Dr Leo Ruickbie, FRHistS, FRAI, ARPS, PhD (Lond), MA (Distinction), BA (Hons), AKC (Associate of King’s College), ACIQ, is a writer, editor and social scientist specialising in controversial areas of human belief and experience. He has a PhD from King’s College, London, for his thesis on the sociology of modern witchcraft, building on his research into re-enchantment that won him an MA with distinction from Lancaster University. He is the author of several books on witchcraft, magic and the supernatural, all based on rigorous research, as well as many chapters and articles in scholarly and popular publications. His work has been mentioned in the media fromThe Guardian to Radio Jamaica and he has appeared on television in programmes such asMysteries at the Castle for the Travel Channel. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute, a Professional Member of the Parapsychological Association, a Council Member of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), a member of the SPR's Spontaneous Cases Committee, and was a member the governing committee of the Gesellschaft für Anomalistik (Society for Anomalistics) from 2014 to 2020. He is also a member of the Royal Photographic Society and in 2021 was shortlisted for the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year. In 2014 he was appointed editor of theParanormal Review, now renamed The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research. Currently, he is a Visiting Fellow in Psychology at the University of Northampton.

In 2021, he won 3rd place in the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies contest for the best essay on the evidence for life after death with 'The Ghost in the Time Machine'.

In 2022, he was invited to join the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies, first as one of its directors and then as a fulltime member of staff.

Publications

Books

• Angels in the Trenches: Spiritualism, Superstition and the Supernatural During the First World War (Constable & Robinson, 2018)
• The Impossible Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Fabulous Beasts and Mythical Monsters (Constable & Robinson, 2016)
• A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting(Constable & Robinson, 2013)
• A Brief Guide to the Supernatural (Constable & Robinson, 2012)
• Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician (The History Press, 2009)
• Witchcraft Out of the Shadows: A Complete History (Robert Hale, 2004; 2nd ed., 2011)

Edited Books

• With Robert McLuhan, Is There Life After Death? Vol. 2: Case Studies (in preparation).
• With Robert McLuhan, Is There Life After Death? Vol. 1: Arguments, Theories, Evidence (in preparation).
• With Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie, The Material Culture of Magic (in preparation).
• With Simon Bacon, Little Horrors: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anomalous Children and the Construction of Monstrosity (Interdisciplinary Press, 2016; republished by Anthem Press, 2020).

Chapters in Books

• ‘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).

• ‘Industrialized Magic: Lucky Charms in the First World War’, in Katharina Rein (ed), Magic: A Companion (Peter Lang, forthcoming).

• ‘Haunters and Hunters: Popular Ghost Hunting and the Pursuit of Paranormal Experience’ in Darryl Caterine and John Morehead (eds),The Paranormal and Popular Culture(Routledge, 2019).

• ‘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).

• ‘I was a 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 (Interdisciplinary Press, 2016)

• ‘Bell Witch, The’, ‘Hunkeler, Ronald E.’ and ‘Taylor, Michael’, in Joseph Laycock (ed.),Spirit Possession Around the World: Possession, Communion, and Demon Expulsion across Cultures (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2016).

• ‘Magic’ and ‘Spells’, in Patrick Hayes (ed.), Miracles Through History: An Encyclopedia of Supernatural and Divine Events (Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger/ABC-CLIO, 2016).

• ‘Memento (Non)Mori: Memory, Discourse and Transmission during the Eighteenth Century Vampire Epidemic and After’, in Simon Bacon and Katarzyna Bronk (eds),Undead Memory: Vampires and Human Memory in Popular Culture (Bern: Peter Lang, 2014).

• ‘Evidence for the Undead: The Role of Medical Investigation in the Eighteenth Century Vampire Epidemic’, in James Doan and Barbara Brodman (eds),The Universal Vampire: Origins and Evolution of a Legend,vol. 1 (Lanham, MD: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press/Rowman & Littlefield, 2013)

• ‘“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)

• ‘“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

• ‘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).

• ‘The $1,500,000 Question: An Interview with Robert Bigelow’, The Magazine of the Society for Psychical Research, 3 (2021).

• ‘Death: The Final Frontier’, Fortean Times, 405 (May, 2021).

• ‘Dragons Greeting Clouds: Parapsychological Adventures in Vietnam’, Paranormal Review, 96 (2020).

• ‘Leicester Through the Looking Glass: The 43rd Annual International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Leicester, 2019’, Paranormal Review, 92 (2019).

• ‘Haunted Leicester’, Paranormal Review, 92 (2019).

• ‘In the Empire of the Dead: A Journey Through the Catacombs of Paris’, Paranormal Review, 91 (2019).

• ‘For the Sake of Theory: A Report on the Workshop on Psi Theories’, Paranormal Review, 91 (2019).

• ‘Psi on the Tyne: The 42nd Annual International Conference of the Society for Psychical Research, Newcastle upon Tyne, 2018’, Paranormal Review, 90 (2019).

• ‘The SPR at War: The Society for Psychical Research During the First World War’,Paranormal Review, 88 (Autumn, 2018).

• ‘Pennies from Hell: Soldiers’ Lucky Pennies and the First World War’,Paranormal Review, 88 (Autumn, 2018).

• ‘Journey to the Centre of the SPR: A Review of the SPR’s 41st International Annual Conference’,Paranormal Review, 86 (Spring 2018).

• ‘A Night with the Black Monk’, Paranormal Review, 83 (Summer 2017).

• ‘Lucid in Leeds: A Review of the SPR’s 40th International Annual Conference’, Paranormal Review, 81 (Winter 2017).

• ‘Funny Bunny: The True Tale of Lepus Cornutus, the Horned Hare’,Paranormal Review, 80 (Autumn 2016).

• ‘The SPR’s London: Around the Capital with the Society for Psychical Research’,Paranormal Review, 80 (Autumn 2016).

• ‘Parazoology in Practice’, Paranormal Review, 80 (Autumn 2016).

• ‘Faking Kluski: The Story Behind the “Faked” Kluski Spirit Hands at the Institut Metapsychique International in Paris’,Paranormal Review, 79 (Summer 2016).

• ‘The Enflied Psychic: An Interview with Dr Ian Rubenstein’, Paranormal Review, 79 (Summer 2016).

• ‘Permanent Paranormal Object: Professor Josephson’s Bent Key’,Paranormal Review, 78 (Spring 2016).

• ‘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).

• ‘A Previously Unpublished Account of the Angels of Mons’, Paranormal Review, 76 (Autumn 2015).

• ‘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).

• The Medium: An Interview with Physical Medium Kai Mügge’, Paranormal Review, 75 (Summer 2015).

• ‘The Séance: Lights, Rappings, Levitations and Apports with Kai Mügge’, Paranormal Review, 75 (Summer 2015).

• ‘Stephen E. Braude: An Interview with the 2014 Recipient of the Myers Memorial Medal’,Paranormal Review, 74 (Spring 2015).

• ‘Virtual Parapsychology: A Review of “Parapsychology and Psychology: Research and Theory Online Conference”, 1–2 November 2014’, Paranormal Review, 73 (Winter 2015).

• ‘From Polaroid Poltergeists to the Statistics of the Zodiac: Summary of the 2013 Volume of the Zeitschrift für Anomalistik’,Mindfield, 6.3 (2014).

• ‘Paranormal Paris: Inside the Institut Métapsychique International’,Paranormal Review, 72 (October 2014).

• ‘Conference Report: The 38th Annual International SPR Conference’,Paranormal Review, 72 (October 2014).

• 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.

• ‘The Black Magic Code’, Abraxas: International Journal of Esoteric Studies, 6 (2014).

• ‘A Vision in Bermondsey, 1917: A Previously Unreported First World War Anomalous Experience’,Paranormal Review, 71 (July 2014), 28-9.

• ‘The Blood of Satan: The Exorcism of Michael Taylor’, Fortean Times, 313 (April 2014).

• ‘What Possessed Us? Forty Years After Its UK Release, Is The Exorcist Still the Scariest Movie of All Time?’,Fortean Times, 313 (April 2014).

• ‘Friday the 13th’, Daily Express (12 September 2013).

• ‘Britain’s Spookiest Places’, Daily Express (23 August 2013).

• ‘Child Witches: Imaginary Cannibalism and Ritual Abuse in London’,Paranthropology, 3.3 (July 2012).

• ‘Vampire Autopsies’, Fortean Times, 288 (Special, 2012).

• ‘Faith Factor: Hallowe’en Then and Now’, Sierra Sun (27 October 2011)

Other Positions

• Consultant to the Academic Committee, International Life Science and Parapsychology Studies Association (China).
• Co-founder with Dr Rachael Ironside of the Society for the Academic Study of the Supernatural.
• Administrator for the Society for the Academic Study of Magic.

• www.ruickbie.com
• www.angelsinthetrenches.com
• www.bigelowinstitute.org