About

Specialist in Controversial Beliefs and Experiences

‘A person of great intellectual ability and enterprise.’ – Prof. John Poynton, OMS

Writer, Editor, Social Scientist

Dr Leo Ruickbie, FRHistS, FRAI, ARPS, PhD (Lond), MA, BA (Hons), ACIQ, Associate of King’s College London, is a Visiting Fellow in Psychology at the University of Northampton, where he is a member of the Exceptional Experiences and Consciousness Studies research group.

Described as a ‘leading historian and sociologist of the paranormal’ by the Daily Express newspaper (print) and ‘a leading expert on the paranormal‘ (express.co.uk online), Dr Ruickbie specialises in controversial areas of human belief and experience, sometimes called ‘exceptional human experiences’. A phrase coined by Rhea White in 1990, exceptional human experience is ‘an umbrella term for many types of experience generally considered to be psychic, mystical, encounter-type experiences, death-related experiences, and experiences at the upper end of the normal range, such as creative inspiration, exceptional human performance’ (White, 1994:5).

Dr Ruickbie is closely involved in the work of the Society for Psychical Research as a member of Council, former Editor of its Magazine and a member of its Spontaneous Cases Committee. Established in 1882, the Society for Psychical Research is the world’s largest, oldest and most reputable organisation for the scientific study of what we now call ‘the paranormal’.

He is also a Professional Member of the Parapsychological Association. Established in 1957, the Parapsychological Association is affiliated to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

In recognition of his contribution to scholarship sustained over the course of his career, Dr Ruickbie has been elected a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute.

From Witchcraft to the Trenches

Dr Ruickbie’s PhD is from King’s College, London, for his thesis on contemporary witchcraft and magic use, building on research that won him an MA with distinction from Lancaster University. He is the author of several books, all based on rigorous research: Witchcraft Out of the Shadows (2004 and 2011), Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician (2009), A Brief Guide to the Supernatural (2012), A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting (2013), The Impossible Zoo (2016) and Angels in the Trenches (2018); as well as numerous articles and chapters in scholarly publications.

And from Magic to Life After Death

He is also the co-editor with Dr Simon Bacon of Little Horrors: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anomalous Children and the Construction of Monstrosity (2016), and with Dr Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie of The Material Culture of Magic (forthcoming).

In 2019, he instigated an SPR-sponsored book project on the question of the survival of human consciousness after death. Called Is There Life After Death? the series is divided into Vol. 1: ‘Arguments, Theories, Evidence’ and Vol. 2: ‘Case Studies’. Calls for chapters for Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 brought responses from the world’s leading experts in afterlife research.

In 2021, Ruickbie won third place in the international essay competition organised by the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies on the subject of life after death.

Why the Paranormal?

‘Dr Leo Ruickbie is a leading historian and sociologist of the paranormal.’ – Daily Express

The paranormal has been the overarching theme of Dr Ruickbie’s work to date, linking witchcraft to visions of angels to contemporary ghost hunting. What we call the paranormal is the coalface of human experience and our understanding of what constitutes ‘reality’. All religion (usually the deepest commitment that people make) comes from someone’s (usually the founder’s) alleged paranormal experience or claims, yet what is termed the paranormal is frequently dismissed or denigrated – it is precisely that reaction which makes the subject doubly interesting.

The paranormal is subjugated knowledge. Its analysis reveals discourses of power, in the Foucauldian sense, that shape spiritual identity and praxis. It reveals Otherness and in doing so challenges cultural norms. We see battlelines in the formation of superstition and magic versus faith and prayer.

The paranormal is also about the hidden factors that influence people’s behaviour, from claiming to see angels to having more accidents on Friday the 13th. It is about those beliefs and experiences that lie outside of organised religion’s control, but which can still be central to people’s lives.

There is also a sense in which ‘the paranormal’ is taking the place of organised religion amongst indigenous populations in the West. When only 30% of people in the UK say that religion plays an important part in their lives (Ipsos-Mori, 2016), but 82% ‘believe in the supernatural’ (VoucherCodesPro survey, 2015), then this tells us something important about the way in which the religious or spiritual landscape is changing.

From Public Speaker to Editor

As well as publishing, Dr Ruickbie is an experienced academic peer reviewer, exhibition curator, public speaker and editor.

Dr Ruickbie’s media appearances include Castles: Mysteries, Secrets and Legends (Zona Mixta/ZDF, 2021), and several episodes of Mysteries at the Castle (Travel Channel, 2015, 2016), as well as internet streamed interviews on ‘The Ghost in the Time Machine with Leo Ruickbie’ (New Thinking Allowed, 16 January 2022) and ‘The History and Sociology of Witchcraft, Mediumship and the Occult’ (Anthony Peake’s Consciousness Hour, 10 May 2021). He has also appeared on a diverse range of radio shows, including BBC Radio Foyle, the Voice of Islam, Midnight in the Desert, The Lisa Show on BYU Radio, and the Breakfast Show on Radio Jamaica.

He was the editor of The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research (formerly the Paranormal Review) from 2014 until 2023 before leaving to take up a new position. His first edition was met with widespread praise:

‘This is brilliant, a step-change from the old magazine and I’m sure it will help to attract new members.’ – Dr Tom Ruffles, Council Member and Communications Officer of the Society for Psychical Research

His work has been mentioned in the media from The Guardian to Radio Jamaica, and his expertise has been sought by film companies, museums and charities, as well as being cited in the current student book for A-Level Sociology in the UK.

In further recognition of his expertise, he was invited to become a Consultant to the Academic Committee of the International Life Science and Parapsychology Studies Association (China).

As an academic peer reviewer, he has worked with publishers Berghahn, the Parapsychological Association and the Journal of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies. He also runs the mailing list of the Society for the Academic Study of Magic. In 2018, together with Dr Rachael Ironside, he established the Society for the Academic Study of the Supernatural to network scholars working in this challenging field.

Publications
Monographs
  1. Angels in the Trenches: Spiritualism, Superstition and the Supernatural during the First World War
  2. The Impossible Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Fabulous Beasts and Mythical Monsters
  3. A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting: How to Identify and Investigate Spirits, Poltergeists, Hauntings and Other Paranormal Activity
  4. A Brief Guide to the Supernatural: Ghosts, Vampires and the Paranormal
  5. Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician
  6. Witchcraft Out of the Shadows: A Complete History
Edited Academic Volumes
  1. with Robert McLuhan, Is There Life After Death? Vol. 2: Case Studies (in preparation).
  2. with Robert McLuhan, Is There Life After Death? Vol. 1: Arguments, Theories, Evidence (in preparation).
  3. with Dr Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie, The Material Culture of Magic (forthcoming)
  4. with Dr Simon Bacon, Little Horrors: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anomalous Children and the Construction of Monstrosity (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2016). Republished as The Cultural Construction of Monstrous Children: Essays on Anomalous Children From 1595 to the Present Day (Anthem Press, 2020).
Chapters in Books
  1. ‘Building the Temple: The Physical Expression of Ritual Magic in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’, in Leo Ruickbie and Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie (eds), The Material Culture of Magic (in preparation).
  2. ‘“Mysteries Wrapped in Enigmas”: Trithemius, Occultism and Cryptography’, in Angela Catalina Ghionea (ed.), Medicine, Alchemy, Science and the Occult in European Thought (forthcoming).
  3. ‘The Ghost in the Time Machine,’ in Proof of Survival of Human Consciousness Beyond Permanent Bodily Death, vol. 3 (Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies, 2023).
  4. ‘Industrialized Magic: Lucky Charms in the First World War’, in Katharina Rein (ed), Magic: A Companion (Peter Lang, 2022).
  5. ‘The Devil’s Livery: The Role of Nudity in the Depiction of Witchcraft, Wicca and Satanism’, in Judith Nobel and Daniel Zamani (eds), Visions of Enchantment: Occultism, Spirituality and Visual Culture (Fulgur, 2019).
  6. ‘Haunters and Hunters: Popular Ghost Hunting and the Pursuit of Paranormal Experience’ in Darryl Caterine and John Morehead (eds), The Paranormal and Popular Culture (London: Routledge, 2019).
  7. ‘I was a Real Teenage Werewolf: The Seventeenth Century Witchcraft Trial of Jean Grenier’, in Leo Ruickbie and Simon Bacon (eds), Little Horrors: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anomalous Children and the Construction of Monstrosity (Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2016).
  8. ‘Magic’, in Patrick Hayes (ed.), Miracles: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Supernatural Events from Antiquity to the Present (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2016).
  9. ‘Spells’, in Patrick Hayes (ed.), Miracles: An Encyclopedia of People, Places, and Supernatural Events from Antiquity to the Present (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2016).
  10. ‘Bell Witch, The’, in Joseph Laycock (ed.), Spirit Possession Around the World: Possession, Communion, and Demon Expulsion across Cultures (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2015).
  11. ‘Hunkeler, Roland’, in Joseph Laycock (ed.), Spirit Possession Around the World: Possession, Communion, and Demon Expulsion across Cultures (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2015)
  12. ‘Taylor, Michael’, in Joseph Laycock (ed.), Spirit Possession Around the World: Possession, Communion, and Demon Expulsion across Cultures (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2015).
  13. ‘Memento (Non)Mori: Memory, Discourse and Transmission during the Eighteenth Century Vampire Epidemic and After’, in Simon Bacon (ed.), Undead Memory: Vampires and Human Memory in Popular Culture (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2014).
  14. ‘Evidence for the Undead: The Role of Medical Investigation in the Eighteenth Century Vampire Epidemic’, in Barbara Brodman and James Doan (eds), The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend, vol. 1 (Lanham, MD: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2013).
  15. ‘“So Terrible a Force”: Spirit Communication in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn’, in Christopher M. Moreman (ed.), The Spiritualist Movement: Speaking with the Dead in America and Around the World, vol. 3 (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2013).
  16. ‘“Either Must Die at the Hand of the Other”: Religious Reactions to Harry Potter’, in Jennifer Sims (ed.), The Sociology of Harry Potter (Cheshire, CT: Zossima, 2012).
Articles
  1. ‘The Best Evidence: Five SPR Council Members Awarded Prizes in the 2021 Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies Essay Contest,’ The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research, 6 (2022).
  2. ‘Secrets of the Raven Master: An Interview with Yeoman Warder Chris Skaife, the Tower of London’s Raven Master’, The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research, 4 (2021).
  3. ‘Making Space for Psi: A Panel of Experts from Different Disciplines Debate Whether Mainstream Science can Accommodate Psi,’ The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research, 3 (2021).
  4. ‘The $1,500,000 Question: An Interview with Robert Bigelow’, The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research, 3 (2021).
  5. ‘Death: The Final Frontier’, Fortean Times, 405 (May, 2021).
  6. ‘Dragons Greeting Clouds: Parapsychological Adventures in Vietnam’, Paranormal Review, 96 (2020).
  7. ‘Witchcraft’, Psi Encyclopedia (London: The Society for Psychical Research, 2019).
  8. ‘Leicester Through the Looking Glass: The 43rd Annual International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Leicester, 2019’, Paranormal Review, 92 (2019).
  9. ‘Haunted Leicester’, Paranormal Review, 92 (2019).
  10. ‘In the Empire of the Dead: A Journey Through the Catacombs of Paris’, Paranormal Review, 91 (2019).
  11. ‘For the Love of Theory: A Report on the Workshop on Psi Theories’, Paranormal Review, 91 (2019).
  12. ‘Psi on the Tyne: The 42nd Annual International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2018’, Paranormal Review, 90 (2019).
  13. ‘The Paranormal and the First World War’, Supernatural Magazine (28 November 2018).
  14. ‘Angelic Intervention in the First World War’, Watkins Review (8 November 2018).
  15. ‘Pennies from Hell: Soldiers’ Lucky Pennies and the First World War’, Paranormal Review, 88 (Autumn 2018).
  16. ‘The SPR at War: The Society for Psychical Research and the First World War‘, Paranormal Review, 88 (Autumn 2018).
  17. ‘Journey to the Centre of the SPR: A Review of the SPR’s 41st International Annual Conference’, Paranormal Review, 86 (Spring 2018).
  18. ‘A Night with the Black Monk’, Paranormal Review, 83 (Summer 2017).
  19. ‘Lucid in Leeds: A Review of the SPR’s 40th International Annual Conference’, Paranormal Review, 81 (Winter 2017).
  20. ‘Funny Bunny: The True Tale of Lepus Cornutus, the Horned Hare’, Paranormal Review, 80 (Autumn 2016).
  21. ‘The SPR’s London: Around the Capital with the Society for Psychical Research’, Paranormal Review, 80 (Autumn 2016).
  22. ‘Parazoology in Practice’, Paranormal Review, 80 (Autumn 2016).
  23. ‘Faking Kluski: The Story Behind the “Faked” Kluski Spirit Hands at the Institut Métapsychique International in Paris’, Paranormal Review, 79 (Summer 2016).
  24. ‘The Enfield Psychic: An Interview with Dr Ian Rubenstein’, Paranormal Review, 79 (Summer 2016).
  25. ‘Permanent Paranormal Object: Professor Josephson’s Bent Key’, Paranormal Review, 78 (Spring 2016).
  26. ‘Mrs Salter and the Angels: The 1915 Society for Psychical Research’s Investigation of “Alleged Visions on the Battlefield” and the Angels of Mons’, Paranormal Review, 76 (Autumn 2015).
  27. ‘A Previously Unpublished Account of the Angels of Mons’, Paranormal Review, 76 (Autumn 2015).
  28. ‘Greenwich Meme Time: The Joint Society for Psychical Research and Parapsychological Association Conference at the University of Greenwich, London, 16-19 July 2015’, Paranormal Review, 76 (Autumn 2015).
  29. ‘The Medium: An Interview with Physical Medium Kai Mügge’, Paranormal Review, 75 (Summer 2015).
  30. ‘The Séance: Lights, Rappings, Levitations and Apports with Kai Mügge’, Paranormal Review, 75 (Summer 2015).
  31. ‘Stephen E. Braude: An Interview with the 2014 Recipient of the Myers Memorial Medal’, Paranormal Review, 74 (Spring 2015).
  32. ‘Virtual Parapsychology: A Review of “Parapsychology and Psychology: Research and Theory Online Conference”, 1–2 November 2014’, Paranormal Review, 73 (Winter 2015).
  33. ‘Ghoulies, Ghosties, Long Leggedy Beasties and Things That Go Bump in the Night!’ Daily Express (30 October 2014).
  34. ‘From Polaroid Poltergeists to the Statistics of the Zodiac: Summary of the 2013 Volume of the Zeitschrift für Anomalistik’, Mindfield, 6.3 (2014).
  35. ‘Paranormal Paris: Inside the Institut Métapsychique International’, Paranormal Review, 72 (October 2014).
  36. ‘Conference Report: The 38th Annual International SPR Conference’, Paranormal Review, 72 (October 2014).
  37. With Walter Meyer zu Erpen and Shelley Sweeney, ‘Saving the Paranormal: What Did We Learn from the “Preserving the Historical Collections of Parapsychology” Conference?’, Paranormal Review, 72 (October 2014), 36-7.
  38. ‘The Black Magic Code’, Abraxas: International Journal of Esoteric Studies, 6 (2014).
  39. ‘A Vision in Bermondsey, 1917: A Previously Unreported First World War Anomalous Experience’, Paranormal Review, 71 (July 2014), 28-9.
  40. ‘The Blood of Satan: The Exorcism of Michael Taylor’, Fortean Times, 313 (April 2014).
  41. ‘What Possessed Us? Forty Years After Its UK Release, Is The Exorcist Still the Scariest Movie of All Time?’, Fortean Times, 313 (April 2014).
  42. ‘Friday the 13th’, Daily Express (12 September 2013).
  43. ‘Britain’s Spookiest Places’, Daily Express (23 August 2013).
  44. ‘Child Witches: Imaginary Cannibalism and Ritual Abuse in London’, Paranthropology, 3.3 (July 2012), 13-21.
  45. ‘Vampire Autopsies’, Fortean Times, 288 (Special, 2012).
  46. ‘Faith Factor: Hallowe’en Then and Now’, Sierra Sun (27 October 2011) [USA].
  47. ‘Reinventing the Renaissance Occult in Modern and Postmodern Culture Conference’, Journal of the Western Mystery Tradition, 20.2 (Vernal Equinox 2011).
  48. ‘Angels in Space’, Paranormal, 56 (February 2011), pp. 54-57. [Conceptualisations of unknown aerial phenomena, the role of rumour in modern media and the verification of sources.]
  49. ‘How to Make a Horcrux’, Paranormal, 55 (January 2011), pp. 20-24. [Beliefs and practices concerning the idea of the external soul in folklore and magic.]
  50. ‘Talk of the Devil, Part 2’, Paranormal, 52 (October 2010), 34-39. [Current beliefs about the Devil.]
  51. ‘Talk of the Devil, Part 1’, Paranormal, 51 (September 2010), 28-33. [History of the Devil.]
  52. ‘Sympathy from the Devil’, Paranormal, 49 (July 2010), 56-59. [Explanations of magic.]
  53. ‘Haiti’s “Devil Pact”’, Paranormal, 46 (April 2010), 10. [Current affairs.]
  54. ‘Is it Time to Sell Your Soul?’, Pagan Dawn, 171 (Beltane 2009), 22-23. [Faustus]
  55. ‘Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician’, Watkins Review, 22 (Summer 2009), 13.
  56. ‘Weber and the Witches: Sociological Theory and Modern Witchcraft’, Journal of Alternative Spiritualities and New Age Studies, 2 (February, 2006), 116-130.

‘I have always admired Dr Leo Ruickbie’s comprehensive expertise in the paranormal.’ – Rosemary Ellen Guiley, bestselling author

Public Speaking
  1. ‘Alien Consciousness: Panel Discussion with Leo Ruickbie, Erik Bard, and Paul Smith’, Cedar Mountain Remote Viewing Summit, UTAH, 27-30 October 2022.
  2. Acceptance Speech, Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies Award Ceremony, Las Vegas, USA, 4 December 2021.
  3. ‘The Secret of Magic: A Psycho-, Socio-, or Psi-Somatic Effect?’, paper presented at a meeting of the Exceptional Experiences and Consciousness Studies (EECS) research group, University of Northampton, 19 February 2020.
  4. ‘The Varieties of Re-Enchantment’ paper presented at the 2nd International Life Science and Parapsychological Academic Forum, Ha Long, Vietnam, 5-10 December 2019.
  5. ‘What the Maid Saw: A Case of Remote Viewing During the First World War’, paper presented at the 43rd Annual International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Leicester, 20-22 September 2019.
  6. ‘Victorian Ghost Hunters in the 21st Century: Conflict, Continuity and the End of Psychical Research’, paper presented at the 62nd Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association, Paris, 4-6 July 2019.
  7. ‘Victorian Ghost Hunters in the 21st Century: Conflict, Continuity and the Society for Psychical Research’, paper presented at the Supernatural in Contemporary Society Conference, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, 23-24 August 2018.
  8. ‘The Paranormal Review Photography Competition’, talk given at the 41st Society for Psychical Research Conference, DeVere Estate Horsley, 1-3 September 2017.
  9. ‘Haunting and the Hunters: The Sociology of Ghost Hunting’, paper presented at the Society for Psychical Research Study Day ‘New Approaches to Ghost Hunting’, London, 29 April 2017.
  10. ‘The Sociology of Ghost Hunting’, paper presented at the 35th Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena Conference, Reading, 10-11 September 2016.
  11. ‘The Authenticity of Angels: Investigating the Paranormal During the First World War’, paper presented at ‘Dissenting Voices and the Everyday in the First World War’ Conference, National Archives, Kew, 8-10 September 2016.
  12. ‘The SPR at War: A Report on “The Society for Psychical Research and the First World War” Research Project’, paper presented at the 40th Annual International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, University of Leeds, 2-4 September 2016.
  13. ‘Missing in Archive: How One Hundred Years Later, the Ghosts of World War I Are Still Being Laid to Rest’, paper presented at the 70th Society for Psychical Research Study Day ‘Raiders of the Lost Archives’, London, 24 October 2015.
  14. ‘The Secret of Magic: A Psycho-, Socio-, or Psi-Somatic Effect?’, paper presented at the Joint Conference of the Society for Psychical Research and Parapsychological Association, University of Greenwich, 18 July 2015.
  15. ‘How to Sell Your Soul: A Brief History of Pacts with the Devil’, talk given at Treadwell’s, London, 15 July 2015.
  16. ‘Naked in Their Rites: The Meaning of Nudity in Witchcraft and Wicca’, paper presented at the Friends of the Boscastle Museum of Witchcraft AGM, Boscastle, Cornwall, 8 November 2014.
  17. ‘The Haunted and the Hunters: The Parasociology of Ghost Hunting’, talk given to the Society for Psychical Research, Kensington Library, London, 6 November 2014.
  18. ‘Naked Witches’, talk given at Treadwell’s, London, 5 November 2014.
  19. ‘Estranged and Enchanted Eroticism: The Role of Nudity in the Depiction of Witchcraft and Wicca’, paper presented at the ‘Visions of Enchantment: Occultism, Spirituality and Visual Culture’ conference, University of Cambridge, 17-18 March 2014.
  20. ‘Hunting the Ghost Hunters’, paper presented at The Ghost Club, London, 7 December 2013.
  21. ‘Dissecting Dracula: Medical Evidence for the Vampire’, paper presented at The Ghost Club, London, 21 April 2012. [Centenary of Bram Stoker’s death.]
  22. ‘Vampire Autopsy: Evidence for the Undead?’, paper presented at the ‘Vampires: Myths of the Past and the Future’ conference, University of London, London, 2-4 November, 2011.
  23. ‘Dealing with the Devil: The Faustian Pact in Magical Culture’, paper presented at the ‘Reinventing the Renaissance Occult’ conference, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, 14 November 2009.
  24. ‘Witchcraft: The Naked Truth’, Miller’s Academy, London, 22 April 2009. [Explored artistic representations of witchcraft, showing how they reflect popular belief.]
  25. ‘Faustus’, Printemps des légendes festival, Monthermé, Champagne-Ardennes, 21 March 2009.
  26. ‘Amongst Witches’, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 5 March 1997.
  27. ‘Gerald Gardner and the Great Wild Beast: The Role of Founder in Modern Witchcraft’, King’s College, London, 23 January 1996.

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