143-443: A doppelgänger ( / ˈ d ɒ p əl ɡ ɛ ŋ ər , - ɡ æ ŋ -/ DOP -əl-gheng-ər, -gang- ), sometimes spelled doppelgaenger or doppelganger , is a ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts its own fleshly counterpart. In fiction and mythology, a doppelgänger is often portrayed as a ghostly or paranormal phenomenon and usually seen as a harbinger of bad luck. Other traditions and stories equate
286-424: A vardøger is a ghostly double who is seen performing the person's actions in advance. In Finnish mythology , this pattern is described as having an etiäinen , "a firstcomer". Many majority Muslim countries have the concept of a karin or qarin , which is a potentially benevolent or harmful spirit double of the same sex, race and parallel temperament as the person it is connected to. It bears children which are
429-422: A paling fence with gunpowder. In 1804, Shelley entered Eton College , a period which he later recalled with loathing. He was subjected to particularly severe mob bullying which the perpetrators called "Shelley-baits". A number of biographers and contemporaries have attributed the bullying to Shelley's aloofness, nonconformity and refusal to take part in fagging . His peculiarities and violent rages earned him
572-463: A pseudoscience . Parapsychology has been criticized for continuing investigation despite being unable to provide convincing evidence for the existence of any psychic phenomena after more than a century of research. By the 2000s, the status of paranormal research in the United States had greatly declined from its height in the 1970s, with the majority of work being privately funded and only
715-469: A French revolutionary émigré and hosted a salon where Shelley was able to discuss politics, philosophy and vegetarianism. Mrs. Boinville became a confidante of Shelley during his marital crisis. During a breakdown, Shelley moved into Mrs. Boinville's home outside London. In February and March 1814, he became infatuated with her married daughter, Cornelia Turner, age eighteen, and wrote erotic poetry about her in his notebook. Following Ianthe's birth,
858-489: A boating accident in 1822 at age 29. Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place , Warnham , Sussex , England. He was the eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley , 2nd Baronet of Castle Goring (1753–1844), a Whig Member of Parliament for Horsham from 1790 to 1792 and for Shoreham between 1806 and 1812, and his wife, Elizabeth Pilfold (1763–1846), the daughter of a successful butcher. He had four younger sisters and one much younger brother. Shelley's early childhood
1001-526: A causal role in the formation of paranormal belief. Research has shown that people reporting contact with aliens have higher levels of absorption, dissociativity, fantasy proneness and tendency to hallucinate . Findings have shown in specific cases that paranormal belief acts as a psychodynamic coping function and serves as a mechanism for coping with stress . Survivors from childhood sexual abuse , violent and unsettled home environments have reported to have higher levels of paranormal belief. A study of
1144-542: A communal household where all property would be shared. The Shelleys and Eliza spent December and January in Keswick where Shelley visited Robert Southey whose poetry he admired. Southey was taken with Shelley, even though there was a wide gulf between them politically, and predicted great things for him as a poet. Southey also informed Shelley that William Godwin , author of Political Justice , which had greatly influenced him in his youth, and which Shelley also admired,
1287-567: A daughter, Clara Everina Shelley. Soon after, Shelley left for London with Claire, which increased Mary's resentment towards her stepsister. Shelley was arrested for two days in London over money he owed, and attorneys visited Mary in Marlowe over Shelley's debts. Shelley took part in the literary and political circle that surrounded Leigh Hunt , and during this period he met William Hazlitt and John Keats . Shelley's major work during this time
1430-558: A delusional episode triggered by stress. This was the first of a series of episodes in subsequent years where Shelley claimed to have been attacked by strangers during periods of personal crisis. Early in 1812, Shelley wrote, published and with Harriet personally distributed in Dublin three political tracts: An Address, to the Irish People; Proposals for an Association of Philanthropists; and Declaration of Rights . He also delivered
1573-474: A doppelgänger for Donald Duck in Donald's Double Trouble (1946), where the twofold fowl speaks perfectly intelligible English and is well-mannered. The 1969 film Doppelgänger involves a journey to the far side of the sun, where the astronaut finds a counter-earth , a mirror image of home. He surmises his counterpart is at that moment on his Earth in the same predicament. English actor Roger Moore plays
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#17327942063861716-511: A doppelgänger in the climax. Jordan Peele 's horror film Us (2019) finds the Wilson family attacked by doubles of themselves known as "the Tethered". In the episode " Mirror Image " of the first series of The Twilight Zone (originally aired 25 February 1960), a young woman repeatedly sees her double in a New York Bus Terminal. After she is taken off to an asylum, the episodes ends with
1859-523: A doppelgänger that people mistake for Ward, often claiming to have seen him at parties and events Ward has no recollection of attending. At one point in the novel, Victor heads to Europe but reports of him attending events in the states appear in newspaper headlines. Victor's doppelgänger may have been placed by Victor's father, a United States senator looking to present a more intelligent and sophisticated replacement for his son that would improve his own image and boost his poll numbers for future elections. While
2002-558: A doppelgänger with an evil twin . In modern times, the term twin stranger is occasionally used. The word "doppelgänger" is a loanword from the German noun Doppelgänger , literally meaning "double-walker". The singular and plural forms are the same in German, but English writers usually prefer the plural "doppelgängers". In German, there is also a feminine form, Doppelgängerin (plural Doppelgängerinnen pronounced [ˈdɔpl̩ˌɡɛŋəʁɪnən] ). The first-known use, in
2145-469: A falling-out with his father. In late December 1810, Shelley had met Harriet Westbrook, a pupil at the same boarding school as Shelley's sisters. They corresponded frequently that winter and also after Shelley had been expelled from Oxford. Shelley expounded his radical ideas on politics, religion and marriage to Harriet, and they gradually convinced each other that she was oppressed by her father and at school. Shelley's infatuation with Harriet developed in
2288-473: A financial settlement with his father. On 23 June Harriet gave birth to a girl, Eliza Ianthe Shelley (known as Ianthe), and in the following months the relationship between Shelley and his wife deteriorated. Shelley resented the influence Harriet's sister had over her while Harriet was alienated from Shelley by his close friendship with an attractive widow, Mrs. Harriet de Boinville . Mrs. Boinville had married
2431-512: A further decline in Shelley's health and deepened Mary's depression. On 4 August she wrote: "We have now lived five years together; and if all the events of the five years were blotted out, I might be happy". Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my leaves are falling like its own! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! Drive my dead thoughts over
2574-488: A ghost is a manifestation of the spirit or soul of a person. Alternative theories expand on that idea and include belief in the ghosts of deceased animals. Sometimes the term "ghost" is used synonymously with any spirit or demon ; however, in popular usage the term typically refers to the spirit of a deceased person. The belief in ghosts as souls of the departed is closely tied to the concept of animism , an ancient belief that attributed souls to everything in nature. As
2717-469: A ghost, he reports that only 1% report seeing a full-fledged ghost while the rest report strange sensory stimuli, such as seeing fleeting shadows or wisps of smoke, or the sensation of hearing footsteps or feeling a presence. Wiseman makes the claim that, rather than experiencing paranormal activity, it is activity within our own brains that creates these strange sensations. Michael Persinger proposed that ghostly experiences could be explained by stimulating
2860-552: A loan of £3,000 but had left most of the funds at the disposal of Godwin and Harriet, who was again pregnant. The financial arrangement with Godwin led to rumours that he had sold his daughters to Shelley. Shelley, Mary and Claire made their way across war-ravaged France where Shelley wrote to Harriet, asking her to meet them in Switzerland with the money he had left for her. Hearing nothing from Harriet in Switzerland, and unable to secure sufficient funds or suitable accommodation,
3003-567: A long period of depression and emotional estrangement from Shelley. The Shelleys moved to Naples on 1 December, where they stayed for three months. During this period Shelley was ill, depressed and almost suicidal: a state of mind reflected in his poem "Stanzas written in Dejection – December 1818, Near Naples". While in Naples, Shelley registered the birth and baptism of a baby girl, Elena Adelaide Shelley (born 27 December), naming himself as
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#17327942063863146-501: A lot of people believe in it because they "want it to be so". A 2013 study that utilized a biological motion perception task discovered a "relation between illusory pattern perception and supernatural and paranormal beliefs and suggest that paranormal beliefs are strongly related to agency detection biases". A 2014 study discovered that schizophrenic patients have more belief in psi than healthy adults. Some scientists have investigated possible neurocognitive processes underlying
3289-468: A lyric poet without rival, and surely one of the most advanced sceptical intellects ever to write a poem." Shelley's reputation fluctuated during the 20th century, but since the 1960s he has achieved increasing critical acclaim for the sweeping momentum of his poetic imagery, his mastery of genres and verse forms, and the complex interplay of sceptical, idealist, and materialist ideas in his work. Among his best-known works are " Ozymandias " (1818), " Ode to
3432-498: A magic trick in which the performer appears to transport across the stage instantaneously. Angier initially performs the trick with a lookalike (also portrayed by Jackman), but later uses a machine that allows him to create an unlimited number of clones of himself. In the final scene, it is revealed that Borden had also been using a doppelgänger to perform the trick; the character "Borden" was actually two identical-looking men who took turns living out Borden's public life in order to create
3575-501: A man haunted by a doppelgänger, who springs to life following a near-death experience , in Basil Dearden 's The Man Who Haunted Himself (1970). The 1972 Robert Altman film Images has a doppelgänger for the hallucinating character played by Susanna York. The 1991 French/Polish film, La double vie de Véronique ( Polish : Podwójne życie Weroniki ), directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and starring Irène Jacob , explores
3718-567: A premonition of her soon-to-be death. In Richard Ayoade 's The Double (2013), based on Fyodor Dostoevsky 's novel of the same name , a man is troubled by a doppelgänger who is employed at his place of work and affects his personal and professional life. Estranged couple Ethan and Sophie find doubles of themselves trapped in the retreat house their marriage counselor recommended in Charlie McDowell 's The One I Love (2014). The 2018 science fiction film Annihilation features
3861-757: A prolonged legal battle, the Court of Chancery eventually awarded custody of Shelley and Harriet's children to foster parents, on the grounds that Shelley had abandoned his first wife for Mary without cause and was an atheist. In March 1817 the Shelleys moved to the village of Marlow, Buckinghamshire , where Shelley's friend Thomas Love Peacock lived. The Shelley household included Claire and her baby Allegra, both of whose presence Mary resented. Shelley's generosity with money and increasing debts also led to financial and marital stress, as did Godwin's frequent requests for financial help. On 2 September Mary gave birth to
4004-544: A quantity of essays on political, social, and philosophical issues. Much of this poetry and prose was not published in his lifetime, or only published in expurgated form, due to the risk of prosecution for political and religious libel. From the 1820s, his poems and political and ethical writings became popular in Owenist , Chartist , and radical political circles, and later drew admirers as diverse as Karl Marx , Mahatma Gandhi , and George Bernard Shaw . Shelley's life
4147-700: A random sample of 502 adults revealed paranormal experiences were common in the population which were linked to a history of childhood trauma and dissociative symptoms. Research has also suggested that people who perceive themselves as having little control over their lives may develop paranormal beliefs to help provide an enhanced sense of control. The similarities between paranormal events and descriptions of trauma have also been noted. Gender differences in surveys on paranormal belief have reported women scoring higher than men overall and men having greater belief in UFOs and extraterrestrials. Surveys have also investigated
4290-457: A reputation as a classical scholar and a tolerated eccentric. In his last term at Eton, his first novel Zastrozzi appeared and he had established a following among his fellow pupils. Prior to enrolling for University College, Oxford , in October 1810, Shelley completed Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire (written with his sister Elizabeth), the verse melodrama The Wandering Jew and
4433-473: A scathing review of the Revolt of Islam (and its earlier version Laon and Cythna ) in the conservative Quarterly Review . Shelley was angered by the personal attack on him in the article which he erroneously believed had been written by Southey. His bitterness over the review lasted for the rest of his life. On 12 November, Mary gave birth to a boy, Percy Florence Shelley . Around the time of Percy's birth,
Doppelgänger - Misplaced Pages Continue
4576-529: A second character trying to catch his double. The plot of the "Firefall" episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker (originally aired 8 November 1974) revolves around the spirit of a deceased arsonist that becomes the doppelgänger of a renowned orchestra conductor. He starts killing off people close to the conductor (by spontaneous human combustion ), with the ultimate goal of taking over the conductor's body. The Hammer House of Horror episode "The Two Faces of Evil" (originally aired 29 November 1980), focuses on
4719-454: A small amount of research being carried out in university laboratories. In 2007, Britain had a number of privately funded laboratories in university psychology departments. Publication remained limited to a small number of niche journals, and to date there have been no experimental results that have gained wide acceptance in the scientific community as valid evidence of the paranormal. While parapsychologists look for quantitative evidence of
4862-627: A speech at a meeting of O'Connell's Catholic Committee in which he called for Catholic emancipation , repeal of the Acts of Union and an end to the oppression of the Irish poor. Reports of Shelley's subversive activities were sent to the Home Secretary . Returning from Ireland, the Shelley household travelled to Wales, then Devon, where they again came under government surveillance for distributing subversive literature. Elizabeth Hitchener joined
5005-439: A term coined by the subculture. Approaching the paranormal from a research perspective is often difficult because of the lack of acceptable physical evidence from most of the purported phenomena. By definition, the paranormal (or supernatural) does not conform to conventional expectations of nature . Therefore, a phenomenon cannot be confirmed as paranormal using the scientific method because, if it could be, it would no longer fit
5148-440: A traveller from an antique land, Who said—"Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desart.... Near them, on the sand, Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed; And on the pedestal, these words appear: My name
5291-514: A way to cope in the face of psychological uncertainties and physical stressors. The deficiency hypothesis asserts that such beliefs arise because people are mentally defective in some way, ranging from low intelligence or poor critical thinking ability to a full-blown psychosis' (Radin). The deficiency hypothesis gets some support from the fact that the belief in the paranormal is an aspect of a schizotypical personality (Pizzagalli, Lehman and Brugger, 2001). A psychological study involving 174 members of
5434-469: A word to anyone, in front of several guests at a party being given by his wife on 22 June 1893 while he was supposed to be in a ship of the Mediterranean Fleet , manoeuvering off the coast of Syria. Subsequently, it was reported that he had gone down with his ship, HMS Victoria , the very same night, after it collided with HMS Camperdown following an unexplained and bizarre order to turn
5577-797: Is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away." Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1818 Shelley and Mary returned to England in September 1816, and in early October they heard that Mary's half-sister Fanny Imlay had killed herself. Godwin believed that Fanny had been in love with Shelley, and Shelley himself suffered depression and guilt over her death, writing: "Friend had I known thy secret grief / Should we have parted so." Further tragedy followed in December when Shelley's estranged wife Harriet drowned herself in
5720-574: Is a doppelgänger tale, and the doppelgänger motif is a staple of Gothic fiction . In Vladimir Nabokov 's 1936 novel Despair , the narrator and protagonist, Hermann Karlovich, meets a homeless man in Prague, who he believes is his doppelgänger. Jorge Luis Borges ' The Other (1972) has the author himself find that he's sitting on a bench with his older doppelgänger, and the two have a conversation. In Bret Easton Ellis 's novel, Glamorama (1998), protagonist actor–model Victor Ward ostensibly has
5863-531: Is a factor underlying paranormal belief. Many studies have found a link between personality and psychopathology variables correlating with paranormal belief. Some studies have also shown that fantasy proneness correlates positively with paranormal belief. Bainbridge (1978) and Wuthnow (1976) found that the most susceptible people to paranormal belief are those who are poorly educated, unemployed or have roles that rank low among social values. The alienation of these people due to their status in society
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6006-561: Is a verse drama of rape, murder and incest based on the story of the Renaissance Count Cenci of Rome and his daughter Beatrice . Shelley completed the play in September and the first edition was published that year. It was to become one of his most popular works and the only one to have two authorised editions in his lifetime. Shelley's three-year-old son William died in June 1819, probably of malaria. The new tragedy caused
6149-789: Is above, beyond, or contrary to that is para . On the classification of paranormal subjects, psychologist Terence Hines said in his book Pseudoscience and the Paranormal (2003): The paranormal can best be thought of as a subset of pseudoscience . What sets the paranormal apart from other pseudosciences is a reliance on explanations for alleged phenomena that are well outside the bounds of established science. Thus, paranormal phenomena include extrasensory perception (ESP), telekinesis, ghosts, poltergeists, life after death, reincarnation, faith healing, human auras, and so forth. The explanations for these allied phenomena are phrased in vague terms of "psychic forces", "human energy fields", and so on. This
6292-461: Is an autobiographical poem which explores the relationship between Shelley and Byron and analyses Shelley's personal crises of 1818 and 1819. The poem was completed in the summer of 1819, but was not published in Shelley's lifetime. Prometheus Unbound is a long dramatic poem inspired by Aeschylus's retelling of the Prometheus myth. It was completed in late 1819 and published in 1820. The Cenci
6435-412: Is considered by many as the father of modern paranormalism, which is the study of the paranormal. The magazine Fortean Times continues Charles Fort's approach, regularly reporting anecdotal accounts of the paranormal. Such anecdotal collections, lacking the reproducibility of empirical evidence , are not amenable to scientific investigation . The anecdotal approach is not a scientific approach to
6578-438: Is in contrast to many pseudoscientific explanations for other nonparanormal phenomena, which, although very bad science, are still couched in acceptable scientific terms. Ghost hunting is the investigation of locations that are reportedly haunted by ghosts . Typically, a ghost-hunting team will attempt to collect evidence supporting the existence of paranormal activity. In traditional ghostlore , and fiction featuring ghosts,
6721-448: Is independent of extraversion and psychoticism ". A correlation has been found between paranormal belief and irrational thinking . In an experiment Wierzbicki (1985) reported a significant correlation between paranormal belief and the number of errors made on a syllogistic reasoning task, suggesting that believers in the paranormal have lower cognitive ability . A relationship between narcissistic personality and paranormal belief
6864-482: Is made by the group trying to stop it from killing again. The group also discusses other examples of fictional doppelgängers that supposedly occurred throughout history to provide some context. In Neil Gaiman 's novel Coraline (2002), the heroine meets up with improved look-alikes of her parents and all her neighbors when she enters the Other Mother's world. In Das Mirakel and The Miracle (both 1912)
7007-436: Is natural for our brains to work too hard at it, thereby detecting human or ghost-like behavior in everyday meaningless stimuli. James Randi , an investigator with a background in illusion , felt that the simplest explanation for those claiming paranormal abilities is often trickery, illustrated by demonstrating that the spoon bending abilities of psychic Uri Geller can easily be duplicated by trained stage magicians. He
7150-471: Is not in the slightest degree nervous—neither in dreams or otherwise. She was standing one day, the day before I was taken ill, [15 June] at a window that looked on the Terrace with Trelawny—it was day—she saw as she thought Shelley pass by the window, as he often was then, without a coat or jacket—he passed again—now as he passed both times the same way—and as from the side towards which he went each time there
7293-507: Is possible that Mary, with Shelley's encouragement, was also having a sexual relationship with Hogg. In May Claire left the household, at Mary's insistence, to reside in Lynmouth. In August Shelley and Mary moved to Bishopsgate where Shelley worked on Alastor , a long poem in blank verse based on the myth of Narcissus and Echo . Alastor was published in an edition of 250 in early 1816 to poor sales and largely unfavourable reviews from
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#17327942063867436-423: Is said to encourage them to appeal to paranormal or magical beliefs. Research has associated paranormal belief with low cognitive ability , low IQ and a lack of science education . Intelligent and highly educated participants involved in surveys have proven to have less paranormal belief. Tobacyk (1984) and Messer and Griggs (1989) discovered that college students with better grades have less belief in
7579-502: Is the result of some melancholy dream, which I desire you to forget, for you are now awake. To which Mr. Donnes reply was: I cannot be surer that I now live, then that I have not slept since I saw you: and am, assure, that at her second appearing, she stopped, looked me in the face, and vanished. R. C. Bald and R. E. Bennett questioned the veracity of Walton's account. On 8 July 1822, the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned in
7722-527: The Bay of Spezia near Lerici in Italy . On 15 August, while staying at Pisa , Percy's wife Mary Shelley , an author and editor, wrote a letter to Maria Gisborne in which she relayed Percy's claims to her that he had met his own doppelgänger. A week after Mary's nearly fatal miscarriage , in the early hours of 23 June, Percy had had a nightmare about the house collapsing in a flood, and also ... talking it over
7865-644: The Lake District , leaving Hogg in York. For a year from June 1811, Shelley was also involved in an intense platonic relationship with Elizabeth Hitchener , a 28-year-old unmarried schoolteacher of advanced views, with whom he was corresponding frequently. Hitchener, whom Shelley called the "sister of my soul" and "my second self", became his confidante and intellectual companion as he developed his views on politics, religion, ethics and personal relationships. Shelley proposed that she join him, Harriet and Eliza in
8008-534: The Peterloo Massacre of peaceful protesters in Manchester. Within two weeks he had completed one of his most famous political poems, The Mask of Anarchy , and despatched it to Leigh Hunt for publication. Hunt, however, decided not to publish it for fear of prosecution for seditious libel. The poem was only officially published in 1832. The Shelleys moved to Florence in October, where Shelley read
8151-623: The Serpentine . Harriet, pregnant and living alone at the time, believed that she had been abandoned by her new lover. In her suicide letter she asked Shelley to take custody of their son Charles but to leave their daughter in her sister Eliza's care. Shelley married Mary Godwin on 30 December, despite his philosophical objections to the institution. The marriage was intended to help secure Shelley's custody of his children by Harriet and to placate Godwin who had refused to see Shelley and Mary because of their previous adulterous relationship. After
8294-548: The Society for Psychical Research completed a delusional ideation questionnaire and a deductive reasoning task. As predicted, the study showed that "individuals who reported a strong belief in the paranormal made more errors and displayed more delusional ideation than skeptical individuals". There was also a reasoning bias which was limited to people who reported a belief in, rather than experience of, paranormal phenomena. The results suggested that reasoning abnormalities may have
8437-548: The pseudosciences of ghost hunting , cryptozoology , and ufology . Proposals regarding the paranormal are different from scientific hypotheses or speculations extrapolated from scientific evidence because scientific ideas are grounded in empirical observations and experimental data gained through the scientific method . In contrast, those who argue for the existence of the paranormal explicitly do not base their arguments on empirical evidence but rather on anecdote, testimony and suspicion. The standard scientific models give
8580-478: The umlaut on the letter "a" is often dropped, rendering "doppelganger". English-speakers have only recently applied this German word to a paranormal concept. Francis Grose 's Provincial Glossary of 1787 used the term fetch instead, defined as the "apparition of a person living." Catherine Crowe 's book on paranormal phenomena, The Night-Side of Nature (1848) helped make the German word well known. The concept of alter egos and double spirits has appeared in
8723-419: The 19th-century anthropologist George Frazer explained in his classic work, The Golden Bough (1890), souls were seen as the 'creature within' which animated the body. Although the human soul was sometimes symbolically or literally depicted in ancient cultures as a bird or other animal, it was widely held that the soul was an exact reproduction of the body in every feature, even down to the clothing worn by
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#17327942063868866-476: The Chinese students showing greater skepticism. According to American surveys analysed by Bader et al . (2011) African Americans have the highest belief in the paranormal and while the findings are not uniform the "general trend is for whites to show lesser belief in most paranormal subjects". Polls show that about fifty percent of the United States population believe in the paranormal. Robert L. Park says
9009-675: The Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931) and Wild Talents (1932); one book was written between New Lands and Lo! , but it was abandoned and absorbed into Lo! Reported events that he collected include teleportation (a term Fort is generally credited with coining); poltergeist events; falls of frogs, fishes, and inorganic materials of an amazing range; crop circles ; unaccountable noises and explosions; spontaneous fires ; levitation ; ball lightning (a term explicitly used by Fort); unidentified flying objects ; mysterious appearances and disappearances; giant wheels of light in
9152-558: The French Alps inspired " Mont Blanc ", which has been described as an atheistic response to Coleridge's "Hymn before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamoni". During this tour, Shelley often signed guest books with a declaration that he was an atheist. These declarations were seen by other British tourists, including Southey, which hardened attitudes against Shelley back home. Relations between Byron and Shelley's party became strained when Byron
9295-601: The People on the Death of Princess Charlotte (November 1817). In December he wrote "Ozymandias", which is considered to be one of his finest sonnets, as part of a competition with friend and fellow poet Horace Smith . On 12 March 1818 the Shelleys and Claire left England to escape its "tyranny civil and religious". A doctor had also recommended that Shelley go to Italy for his chronic lung complaint, and Shelley had arranged to take Claire's daughter, Allegra, to her father Byron who
9438-714: The Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), is an organization that aims to publicize the scientific, skeptical approach. It carries out investigations aimed at understanding paranormal reports in terms of scientific understanding, and publishes its results in the Skeptical Inquirer magazine. CSI's Richard Wiseman draws attention to possible alternative explanations for perceived paranormal activity in his article, The Haunted Brain . While he recognizes that approximately 15% of people believe they have experienced an encounter with
9581-557: The Shelleys moved frequently across London, Wales, the Lake District , Scotland and Berkshire to escape creditors and search for a home. In March 1814, Shelley remarried Harriet in London to settle any doubts about the legality of their Edinburgh wedding and secure the rights of their child. Nevertheless, the Shelleys lived apart for most of the following months, and Shelley reflected bitterly on: "my rash & heartless union with Harriet". In May 1814, Shelley began visiting his mentor Godwin almost daily, and soon fell in love with Mary ,
9724-480: The Virgin Mary (as Doppelgängerin ) takes the place of a nun who has run away from her convent in search of love and adventure. Both based on the 1911 play The Miracle by Karl Vollmöller . The Student of Prague (1913) is a German silent film where a diabolical character steals the reflection of a young student out of his mirror, leading it to return later and terrorise him. Animator Jack King creates
9867-622: The West Wind " (1819), " To a Skylark " (1820), " Adonais " (1821), the philosophical essay " The Necessity of Atheism " (1811), which his friend T. J. Hogg may have co-authored, and the political ballad " The Mask of Anarchy " (1819). His other major works include the verse dramas The Cenci (1819), Prometheus Unbound (1820) and Hellas (1822), and the long narrative poems Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude (1815), Julian and Maddalo (1819), Adonais (1821), and The Triumph of Life (1822). Shelley also wrote prose fiction and
10010-442: The belief in unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and the phenomena said to be associated with them. Early in the history of UFO culture, believers divided themselves into two camps. The first held a rather conservative view of the phenomena, interpreting them as unexplained occurrences that merited serious study. They began calling themselves " ufologists " in the 1950s and felt that logical analysis of sighting reports would validate
10153-465: The birth and baptism on 27 February 1819, and the household left Naples for Rome the following day, leaving Elena with carers. Elena was to die in a poor suburb of Naples on 9 June 1820. In Rome, Shelley was in poor health, probably having developed nephritis and tuberculosis which later was in remission. Nevertheless, he made significant progress on three major works: Julian and Maddalo , Prometheus Unbound and The Cenci . Julian and Maddalo
10296-580: The bishops and heads of colleges at Oxford, and he was called to appear before the college's fellows, including the Dean, George Rowley . His refusal to answer questions put by college authorities regarding whether or not he authored the pamphlet resulted in his expulsion from Oxford on 25 March 1811, along with Hogg. Hearing of his son's expulsion, Shelley's father threatened to cut all contact with Shelley unless he agreed to return home and study under tutors appointed by him. Shelley's refusal to do so led to
10439-549: The brain with weak magnetic fields. Swedish psychologist Pehr Granqvist and his team, attempting to replicate Persinger's research, determined that the paranormal sensations experienced by Persinger's subjects were merely the result of suggestion, and that brain stimulation with magnetic fields did not result in ghostly experiences. Oxford University Justin Barrett has theorized that "agency"—being able to figure out why people do what they do—is so important in everyday life, that it
10582-736: The bride and groom. (Shelley's father believed his son had married beneath him, as Harriet's father had earned his fortune in trade and was the owner of a tavern and coffee house.) Surviving on borrowed money, Shelley and Harriet stayed in Edinburgh for a month, with Hogg living under the same roof. The trio left for York in October, and Shelley went on to Sussex to settle matters with his father, leaving Harriet behind with Hogg. Shelley returned from his unsuccessful excursion to find that Eliza had moved in with Harriet and Hogg. Harriet confessed that Hogg had tried to seduce her while Shelley had been away. Shelley, Harriet and Eliza soon left for Keswick in
10725-493: The conservative press. On 24 January 1816, Mary gave birth to William Shelley. Shelley was delighted to have another son, but was suffering from the strain of prolonged financial negotiations with his father, Harriet and William Godwin. Shelley showed signs of delusional behaviour and was contemplating an escape to the continent. Claire initiated a sexual relationship with Lord Byron in April 1816, just before his self-exile on
10868-552: The continent, and then arranged for Byron to meet Shelley, Mary, and her in Geneva. Shelley admired Byron's poetry and had sent him Queen Mab and other poems. Shelley's party arrived in Geneva in May and rented a house close to Villa Diodati , on the shores of Lake Geneva, where Byron was staying. There Shelley, Byron and the others engaged in discussions about literature, science and "various philosophical doctrines". One night, while Byron
11011-814: The creation (in 1976) of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (now called the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry) and its periodical, the Skeptical Inquirer . Eventually, more mainstream scientists became critical of parapsychology as an endeavor, and statements by the National Academies of Science and the National Science Foundation cast a pall on the claims of evidence for parapsychology. Today, many cite parapsychology as an example of
11154-407: The definition. (However, confirmation would result in the phenomenon being reclassified as part of science.) Despite this problem, studies on the paranormal are periodically conducted by researchers from various disciplines. Some researchers simply study the beliefs in the paranormal regardless of whether the phenomena are considered to objectively exist. This section deals with various approaches to
11297-455: The doppelgänger murder the object of his affection. In addition to describing the doppelgänger double as a counterpart to the self, Percy Bysshe Shelley 's drama Prometheus Unbound (1820) makes reference to Zoroaster meeting "his own image walking in the garden". In Edgar Allan Poe 's 1839 short story " William Wilson ", the main character is followed by a doppelgänger his whole life, with it troubling him and causing mischief. Eventually
11440-497: The doppelgänger to touch it, and felt "a slight resistance, which they likened to that which a fabric of fine muslin or crape would offer to the touch". The story is reported by Robert Dale Owen . A Victorian age example was the supposed appearance of Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon . He was said to have walked through the drawing room of his family home in Eaton Square , London , looking straight ahead, without exchanging
11583-718: The episode, trapping the original in the Black Lodge. A total of three different doppelgängers are dispatched from the mysterious Black Lodge to bedevil the forces of good in Showtime's 2017 series Twin Peaks: The Return . In Buffy the Vampire Slayer 's season three episode " Doppelgangland " (originally aired 23 February 1999), Willow encounters her vampire double who was first introduced seven episodes prior (in " The Wish " [8 December 1998]). In
11726-443: The estate, and a financial settlement between Shelley and his father (now Sir Timothy), however, was not concluded until April the following year. In February 1815, Mary gave premature birth to a baby girl who died ten days later, deepening her depression. In the following weeks, Mary became close to Hogg who temporarily moved into the household. Shelley was almost certainly having a sexual relationship with Claire at this time, and it
11869-459: The explanation that what appears to be paranormal phenomena is usually a misinterpretation, misunderstanding or anomalous variation of natural phenomena . The term paranormal has existed in the English language since at least 1920. The word consists of two parts: para and normal . The definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is normal and anything that
12012-425: The father and falsely naming Mary as the mother. The parentage of Elena has never been conclusively established. Biographers have variously speculated that she was adopted by Shelley to console Mary for the loss of Clara, that she was Shelley's child by Claire, that she was his child by his servant Elise Foggi, or that she was the child of a "mysterious lady" who had followed Shelley to the continent. Shelley registered
12155-552: The fifth-season episode " The Replacement " (10 October 2000), Xander discovers his own doppelgänger (portrayed by the actor's identical twin brother). Paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture , folk , and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Notable paranormal beliefs include those that pertain to extrasensory perception (for example, telepathy ), spiritualism and
12298-452: The figure had entirely disappeared. It is strange, however, that, eight years afterward, I found myself on the very road, to pay one more visit to Frederica, in the dress of which I had dreamed, and which I wore, not from choice, but by accident. However, it may be with matters of this kind generally, this strange illusion in some measure calmed me at the moment of parting. The pain of quitting for ever noble Alsace , with all I had gained in it,
12441-592: The folklore, myths, religious concepts and traditions of many cultures throughout human history. In Ancient Egyptian mythology , a ka was a tangible "spirit double" having the same memories and feelings as the person to whom the counterpart belongs. The Greek Princess presents an Egyptian view of the Trojan War in which a ka of Helen misleads Paris , helping to stop the war. This memic sense also appears in Euripides ' play Helen . In Norse mythology ,
12584-415: The form Doppeltgänger , occurs in the novel Siebenkäs (1796) by Jean Paul , in which he explains his newly coined word in a footnote; the word Doppelgänger also appears in the novel, but with a different meaning. In German, the word is written (as is usual with German nouns) with an initial capital letter: Doppelgänger . In English, the word is generally written with a lower-case letter, and
12727-490: The formation of independent ghost hunting groups that advocate immersive research at alleged paranormal locations. One popular website for ghost hunting enthusiasts lists over 300 of these organizations throughout the United States and the United Kingdom. Scientific skeptics advocate critical investigation of claims of paranormal phenomena: applying the scientific method to reach a rational, scientific explanation of
12870-681: The formation of paranormal beliefs. In a study (Pizzagalli et al . 2000) data demonstrated that "subjects differing in their declared belief in and experience with paranormal phenomena as well as in their schizotypal ideation, as determined by a standardized instrument, displayed differential brain electric activity during resting periods." Another study (Schulter and Papousek, 2008) wrote that paranormal belief can be explained by patterns of functional hemispheric asymmetry that may be related to perturbations during fetal development . Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( / b ɪ ʃ / BISH ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822)
13013-468: The gothic novel St. Irvine; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance (published 1811). At Oxford Shelley attended few lectures, instead spending long hours reading and conducting scientific experiments in the laboratory he set up in his room. He met a fellow student, Thomas Jefferson Hogg , who became his closest friend. Shelley became increasingly politicised under Hogg's influence, developing strong radical and anti-Christian views. Such views were dangerous in
13156-470: The grave, where do inhabit / The shadows of all forms that think and live / Till death unite them and they part no more...." Near the end of Book XI of his autobiography, Dichtung und Wahrheit ("Poetry and Truth") (1811–1833), Goethe wrote, almost in passing: Amid all this pressure and confusion I could not forego seeing Frederica once more. Those were painful days, the memory of which has not remained with me. When I reached her my hand from my horse,
13299-625: The hopes of finding evidence of extrasensory perception . However, it was revealed that Rhine's experiments contained methodological flaws and procedural errors. In 1957, the Parapsychological Association was formed as the preeminent society for parapsychologists. In 1969, they became affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science . Criticisms of the field were focused in
13442-550: The household in Devon, but several months later had a falling out with the Shelleys and left. The Shelley household had settled in Tremadog , Wales, in September 1812, where Shelley worked on Queen Mab , a utopian allegory with extensive notes preaching atheism, free love, republicanism and vegetarianism. The poem was published the following year in a private edition of 250 copies, although few were initially distributed because of
13585-408: The illusion that they were a single man. In the 2007 children's film Bratz Kidz: Sleep-over Adventure one of the stories involves Sasha being tormented and replaced by a doppelgänger she finds in a house of mirrors. In the 2008 psychological horror film Lake Mungo , the film's climax contains a scene in which a young teenager, named Alice, is attacked by her disfigured doppelgänger, meant as
13728-525: The impression of paranormal activity to some people, in fact, where there have been none. The psychologist David Marks wrote that paranormal phenomena can be explained by magical thinking , mental imagery , subjective validation , coincidence , hidden causes, and fraud. According to studies some people tend to hold paranormal beliefs because they possess psychological traits that make them more likely to misattribute paranormal causation to normal experiences. Research has also discovered that cognitive bias
13871-642: The main character kills his doppelgänger, and realizes that the doppelgänger was only mirroring him. First published in 1839, the story was also included in his 1840 Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque . Fyodor Dostoyevsky 's 1846 novel The Double presents the doppelgänger as an opposite personality who exploits the character failings of the protagonist to take over his life. Charles Williams ' Descent into Hell (1939) has character Pauline Anstruther seeing her own doppelgänger all through her life. Clive Barker 's story "Human Remains" in his Books of Blood
14014-579: The months following his expulsion, when he was under severe emotional strain due to the conflict with his family, his bitterness over the breakdown of his romance with his cousin Harriet Grove, and his unfounded belief that he might have a fatal illness. At the same time, Harriet Westbrook's elder sister Eliza, to whom Harriet was very close, encouraged the young girl's romance with Shelley. Shelley's correspondence with Harriet intensified in July, while he
14157-416: The mysterious connection between two women, both played by Jacob, who share an intense emotional connection in spite of never having met one another. Doppelgängers are a major theme and plot element in the 2006 film, The Prestige , directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale . Illusionists Robert Angier (Jackman) and Alfred Borden (Bale) compete with each other to perfect
14300-445: The next morning he told me that he had had many visions lately—he had seen the figure of himself which met him as he walked on the terrace and said to him—"How long do you mean to be content"—No very terrific words & certainly not prophetic of what has occurred. But Shelley had often seen these figures when ill; but the strangest thing is that Mrs. Williams saw him. Now Jane, though a woman of sensibility, has not much imagination &
14443-675: The nickname "Mad Shelley". His interest in the occult and science continued, and contemporaries describe him giving an electric shock to a master, blowing up a tree stump with gunpowder and attempting to raise spirits with occult rituals. In his senior years, Shelley came under the influence of a part-time teacher, James Lind , who encouraged his interest in the occult and introduced him to liberal and radical authors. Shelley also developed an interest in Plato and idealist philosophy which he pursued in later years through self-study. According to Richard Holmes , Shelley, by his leaving year, had gained
14586-731: The notion of extraterrestrial visitation. The second camp held a view that coupled ideas of extraterrestrial visitation with beliefs from existing quasi-religious movements. Typically, these individuals were enthusiasts of occultism and the paranormal. Many had backgrounds as active Theosophists or spiritualists , or were followers of other esoteric doctrines. In contemporary times, many of these beliefs have coalesced into New Age spiritual movements. Both secular and spiritual believers describe UFOs as having abilities beyond what are considered possible according to known aerodynamic constraints and physical laws . The transitory events surrounding many UFO sightings preclude any opportunity for
14729-451: The novel is narrated by Victor, various chapters are ambiguous, leading the reader to wonder if certain chapters are being narrated by the doppelgänger instead. In Stephen King 's book The Outsider (2018), the antagonist is able to use the DNA of individuals to become their near-perfect match through a science-fictional ability to transform physically. The allusion to it being a doppelgänger
14872-406: The observed behavior). Specific data-gathering methods, such as recording EMF ( electromagnetic field ) readings at haunted locations, have their own criticisms beyond those attributed to the participant-observer approach itself. Participant observation, as an approach to the paranormal, has gained increased visibility and popularity through reality television programs like Ghost Hunters , and
15015-404: The oceans; and animals found outside their normal ranges (see phantom cat ). He offered many reports of OOPArts , the abbreviation for "out of place" artifacts: strange items found in unlikely locations. He is perhaps the first person to explain strange human appearances and disappearances by the hypothesis of alien abduction and was an early proponent of the extraterrestrial hypothesis . Fort
15158-403: The paranormal because it leaves verification dependent on the credibility of the party presenting the evidence. Nevertheless, it is a common approach to investigating paranormal phenomena. Experimental investigation of the paranormal has been conducted by parapsychologists . J. B. Rhine popularized the now famous methodology of using card-guessing and dice-rolling experiments in a laboratory in
15301-458: The paranormal in laboratories, a great number of people immerse themselves in qualitative research through participant-observer approaches to the paranormal. Participant-observer methodologies have overlaps with other essentially qualitative approaches, including phenomenological research that seeks largely to describe subjects as they are experienced , rather than to explain them. Participant observation suggests that by immersing oneself in
15444-475: The paranormal. In a case study (Gow, 2004) involving 167 participants the findings revealed that psychological absorption and dissociation were higher for believers in the paranormal. Another study involving 100 students had revealed a positive correlation between paranormal belief and proneness to dissociation. A study (Williams et al . 2007) discovered that " neuroticism is fundamental to individual differences in paranormal belief, while paranormal belief
15587-795: The paranormal: anecdotal , experimental , and participant-observer approaches and the skeptical investigation approach. An anecdotal approach to the paranormal involves the collection of stories told about the paranormal. Charles Fort (1874–1932) is perhaps the best-known collector of paranormal anecdotes. Fort is said to have compiled as many as 40,000 notes on unexplained paranormal experiences , though there were no doubt many more. These notes came from what he called "the orthodox conventionality of Science", which were odd events originally reported in magazines and newspapers such as The Times and scientific journals such as Scientific American , Nature and Science . From this research Fort wrote seven books, though only four survive: The Book of
15730-452: The part of the doppelgänger mythology where meeting yours is a harbinger of your imminent death. In the season two finale of Twin Peaks —" Beyond Life and Death " (originally aired 10 June 1991)—Special Agent Dale Cooper encounters a variety of doppelgängers in the Black Lodge, one of whom is a malevolent version of himself. Cooper's doppelgänger switches places with him at the conclusion of
15873-458: The person. This is depicted in artwork from various ancient cultures, including such works as the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead ( c. 1550 BCE ), which shows deceased people in the afterlife appearing much as they did before death, including the style of dress. The possibility of extraterrestrial life is not, in itself, a paranormal subject. Many scientists are actively engaged in
16016-405: The phenomena to account for the paranormal claims, taking into account that alleged paranormal abilities and occurrences are sometimes hoaxes or misinterpretations of natural phenomena. A way of summarizing this method is by the application of Occam's razor , which suggests that the simpler solution is usually the correct one. The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), formerly the Committee for
16159-529: The reactionary political climate prevailing during Britain's war with Napoleonic France, and Shelley's father warned him against Hogg's influence. In the winter of 1810–1811, Shelley published a series of anonymous political poems and tracts: Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson , The Necessity of Atheism (written in collaboration with Hogg) and A Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things . Shelley mailed The Necessity of Atheism to all
16302-485: The reinstatement of Shelley's allowance. With Harriet's allowance also restored, Shelley now had the funds for his Irish venture. Their departure for Ireland was precipitated by increasing hostility towards the Shelley household from their landlord and neighbours who were alarmed by Shelley's scientific experiments, pistol shooting and radical political views. As tension mounted, Shelley claimed he had been attacked in his home by ruffians, an event which might have been real or
16445-487: The relationship between ethnicity and paranormal belief. In a sample of American university students (Tobacyk et al . 1988) it was found that people of African descent have a higher level of belief in superstitions and witchcraft while belief in extraterrestrial life forms was stronger among people of European descent . Otis and Kuo (1984) surveyed Singapore university students and found Chinese , Indian and Malay students to differ in their paranormal beliefs, with
16588-432: The repeat testing required by the scientific method . Acceptance of UFO theories by the larger scientific community is further hindered by the many possible hoaxes associated with UFO culture. Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that aims to prove the existence of entities from the folklore record, such as Bigfoot , chupacabras , or Mokele-mbembe . Cryptozoologists refer to these entities as cryptids ,
16731-517: The risk of prosecution for seditious and religious libel. In February 1813, Shelley claimed he was attacked in his home at night. The incident might have been real, a hallucination brought on by stress, or a hoax staged by Shelley in order to escape government surveillance, creditors and his entanglements in local politics. The Shelleys and Eliza fled to Ireland, then London. Back in England, Shelley's debts mounted as he tried unsuccessfully to reach
16874-628: The search for unicellular life within the Solar System , carrying out studies on the surface of Mars and examining meteors that have fallen to Earth . Projects such as SETI are conducting an astronomical search for radio activity that would show evidence of intelligent life outside the Solar System. Scientific theories of how life developed on Earth allow for the possibility that life also developed on other planets . The paranormal aspect of extraterrestrial life centers largely around
17017-399: The ship in the direction of the other vessel. Lord Byron uses doppelgänger imagery to explore the duality of human nature. In The Devil's Elixirs (1815), one of E. T. A. Hoffmann 's early novels, a man murders the brother and stepmother of his beloved princess, finds his doppelgänger has been sentenced to death for these crimes in his stead, and liberates him, only to have
17160-527: The sixteen-year-old daughter of Godwin and the late feminist author Mary Wollstonecraft . Shelley and Mary declared their love for each other during a visit to her mother's grave in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church on 26 June. When Shelley told Godwin that he intended to leave Harriet and live with Mary, his mentor banished him from the house and forbade Mary from seeing him. Shelley and Mary eloped to Europe on 28 July, taking Mary's step-sister Claire Clairmont with them. Before leaving, Shelley had secured
17303-530: The spirit doubles of the person's children. In some places the karin is the opposite sex of the person it represents. When malicious, it often tries to persuade the person it is connected to into following their bad whims. Some Sufi mystics pictured the karin as a devil residing in the blood and hearts of humans. It is more popular in some countries than others; for example, it is more popular in Egypt than Sudan. In Joseph Wright 's English Dialect Dictionary , it
17446-448: The subject that is being studied, a researcher is presumed to gain understanding of the subject. Criticisms of participant observation as a data-gathering technique are similar to criticisms of other approaches to the paranormal, but also include an increased threat to the scientific objectivity of the researcher, unsystematic gathering of data, reliance on subjective measurement, and possible observer effects (i.e. observation may distort
17589-449: The tears stood in her eyes; and I felt very uneasy. I now rode along the foot-path toward Drusenheim, and here one of the most singular forebodings took possession of me. I saw, not with the eyes of the body, but with those of the mind, my own figure coming toward me, on horseback, and on the same road, attired in a dress which I had never worn,—it was pike-gray [ hecht-grau ], with somewhat of gold. As soon as I shook myself out of this dream,
17732-458: The terrace & was far off at the time she saw him. Percy Shelley's drama Prometheus Unbound (1820) contains the following passage in Act I: "Ere Babylon was dust, / The Magus Zoroaster, my dead child, / Met his own image walking in the garden. / That apparition, sole of men, he saw. / For know there are two worlds of life and death: / One that which thou beholdest; but the other / Is underneath
17875-523: The three travelled to Germany and Holland before returning to England on 13 September. Shelley spent the next few months trying to raise loans and avoid bailiffs. Mary was pregnant, lonely, depressed and ill. Her mood was not improved when she heard that, on 30 November, Harriet had given birth to Charles Bysshe Shelley, heir to the Shelley fortune and baronetcy. This was followed, in early January 1815, by news that Shelley's grandfather, Sir Bysshe , had died leaving an estate worth £220,000. The settlement of
18018-490: The universe Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of this verse, Scatter, as from unextinguished hearth Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! Be through my lips to unawakened Earth The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? From "Ode to the West Wind", 1819 The Shelleys were now living in Livorno where, in September, Shelley heard of
18161-579: Was Laon and Cythna , a long narrative poem featuring incest and attacks on religion. It was hastily withdrawn after publication due to fears of prosecution for religious libel, and was re-edited and reissued as The Revolt of Islam in January 1818. Shelley also published two political tracts under a pseudonym: A Proposal for putting Reform to the Vote throughout the Kingdom (March 1817) and An Address to
18304-624: Was also the founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation and its million dollar challenge that offered a prize of US$ 1,000,000 to anyone who could demonstrate evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power or event, under test conditions agreed to by both parties. Despite many declarations of supernatural ability, the prize was never claimed. In "anomalistic psychology", paranormal phenomena have naturalistic explanations resulting from psychological and physical factors which have sometimes given
18447-533: Was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets . A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achievements in poetry grew steadily following his death, and he became an important influence on subsequent generations of poets, including Robert Browning , Algernon Charles Swinburne , Thomas Hardy , and W. B. Yeats . American literary critic Harold Bloom describes him as "a superb craftsman,
18590-523: Was bullied and unhappy at the school and sometimes responded with violent rage. He also began suffering from the nightmares, hallucinations and sleep walking that were to periodically affect him throughout his life. Shelley developed an interest in science which supplemented his voracious reading of tales of mystery, romance and the supernatural. During his holidays at Field Place, his sisters were often terrified at being subjected to his experiments with gunpowder , acids and electricity. Back at school he blew up
18733-567: Was discovered in a study involving the Australian Sheep-Goat Scale . De Boer and Bierman wrote: In his article 'Creative or Defective' Radin (2005) asserts that many academics explain the belief in the paranormal by using one of the three following hypotheses: Ignorance, deprivation or deficiency. 'The ignorance hypothesis asserts that people believe in the paranormal because they're uneducated or stupid. The deprivation hypothesis proposes that these beliefs exist to provide
18876-466: Was holidaying in Wales, and in response to her urgent pleas for his protection, he returned to London in early August. Putting aside his philosophical objections to matrimony, he left with the sixteen-year-old Harriet for Edinburgh on 25 August 1811, and they were married there on the 28th. Hearing of the elopement, Harriet's father, John Westbrook, and Shelley's father, Timothy, cut off the allowances of
19019-436: Was left alone, in that room in which Sir Robert , and he, and some other friends had dinner together. To this place Sir Robert returned within half an hour; and, as he left, so he found Mr. Donne alone; but, in such ecstasy, and so altered as to his looks, as amazed Sir Robert to behold him in so much that he earnestly desired Mr. Donne to declare what had befallen him in the short time of his absence. To which Mr. Donne
19162-605: Was listed as a North Country term and as obsolete. Izaak Walton claimed that John Donne , the English metaphysical poet , saw his wife's doppelgänger in 1612 in Paris, on the same night as the stillbirth of their daughter. This account first appears in the edition of Life of Dr. Rizvan Rizing published in 1675, and is attributed to "a Person of Honour... told with such circumstances, and such asseveration, that... I verily believe he that told it to me, did himself believe it to be true." Two days after their arrival there, Mr. Donne
19305-510: Was marked by family crises, ill health, and a backlash against his atheism , political views, and defiance of social conventions. He went into permanent self-exile in Italy in 1818 and over the next four years produced what Zachary Leader and Michael O'Neill call "some of the finest poetry of the Romantic period". His second wife, Mary Shelley , was the author of Frankenstein . He died in
19448-453: Was no way to get back except past the window again (except over a wall twenty feet from the ground) she was struck at seeing him pass twice thus & looked out & seeing him no more she cried—"Good God can Shelley have leapt from the wall?.... Where can he be gone?" Shelley, said Trelawny—"No Shelley has past—What do you mean?" Trelawny says that she trembled exceedingly when she heard this & it proved indeed that Shelley had never been on
19591-399: Was not able to make a present answer: but, after a long and perplexing pause, did at last say, I have seen a dreadful Vision since I saw you: I have seen my dear wife pass twice by me through this room, with her hair hanging about her shoulders, and a dead child in her arms: this, I have seen since I saw you. To which, Sir Robert replied; Sure Sir, you have slept since I saw you; and, this
19734-532: Was now in Venice. After travelling some months through France and Italy, Shelley left Mary and baby Clara at Bagni di Lucca (in today's Tuscany) while he travelled with Claire to Venice to see Byron and make arrangements for visiting Allegra. Byron invited the Shelleys to stay at his summer residence at Este , and Shelley urged Mary to meet him there. Clara became seriously ill on the journey and died on 24 September in Venice. Following Clara's death, Mary fell into
19877-417: Was reciting Coleridge's Christabel , Shelley suffered a severe panic attack with hallucinations. The previous night Mary had had a more productive vision or nightmare which inspired her novel Frankenstein . Shelley and Byron then took a boating tour around Lake Geneva, which inspired Shelley to write his " Hymn to Intellectual Beauty ", his first substantial poem since Alastor . A tour of Chamonix in
20020-537: Was sheltered and mostly happy. He was particularly close to his sisters and his mother, who encouraged him to hunt, fish and ride. At age six, he was sent to a day school run by the vicar of Warnham church, where he displayed an impressive memory and gift for languages . In 1802 he entered the Syon House Academy of Brentford , Middlesex , where his cousin Thomas Medwin was a pupil. Shelley
20163-518: Was softened; and, having at last escaped the excitement of a farewell, I, on a peaceful and quiet journey, pretty well regained my self-possession. This is an example of a doppelgänger which was perceived by the observer to be both benign and reassuring. Émilie Sagée , a French teacher working in 1845 in a boarding school in what is now Latvia , was alleged to have a doppelgänger which sometimes appeared to those around her, and which would mimic some of her actions. On one occasion her students approached
20306-470: Was still alive. Shelley wrote to Godwin, offering himself as his devoted disciple. Godwin, who had modified many of his earlier radical views, advised Shelley to reconcile with his father, become a scholar before he published anything else, and give up his avowed plans for political agitation in Ireland. Meanwhile, Shelley had met his father's patron, Charles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk , who helped secure
20449-399: Was told that Claire was pregnant with his child. Shelley, Mary, and Claire left Switzerland in late August, with arrangements for the expected baby still unclear, although Shelley made provision for Claire and the baby in his will. In January 1817 Claire gave birth to a daughter by Byron who she named Alba, but later renamed Allegra in accordance with Byron's wishes. Ozymandias I met
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