About Me
Melvyn Willin was born in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He was educated at Francis Bacon Grammar School and then took degrees at several British universities including doctorates in musicology at Sheffield and history at Bristol. He was closely associated with Bob Morris at Edinburgh University for several years. In 1971 he started teaching the guitar and formed the world touring Essex Guitar Orchestra. His other musical activities have included teaching in schools, colleges and a prison and he has published three guitar tutor books and other music arrangements. Willin devotes a large amount of his life to the study and lecturing of psychical research. He is the Honorary Archive Officer to the Society for Psychical Research and was the Events Officer and Editor of the Ghost Club Magazine. He frequently speaks at conferences and publishes articles in academic journals. In the last few years he has published several books including Music, Witchcraft and the Paranormal (Melrose Press, Ely) Ghosts caught on film, and Paranormal caught on film (David & Charles, Exeter). He has contributed chapters to other books and encyclopedias and also helped to produce a triple CD collection of auditory anomalies in conjunction with the Frieburg Institute in Germany. Recent research includes Perrott-Warrick scholarships into the study of Near Death Experiences from the perspective of music; the efficacy of witchcraft spells in modern society and recently alleged paranormal demonstrations within the martial arts. He is currently undertaking further archive work and writing articles for the SPR Psi-Encyclopedia. His most recent book is 'Music and the Paranormal - an encyclopedic dictionary' (MacFarland, 2022).