Encyclopedia of the world’s deviltry, from AAHLA (Egyptian lower region) to ZWIMBGANANA (African voodoo creature). Sample entry: “TOADS: Witches were especially fond of toads, pampering them as if they were children and dressing them in scarlet silk and green velvet capes for the celebration of the Sabbat. They wore bells around their necks and were baptized at the Sabbat. They were supposed to have in their heads stones which changed color in the presence of poison and could be used as an antidote against it. Pierre Delancre says that a witch ordinarily was attended by several demons. These demons sat on her left shoulder. Having assumed the shape of a two-horned toad, they were visible only to those familiar to witchcraft.” GR

Publisher: Lyle Stuart
Paperback: 349 pages

Half a million Protestants form a religious movement and rewrite the history of God for the Fatherland in the years 1933 through 1945. “The girls went wild, he said, denouncing ‘the Old Testament with its filthy stories, ‘ the ‘Jews as a criminal race.’ It was precisely such attitudes that the German Christian pastors and schoolteachers sought to instill in the youth. A German Christian confirmation examination in early 1937 included the following exchange: ‘Does the church have to address the Jewish question? Answer: Yes. Why? The candidate responded: The Jews are our misfortune. At that, the pastor laughed aloud… A girl then added, “The curse of God is on the Jews,” and the pastor praised her reply.’ The Nazis reviled Christianity for its ‘Jewish roots, doctrinal rigidity and enervating, womanish qualities.’ The German Christians focused their efforts on proclaiming a “manly Christianity.” GR

Publisher: University of North Carolina
Paperback: 341 pages
Illustrated

Expert on the devil turns his pen to Satan’s female disciples. Sexist Christianity combines with secular mythology to create “the witch,” a wholly fabricated reading of female nature that caused thousands of innocent women to be tortured and killed, some for the mere ‘sin’ of having a wart in the wrong place. On coupling with demons: “The new dimension of ritual intercourse had further significance. Though demons could act at will as either incubi or sucubi, ritual coupling was usually ascribed to women rather than to men. This is because the popular imagination made the devil, like God, masculine, although Christian philosophy considered demons, like angels, sexless; and because the ancient Pauline-patristic tradition judged the female sex to be weaker than the male physically, mentally and morally. William of Auvergne argued that it was women rather than men who deluded themselves into believing that they rode out at night because their minds were feebler and more subject to illusion.” GR

Publisher: Cornell University
Paperback: 394 pages

An authentic presentation of the Papyrus of A-7i, the best surviving example of the texts that have come to be known as the Book of the Dead. It’s a collection of spells, charms, hymns, prayers and invocations, designed to guide the deceased’s journey in the afterlife. Provides rich insight into ancient Egyptian philosophical, spiritual and religious thought. Text is matched to the actual hieroglyphs on papyrus, which are reproduced in color. GR

Publisher: Chronicle
Paperback: 176 pages
Illustrated

Bitumen filling: “The arms, legs, hands and feet of such mummies break with a sound like the cracking of chemical glass tubing, they burn very freely, and give out great heat.” Preserved by natron: “The skin is found to be hard and hang loosely from the bones, in much the same way it hangs from the skeletons of dead monks preserved in the crypt beneath the Capuchin convent at Floriana, in Malta.“ Preserved in honey: “Once… they came across a sealed jar, and having opened it and found that it contained honey, they began to eat it… Someone in the party remarked that a hair in the honey turned round one of the fingers of the man who was dipping his bread in it, and as they drew it out, the body of a small child appeared with all its limbs complete and in a good state of preservation.” First edition appeared in 1893. GR

Publisher: Dover
Paperback: 513 pages

“The collected wisdom, humor and dark observations” of the bald-headed, bad-boy boss of the Church of Satan. “The High Priest speculates on such topics as nonconformity, occult faddism, erotic politics, the ‘Goodguy badge,’ demoralization and the construction of artificial companions.” Plus “How To Become a Werewolf.” Sing-along bonus: words and music to LaVey’s Satanic church theme song, “Hymm of the Satanic Empire, or, Battle Hymn of the Apocalypse.” Dedicated to the men who invented the Whoopee Cushion, the Joy Buzzer and the Sneeze-O-Bubble. Who says Mr. Devil Worship isn’t a fun-loving guy? GR

Publisher: Feral House
Paperback: 147 pages

Impales, garlics, beheads and buries the Dracula myth. “Surveys centuries of folklore about vampires and offers the first scientific explanation for the vampire legends. From the shoemaker from Breslau whose ghost terrorized everyone in the city, to the testimony of a doctor who presided over the exhumation and dissection of a graveyard full of Serbian vampires.” Chapters include: “How Revenants Come Into Existence,” “The Appearance of the Vampire,” “Search and Destroy,” “Some Theories of the Vampire,” and “The Body After Death.” GR

Publisher: Yale University
Paperback: 236 pages
Illustrated

Encyclopedic attempt to make scholarly sense of mankind's “anomalous phenomena,” A to Z: “Sleep drunkenness: Although a period of grogginess upon waking from sleep is normal, some people are prone to becoming trapped in the two states. Unable either to return to unconsciousness or to become fully aroused, they are disoriented and behave in an uninhibited manner. Occasionally, sufferers of sleep drunkenness have committed acts of aggression, including murder. When they manage to awaken completely, they have little or no memory of the episode. Monitoring the electrical activity of the 'sleep drunk' brain has confirmed that the condition combines waking neural processes and those of deep sleep.” GR

Publisher: Facts on File
Paperback: 384 pages

The social history of the acid-house party pill. “A trance dance of random patterns and thrashing extremities and faces bathed in sweat and bliss-blank, glazed, open, innocent. Is it rapture? Or is it the drugs?” Chronicles the mind-altering compound methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine, the techno-shamanic boogie booster of self-esteem. Chapters on “the flip flops in its legal status, psychological effects, erotic implications, methods of use, possible future, chemical structure,” and more. GR

Publisher: Ronin
Paperback: 196 pages
Illustrated

“Poetry, fear of: Fear of poetry is known as metrophobia. Some individuals have fearful and even aversive feelings about poetry because of its basic nature and because of the way it is taught and analyzed. Spartans banned certain types of poetry because they thought it promoted effeminate and licentious behavior. The rhyme and figurative language of poetry is odd and distracting to some people. Frequently, poetry contains words, allusions and obscurely stated thoughts and feelings that are confusing or incomprehensible to people who lack a scholarly, academic background.” And 1,998 more, from common to kooky to crazed. GR

Publisher: Facts on File
Hardback: 500 pages
Illustrated