For those who have not listened to the excellent Uncanny podcast that produced the material that went into this book, Danny Robins always has in the studio with him two experts, a sceptic and a believer, to try to understand the various uncanny events recounted by the witness whose story forms the bulk of the episode.

But what becomes clear from reading this book, as well as listening to the podcast, is that neither side is anywhere near to an explanation or an understanding of the phenomena being recounted. The sceptic side is easier to dismiss: in most cases the sceptic case requires so much special pleading, as well as simply ignoring the more difficult pieces of evidence, that the wielding of Occam’s razor is sufficient to dispense with it.

What is stranger – and more interesting – is that the believer case is just as inadequate as an explanation. Take poltergeist activity as an example. Sounds, knockings, objects being moved and thrown, and other such phenomena which are usually associated with a child or teenager. Yes, this is true, but it’s nothing more an observation: there’s no explanation there.

It’s clear that, in terms of understanding these phenomena, we have only reached the classification stage. There’s not even a hint of an explanation: yes, ghosts might be associated with the dead, but there’s no indication how they are associated with the dead, or why.

In the history of thought, this is like the 15th century, when thinkers were devising a method of investigation that could have easily turned into magic as it turned into science. It’s biology before Linnaeus, geology before Charles Lyell, economics before Adam Smith. As such, it would be an exciting field for a true, original thinker to enter. There’s a universe of strange phenomena happening out there that has been ignored.