The latest issue (Vol 4, Number 2) of the free PDF journal Paranthropology ("anthropological approaches to the paranormal") is now available to download (or you can read it via the embedded version above). The new release is a timely one, given the recent TEDx debacle, with a number of articles discussing Rupert Sheldrake's work. Here's the complete rundown of features in the latest issue:

• "The Para-Anthropology of UFO 
Abductions: The Case for the UTH" - Steven Mizrach.
• "Review/Commentary: Rupert 
Sheldrake’s Science Set Free" - 
John R. DeLorez.
• "Scientific Controversies 
Shaping the Worldview of the 21st Century: Sheldrake's 
Theory of Non-local Memory Revisited" - Mark A. Schroll.
• "An Idea Whose Time Has Come: 
Morphic Resonance and the Birthing of a New Paradigm" - Zelda Hall.
• "

Science Betrayed?: Rupert 
Sheldrake and The Science Delusion" - Margaret Gouin.
• "Critical Analysis of Culturally 
Intrusive Interpretations of Phenomenological and 
Parapsychological Scientific Studies" - Kaitlyn Kane.
• "Rehabilitating The Neglected 'Similar': Confronting The Issue Of Cross-Cultural Similarities In The Study Of Religions" - Gregory Shushan.
• "The Kardecian Spiritualist Movement in Argentina" - Juan Corbetta & Fabiana Savall.
• REVIEW: "The Voice of Rolling Thunder: A Medicine Man's 
Wisdom for Walking the Red Road" - Mark A. Schroll

And in case you haven't read this great resource before, all of the previous issues remain available to download from the site as well. Don't forget to support the journal with a PayPal donation if you find it interesting and/or useful.

Coilhouse Magazine is "a love letter to alternative culture", covering the cutting edge of art, music, fashion, film, technology and literature, venturing from science fiction to punk rock and green technologies. Within its pages you'll find interviews and articles from a veritable menagerie of Grail-like folk, including Terry Gilliam, Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer, Chet Zar, Grant Morrison, and R.U. Sirius among others.

Sadly, the magazine has recently gone on hiatus (boo!), but the fine folk behind the magazine have made all six issues of the magazine available for free as downloadable PDF files (yay!):

Six glorious print issues of the lovingly assembled, lavishly produced, lackadaisically printed Coilhouse periodical.

At the time of the time of this writing, Issue 06 is still available in our shop, so if you’d like to experience the full-on glossy/tactile/sensory experience (and help to subsidize the cost of keeping our vast Coilhouse archival site active), click here. However, as issues one through five are long out of print and we have no plans to reproduce any of these magazines, we are now happily sharing ALL of them with the world as high resolution PDFs. Additionally, the Issue 06 PDF will be available next week. Scroll down and click the corresponding links to download them.

Beyond the magazine, there is also plenty of great content at the Coilhouse website. Enjoy!

The latest issue (Vol 4, Number 1, Part A) of the free PDF journal Paranthropology ("anthropological approaches to the paranormal") is now available to download. In the new release:

• "Life is Not About Chasing the Wind": Investigating the Connection Between Bodily Experience, Beliefs and Transcendence Amongst Christian Surfers" - Emma Ford
• "Epistemological, Methodological and Ethical Aspects of Conducting Interviews About Anomalous Experiences" - Leonardo Breno Martins
• "A Visit to Point Pleasant: Home of the Mothman" - Simon J. Sherwood
• "Steve Abrams: Psychedelic Trickster" - David Luke
• "Turning to the Affective in Direct Experiences: An Interdisciplinary, Investigative Quest" - Christopher Laursen
• "Fireflies and Shooting Stars: Visual Narratives of Daimonic Intelligence" - Angela Voss
• "A Study of Several Reported Cases of Crisis Apparitions During the American Civil War" - Simon Alexander Hardison
• "Herbal Lore in Central and Eastern European Shamanic Traditions" - Henry Dosedla
• "Out of the Body and Into the Lab: Defining Dr. Alex Tanous' Abilities" - Callum E. Cooper
• "Recognition for Paranthropology and ARC" - Fiona Bowie

And in case you haven't read this great resource before, all of the previous issues remain available to download from the site as well. Don't forget to support the journal with a PayPal donation if you find it interesting and/or useful.

Yesterday while having lunch with my wife, I off-handedly said to her that a fun project would be to relaunch a new version of Omni Magazine. Originally published in late 1978, running through till 1995, Omni covered a lot of the same ground that we do here on TDG - interesting new science, science on the fringe, and even science 'beyond' the fringe through its wonderful science fiction shorts (authored by SFF giants such as Isaac Asimov, William Gibson, Robert Heinlein, Stanislaw Lem, George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card, Harlan Ellison, and Ben Bova, along with art by the likes of H.R.Giger and other wonderful artists).

So it was a nice little synchronicity - and a wonderful, pleasant surprise! - when, late last night, I learned that pretty much the complete run of Omni is available to download freely from the Internet Archive! Quickly browsing through the issues, it's interesting to see how things have changed (and some not so much) in the 34 years since Omni's first issue. In terms of stasis, in the first few issues there is some coverage of the looming space shuttle era, which has only just now come to a close. On the other hand, with coverage of the beginnings of personal computing (along with cute ads for fledgling companies like Apple), there's also a sense of how far we've come.

Along with those technological markers, and the wonderful science fiction stories, there's plenty of coverage of the big science issues of the day, along with a number of articles on 'fringe science' topics such as parapsychology and UFOs (the latter getting the skeptical treatment pretty much every issue through James Oberg's regular column).

So much to read and enjoy. Go grab them all, and I'll see you back here in December...

Download Omni Magazine issues from the Internet Archive

For those of you who enjoyed our free PDF magazine of a few years back, Sub Rosa, here's something you should definitely check out: The Heretic Magazine. It's a new magazine project from two of my bestest of Grail friends, editor Andrew Gough and designer Mark James Foster. Mark has worked on Darklore with me, and was also the designer behind Sub Rosa, so you'll definitely get a similar vibe as some of TDG's own projects, even though it's not a Daily Grail product. And Andrew has long been involved in reearching and reporting on various 'hidden history' topics, not least the Rennes le Chateau mystery. I've posted Andrew's welcome and introduction to The Heretic above.

The Heretic is, like Sub Rosa, a digital age magazine. However, while Sub Rosa was done as an interactive PDF, The Heretic makes use of now ubiquitous tablet computers/eBook readers, and so is available as an Apple iBook or a Kindle eBook. Its primary target medium is the former though, with the iBook edition offering an absolutely beautiful interface for reading the articles, viewing images and even the embedded video.

The first issue features articles from the likes of Robert Bauval, Daniel Pinchbeck, John Major Jenkins, Tim Wallace-Murphy, Mark Oxbrow and Patrice Chaplin, among many others.

The Heretic Magazine is an exciting, 21st century digital quarterly, incorporating video, digital art and some of the most forward-thinking writers of our age.

Our goal is to combine the work of the leaders in esoteric thought with new voices, and fresh ideas that challenge the status quo.

Our ethos is simple. Question the truth. Respect the facts. At The Heretic Magazine, we honour heretics past, present and future by examining provocative subjects with innovative research.

The question is, are you a heretic?

The Heretic Magazine's website has direct links for purchasing the inaugural issue from both the iTunes store and various Amazons around the world. Recommended, make sure you take a look at the mag and let me know your thoughts.

Full disclosure: The Heretic Magazine has purchased banner space here at TDG to promote the new release. However, my reason for posting about the mag is based on just two things: (a) it's a great magazine that TDG's readership would no doubt be very interested in, and (b) Andrew and Mark are both good friends, and I would help them spread word about this fantastic project regardless.

Visit The Heretic Magazine

The latest issue (Vol 3, Number 3) of the free PDF journal Paranthropology ("anthropological approaches to the paranormal") is now available to download. In the new release:

• "A Paradigm Breaking Hypothesis for Solving the Mind-Body Problem" - Bernardo Kastrup
• "Psychic Surgery as a "Breaking Frame": Ethnographic Observations of a London Based Psychic Surgeon" - Lara Bauer
• "Tylor and Neo-Tylorian Approaches to the Study of Religion: Re-Evaluating an Important Lineage in the Theorisation of Religion" - Liam Sutherland
• "Child Witches: From Imaginary Cannibalism to Ritual Abuse in London" - Leo Ruickbie
• "The Shamanic Flight of the Soul: Visiting Other Worlds" - Erwin Rooijakkers
• "Entheogenic Spirituality and Gender in Australia" - Joseph Gelfer
• REVIEW: Raymond Tallis: "Aping Mankind" at the Watershed, Bristol - Jack Hunter
• REVIEW: "Perspective on Clinical Parapsychology: An Introductory Reader" - Callum E. Cooper

And in case you haven't read this great resource before, all of the previous issues remain available to download from the site as well. Don't forget to support the journal with a PayPal donation if you find it interesting and/or useful.

Paranthropology is also celebrating it's 2nd anniversary of publication with a newly-released print anthology (I guess that makes it a paranthropologyanthology!). The 271-page hardcover, edited by Jack Hunter, retails for £17.00 - for purchasing details, click on the cover below.

The Daily Grail would not be able to continue without support from advertisers on the site, and the oh-so-cool readers who send voluntary subscriptions or purchase some of the books from Daily Grail Publishing. So here's a quick shout-out to New Dawn Magazine, who have been a supporter of this site for some time and provide some cool reading material to boot, the latest being Special Issue Vol. 6, No. 2, dedicated to "Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife". As you can imagine, that's right up my alley regardless of ND's support of the site, and you'll probably enjoy it as well. Check out the full listing from the latest issue via the link, including some free sample articles!

And here's a quick shout-out to all you people that send in voluntary subscriptions, buy Daily Grail books, or have chipped in to the crowd-funding campaign for the book I'm currently writing. This site would not be in existence today without you...y'all rock!

So, the Singularity is near, eh? We are all going to live forever in comfortable & efficient robotic bodies, while nano-machines will magically produce everything our heart/cyber-pump desires, eh??

Well, the thing is: predicting the Future is pretty tricky; and to prove that, how about taking a look at this hilarious compendium of crazy —and failed— past predictions brought to you by Seymour Chwast's publication The Nose?

The predictions are animated based on illustrations by Chwast. Here's a tiny example:

[Prediction made in 1900 for the year 2000]:No foods will be exposed. Storekeepers who expose food to air breathed out by patrons or to the atmosphere of the busy streets will be arrested along with those who sell stale or adulterated produce.

I would like to send this link to Ray Kurzweil, but it's never fun to see a grown man cry ;-)

(H/T to Cartoon Brew)

The latest issue of Fortean Times (#250) has been released, with the usual bunch of strange reportage:

This issue, we explore the world of 'imaginary childhood friends' - from helpful gnomes and talking cats to Thunder Cloud the laughing policeman - and wonder if there's more to this widespread phenomenon than we like to think. And staying with the childhood theme, Martin Gately, aka the Crypto Kid, casts his mind back to the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee, when he had just one week to find Nessie while under close parental supervision.

Also this month, we are bemused by a Saudi craze for old sewing machines, stunned by some strange coma awakenings, horrified by tales of contemporary witch-hunts, and saddened by the death of writer, Neoplatonist and fortean John Michell.

Full details, and archived article from previous issues, are available at the FT website.

The latest issue of Fortean Times (#247) is now available, with details available at the FT website:

Dead & Buried? - Strange tales of mummies, necromancers and corpses that come to life

Subjects of this month's death-themed issue include holy necromancy in modern-day Finland, a Neapolitan cult of grannies who 'adopted' skulls, Victorian tales of people buried alive, a Spanish festival where the living parade in coffins, and our strange compulsion to personalise anonymous corpses.

Also this month we ask whether the unusual incidence of twins in a Brazilian town might be the work of Auschwitz's 'Angel of Death', and whether a rotting cadaver on a Devon beach could be the remains of the Beast of Exmoor; we puzzle over reports of unusual thieves, including a man who was held captive by a ghost in a house he broke into, and a would-be car-jacker who turned into a goat; and we are disturbed by tales of pregnant women attacked and robbed of their unborn babies, and of a woman who discovered she had a worm living in her brain.

Remember you can find archived articles from previous issues, up to the minute Fortean news and reviews, and much more at the FT website.