Described as 'a young Van Helsing' in The Ghost Club Journal, Dr Leo Ruickbie has been investigating, writing about and experiencing the bizarre side of life - from vampire epidemics (there really was one) to sightings of angels - for most of his professional career. He has a PhD from King's College, London, on modern witchcraft and magic, and is the author of Witchcraft Out of the Shadows, Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician,A Brief Guide to the Supernatural, and A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting, as well as being published in Fortean Times, Paranormal magazine, academic journals and the national press. He is also the co-editor of Little Horrors: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anomalous Children and the Construction of Monstrosity with Dr Simon Bacon, and The Material Culture of Magic with Dr Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie. His work has been mentioned in the media from The Guardian to Radio Jamaica, and his expertise has been sought by film companies and the likes of the International Society for Human Rights. He is an Associate of King's College, London, and a member of Societas Magica, the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, the Society for Psychical Research and the Parapsychological Association. He is a committee member of the Gesellschaft fÿr Anomalistik (Society for Anomalistics) and is the editor of the Paranormal Review, the magazine of the Society for Psychical Research. As a Scotsman, the impossible zoo has always been a living folk memory: he has stood on the banks of Loch Ness and stared into those sullen waters. Visit him online at www.witchology.com
