Dark Lore volume 1 is the first entry in a fascinating series

I’ve always been the sort of person that sought out the books on Bigfoot, UFOs or Terrence McKenna before reading through The Kite Runner or various Grisham novels (you know… the mainstream stuff). Something about the weird and strange, no matter how implausible,  has always appealed to me. Partially this interest has developed from personal experiences with UFO sightings and other bizarre things outside normal explanations for reality. But the primary reason for my fascination is that deep inside I feel there is far more to be experienced than most people ever know. Cracks in the official explanations for reality show through on the fringes of society. We dull ourselves down through constant exposure to culture, but several hundred years ago we would have been thankful for visitations from our ancestors or discussions with plants. As the intelligence officer Major Murphy told Dr. Jacques Vallee on p.74 of Messengers of Deception regarding the failure for science to incorporate the price of information , “[In science] Suppose I gave you 95% of the data concerning a phenomenon. You’re happy because you know 95% of the data. I know that this is the cheap part of the information. I still need the other 5% but I will have to pay a much higher price to get it!”  Dark Lore is about that other 5%.

Dark Lore Volume 1 is the first of a now four volume series containing articles from the leading writers of fringe science. Edited by Greg Taylor, creator of the alternative news site The Daily Grail. In Dark Lore Volume 1, Greg has enlisted some of my favorite authors: Paul Devereux, Mitch Horowitz, John Higgs, Nick Redfern, Adam Gorightly Daniel Pinchbeck, Michael Prescott and Loren Coleman. If you follow the fields of heretical thought you’ll be familiar with these names. I would recommend this book as an antidote to someone that has been exposed to mostly bland explanations of reality.

I enjoyed all the essays in the book but I’ll provide a quick summary of the ones that really stood out, denoting my absolute favorites.

Michael Prescott analyzed how an obsession with the paranormal can drive people insane citing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, one of the most notable examples of a man driven mad by the etheric. Greg Taylor’s essay on the common audible experiences across various border phenomena was truly fascinating. Why do people reporting alien abductions, near death experiences, psychedelic experiences, OBEs, etc… all report similar sounds triggering the altered state of consciousness? Robert M. Schoch’s description of being a rogue Egyptologist was disheartening, why do academics reject  so much quantitative and archeological evidence towards an alternative approach to Egyptian history? Daniel Pinchbeck’s piece provided a fantastic history of Terrence and Dennis McKenna’s ingestion of psychedelic mushrooms and their contribution to the Timewave Zero phenomena and the 2012 hype. Susan B. Martinez challenged typical explanations of literary inspiration by relaying paranormal experiences from authors like Wilde, Poe, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Woolf, Tennison and more. Loren Coleman provided a coherent look at how any information about Bigfoot gets blown out of proportion by the mainstream media. John Higgs provided one of my favorite essays from the book, looking at similarities between Aliester Crowley and Dr. Timothy Leary. Michael E. Tymn recounted the fascinating encounters of linguist professor Neville Whymant with a medium that channeled ancient Chinese claiming to be the spirit of Confucius. Mitch Horowitz penned an entertaining history of Ouija in America. The Emperor laid out evidence that connects many Bigfoot experiences with UFOs (much more convincing than you might think). Mike Jay discussed the ritual use of psychedelic substances in ancient Peru using archeological evidence. My favorite essay was from Michael Grosso who provided some fascinating studies and personal accounts of how the moment of death points towards an afterlife (this one is worth the price of the book alone). To close out the collection, Adam Gorightly discussed the ritual magicians of the late 1800s/early 1900s and how their experiences parallel the beings contacted in UFO experiences… did they let something in?

Overall, the entire collection was incredibly strong. If you want to be bombarded with a world you never knew existed… or if you want to expand your knowledge of the unknown I would highly recommend this collection. I’ll look forward to the time when I can pick up Dark Lore Volume 2.