to fathom out whether she's real or a fake. Whilst compelling reading i was aching for some commentary and more context. The final third gave you just that! A memorable read, an interesting perspective not just on female psyche and how that's been viewed / managed over time, but on anxiety at a national level too.
March 7, 2022
My favourite kind of non fiction - a story that is too weird and convoluted to be made up. You start off focused on the Alma's haunting but the story is so compelling because everyone is bringing their own baggage to the idea of ghosts and psychic phenomena in general. I didn't know who I was rooting for, but not in a frustrating way. Really cool read after my Victorian psychical research class I took last year.
The book leaves the door open on whether you want to believe Alma was entirely a fraud and I think it struck the right note on the feeling of uncertainty that came with the field of psychical research.
The book leaves the door open on whether you want to believe Alma was entirely a fraud and I think it struck the right note on the feeling of uncertainty that came with the field of psychical research.
July 14, 2021
This book was not what I was expecting. I think subtitling it “a true ghost story” is extremely misleading. What the book is really about is mental illness left untreated. I did come away with a lot of great quotes, though:
- “We each live a fairy tale created by ourselves. We move along in a spiritual track. What has happened before — many times, perhaps — will probably happen again.”
- “All dreams are true, and but the ghosts of our pasts.”
- “I tell you, birth and death mean the same thing to me . . . they are identical.”
- “We each live a fairy tale created by ourselves. We move along in a spiritual track. What has happened before — many times, perhaps — will probably happen again.”
- “All dreams are true, and but the ghosts of our pasts.”
- “I tell you, birth and death mean the same thing to me . . . they are identical.”
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