There have been many books about Queen Victoria but there has never been one that has explored her 'other world' - the world of the strange and unusual, the world of death and her fascination for it, and the world of the unseen and the paranormal that she could never resist.During his research Peter Underwood gained the distinct impression that there was something of a conspiracy of silence around her interest in the paranormal. however, there is overwhelming evidence that as a fatherless and bewildered princess, as a quickly matured queen, and then as a widowed and often lonely woman, Victoria showed a considerable interest in death and its draperies.This book covers Victoria's youthful encounters with the occult; her visits to haunted properties, her friends and acquaintances with similar interests and experiences; her alleged involvement with Robert Lees, the medium; her undoubted interest in the Jack-the-Ripper murders; her obsession with omens and superstitions and her fascination with death.Not long before his death the Prince Consort told the Queen, 'We don't know in what state we shall meet again, but that we shall recognise each other and be together in eternity I am perfectly certain'. Through forty years of widowhood Queen Victoria believed utterly that this would be so.
About the Author: Peter Underwood was President of the Ghost Club (founded 1862) from 1960-1993 and probably heard more first-hand ghost stories than any man alive. He was a long-standing member of The Society of Psychical Research, Vice-President of the Unitarian Society for Psychical Studies, a member of The Folklore Society, The Dracula Society and the Research Committee of the Psychic Research Organization, he wrote extensively, and was a seasoned lecturer and broadcaster. He took part in the first official investigation into a haunting; sat with physical and mental mediums and conducted investigations at seances. He was present at exorcisms, experiments at dowsing, precognition, clairvoyance, hypnotism, regression; he conducted world-wide tests in telepathy and extra-sensory perception, and personally investigated scores of haunted houses across the country. He possessed comprehensive files of alleged hauntings in every county of the British Isles and many foreign countries, and his knowledge and experience resulted in his being consulted on psychic and occult matters by the BBC and ITV. His many books include the first two comprehensive gazetteers of ghosts and hauntings in England, Scotland and Ireland and two books that deal with twenty different occult subjects. Highlights from his published work include 'Nights in Haunted Houses' (1993), which collects together the results of group investigations, 'The Ghosts of Borley' (1973), his classic account of the history of 'the most haunted house in England', 'Hauntings' (1977), which re-examines ten classic cases of haunting in the light of modern knowledge, 'No Common Task' (1983), which reflects back upon his life as a 'ghost hunter', and 'The Ghost Hunter's Guide' (1986), which gives the reader all the advice necessary to become one. Born at Letchworth Garden City in Hertfordshire, he lived for many years in a small village in Hampshire.